Course Listings
Complete and up-to-date course information is available on Hampshire's online catalog.
Spring 2026 Course Listings
This course will examine queer love, relationship structures and attachments, and how these elements of the relational self inform individual identity development. These themes will be explored within grounded foundational paradigms of intersectionality, queer theory, and relationship anarchy and through the lens of various psychological and sociological theoretical models, including the ecological systems model, attachment theories, and the nested model of trauma, amongst others. Queer love and relationships will be explored as represented through media and in research, and across time and culture. Dynamics of attachments and relationships will be explored in detail as they relate to queer identity development. Special topics include nonmonogamy/polyamory, the asexuality spectrum, BDSM/kink, and decolonizing love. The latter aspect of the course will focus on the application of learned skills to real-world scenarios. Keywords:Psychology, relationships, attachment theory
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time, , BOOKS:, , Title:All about love: New visions, Author:bell hooks, ISBN:9780060959470, Cost:
Distribution: LC2
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 333
Marginalized people have always existed in the games industry, and their contributions have had an indelible impact on the field. This course examines the historic accomplishments of many such individuals as well as the tumultuous backlash they often face from misogynistic and white supremacist movements. Students will research and discuss gaming communities, the political movements and ideologies fostered within them, portrayals of power and identity in games, and the labor conditions under which games are produced. Through a combination of analytical and creative assignments and exercises, students will gain a better understanding of how games have historically been informed and influenced by notions of identity and sociocultural power, and what the greater implications are for the medium's (and the industry's) future. Keywords:gender, culture, feminism, games, power
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time, , Library Materials: Please list below library materials needed for, this course. These may include books, e-resources, journals,, films, streaming audio, etc., Books: Gamer Trouble: Feminist Confrontations in Digital Culture, by Amanda Phillips, Gamer Girls: 25 Women Who Built the Video, Game Industry by Mary Kenney, Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny by, Kate Manne, Video Games Have Always Been Queer by Bo Ruberg, , Games: Spider-Man: Miles Morales (2020), Gone Home (2013), Alan, Wake II (2023), Goodbye Volcano High (2023), Dragon Age: The, Veilguard (2024), Grand Theft Auto V (2013), Persona 5 (2016),, Heavy Rain (2010), Bayonetta (2010)
Distribution: LC2
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 131
Animal migrations are a core component of ecosystem functioning and connectivity. Movement of animals across different habitats transfers nutrients, modulates disease processes, and supports dynamic food webs. In this course, we will review and discuss current literature describing animal migrations across terrestrial, marine, and aquatic habitats. Students will learn about the role of animal migration in local and regional ecology and the behaviors that contribute to coordinated movements of populations. We will read and discuss peer-reviewed literature that identifies the array of behavioral mechanisms and environmental and biological stimuli involved in animal migration across taxa. We will contextualize this knowledge within our understanding of climate change impacts and the sociopolitical complexities of wildlife management across borders. Keywords:animal behavior, migration, ecology, aquatic, marine, terrestrial
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time, , Field Trip fee: (mileage, admission fees, etc.), 22 miles - Holyoke Fish Lift to observe fish migration
Distribution: LC1
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 110
Coasts are on the front lines of climate change, experiencing firsthand the effects of increasing sea level, storm severity and frequency, and ocean temperature and acidification. Human and animal communities that occupy coastal habitats are almost certainly or soon-to-be affected by climate change. ??In this course, students will examine coastal change through a transdisciplinary lens. We will review examples of successful and unsuccessful mitigation strategies and the co-development of climate action plans, with a focus on partnering with Indigenous peoples. Students will engage in role-play and scenario-planning activities to develop equitable solutions to emerging problems facing coastal human and animal communities. Keywords:Animal behavior, climate change, social-ecology, coastal processes, marine science
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution: LC1
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 333
We explore the intersection of sustainable agriculture, natural fibers, and community-building through the lens of wool. This supported project course considers the concept of a fibershed-examining how we can create a regional wool economy supporting land and people. Through a combination of readings, field trips, and creative collaboration, students investigate the full lifecycle of wool, from the soil that nourishes sheep to finished fiber products that can return to the soil. Students engage in real-world projects of their own design that foster the development of a sustainable wool economy through wool crafts (we have access to spinning wheels, looms, knitting and crocheting tools), connections to farmers or work with other community partners. Participants will develop project skills and practical skills in fiber production while contributing to the future of regenerative textile systems. There will be a series of Saturday field trips (dates TBD) and a final campus presentation. Instructor permission process https://forms.gle/pzctRAjhvZwD416Y8 Keywords:sustainability, fiber arts
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC1
