Collective Intelligence: How It Works and How It Fails

Collective Intelligence: How It Works and How It Fails

Explore the concept of collective intelligence, where group behavior leads to efficient problem-solving. Discover how natural and engineered systems, like ant colonies, cellular societies, and computer networks, exhibit intelligent behaviors similar to human...
The 1920s and the Making of Modern America

The 1920s and the Making of Modern America

The 1920s are frequently romanticized in popular culture as an era of unprecedented freedom and flamboyance, with images of flappers and clandestine speakeasies serving bootleg liquor. While some of that is accurate, this portrayal only scratches the surface of a...
Celebrating Tap: An American Art Form

Celebrating Tap: An American Art Form

Dive into the rhythmic heart of America with a journey through the history and evolution of tap dance, a quintessentially American art form born in the 1800s. This course offers a unique examination of culture, history, and artistry, tracing tap’s roots from its...
Rome’s Darkest Hour: The War with Hannibal

Rome’s Darkest Hour: The War with Hannibal

Dive into a pivotal moment in history and examine what the Romans themselves considered their darkest hour: the war with Hannibal Barca. This course offers an in-depth exploration based on close readings from ancient sources in translation to provide a comprehensive...
Polynesia and the Pacific Island Past

Polynesia and the Pacific Island Past

Discover the captivating journey of humans across the Pacific in our course, “Polynesia and the Pacific Island Past.” Delve into groundbreaking research from archaeology, genetics, and linguistics that reshapes our understanding of ancient migrations and...
Francis Petrarch and Love Poetry of the Renaissance

Francis Petrarch and Love Poetry of the Renaissance

In this course, we will explore the Renaissance via the life and literary genius of Francesco Petrarca, famously known as Petrarch. Considered the father of the Italian Renaissance, Petrarch’s scholarship and advocacy for the importance of classical Rome were...
Fifteen Minutes of Fame: The Significance of Memes

Fifteen Minutes of Fame: The Significance of Memes

In this course, we will explore the concept of memes and how they resonate so powerfully with their audiences both today and throughout human history. We will define the term “meme,” examine the many forms that memes can take, and learn to interpret and understand the...
Critical Race Theory: Why it’s Banned and Why it Matters

Critical Race Theory: Why it’s Banned and Why it Matters

This course seeks to break down the controversies surrounding Critical Race Theory. We begin by defining the many terms that have moved out of scholarly circles and into the headlines, social media, and school board and legislative debates: critical race...
Rome in Film

Rome in Film

Embark on a chronological and thematic grand tour of Rome through its cinematic representations, where history and artistry converge in films that have captivated audiences worldwide. In this course, we will explore Rome’s portrayal on the big screen, from...
The Oceans of Ancient Mars

The Oceans of Ancient Mars

Journey back to ancient Mars with a pioneer in Martian research. Uncover the secrets of a time when Mars boasted Earth-like hydrology, complete with flowing rivers and vast seas, most notably the “Oceanus Borealis,” which covered much of the northern part...
Chinese Intellectual History: An Introduction

Chinese Intellectual History: An Introduction

China’s rich history often remains elusive to the Western world. This course will shed light on the history of thought in China and provide students with a solid framework for future engagement and understanding. We will explore China’s key intellectual...
Art and Authenticity

Art and Authenticity

“Is this the real thing?” Museum professionals periodically get this question, where wide-eyed visitors are struck by the reality that they are face-to-face with authentic works of art. But what exactly does it mean for an artwork to be considered authentic, or...
Has the United States Become an Empire?

Has the United States Become an Empire?

U.S. intervention in underdeveloped countries raises many basic issues of international relations and foreign policy. The main purpose of this class is to provide students with an ability to examine such issues critically and in a historical context. Among the general...
Histories of Memories

Histories of Memories

This course examines modern histories of collective memories through the institutions and technologies that facilitate recall, such as museums, photography, and visual culture. We will consider moments of tension when history and memory appear to be at odds, when...
The Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance

In the 1920s and 1930s the soulful rhythms of blues and jazz signaled an explosion of African American creativity. During this period, known as the New Negro Movement and later as the Harlem Renaissance, musicians, dancers, visual artists, writers, and scholars sought...
Great Romantic Composer-Pianists of the 19th Century

Great Romantic Composer-Pianists of the 19th Century

What inspired Romantic composers of the 19th century to create the significant piano works that continue to speak profoundly to today’s audiences? Throughout the Romantic era the piano and the pianist-composers who wrote for it assumed an increasingly important role...
The Romantic Poets: Revolution and Retrospection

The Romantic Poets: Revolution and Retrospection

This seminar focuses on the six poets (one recently rediscovered) who most defined English Romanticism in poetry and verse drama between 1798 and 1824. It emphasizes their philosophical, emotional, and stylistic tugs-of-war, despite their quite different politics:...
Beethoven

Beethoven

This course surveys the music of Ludwig van Beethoven from the perspectives of different professors at the Fred Fox School of Music. Jay Rosenblatt begins with an overview of Beethoven’s life: his youth in Bonn, the reasons for his move to Vienna, and the outline of...