For Students: Past Seminars
2012-13
Book cover for "The Ethics of Autism" by seminar speaker Deborah Barnbaum; art by Seth Chwast.
Asperger Syndrome and its Role in Literature and Film
Seminar Leader: Alec Johnsson '15
Faculty Advisor: Debora Sherman (English)
Seminar Participants: Aspen deVries '14 (Math Major, Physics Minor); Cara Keifer '13 (Psychology); Koreana Pak '15; Darwin Keung '14 (Biology Major, Environmental Studies Minor, Neural and Behavioral Sciences Concentration)
Form, Content, Difficulties: Textual Embodiments from Plato to Kindle
Seminar Leader: Aubree Penney '13 (Religion and English)
Faculty Advisor: Gus Stadler (English)
Seminar Participants: Catherine Casem '15; Eliana Kohrman-Glaser '15; Ian Gavigan '14 (History and Religion); Christopher Morrison '15; Ryan Rebel '14 (English); Sally Weathers '13 (Philosophy & Spanish)
Music and the Sacred: the Intersection of Religion and the Auditory Arts
Seminar Leader: Micah Walter '14 (Music, Computer Science Minor)
Faculty Advisor: Robert Germany (Classics)
Seminar Participants: Kiran Rajamani '14 (Classics); Matt Walker '13 (History Major, Classics Minor); Naomi Goodman '14 (Psychology, Music, Neuroscience); Robin Banerji '15; Tianyi Yang '15; Robert Homan '14, Religion
2011-12
Smoke In Your Eyes: The Symbolic Evolution of the Cigarette
Seminar Leader: Noelia Hobeika '13 (English)
Faculty Advisor: Peter Gaffney (English)
Seminar Participants: Samara Ahmed '13 (Philosophy);
Susannah Butters '13 (Anthropology/Gender & Sexuality Studies/Pre-Med);
Anneke Heher '14 (Biology, Spanish, Linguistics);
Kirsten Larsen '13 (Anthropology/Psychology);
Annie Reading '13 (English/Africana Studies);
Valerie Smosna '13 (History of Art)
2010-11
Feasting on Culture: The Significance of Food in Everyday Life
Seminar Leaders: Isobel Grad '11 (Sociology, Environmental Studies Concentration)
Faculty Advisor: Ken Koltun-Fromm (Religion)
Seminar Participants: Alissa Aron '11 (Chemistry), Sarah Harrison '13 (Undecided), Colleen Hotchkiss '11 (Spanish with a Gender & Sexuality Concentration), Julia Hunter '13 (Undecided), Cameron Scherer '11 (Political Science, Economics minor), Beatriz Sanchez '12 (Anthropology)
Digital Fame
Seminar Leaders: Andrew Smith '11 (Math), Patrick Phelan '11 (English)
Faculty Advisor: Gus Stadler (English)
Seminar Participants: Daniel Connochie (Psychology), Jacob Horn '13 (Classics), LinKai Jiang '11 (Philosophy), Katie Monroe '13 (Anthropology with a Gender & Sexuality Concentration), Robin Riskin '12 (English with an Africana Concentration)
Borderlands: Alienation and the Art of Finding the Edge
Seminar Leaders: Eli Blood-Patterson '11 (English, Chinese minor)
Faculty Advisor: Laura McGrane (English)
Seminar Participants: Rose Himber Howse '11 (English and Psychology Major), Megan Kietzman-Nicklin '11 (Linguistics), Rachel Lim '12 (Political Science), Asher Reisman '11 (Classics), Christina Tavernelli '13 (Undecided), Lucas Van Meter '12 (Mathematics)
2009-10
Screening Music: An Aural Look at Film
Seminar Leaders: Jane Holloway '11 (English and Spanish), Genna Cherichello '11 (Psychology)
Faculty Advisor: Marilyn Boltz (Psychology)
Seminar Participants: Walker Anderson VII '11 (English)
