FYS Course Descriptions

What makes a successful picture book in the 21st century? Students will learn design elements, how to evaluate them on their own and in conjunction with the text, and how the picture book can be an aesthetic production. Humorous, inspiring, or even subversive, picture books also support recreation, informational needs, and making sense of one’s world. Students will consider numerous issues related to picture books, including audience, format, representation, marketing, publishing, controversial content, and censorship. Engagement with a variety of picture books, critical reading, and research will lead to free writing, critical reviews, academic writing, and project-based writing.

Art has served as a pivotal and powerful element of politics for centuries, across time, space, ideas, and media. Whether we look at the socio-political battles that raged in Renaissance Florence, as families and rival governmental factions fought a propaganda war using the stage of the city itself – its streets, homes, and civic buildings, at the socio-cultural and artistic encounters between Europeans and indigenous peoples of the Americas (and contemporary explorations of these encounters), or at the socio-cultural and political battles of contemporary America, in which artists and activists create works whose messages are seen on the streets and in institutions of power (governmental, artistic, academic), art has long been political action – meant to sway, provoke, and mold public opinion, to express, argue, and create individual and institutional identities. This course focuses on a series of fascinating examples in art and architecture from the late medieval and Early Modern era to today, in which art is persuasion, propaganda, narrative, counter-narrative, activist act, protest, counter-protest, revolution, and more, enacted on individual and civic bodies and the body politic alike. No prior knowledge is assumed, and all are welcome!

In this course, students will learn that journalists don’t just report the news, they often have a responsibility to tell stories that inspire social change. This course explores the role and responsibility of journalism in identifying social issues and uncovering ways to resolve them.

“Crime and Punishment in Russian Fiction and Film” examines acts of transgression and retribution, two long-standing preoccupations in Russian culture. More specifically, this course investigates how Russians have explored the changing boundaries of propriety, criminality and wrongdoing since the early 19th century. An interdisciplinary course located at the nexus of literature, cinema and history; it examines a variety of texts—fictional, cinematic, even operatic—within their historical context. Critical attention is paid to shifts in expression and representation between the imperial and Soviet periods and the (re)interpretation of texts over time. Attention is also paid to how these themes have been reinterpreted abroad outside of Russia.“Crime and Punishment in Russian Fiction and Film” asks an array of important moral questions. What is the nature of individual responsibility? How is one to balance individualism and membership in a broader community? How is one to reconcile individual belief and self-expression with social convention? What is the individual to do when confronted by a criminal regime? How should the individual behave amid social and/or moral collapse? How much of this is inherently Russian and how much is universal?

Witches and heretics, religious prophets and confidence men, Indian captives and murdering mothers, cat massacres and slave conspiracies: these are the subjects of “microhistory,” a distinctive approach to the study of the past that seeks to reveal broader forces of historical change through detailed stories of obscure individuals and unusual events. In this First-Year Seminar, you’ll learn how scholars research and write these gripping historical narratives. We will probe beneath the grand narratives of conventional history textbooks and develop theoretical and methodological competencies in the subfield of cultural history. The seminar will provide opportunities to read and analyze a challenging array of primary texts, from newspapers to private journals. Toward the end of the semester, you will research and write your own microhistories about a bizarre religious sect known as the Vermont Pilgrims.

This is a course about the sale, use, advertising and media portrayal of mood-altering drugs in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Although alcohol and tobacco are drugs, we will not be discussing them here. And although some of the drugs we study are not always illegal (marijuana, LSD, prescription opioids, for instance), we will focus on the role of these drugs inour culture over time. We will look at who takes these drugs, and how these drugs and their consumers are portrayed in the media and treated by the law.

This seminar explores diverse global and national landscapes and geographies while analyzing alternative approaches to sustainable tourism. Travel to unique Virginian ecotourism sites allows us to record firsthand how social, economic, and ecological processes are interconnected.

This course examines pressing ethical and moral questions in the arena of international affairs. The main areas of focus will be international conflict, international economics, and intrastate conflict. Course content will include a variety of primary texts, scholarly articles, podcasts, and films revolving around important ethical debates. Students will write analytical papers, co-lead discussions, and participate in in-class debates, all designed to help develop the skills that will help them succeed in the rest of their time at the University.