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 222
As with many disciplines in game development, the role of narrative design and those who specialize in it varies significantly from studio to studio and project to project. This course will teach students how to not only create stories but also how to effectively present them to an interdisciplinary team and incorporate feedback into their work. Students will create polished materials in the form of linear scripts, branching interactive fiction, and storyboards - along with accompanying design briefs that detail the way their materials could impact other collaborators. Please email the instructor at jeFAC@hampshire.edu with a request to enroll and an overview of your familiarity with game development and/or storytelling." Keywords:Game development, production, design, communication, narrative
Students should expect to spend 10 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time, , Books:, , A playful Production Process: For Game Designers, Author: Richard Lemarchand, , Games: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2009), Disco Elysium (2019),, Gone Home (2013), What Remains of Edith Finch (2017), Alan Wake, II (2023), Borderlands 2 (2012)
Distribution: LC5
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 126
Where does good curriculum design come from? What is the relationship between curriculum and pedagogy? How do good educators promote deep learning despite the current political climate that emphasizes content mastery and efficient instruction? In this course, you will learn research-based curriculum design practices, how to focus on conceptual understanding and the development of higher order thinking (e.g. critical thinking, integrative thinking, innovative thinking) in a number of domains and across multiple contexts. Each student develops a curriculum unit on a topic of their choice. In addition, students get some practice teaching their materials to one another. This course is designed for Division II and III students who are interested in teaching in formal or non-formal settings or who are developing curriculum as part of their independent work. Prerequisite: prior coursework in education or equivalent experience in educational settings. Keywords:Education, Curriculum Design
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution:
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 108
This course will examine queer love, relationship structures and attachments, and how these elements of the relational self inform individual identity development. These themes will be explored within grounded foundational paradigms of intersectionality, queer theory, and relationship anarchy and through the lens of various psychological and sociological theoretical models, including the ecological systems model, attachment theories, and the nested model of trauma, amongst others. Queer love and relationships will be explored as represented through media and in research, and across time and culture. Dynamics of attachments and relationships will be explored in detail as they relate to queer identity development. Special topics include nonmonogamy/polyamory, the asexuality spectrum, BDSM/kink, and decolonizing love. The latter aspect of the course will focus on the application of learned skills to real-world scenarios. Keywords:Psychology, relationships, attachment theory
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time, , Books:, , Title:All about love: New visions, Author:bell hooks, ISBN:9780060959470
Distribution: LC2
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 333
This course explores the complex etiology of addiction through an ecosystems lens, emphasizing the interplay of biological, psychological, social, and structural factors. Students will critically examine addiction within contexts of power, oppression, and systemic inequality, focusing on how race, class, gender, and other social determinants shape addictive behaviors and recovery pathways. The course integrates foundational theories with anti-oppressive frameworks to address assessment and evidence-based treatment approaches. Emphasis is placed on understanding addiction as a multidimensional phenomenon influenced by individual and societal forces, with a focus on social justice and culturally relevant interventions. Keywords:Psychology, addiction, substance use
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution: LC2
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 107
In this course, we will examine a range of organizing struggles that took place during the "Long Civil Rights Movement." By reading scholarly articles, movement newspapers and activist interviews, we will explore critical debates and questions raised by researchers and movement veterans. Do we understand the "movement" in terms of ideologies articulated by established leaders, by determining the nature of the political climate, or by examining community traditions and conceptions of what Robin Kelley calls "Freedom Dreams"? Do we begin our exploration---in the 1950s, 1960s or perhaps sooner? Does the emergence of newly independent nations in Africa and Asia shape activist conceptions of civil rights, human rights, nonviolence, self-defense, and citizenship? How do contemporary organizers in movements against police brutality and struggles for immigrant rights draw from the lessons of these 20th century movements? This course will prepare you to develop a grounding in historical methods and conduct social movement research. Keywords: African American History, Civil Rights, Black Power, human rights, poverty
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution: LC2
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 105
