Each first-year seminar offers an opportunity for entering students to develop skills in writing, reasoning, and research that will be of critical importance throughout their academic careers. Enrollment is limited to fifteen students, to ensure the active participation of all class members and to permit students and instructor to concentrate on developing the skills necessary for successful college writing. Seminars typically focus on a current problem or a topic of particular interest to the instructor. First-year seminars are not open to upperclass students. They carry full course credit.

General Education. One seminar may be used in fulfilling the General Education requirement in humanities and history. In addition, designated seminars may be used to fulfill the complementary quantitative requirement.

014. Slavery in America. This course studies American slavery from various perspectives. Attention is given to the roots of slavery and its emergence in the North American colonies in the seventeenth century; the economic, political, and social characteristics of slavery; and the effects of slavery on blacks and whites. Fall semester.
J. Carignan.

084. Anatomy of a Few Small Machines. One can treat the products of technology as "black boxes" - plain in purpose but mysterious in function. A more flexible and exciting life is available to those who look on all such devices as mere extensions of their hands and minds - who believe they could design, build, modify, and repair anything they put their hands on. This course helps the student do this, primarily through practice. Only common sense is required, but participants must be willing to attack any aspect of science and technology. Field trips are required. Fall semester. G. Clough.

150. Hamlet. This course undertakes an intensive study of Shakespeare's play, with particular emphasis on the various ways it has been interpreted through performance. Students read the play closely, view several filmed versions, and investigate historical productions in order to arrive at a sense of Hamlet's changing identity and enduring importance. Winter semester. M. Andrucki.

177. Doing It, Getting It, Seeing It, Reading It. This course studies a broad representation of sex and sexualities, both "straight" and "queer," within a variety of cultural products ranging from painting and poetry to music and 'zines. Issues discussed include the relationship between sexual representation and sexual practice; the validity of distinctions between pornography and erotica; the politics of censorship; the interrelations between constructions of sexuality and those of race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, and class; and the representations of power, pleasure, and danger in sex from both the margin and the mainstream. Winter semester. E. Rand.

205. The Ghost in the Atom. Albert Einstein: "I can't believe God plays dice." Niels Bohr: "Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it." Richard Feynman: "I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics." This course studies the twentieth- century origins of the enormously successful quantum theory, examining Bohr's interpretation and why it is was so unbelievable to Einstein and others. Topics include photons and electrons, the structure of atoms, probability interpretation, the wave-particle duality, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, Schrödinger's cat, and Bell's theorem. The emphasis is on conceptualization, but elementary algebra is used. No previous physics needed. Fall semester. J. Pribram.

213. Risk, Uncertainty, and Markets. Games of chance are fascinating for both practitioners and the more academically inclined. This course explores the history of how people have used ideas about risk and uncertainty to describe the behavior of the physical world and whether those ideas are appropriate for describing the risks inherent in market activity. The basics of probability theory, statistics, finance, and economics are brought together to answer the cynic's favorite question: "If economists are so smart, why aren't they rich?" Fall semester. C. Schwinn.

214. Psychobiography. What do Gandhi, Hitler, Freud, Darwin, Oscar Wilde, Martin Luther, Isaac Asimov, Margaret Mead, and L. Frank Baum have in common? All have been subjected to the psychologist's microscope; their adult lives have been poked and their childhoods mined for clues as to the origins of their unique contributions to the world of religion, science, politics, and the arts. In this course, students consider the lives of these and other renowned figures from the perspective of the psychobiographer. They consider the question: How much does psychobiography contribute to our understanding of these figures, their creations, and the events they influenced? Winter semester. R. Wagner.