This seminar introduces students to the fiction of one of the most important American writers of the 20th century and, beyond that, traces his work’s influence forward to our own time.  Winner of the 1950 Nobel Prize in literature, William Faulkner stands at mid-century as an enormously prolific as well as accomplished figure.  His novels are dense, profound meditations on the U.S. South and on American social life generally; they are famous for their innovative use of techniques such as stream of consciousness, non-linear narrative, and multiple points of view.  More importantly, he used his books to mount a sustained indictment of the racial attitudes and practices that defined his native region.

An introduction to video art and alternative media with an emphasis on the United States and Canada. Historical, contemporary, and theoretical texts situate video within a larger cultural, technological, and socio-political framework. Screenings of art media provide first-hand insight into the radical nature of this field, which embraces marginalized voices and perspectives, interdisciplinary methods and research, alternative production and distribution, experimental and activist media. Students are challenged to expand their visual literacy through seminar discussions, presentations, written and creative work; to ask questions; to consider nuances and think critically; and ultimately, to consider their own subjectivity and agency within a dominant cultural ideology that promotes consumption, familiarity and stasis over diversity, creativity and innovation.

This seminar examines the theme and role of friendship in Early Modern European culture, especially in Renaissance Italy, and the way in which friendship informed and inspired intellectual and artistic collaboration and conviviality. Texts from both Greek and Roman antiquity and the European Renaissance on the value of friendship as a source of love, solace, inspiration and delight form the core of the readings, as will works of art that represent collaborations between artists, poets and humanists. Based in conversation, this course in turn considers how conversation between friends, both serious and comical, inspired artistic and scholarly activities.

This course will examine Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and its enduring influence as a touchstone for cultural anxieties or fears surrounding technological advancements. We will read and analyze the 1818 text using the recent MIT edition, which provides insightful annotations and essays that explore the novel’s portrayal of scientific creativity and ethical responsibility. We will then consider how the trope of Frankenstein -- a manmade creation exceeding its creator’s control – has been adapted across literature and film to express evolving fears about technology. We will focus on understanding how these adaptations both reflect cultural attitudes and anxieties surrounding technological progress and help shape society’s evolving relationship with science and technology. 

This FYS explores two issues: “geek” or “nerd” culture, and the practice of ethnographic research. As Andrew Harrison of the The Guardian observed in 2013, “From superhero movies to techy sitcoms to captains of industry, geeks have been running the show for years.” If you have ever been interested in “geek culture” products and activities such as D&D, Star Trek, Eurogaming, anime/manga, and cosplay, here is your chance to study that community. This course explores the cultural phenomenon of “geek chic” through the lens of cultural studies. Students will learn about geek culture by participating in it and by interviewing members of the culture, comparing personal experiences to the existing research on the topic. The course culminates in a critical ethnography examining some aspect of “geek chic.”

What role can literature from and influenced by the Roman world play in universities in the 21stCentury? Ovid’s works will launch a careful examination of gender, race and ethnicity, and violence in the Roman world and in contemporary society. Gender, Violence, & Rome will study the ways that ancient literatures, especially epic and tragedy, have offered solace and resistance against gendered and racialized violence, and, by contrast, been read as supporting power hierarchies that enable violence against women, men, and non-binary people. In this course, students will meet Roman literature, and novels and drama inspired by Roman culture in writers such as Luis Alfaro, Cherríe Moraga,Shakespeare, Toni Morrison, and in film. This FYS will look to different forms of performance texts toexplore questions about human identities, belonging, community, power and justice now and in the ancient Roman empire.

What makes a great filmmaker? Is it someone who has made their mark in the history of cinema? Someone whose films have had success at the box office, or, conversely, someone unknown to the general public but recognized as a “genius” in intellectual or academic circles? Must a great filmmaker exhibit through their film a strong social or political consciousness? Or can greatness be defined solely by a capacity for formal innovation? In this course, we will try to answer these questions by watching and discussing films from different national traditions and showcasing different styles of filmmaking. My choice of film is by nature subjective. In that sense, this FYS is not an “Introduction to Film Studies”. I have selected a few American films but this collection of films is meant to highlight creative perspectives from all over the world.