When the Roman Empire imploded in 476, refugees from the Italian mainland settled on a few disconnected islands sheltered from the open Adriatic Sea by a lagoon. Within a few centuries, they created one of the most unlikely, beautiful, and long-lasting European cities ever to have been built. The cooperative spirit with which early medieval Venetians were able to create an urban environment built on seawater found its expression in the political and societal structures they formed to govern their city, republic, and, eventually, empire. In this course, we will discuss key events in the history of this extraordinary city, whose autonomy and self-government lasted until Napoleon invaded it in 1797. Topics include: Africans in Venice; art, architecture, and urban planning; the formation of an aristocratic but republican constitution; the emergence of civic institutions, poor relief, and neighborhood organizations; the history of the Ghetto and its Sephardic, Ashkenazi, and Italian communities; Venetian sea-trade and the conquest of the Levantine Empire; the Venetian Renaissance; ties with Byzantium, the Mamluk and Ottoman Empires; convent culture; proto-feminism; Enlightenment. These topics will be discussed in the wider context of historical developments in the European and Mediterranean Middle Ages and early modern period. Keywords:History, Art History, Venice, Renaissance, Mediterranean
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC2
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 106
This course will review the relationship between the United States and the Middle East since the early 20th century until today. Through a series of guest lectures, readings, videos, and other assignments students will understand the various dimensions of US intervention in the Middle East as well as the various ways that the Middle East has been discussed in US politics and culture. Topics will include the King-Crane Commission, the role of oil in US policy towards the Middle East, US Responses to Arab Nationalism, US-Israeli-Palestinian relations, the US invasion of Iraq, the Arab Uprisings, the role of economic sanctions, the Abraham Accords, among other topics
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC2
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 108
The peoples, philosophies, arts, and cultural resources of Africa have made and continue to make fundamental contributions to every society on earth - particularly to visionings of humanity, justice, liberation, and community. Yet, from the imperial United States, Africa is often the least considered continent, its diverse peoples and realities obscured by racist stereotypes rooted in the long and ongoing history of European colonialisms and empire. This introduction to African narratives, focused on key historical, modern and contemporary African texts of different genres, unfolds in three parts. Through early epic poems, we encounter precolonial African kingdoms; next, we engage anti-colonial texts and confront European imperialism in Africa; we end the semester by engaging contemporary fictions and philosophy. Works we may consider include: Sundiata, Fanon, Diop, Kenyatta, p'Bitek, Lumumba, wa Thion'go, Achebe, Ba, Biko, el Sadawi, Rugero,Tadjo and Sarr. Keywords:Africa, literature, culture, decolonisation
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC2
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 105
Many people think of history as an authoritative account of the past, based on indisputable facts. Historians, however, understand it as an evolving interpretation: debate. They argue not just over the interpretation of facts, but even over what constitutes a fact. What happens in the age of "fake news" and "alternative facts"? What is the difference between debating why the Holocaust happened vs. claiming it never happened? Whether Vikings came to America vs. extraterrestrials built the pyramids? Did women have a Renaissance? How did French peasants understand identity? Were Nazi mass murderers motivated by hatred or peer pressure? Nazism discredited the idea of race, but can genetics help Blacks and Jews recover their lost histories? Additional topics may range from the measurement of technological and cultural change to the distortion of history for political purposes. Students will come to understand how historians work and thereby learn to think historically. Keywords:history
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution: LC2
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 107
This course examines the fraught intersection of politics and popular culture in the US. In this class, we ask: What is pop culture? How does it differ from other cultural expressions? How does pop culture both challenge and reify white supremacist capitalist patriarchy? What and who get to be political? How does pop culture act as a vehicle for the appropriation or exploitation of Other cultures? Is consuming pop culture a form of political action? How do explicit political themes both enrich and detract from consumption? What economic imperatives drive pop culture production? What are the relationships between commerce, politics, and art? Particular attention will be paid to: the racialized construction of masculinity and femininity in popular culture; the appropriation of racial and gender identities; the role of global capitalism in the production of popular culture. This course is reading-, writing-, and theory-intensive. keywords:Media Studies, Ethnic Studies, Critical Race Theory, Gender Studies, American Studies
Students should expect to spend 8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC2
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 2
What is the idea of the university and how did we find ourselves here, in one? What, or who, is the university for? The university, as we now know it, is a place of immense contradiction: supposedly sites of nationalist or cultural cohesion, but also, as Bill Readings has shown, empty signifiers for "excellence." They are places where we might theorize queer horizons, but, at the same time, institutions that have financial investments in anti-queer, racist industries like weapons, prisons, and dispossessive technologies. In this class we'll trace a history of the university and its interfacing with queerness, from the far right's attempt to co-opt universities, to encampments for Palestine, backwards to the mid-century and GI Bill. We'll seek to understand how it was that queerness became absorbed into the university, and to what ends. Throughout, we'll think queerness alongside other topics in critical university studies: labor, precarization, globalization, debt, and neoliberalism's phagocytic relation to "difference." Keywords:queer studies, pedagogy, neoliberalism, fascism