216. Yugoslavia Re/Dis-membered. Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic came to power promising the Serbian people a return to dignity. Instead, his repressive, messianic nationalism lead to his country's international isolation. In 1995, in the town of Mostar, as his military unit targeted sixteenth-century Islamic monuments, a Croat militiaman explained, "It is not enough to cleanse Mostar of Muslims, the relics must also be destroyed." Two years later, Croatian President Franjo Tudjman declared that "Croatia accepts the task of Europeanization of the Bosnian Muslims." Were repression of minority rights, mass executions of other peoples, and the deliberate destruction of cultural relics the only possible responses to Yugoslavia's post-Tito political crisis? In this course, students examine the political, social, and cultural landscape of the states that emerged from the breakup of Socialist Yugoslavia. They also discuss the global significance of Yugoslavia's violent dismemberment. Fall semester. D. Browne.

218. From Text to Hypertext. In this course, students investigate the differences between "linear" and "non-linear" writing, especially for argument and analysis, by creating examples of both. As individuals and in groups, students compose essays and hypertexts, studying forms of composition and learning how to read and write in the traditional and the newer intellectual media. Readings include hypertext theory and historical treatments of argument and method, as well as a science fiction novel. Fall semester. D. Kolb.

219. Growing Up Latino/a: Literary Constructions. This course explores the diverse experiences of growing up Latino/a in the United States, as constructed in autobiographies and autobiographical fiction by Latino/a writers. Special attention is paid to the role that national origin, class, gender, race, and sexuality have in shaping experience. Theories about autobiographical narratives on Latino/a identity by authors such as Paula Moya, Coco Fusco, and Gloria Anzaldua provide a context for the reading. Narratives to be examined include works by Prio Thomas, Elena Maria Viramontes, Sandra Cisneros, Julia Alvarez, and Ana Castillo. Winter semester. F. Lopez.

220. The Bell Curve. Does I.Q. predict success? When The Bell Curve by Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray hit the bookstands in 1994, it prompted both enthusiasm and anger. A central theme in the book is that cognitive ability is hereditary, and therefore socioeconomic successes and failures are largely due to genetics. This course investigates the connection between statistics and eugenics, and examines some of the social and scientific responses to Herrnstein and Murray's book. Fall semester. M. Harder.

221. Medicine and the American Civil War. Relatively little improvement in Western medical science and care occurred between the time of the American Revolution and the Civil War. By 1861, both the United States and the Confederate States of America were faced with the sudden appearance of large numbers of sick and injured people, which overwhelmed the existing medical care systems. This course examines the state of medical science in North America in the mid-nineteenth century and looks at the impact one of the bloodiest conflicts in human history had on medical care. Topics include the development and operation of military medical care systems, the impact of these systems on the population as a whole, and changes in medical science that resulted from the war experience. Fall semester. T. Lawson.

222. The Earth and the Geologist. What do geologists think about? How do geologists come to an understanding about the earth's systems? This course considers scientists' and non-scientists' analyses of "geologic ways of knowing" to assess whether an earth scientist understands the natural world differently than do others. Critical analysis of works by John McPhee and other authors, as well as laboratory exercises, elucidate the concepts of geologic time, stratigraphic sequencing, plate tectonics, resource extraction, natural hazards, and our place in the earth system. A weekend field trip is required, weather and snow cover permitting. Winter semester. L. Ongley.

223. Crime: Fear and Risk. What do people fear? Of what are they at risk? Most of us spend some part of our lives watching out for things; but are we watching out for the right things - things that might actually do us harm? Crime is something people spend a lot of time worrying about, concerned that they may become victims. But how likely is it that any one of us will be a victim of crime - especially serious crime? How does our risk of victimization depend on who we are or where we are? The course is concerned with the public's perception of crime, with an analysis of actual victimization, and with the influence of both on programs of crime prevention. Fall semester. S. Sylvester.

224. Black Culture and Black Consciousness in Diaspora. The course aims to provide an anthropological framework for understanding cultural production and meaning through time in black communities in the United States, the Caribbean, and Europe. Distinctiveness as well as commonalities in social and cultural patterning among African diaspora peoples are discussed within the context of the historical and structural conditions that created and continue to engender a diasporic black consciousness. Illustrative material is drawn from popular culture, ethnographies of black family and community life, life histories, and other sources. Winter semester. C. Carnegie.