Human trafficking is a social justice issue that has gained prominence and attention in the media and through a variety of academic disciplines in recent year. However, human trafficking as a construct is embedded in conflicting and problematic paradigms and discourses that manipulate the concepts in political, economic and social ways that may perpetuate the underlying structures and issues causing exploitation. From humanitarian and development perspectives, to law enforcement, education, policy and social science orientations, the varying discourses related to human trafficking will be explored and students well grapple with challenging questions through a writing intensive approach to inquiry.

Disagreements about controversial issues are often either shouted or typed in a comment section, neither of which seems particularly productive. Can these discussions be useful, or should we engage differently? Is it possible to rationally disagree? How can we productively discuss morally charged topics, and how can we approach trying to change each other’s minds? In this course, we’ll construct and participate in philosophical arguments about specific moral issues, and about disagreement itself.

What is translation? How does language shape the world we live in and our relation to it? What are the goals of translation? How can it aid or impede understanding? How are translators and interpreters perceived in different contexts (literary, diplomatic, legal, etc.)? How can translation increase our appreciation for the connections between language, culture, and history? The focus of this course will be on the theory and practice of literary translation and the questions it raises, but we will also consider related phenomena such as dubbing and subtitling, ASL interpreting, and the impact of translation in non-literary contexts.

This course is about media and technology. How do we consume media? What is our relationship to technology? Are we in control of our own use of technology or are we perhaps living in a cyberpunkdystopia? How do we participate in this system through the creation of our own media, art, and interactive content? In this class, we will think critically about what it means to be a self-directed person in an age of rapidly changing technology and media formats. We will examine the work of philosophers, digital artists, and technologists to understand our relationship with new media and the implications for the future.

The focus of this course is strategy and its efficacy. You know what they say about the best laid plans. Do strategies really work? Can we set clear and achievable goals to move into the future? What is needed for a strategy to succeed? What happens when they fail? Can strategies be adapted?

What do fantastical stories of heroes and lovers, travelers and monsters tell us about Antiquity and the Middle Ages? This seminar challenges students to consider the meanings of "history", "fact", "fiction", "literature", “epic”, when using parts or all of the following texts: Boccaccio’s Decameron, Gilgamesh, Virgil’s Aeneid, Beowulf, Arthurian Romances of Crétien de Troyes, and Dante’s Inferno. A central question will be how historians can use narratives to understand the cultures we study. In essence, the course asks students to consider how their understanding of the past has been and is being constructed.

In this section of FYS, we will explore the “Rhetoric of American Sport” by focusing on how journalists, broadcasters, and the public rhetorically frame sports in America and how they employ particularized language in how they write about athletes, games, and sports. Some of the rhetorical themes we will consider include the prevalence of military language about games and players, the language of “family,” the idea of athletes as heroes and the mythologizing of them, and how fans imagine themselves as part of the team, including how they use “we” and “us” when talking about their team. Other elements include what it means to discuss college athletes as scholar athletes as opposed to thinking about them as laborers or workers and what it means to call professional athletes highly paid entertainers vs considering them as employees. Through a consideration of the contemporary American sporting scene, we will explore these issues and more as we examine the language we employ when we talk about sports and athletes – and what that language reveals about how we think ideologically about the game.

Global connectivity may appear a hallmark of modernity, but it has a long history. Since complex societies began, humanity has never lived in ethnically, religiously, or otherwise segregated societies. People have always travelled, exchanging ideas, commodities, and DNA. In this interdisciplinary seminar, we will explore the ways in which human societies were connected between ca. 1200 and ca. 1800. We will consider how old globalization actually is, how interdependent human societies have been for centuries, and how connections and exchanges transformed the world. Our explorations will take place under two broad themes: “Strangers in Strange Lands” and “Consuming the World.” The first will consider travellers and travel narratives by individuals who crossed oceans and cultures, not always willingly and often but not always in search of economic opportunities. The second will consider the commodities exchanged and traded in the pre-modern world. We will consider how global connections and exchanges have changed over the centuries, and how have they have, in turn, transformed the world for better and worse.