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC2
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 102
Reconstruction represents one of the nation's most dramatic battles to redefine the meanings of freedom and U.S. citizenship. This course will begin during the Civil War or what W.E.B. Dubois called the "rehearsal for reconstruction." We will explore how freedmen and women organized to make their newly free status have meaning in several arenas. These arenas include Freedmen and women's rights to enjoy the fruits of their own labors, access to land, public education, and the time and freedom to enjoy leisure, express joy and engage in artistic production. Students will read historical literature of this period, as well as historical newspapers, and primary documents, such as Freedmen's Bureau records. Students will deepen their understanding of Reconstruction scholarship, its potential meaning for current debates about democracy, as well as a strong grasp of historical methods. Keywords:African American History, US history, Reconstruction, labor history, agricultural history
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution:
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 105
According to a famous quip, antisemitism means "hating the Jews more than necessary." Why hate them at all? Among the most perplexing things about antisemitism is its persistence for over two millennia in a wide variety of settings. After the Holocaust it seemed no longer acceptable. Today, although Jews are more integrated than ever into western society, 73% of US voters see antisemitism as a problem, and 83 percent of Jewish college students report having witnessed or experienced it in the past two years. And yet others on the left as well as right accuse Jews of "weaponizing" the charge for sinister purposes. History is the key to understanding the conflicting views-and perhaps attaining eventual mutual understanding, The course moves from the anti-Judaic teachings of the Christian churches to the rise of modern social, political, and racial antisemitism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and contemporary manifestations and controversies. Keywords:Judaism, Christianity, religion, racism, Holocaust
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC2
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 107
The Virgin Mary is not Catholic. When, in 431, the Council of Ephesus declared the Virgin Mary to be Theotokos or God-Bearer, she had already been venerated in Egypt since the third century as a re-instantiation of Isis. The syncretism of her cult explains her ubiquitous popularity in medieval Byzantium and the Latin West, but also early Islamic Syria, Ethiopia, and colonial Latin America. Her frequent depiction on moveable wooden panels (icons) and mosaics accompanied her early rise to liturgical prominence. By 1200, she rivaled Jesus Christ in religious importance, not only through her role as intercessor, but also as dispenser of divine grace in the form of breastmilk. She was the most active miracle-working saint in all of Christianity; Muslims worshipped her on occasion, as well. Her frequent depiction on icons, altarpieces and devotional panels accompanies - and, in part, explains - the development of figurative art in the West. In colonial America, she became known as the Conquistadora; the introduction of her cult ended prior religious forms of expression, but also helped them to partially survive in a new context. Keywords:History, Catholicism, Virgin Mary, Art History, Religion
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution: LC2
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 106
This course offers a survey of Critical Indigenous studies- transnational and transdisciplinary theorizing from a new and emerging generation of Indigenous scholars. As a field, Critical Indigenous studies makes crucial interventions in our collective understanding of colonialism, empire, race, gender, sexuality, identity, democracy, personhood, migration, environmental justice, human rights, and multiculturalism. Centering the fact that Indigenous knowledge is vibrant, dynamic, and pertinent to issues of universal concern, this course aims to develop a broad and deep appreciation for Indigenous modes of analysis and contestation that allow us to transgress and transcend colonial traumas, borders, states, and fictions Keywords:Gender, race, indigeneity, critical theory
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC2
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 101
In this course we will explore the intersecting and multidimensional systems and institutions (law, medicine, the family, the state, education) that affect global health politics, access to reproductive health care, rights, and justice. Some of the questions we will investigate include: How do the socio-cultural, economic, and political contexts in which people live affect health and well-being? How are reproductive health, reproductive rights, and reproductive justice connected to inequities in systems of global health, development, and power? How do global systems of racialized capitalism and the exploitation of the land and people of the Global South affect global health and development practices? How do local and global systems of structural violence impact health and well-being? What policies and practices function to negotiate systems of violence, marginalization, and inequity? Keywords:Reproductive Justice, Global Health, Feminist Philosophy, Intersectionality
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC2
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 101
