Latin America Through Film

Latin America Through Film

This course provides a historical overview of Latin America through films. Special attention is paid to the different conceptualizations of the political, social and artistic purposes of film. This course takes a cultural studies approach to film; that is, it involves...
The Long Reach of Roman Architecture before the Renaissance

The Long Reach of Roman Architecture before the Renaissance

We know that many of the achievements of the Italian Renaissance were founded on a revival of ancient Roman civilization. Less well-known is the variety of ways, moments, and places in which Roman architecture inspired medieval building. On the one hand, Early...
The Dolce Stil Nuovo and Dante

The Dolce Stil Nuovo and Dante

Throughout the ages, expressions of passion and commitment have been central to love poets. This course will focus on the medieval foundations of Italian poetry—and by extension, the rebirth of European literature. The movement known as the dolce stil nuovo (sweet new...
The Visual Culture of Modern Spirituality and Religion

The Visual Culture of Modern Spirituality and Religion

In this course we will consider historical and contemporary examples of architecture and the visual arts concerned with defining and engaging the spiritual and the sacred. This series of lectures will cover primarily American examples of religious utopian communal...
Histories of Memories in the 19th Century

Histories of Memories in the 19th Century

The past is what happened. History is what we write about it. History and memory are not opposed terms; rather, history and memory shape each other through remembering, forgetting and erasure. Historical narratives are always informed by memories of the past that are...
Art History of the Cinema

Art History of the Cinema

Join Professor Soren for a personal online course showing the relationship of Art History and Cinema and featuring films such as Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and Alfred Hitchcock’s Saboteur. In addition there will be a special live visit from Rick Polizzi,...
The History of Yoga

The History of Yoga

Yoga is a ubiquitous presence in the landscape of American fitness culture. For many, it is synonymous with selfcare and holistic healthy living. While yoga is often vaguely connected to Asian traditions, its long history as a philosophical and religious system can be...
Superhumanists! HSP Faculty Train You for the Tokyo Olympics

Superhumanists! HSP Faculty Train You for the Tokyo Olympics

Did you know that the Olympic rings logo—designed by Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin—includes at least one color from every national flag in the world? Or that three countries—Sweden, Austria, and Japan—have all selected athletes in their 70s to represent them in past...
Journeys to Geriatrica: Keeping our Minds Active as We Age

Journeys to Geriatrica: Keeping our Minds Active as We Age

How come a retired pediatrician, as far from a geriatrician as you can get, wrote a book on aging? This retired pediatrician became a nonagenarian! What does this book cover? It is a travel guide to the land of Geriatrica where us aging folks live with maps drawn by...
A Symposium on the Spirit World

A Symposium on the Spirit World

“Alcohol is the anesthesia by which we endure the operation of life,” quipped George Bernard Shaw. To be sure there is truth in this observation, but it’s hardly the whole story. For millennia, human beings have been fermenting and distilling spirits and putting...
Caravaggio

Caravaggio

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) was both a beloved and rejected painter of the Baroque era. His paintings, which often included realistic figures, theatrical lighting, and dark, obscure settings activated a deep sense of spiritual contemplation for many....
Supreme Court Cases During A Pandemic

Supreme Court Cases During A Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to many legal and sociopolitical debates. This course will review the US Supreme Court’s role in those debates. The course will start off with a review of the Court’s 2020-2021 term. We will then explore in greater detail...
Two Novels, Two Cities, Two Centuries: Dickens and McCann

Two Novels, Two Cities, Two Centuries: Dickens and McCann

When Charles Dickens published Bleak House in the early 1850’s, London was the world’s wealthiest and most powerful city. It was also among the most crowded, polluted, and poverty-stricken places on the planet, where rich and poor lived separate but intertwined lives...
Shakespeare’s Women

Shakespeare’s Women

Attend In Person OR Online Many of Shakespeare’s most powerful, intelligent, and subversive characters are female. How were such vividly complex roles constructed in a culture that legally defined women as property, on the grounds of their intellectual and moral...
Gotta Dance! Celebrating Musical Theatre Dance

Gotta Dance! Celebrating Musical Theatre Dance

Attend In Person OR Online Explore the history and significance of Musical Theatre Dance in the American Musical Theatre genre. Musical Theatre Dance has evolved through the years thanks to many significant choreographers. We will examine the work and style of many of...
Progressive Politics in the Midterm Elections and Beyond

Progressive Politics in the Midterm Elections and Beyond

Attend In Person OR Online Moderate Democrats blame progressives for their divisions, and Republicans use them to depict Democrats as socialists. We will look beyond these partisan divisions to consider how our times parallel those of the Progressive Era. One has to...
Rome’s First Emperors: The Twelve Caesars

Rome’s First Emperors: The Twelve Caesars

In this course, the class will examine how the image of the Roman emperor was and is constructed. We will be investigating questions of source material reliability, genre, and the use and power of rhetoric in history. Through an examination of Rome’s rulers, from...