225. Utopias and Dystopias. Is an "ideal" or "perfect" social order possible or desirable? Can a state of dystopia or "wretchedness" be avoided? What factors distinguish one condition from the other? This course draws upon a number of genres - fiction, political treatises, and historical writings - in order to explore the notion of utopian and dystopian societies. Such exploration encourages us to ask how our current social order could be re-envisioned by challenging taken-for-granted norms and institutional structures for social interaction, political decision-making, and resource distribution. Fall semester. S. Smith.

226. The North Woods. The North Woods - with its sweep of evergreens; colorful reaches of deciduous forest; and diverse pockets of swamp, barren, and dry forest - preserves the ancient landscape of northern New England. This course explores the natural history, natural patterns, dynamic changes, and threatened future of its forests and trees. Visiting forests in Maine and the White Mountains, students learn to read the trees, detect forest history, and imagine the original forest. Some Saturday field trips. Fall semester. S. Kinsman.

227. Finding a Self in a Book: Montaigne. On his thirty-eighth birthday, in 1571, Michel de Montaigne retired to his estate near Bordeaux. For the rest of his life, he read a lot, thought a lot, and wrote, rewrote, and re-rewrote a great book, the Essays. Nominally, the several essays focus on a wide range of topics, everything from thumbs to sex. Actually, Montaigne says, they are each a test of himself, and the whole is his attempt to portray himself. Moderns tend to suppose that in all this reading, thinking, and writing, Montaigne also made the self that we can know. Is this Montaigne a unique individual, unlike anyone else, or is he an everyman, like us all? This course asks students to use the Essays to test themselves; to see their own image refracted from his pages; to watch him learn to write, define himself, gain confidence, and come to terms with life and death. Fall semester. J. Cole.

228. Civil War Women. This course studies the experience of women in the American Civil War, considering at the same time the depiction of women in postwar public culture. Using the Battle of Gettysburg as a case study, students begin with discussions of how women and issues of gender, race, and sexuality helped bring about sectional conflict in the 1850s and then examine how black women and white women took part in the war itself. They also investigate the evolving representation of Civil War women in fiction, film, and in public history. Students regularly submit essays of historical analysis, and engage in rewriting and peer review. Class requirements also include a final research paper and several oral presentations. Winter semester. M. Creighton.

229. Music Criticism. The course examines the challenges of talking about and evaluating music. The question of what makes a music review authoritative is posed by investigating how institutions, such as large-circulation newspapers and prestigious journals, lend weight to an individual critic's aesthetic evaluation. Rhetorical authority - the power of the critic to persuade through artful writing - is considered as an alternative. Historically exemplary music criticism is analyzed along with reviews appearing in The New York Times and other prominent journals. Students write reviews of both recordings and live performances. Fall semester. S. Pederson.

230. Cultures of Poetic Suicide. Just how connected is a late sixteenth-century expression, "To be or not to be/That is the question," with a reductive, twentieth-century explanation, "There is but one truly philosophical problem and that is suicide"? Is the idea of a single, natural model of death anthropocentric and misconstruing of historical change? The moderns - Benjamin, Levi, Woolf, Plath, Hemingway, and Berryman - are studied against the presuppositions of pre-eighteenth- century philosophical and literary texts. Winter semester.
S. Freedman.

French Popular Culture. This course presents an opportunity to explore diverse elements of French popular culture and to consider how specific aspects of French identity are constructed by certain artistic mediums. Selected works may include the farces of Feydeau and Courteline, the novels and films of Pagnol, the detective novels of Simenon, the comic films of Jacques Tati, the comic strip series of Tintin as well as Asterix and Obˇlix, the Chanson Fran¨aise, and theaterical works by Ariane Mouchkine. Conducted in English. Winter semester. L. DÕAngelo

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