This course introduces students to themes, movements, and scholars in the Black radical tradition. We will examine how Black intellectuals and organizers (e.g., Cedric Robinson, Saidiya Hartman, Angela Davis, Assata Shakur, Frantz Fanon) have theorized and fought for dignity and freedom against slavery, colonialism, capitalism, patriarchy, and prisons. Within this reading-intensive, discussion-centered course, particular attention will be given to the intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, and geography in shaping Black thought and liberation struggles. We will engage material in a variety of genres and will plan and carry out scholarly and creative projects. Students across a range of disciplinary interests are welcome, including the arts (e.g., music, film, animation, graphic novels). While all students will write papers during the semester, final projects can be completed as academic papers or in other media. Pre-requisite: "One Race & Power course beyond the Div I Seminar" Keywords:Black, liberation, capitalism, racism, radical
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time, , Library Materials: Please list below library materials needed for, this course. These may include books, e-resources, journals,, films, streaming audio, etc., Cedric Robinson, Black Marxism, Saidiya Hartman, Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, Angela Davis, Are Prisons Obsolete? , Assata Shakur, Assata, Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth
Distribution: LC2
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 104
The peoples, philosophies, arts, and cultural resources of Africa have made and continue to make fundamental contributions to every society on earth - particularly to visionings of humanity, justice, liberation, and community. Yet, from the imperial United States, Africa is often the least considered continent, its diverse peoples and realities obscured by racist stereotypes rooted in the long and ongoing history of European colonialisms and empire. This introduction to African narratives, focused on key historical, modern and contemporary African texts of different genres, unfolds in three parts. Through early epic poems, we encounter precolonial African kingdoms; next, we engage anti-colonial texts and confront European imperialism in Africa; we end the semester by engaging contemporary fictions and philosophy. Works we may consider include: Sundiata, Fanon, Diop, Kenyatta, p'Bitek, Lumumba, wa Thion'go, Achebe, Ba, Biko, el Sadawi, Rugero,Tadjo and Sarr. Keywords:Africa, literature, culture, decolonisation
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC2
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 105
Officially, autism is a psychological and neurodevelopmental diagnosis as well as a disability. It is also a life experience, identity, and-for some-a source of power and point of pride, as part of a broader neurodivergence movement. In this discussion-centered course, we will read work about autism primarily by autistic writers (and illustrators) and will spend much of the course planning and carrying out scholarly and creative projects related to autism and/or other aspects of neurodiversity. Students are expected to enter the course with concrete ideas for their desired project, as well as familiarity and experience with autism and/or other aspects of neurodiversity. Personal, lived experience of neurodiversity is very much welcome and encouraged. Students across a range of disciplinary interests, including the arts (e.g., film, animation, graphic novels, music), are welcome. Please fill out the instructor permission form if interested: https://forms.gle/D3aYWfU89VxnaoyHA Keywords:Autism, autistic, neurodiversity, neurodivergence, disability
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time, , Library Materials: Please list below library materials needed for, this course. These may include books, e-resources, journals,, films, streaming audio, etc., A Kind of Spark, Elle McNicoll; Welcome to the Autistic, Community, ASAN; Neuroqueer Heresies, Nick Walker; The Secret, Life of a Black Aspie: A Memoir, Anand Prahlad; All the Weight of, Our Dreams, edited collection; How Can I Talk, If My Lips Don't, Move, Tito Mukhopadhyay; Autism is Not a Disease, Jodie Hare; May, Tomorrow Be Awake, Chris Martin; Self-Care for Autistic People,, Megan Neff
Distribution: LC2
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 104
What if a settler future is already dead? This course explores Indigenous nihilism as both a philosophical provocation and a set of material conditions under world systems built to sustain Euro-American colonial conquest. Drawing from critical Indigenous studies, and Black, Indigenous, and non-European anarchisms, we will examine how anti-colonial nihilism (or doubts about the existence of meaning, purpose, and progress under modern/colonial conditions) emerges out of dispossession, racial terror, and a sober analysis of what is even possible under prevailing conditions. We will engage with key texts (which includes formal scholarship as well as zines, art, films, documentaries, and music) that interrogate our understanding of meaning, meaninglessness, despair, futility, futurity, and negation. We will consider how these ideas are deepened and complicated when read through Indigenous cosmologies, practices, pedagogies, and desires. These provocations will encourage us to destabilize dominant, concessionary, and settler-driven narratives of resilience, reconciliation, justice, and revolution. In doing so, we will consider what it means to think, teach, learn, relate, and act after hope. Keywords:Native American, Indigenous, Nihilism, Anarchism
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC2
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 101
The term 'multipolarity' is used to describe the significant shifts that have taken place in the global political economy in the last thirty years. Specifically it points to the rise of the economic power of countries such as China and India and the relative decline of US and Western economic power. This seminar will investigate these shifts in order to understand the main structural forces shaping the global economy. Topics will include the rise of China, increasing South-South relations, Sovereign Wealth Funds, Transnational War Economies, Climate Change and Insecurity, the fallout of the US Tariff Wars and other pressing international issues. Students will be expected to keep up with a heavy reading load and complete a final research paper on a topic of their choice relevant to course themes. There are no prerequisites for this course but previous courses in economics, politics, or international affairs are a plus.