In this course, we explore the challenges and benefits of growing up bilingual/multilingual in the the United States, whose reputation for monolingualism and rapid generational language loss has led researchers to call it "a graveyard of languages." Questions that we will confront together include: (1) Why do schools prioritize some types of bilingualism and stigmatize others? (2) What makes many immigrant parents oppose bilingual education for their children? (3) Do bilinguals think or behave differently in each of their languages? To address these (and other) questions, we will analyze memoirs, conduct interviews, and chat with experts in bilingual language acquisition.

This First Year Seminar is designed to help students understand the relationship between branding, customer loyalty, and business success. Yet many of us currently lack the knowledge of what a brand is (even though we’re probably loyal to at least one brand), how brands work, and why certain brand promises exist. Through textbook readings, case studies, articles, and several real-world examples, students will learn how the smartest brands use disruption to attract/keep customers and attain, maintain, and even reclaim dominance within the categories they occupy—essential knowledge for everyone interested in how our advertising ecosystem works.

This course applies psychoanalytic and Marxist techniques in order to analyze economic inequality and the suppression of the capitalist welfare state in the US. After WWII, democrats and republicans effectively eliminated the communist and socialist parties, suppressed their allied labor movements, and fabricated a false opposition of left and right that does not correspond to political oppositions in the industrialized democracies. Marxist psychoanalysis can explain why Americans vote within a two-party system that neglects the lower classes, and why the working class votes against its own interests. Numerous contemporary political issues are analyzed through applications of Marxist psychoanalytic theory.

Why did Peter “The Great” place a tax on bearded men? Was Rasputin really the lover of the Russian queen? How did a warrior princess become one of the first Russian saints? Find out in Tsars, Saints, and Serfs. In this class we will survey major historical, cultural, and artistic moments in Russia’s past. We will start in the Kievan period move through the medieval period, and into the modern era with Peter “The great” up until the end of the Romanov Tsars. We will watch as famous orthodox ikons and the seat of power moves from Kiev to Novgorod, to Moscow, and finally settles in the newly constructed St. Petersburg. We will look at important art, paintings, and ikons and we will read the literature of the great Russian authors. Students will come away with a better understanding of where Russian culture and history started and how the Russian Empire expanded to the events leading up the end of the monarchy.

This course will discuss the topic of risk as it relates to business and society. Students will explore the origins and concepts of risk; understand and debate risk issues using multiple perspectives; reflect on how risk issues were addressed in the past and how they should be addressed in the future; and explore how to consider risk, uncertainty, and resilience in their own decisions.

This semester, we will explore the role of the ‘undead’ in Slavic cultures. Along from being a popular and commercially successful archetype, what lessons do vampires and other ‘undead’ characters offer us? What do they tell us about the cultures and historical settings in which they’re created and, more importantly, what can they teach us about our understanding of ourselves? In this class, we will look at vampires, zombies, and other ‘undead’ beings as oft-used embodiments of repressed traumas, memories, and desires on both the individual and collective level. Due to their decidedly unique (and uniquely fascinating) histories, Russian and other Slavic cultures offer a plethora of undead characters. As just examples, our texts include vampires, demons, tricksters, post-apocalyptic monsters, ghosts of victims past, and even a giant magical cat.So, get ready to read and get ready to learn! We have a lot to do.

This class explores the discursive and aesthetic strategies developed by four female writers to deal with colonial structures and discourses of power in Latin America and the United States. Ranging from contemporary western U.S. to seventeenth-century Mexico City, each writer’s work provides an opportunity for students to learn about coloniality and the way it manifests through race, gender, religion, and class.

Writing is one of the best ways to make sense of this world, as well as an indispensable skill for college and for life. In this FYS course we will read and write our way through the transition to college, exploring models for a variety of kinds of writing, developing our own writing, and researching both topics of our own and the ways writing can help us grow and learn.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is, for better or worse, everywhere. From the time we proposed this course to the time you read this, the ways we understand AI have already evolved. Representations of AI invarious media (literature, film, games, news, comics) shape how we perceive its possibilities and challenges. What can stories about AI – both factual and speculative – reveal about human creativity, labor, and personhood? How do these portrayals engage with the social, political, and cultural contexts in which they are created? How might science fiction, in particular, serve as a tool for helping us to critically conceptualize the rapidly evolving technological advancement of artificial intelligence? In this course, we will explore these questions and others through independent and collaborative reading, research, and analysis.