Fall 2023

This course will examine the little-known “silent partner” to ancient Egypt’s grandeur: Nubia. The source of technologies, raw goods (e.g., gold), mercenaries, and considerable interconnections, Nubia shaped ancient Egypt far more extensively than is generally understood. Meanwhile, Nubia supported several powerful, independent, millennia-long kingdoms of its own, called the Kerma culture and the kingdom of […]

Russia has never gotten Pasternak’s Dr. Zhivago out of its system. This course will take us deep into the most controversial novel written during the Soviet era. Tolstoyan in its sweep, Dr. Zhivago is a stunning indictment of the system that attempted to engineer human life and an equally stunning meditation on the power of […]

This course continues the exploration of the United States Supreme Court and its role in deciding fundamental social questions. After an introductory class on the Court, we will focus on landmark cases involving race in education, abortion, Second Amendment, and election law. Readings will include edited versions of the Court’s opinions. The final class will […]

This exciting seminar will look into the history of literature through the lens of the Middle Ages. We constantly encounter medieval masterpieces that continue to influence literature today. These works are robust and often express fundamental human concerns, values, and ideals. Through this, the masterpieces highlight shortcomings, conflicts, and problems of human existence. This seminar […]

All organisms reproduce – among them, plants reproduce in the most diverse ways. In some plant species, all individuals are the same sex; some have two sexes, and others have three or even four sexes. Reproduction occurs via flowers ranging from the size of a pinhead to that of a toddler. Some plants make flowers, […]

We will look back over the half-century since the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam to consider its impact on three groups: the veterans who fought there, the Vietnamese people who fled to the U.S., and those who were radicalized by the war on the left and right. The experiences of Vietnam veterans were unlike those who […]

Over the past 1,400 years, numerous Muslims have contributed to the rich intellectual traditions of Islam. These thinkers explored theology, philosophy, mysticism, and science. Yet few of them are known today by educated Americans. This seminar aims to introduce a range of sophisticated Muslim thinkers from the first seven centuries of Islam in the region […]

This seminar will critically examine what we know about Rapa Nui’s spectacular archaeological history. Over the past two decades, intensive multi-disciplinary research led by the instructor has dramatically transformed our understanding of this remarkable and often misunderstood island. This course reviews the evidence for Polynesian migrations and ancient American connections. We will examine Rapa Nui […]

The year 2023 commemorates the 210th anniversary of the birth of Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901), and in this course, we consider his achievements as an opera composer. An overview of Verdi’s life and career takes up the initial class session, including the musical influence on Verdi’s earliest works by his most important predecessors (Rossini, Bellini, and […]

Join Dorrance Dean A-P Durand and Distinguished Professor Melissa Fitch as they take you on an unusual seminar that delves into the dance, literature, nature, urban art, cuisine, and the cultural significance of the “beautiful game” in two of South America’s largest countries, Argentina, and Brazil. Participants will encounter South American dancers and divas, literary […]

We are immersed in popular culture during most of our waking hours. It is on the radio, television, our computers, and smartphones that we access the Internet and streets and highways in the form of advertisements and billboards. It is in newspapers, movie theaters, and shopping malls. It is at music concerts and sports events. […]