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution:
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 108
Across the inherited colonial disciplines, scholars increasingly propose that human beings can no longer be studied in isolation from the myriad nonhuman others who share the planet with us. Drawing at once on deeply located indigenous knowledges and changes in global scientific thought, contemporary posthuman and/or multispecies scholarship demonstrates that 'human' beings come into existence, develop, and live and die in intimate relation to other forms of life, now understood as social, philosophical, and historical actors themselves. In the first six weeks, we will engage contemporary scholarship on more-than-human worlds to understand this emerging field. In the second half of the semester, students will work on an independent multispecies/posthuman project of their own. The work will include written reflections and presentations on our shared readings, and an individualized annotated bibliography and presentation of independent work. Keywords: posthuman, multispecies, critical animal studies, ethnography, anthropology Keywords:Animals, multispecies, transspecies, ethnography, anthropology
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC1
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 101
Since its founding, the US has closely regulated the bodies of Others and punished those that rebel against these socially-constructed designations. Utilizing an interdisciplinary amalgam of Critical Race Theory, Sexuality Studies, Queer Theory, Media Studies, Sociology, American Studies, Performance Studies, and Feminist Theory, this course will explore how the state, the media, and civilian institutions police the boundaries of race, gender, and sexuality by pathologizing, criminalizing, and stigmatizing difference. We will also examine how the subjects burdened with these dangerous inscriptions evade and contest them through passing, performativity, and other forms of identity-based resistance. Special attention will be paid to the criminalization of cross-racial and same sex desire; the re-biologization of racial and sexual difference; the dehumanization of immigrants; the racialization of crime; the gendering of mental disorder; the war of neurodivergence; the biopolitics of reproduction; eugenic surveillance; and the role of The Law in constructing and controlling deviant bodies. Keywords:Critical Race Theory, Disability Studies, Queer Studies, Legal Studies, Sociology
Students should expect to spend 10 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution: LC2
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 2
Public education is one of the most contested institutions in American society, shaped by competing political, social, and economic forces. This course invites students to examine the evolving project of public education while developing the analytic tools needed to assess contemporary educational policy. Through readings and discussions, we will explore what it means to be educated in the United States and consider how various processes and policies have expanded or restricted access to educational opportunity and equity. Throughout the semester, we will interrogate the relationship between education, national identity, and belonging, asking why public education has come to represent both the promise of democracy and a source of enduring conflict. The course is both reading- and writing-intensive, and students are expected to engage actively in small-group work and whole-class discussions. Keywords:education, sociology, power, race, school
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time. Pl
Distribution: LC2
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 108
A quick survey of trans writing from the midcentury to today reveals an absurd pattern: trans is, again and again, referred to as "new." Yet many of these texts also point out that "gender discordance" exists across cultures and, in fact, has existed for time immemorial. How to square this ostensible contradiction? "Sex in the Archive" will aim to explore this question-why is trans framed, perennially, as new?-in order to consider not just the deep histories of sex in the archival record, but to challenge conservative policy. In so doing we will reflect on how the archive can be a resource against dire real-world policy and a lodestar in re-envisioning the narratives we tell about ourselves and about others. In this course we will consider both local physical and digital archives and explore themes around representation, racialization, archival ethics, kink, pornography, and sexual panics. Keywords:archives, materiality, sexuality, racialized sex/gender, pornography
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC5
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / WLH
This advanced work-in-progress Division III seminar is designed for students who have previously completed the first-semester Critical Social Inquiry Division III seminar. Students will engage in collaborative planning and share responsibility with one another and the professor for planning and facilitating the workshop, including designing activities related to sustaining long-term projects and bringing projects to completion. Students will also complete multiple work-in-progress presentations on their projects and will be expected to provide timely and thoughtful feedback on one another's work. This seminar is part 2 of a 2-course sequence; students are required to have previously completed the Critical Social Inquiry Division III Seminar. Pre-requisite:Students are required to have previously completed the Critical Social Inquiry Division III Seminar. Keywords:Division III, Independent Projects, Critical Social Inquiry
