For Students: Seminars
Student Seminars are interdisciplinary not-for-credit classes designed and run by students, with topics ranging from same-sex marriage to the relationship between poetry and polynomials. Students are invited each spring to propose (individually or with a partner) a theme or subject of interest that they would like to explore in a group setting (six or seven participants) the following fall. The Student Seminar organizer(s) recruit(s) a faculty advisor, who helps develop the students' syllabus, sitting in on one of the sessions in the fall. All books, materials, and refreshments are funded by the Center, and each student receives a generous book stipend to purchase other materials related to the seminar topic. The Center also funds a visiting speaker if desired. Each year HCAH holds workshops for those interested in leading a Student Seminar.
Seminars draw students from across the academic disciplines. In 2012-13, participants joined from the following areas of study: Biology, Classics, Computer Science, English, Environmental Studies, History, Mathematics, Music, Neural and Behavioral Sciences, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology, Religion, and Spanish.
Contact Associate Director James Weissinger for more information.
Seminars for Fall 2012
Asperger Syndrome and its Role in Literature and Film
Seminar Leader: Alec Johnsson '15
Faculty Advisor: Debora Sherman (English)
Members: Aspen deVries '14, Math, Physics minor; Cara Keifer '13, Psychology; Koreana Pak '15; Darwin Keung '14, Biology, Environmental Studies minor, Neural and Behavioral Sciences Concentration
During World War II, an Austrian physician named Hans Asperger studied children who showed a common denominator of symptoms such as impaired social skills, high intellectual promise, obsessive interests in a few passions and overall detachment from society. Unfortunately, the work he did on the condition he termed “autistic psychopathy” was lost amidst the war and never earned wide recognition during his lifetime. It was only in the 1990s, when postmodern concerns of isolation, psychological disability, communication and the dangers of authority collided headfirst with the Internet age and a rebellious youth culture, that Asperger's crucial discovery—now deemed an autism spectrum disorder that afflicts 1 per 150 individuals—came into the limelight. Today, Asperger Syndrome (AS) has become not only an idée fixe in science, education and psychology; it has also become a cultural trope that is rapidly gaining the attention of mainstream literature, television and Hollywood. Yet, the true nature of AS remains broadly misunderstood and essentially contested. Is it fact or fiction? What exactly are its indicators? What are its implications for history, society, progress and evolution? More specifically, within the scope of literature and cinema, can AS serve as a metaphor for a wider crisis faced by the rest of humanity, and if so, how?
Form, Content, Difficulties: Textual Embodiments from Plato to Kindle
Seminar Leader: Aubree Penney '13 (Religion and English)
Faculty Advisor: Gus Stadler (English)
Members: 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
This seminar will examine texts that align with or resist their forms, that demand or are counterintuitive to being formatted or produced in a certain way. From Plato's outcry against the written text as the end of memory to a children's pop-up book, from the power believed to be imbedded within a single written word in a religious text to the modern e-reader's reshaping of our relationship to text, I want to question the ties between what we read and how we read. Using cognitive science, history, psychology, literary theory, and the examination of texts themselves (both print and otherwise), this seminar seeks to generate discussion amongst the Haverford community about the compatibilities and complications of form and content as well as our responsibility as readers and consumers of text.
Music and the Sacred: the Intersection of Religion and the Auditory Arts
Seminar Leader: Micah Walter '14 (Music and Computer Science)
Faculty Advisor: Robert Germany (Classics)
Members: Kiran Rajamani '14, Classics; Matt Walker '13, History, Classics Minor; Naomi Goodman '14, Psychology, Music, Neuroscience; Robin Banerji '15; Tianyi Yang '15; Robert Homan '14, Religion
To what extent can we say that religion has been shaped by music, or music by religion? And is the religious music in general use today comparable to historical sacred music, or is it fundamentally different? Music has a very traceable history in the past few centuries, so navigating these questions becomes both easy and difficult—easy because historical evidence is abundant, but difficult because the musical trails are so complicated. In this seminar, we will look at several different topics in the purview of music, history, psychology and religion, and examine several different religious traditions in the light of these topics. In what ways is the development of these musical traditions similar, and in what ways is it different? Can we see patterns across geographical and temporal boundaries? Finally, can we compare what we see in the present day with the historical traditions we have studied, or do we really live in a different world, religiously and musically, than in the past?
2013-14 Application Timetable
Proposing a seminar:
Sophomores and juniors from all majors are invited to submit a seminar one-page proposal that includes:
- Student name, email address, year, and major/minor/concentration;
- Proposed title for the seminar;
- Name of faculty advisor;
- A substantive initial paragraph generally introducing the seminar topic, followed by a second which describes the questions or thoughts motivating the seminar. Next, discuss the interdisciplinary nature of the proposed seminar: Who would be interested in taking it? Which majors/minors/concentrations, and why? Next, begin to sketch out as best you can a preliminary syllabus—list any texts (written, filmic, hypertextual, etc.) which might be read, and begin to group them around general topics or themes within the seminar, if possible. Finally, suggest three potential guest speakers who you might want to bring to campus.
Please contact Associate Director James Weissinger as soon as possible to set up a meeting and discuss your idea; look at past seminar syllabi to help in writing your own: View Past Seminars »
Upon completion, email your application to hcah@haverford.edu by Friday, March 22nd, 2013 with "Seminar Proposal (your name)" in the subject line.
Joining a seminar
Rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors from all majors are encouraged to apply. Applications should take the form of a MS Word document including the following information:
- Student name, email address, year, and major/minor/concentration
- Name of your faculty advisor
- At least two thoughtful, substantive paragraphs that explaisn your interest in the seminar, what perspectives you would contribute, any suggested texts or documents you might hope to bring, and what you hope to take from participating.
Here's an example of a strong student seminar application 
Please email your application to hcah@haverford.edu by Friday, April 12th, 2013 with "Seminar Participant (your name)" in the subject line.