Matthew Bessey '10 (Economics/Math Concentration)
Matthew Gerard '11 (Math)
Glenn Loury '11 (Religion)
Sameer Rao '11 (Sociology)
Educating Through Animation: Disney as Cultural Pedagogy
Seminar Leader: Maggie Goddard '11 (Religion major, Philosophy minor)
Faculty Advisor: Kim Benston (English)
Seminar Participants: Rebecca Church '11 (Psychology)
Katie Estabrook '10 (Spanish and Psychology)
Laura Martin '11 (Philosophy)
Robin Riskin '12 (English/Africana & African Studies)
Emily Tartanella '10 (English)
Robert Thorstad '12 (Philosophy)
Fashioning the Self: The Problem of Identity and the Narrative of Achievement
Seminar Leader: Bennett Smith, '11 (Philosophy)
Faculty Advisor: Ulrich Schönherr (German)
Seminar Participants: Mark Cavanagh '10 (Classical Languages)
Sam Kaplan '10 (Fine Arts and History of Art)
Joshua Mikutis '10 (History and Religion)
Kevin O'Halloran '11 (English)
David Richardson '12 (English)
Hannah Silverblank '12 (Comparative Literature)
2008-09
SAMPLING: Musical Sampling and Cultural Appropriation in Hip-Hop
Leader: Duncan Cooper '09 (Growth & Structure of Cities), James Kittler '09 (English)
Faculty Advisor: Kim Benston (English)
Seminar Participants: Paul Bisceglio '09 (English and Philosophy)
John Daise '09 (East Asian Studies)
Amadi Gibbons '09 (Anthropology; Minor: Philosophy)
Annie Kohanek '10 (History)
Scott Muller '09 (English and Music)
Dan O'Toole '09 (English; Minor: Economics)
Patrick Phelan '11 (Religion or Anthropology)
2007-08
High Contrast: Representations of Black Women in White America
Leader: Lorin Jackson '08 (Philosophy, Education, Political Science)
Advisor: Jerry Miller (Philosophy)
Seminar Participants: Misha Baker '09 (Growth & Structure of Cities)
Gina Delvac '08 (Comparative Literature/Latin American-Iberian Studies)
Marien Levy '08 (Independent Major in Peace and Conflict Studies)
Precious Kapri Morgan '08 (English)
Andrew John Rech '10 (English, Pre-Med)
Alex Russell '08 (English)
Natalie Wossene '08 (Political Science)
Mining the Folktale
Leader: Justin Dainer-Best '09 (English, Psychology)
Advisor: Kim Benston (English)
Seminar Participants: Tom Carroll '10 (Classics)
Cara Curtis '10 (Religion/Gender & Sexuality Studies)
Ariella Foss '09 (Comparative Literature [German]/Music minor)
Sean Hughes '10 (English)
Sophie Taylor '10 (Linguistics)
Stephanie Wu '09 (English/East Asian Studies)
"I clutched at sound—" Synesthesia Across Disciplines
Co-Leaders: Luke McNamara '08, (English, Film Minor) and Ben Lansky '08 (English/Creative Writing, Gender & Sexuality Studies)
Advisor: Laura McGrane (English)
Seminar Participants: Bianca Bromberger '08 (Psychology/History of Art)
Ryan Cameron '09 (English/Fine Arts)
Jacob Carroll '09 (English/History of Art minor)
Conall Cash '08 (English)
Vidya Gopinath '10 (Biology/NeuroBio Concentration)
Laura Jones '09 (Biology/NeuroBio Concentration)
It Started Out Like a Song: The Art of Musical Theatre
Co-Leaders: Nina Morton '08, (English/Chemistry) and Caroline Goldstein '08 (Music, Education minor)
Advisor: Laura McGrane (English)
Seminar Participants: Siggy Moore '09 (Math)
Cody Oakley '10
Sarah Singley '10
Abigail Wacker '10