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution:
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 104
This course will take students through a history of animated films, artists, and processes, beginning with pre-film animation devices of the 1800s and moving into the current millennium. Students will reflect upon the ways that animation intersects with social issues, politics, cultural ideas, and technological innovation across time and geography. We will cover both independent practices and commercial studios, with a breadth of genres and styles of work that includes both traditional narrative animation and art that questions how we define animation in the first place. This course is tagged with the race and power throughline. Keywords:animation history, animation, history
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution: LC5
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 120
In this course, students will develop their 3-Dimensional composition skills using materials like paper, foamcore, wire and non-ceramic clay with a focus on non-objective (nonrepresentational) forms. Alongside development of formal language, the class will reflect on ways in which ideas about composition, form and beauty are culturally constructed. Texts will include readings from The Black Design Experience, A Companion to Contemporary Art in a Global Context and Elements of Design. Students will complete compositional exercises and small projects along with reading, discussion and short written reflections. Keywords:art, sculpture, design, composition
Lab/Materials fee: $45, , Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution: LC5
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / STUDIO 2
This course will be an introduction to the language of visual expression using studio exercises, collage, and repeat pattern making as a method to explore the fundamental principles of visual arts and create meaning. This course will have an emphasis on experimentation, collaboration, gathering, collecting, and reflection. You will be asked to think through process and materials rather than focusing solely on an end product. Students will work with basic materials, found materials, their everyday environments, and learn some Photoshop skills to make repeated patterns through collage. The later part of the course will include a collaborative or self-directed project proposed by each student. There will be some readings, reflections, and discussion on all related topics. Regardless of your area of study, all students will be asked and expected to find their own use and inspiration for making. Keywords:pattern, collage, visual thinking, studio art
Lab/Materials fee:$50, , Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution: LC5
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / STUDIO 1
This course will involve a detailed study of the Japanese cinema. It will highlight works in the dramatic narrative, documentary, and experimental traditions. The films screened will use the past to explore the meaning of the present, examine the relationships within families, investigate formal issues in cinematic construction, and attempt to articulate broader social issues within Japanese society. Class will meet once a week for two hours and fifty minutes plus additional time for second screenings. Participants will be asked to complete a series of papers plus a final project based on class discussions, film screenings, and assigned readings. Keywords:Japanese Cinema, filmmaking
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC5
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 120
In this course, students will learn the fundamental principles of digital photography, encompassing the art of capturing, processing, and digitally printing images. The class integrates hands-on labs to gain a comprehensive understanding of digital photographic equipment, materials, and techniques. Through engaging discussions and in-depth critique sessions, students will cultivate their ability to analyze and articulate their thoughts on the creative process of image-making. This course aims to nurture critical thinking and a discerning eye, empowering students to create compelling and meaningful photographs. Keywords:Photography, Digital Photography
Lab/Materials fee:, , Materials costs range from $150 - $200 for this course., Additionally, a $65 fee applies for digital photo lab use,, including printer ink. , , Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time. P
Distribution:
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 131
This course will be a hands-on and foundational painting studio course with a focus and emphasis on color. Students will be introduced to painting in oil (mainly) and a variety of color systems (CMYK, Zorn palette, etc.) through various assignments and exercises to practice these color relationships. There will be an emphasis on working mainly from observation to start and branching out to incorporate other imagery later in the semester. The objective of this course is for students to build foundational skills for a continued art practice in painting and thinking in/through color. Students will complete several color paintings, small studies, color exercises, learn to stretch canvases, occasional readings, reflections, and discussion. Regardless of your area(s) of study, all students will be asked to find their own use and inspiration for painting. (Possible Saturday field trip to go look at paintings TBD!) Keywords:color, painting, oil, studio art
Lab/Materials fee:$70, , Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution:
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / STUDIO 1