Anna Weltman '09 (Math/Political Science)
2006-07
Art and Articulation: Meaning and Intention in the Nuances of Artistic Expression
Leader: Evan Rodriguez '08 (Classics/Philosophy)
Advisor: Deborah Roberts (Classics/Comparative Literature)
Seminar Participants: Peter Barish '08 (Biology; Minor: Philosophy)
Justin Dainer-Best '09
Allyn Gaestel '09
Karen Terry '09 (History of Art/Religion)
Oliver Wunsch '07 (Fine Arts; minor: History of Art)
Chloe Levenson '09
Seen and Not Seen: Twentieth Century U.S. Working Class Narratives, Representations, and the American Dream
Co-Leaders: Jackie Richards '07 (Philosophy) and Heidi Smith '07 (English)
Advisor: Jerry Miller (Philosophy)
Seminar Participants: Anna Pellecchia '08 (Philosophy/Gender & Sexuality Studies Concentration)
Mitra Eghbal '08 (Biology/Linguistics)
Anna Mancusi '07 (Comparative Literature with French; minor: Philosophy)
Max Rosen-Long '09
Liz Booth '07 (Political Science; Spanish, Latin American & Iberian Studies Concentration)
"When We Were Orphans"
Leader: Zoe Marquardt '07 (English; minor: History of Art)
Advisor: Dorian Stuber (English)
Seminar Participants: Graeme Harcourt '09
Ben Lansky '08 (English with Creative Writing Concentration; minor in Gender & Sexuality Studies)
Lucas McNamara '08 (English; minor: Film Studies)
Hilary Mislan '09 (Political Science, Pre-Med)
Jonathan Pober '07 (Physics and Astronomy; minor: Philosophy)
Victoria Salinger'07 (History of Art; minor: Mathematics)
2005-06
I Love My Culture, But Where is My Feminism?: Women of Color Responses to the Second Wave
Co-Leaders: Allison Jones '07 (Sociology/Education minor) and Deepa Vasudevan '07 (English /Anthropology minor)
Advisor: Raji Mohan (English)
Seminar Participants: Derek Ettensohn '06 (English; minor: German),
Steve Hagenbuch '07 (History; minor: Spanish),
Laura Kasakoff '06 (Mathematics/Computer Science)
Marien Levy '08 (Peace & Conflict Studies)
Katie Schnur '07 (English/Feminist & Gender Studies)
Katrina Schwartz '08 (English)
2004-05
"What are Poets and Polynomials For?"
Co-Leaders: Dave Alff '05 (English) and Dave Henry '05 (Mathematics)
Advisor: Josh Sabloff (Mathematics)
Seminar Participants: David Burkhardt '07 (Physics)
Hilary Franklin '05 (English)
Jessica McDonald '06 (English/Biology)
Su-Lyn Poon '05 (Anthropology)
Robyn Schelenz '07 (Sociology)
Brian Walker '05 (Mathematics)
The Bizarre and the Grotesque in Literature, Art, and Film: Honest Looks at a Mad World
Leader: Lewis Bauer '06 (English)
Advisor: Debora Sherman (English)
Seminar Participants: Brooks Ambrose '06 (Sociology)
Liz Caris '06 (Psychology)
Emma Chubb '06 (History of Art/French Studies)
Greg Greenberg '05 (Anthropology)
Michael Kassler-Taub '06 (Philosophy)
James Weissinger '06 (English)
Topography of the Family: On Ideology, Science, Religion, and the Politics of Conjugal, Filial and Gendered Life
Co-Leaders: Beah Burger '06 (Anthropology) and Ross Lerner '06 (English/Comparative Literature)
Advisor: Stephen Finley
Seminar Participants: Benjamin Cooper '05 (Religion)
Marguerite Grady '05 (Political Science)
Sarah Lorr '05 (History)
Brooke Phan '06 (Anthropology)
Craig Tutterow '07 (Sociology)
Brendan Wattenberg '06 (English)