This course is designed to introduce students to key issues in film studies, focusing on the history of American cinema from 1895 to 1960. We will pay particular attention to the "golden age" of Hollywood, with forays into other national cinemas by way of comparison and critique. Screenings will range from actualities and trick films, to the early narrative features of D. W. Griffith,Oscar Micheaux, and Lois Weber, to the development of genres including film noir (Double Indemnity), the woman's film of the 1940s (Now, Voyager), the western (Stagecoach) and the suspense film (Rear Window). Several short papers and in-class discussions will address how to interpret film on the formal/stylistic level (sequence analysis, close reading, visual language) aswell as in the context of major trends and figures in film history Keywords:film, history, United States
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside, of class time, , Library Materials: , , Please list below library materials needed for this course. These, may include books, e-resources, journals,films, streaming audio,, etc., David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction, (12 th ed.), , Books:, , Title: The Craft of Research, 5 th ed., Author: Wayne C. Booth, et al., ISBN: 9780226826677 , Cost: $19.00
Distribution: LC5
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 112
This course is designed for beginning and intermediate-level dancers. The studio will be our laboratory for a semester-long exploration of applying contemporary dance concepts to a ballet practice to discover alternative approaches to ballet technique. Contemporary dance practices, such as release methods, floorwork, and somatic techniques, will activate strength, stamina, spatial awareness, alignment, and breath, which we will then bring to codified ballet barre and center work. We will investigate how contemporary and ballet practices, working together, can offer entryways into grounded athleticism, dynamic rhythm, efficient movement pathways, and deep care for ourselves and our peers. We will actively confront and push against held stereotypes and assumptions about both forms to develop and deepen our dance practices. You will also be asked to reflect on personal dance lineages, critically engage with dance history and the contemporary dance field, identify goals, and articulate new embodied experiences over the course of the semester. Keywords:Dance, Technique, Modern, Contemporary, Ballet
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution:
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / MAIN
Dance scholar Clare Croft proposes queer dance as a space of radical difference, where multiple identities, subjectivities, and politics collide, propelling artists and audiences into world-making action. This course begins with Croft's Queer Dance: Meanings & Makings and expands into other creative and scholarly frameworks for considering the power and potential of queer + dance. Rather than treating "queer" as a monolith, we will examine queer dance through various and intersectional lenses, centering queer artists of color, disabled artists, trans and gender non-conforming artists, and others who resist dominant cultural narratives through dance. In addition to readings, we will engage with dance performances both live and on video. And, we will dance, move, and create choreography in dialogue with class materials and our group conversations. This course emphasizes the relationship between theory and practice as a key place for creating one's own queer methodologies. All levels of experience and identities are welcome. Keywords:Queer, dance, choreography, trans, performance
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC5
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / SMALL
This studio course will cover a breadth of stop motion animation techniques, with a focus on experimental and nontraditional methods and ideas. Students will experiment with a variety of materials and techniques, including claymation, puppet animation, collage, charcoal, pixilation, and object animation. Students will have the opportunity to work on a long form project in this course and will learn to make a stop motion film from start to finish. Stop motion animation is a time-consuming art form. Keywords:stop motion, animation
Lab/Materials fee:$40, , Students should expect to spend 10-12 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution:
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 115
This course is for Div II and III students who are engaged in significant creative projects in dance, performance, or other embodied/interdisciplinary practices. Students should enter with a project in mind or underway. We will meet weekly to discuss and share tools for multiple stages of the creative process: goal-setting, planning, research, development, revising, and production/presentation. Students will share elements of works-in-process at regular intervals, and they will activate co-working methods and other structures of support. Accompanying materials will bridge the project work with future career visioning and the development of artist mission statements. Guest visits will offer glimpses into creative fields beyond college. Previous enrollment in a dance, theatre, or related course with creative assignments or final projects is suggested. While some students will be working toward a specific concert, enrollment in this course does not guarantee a slot in dance program productions Keywords:Dance, Performance, Theater, Production, Art
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution:
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 112
Translation is inherently an ethical and political act, involving inevitable misunderstandings and ambiguity. Things that can be said in one language cannot be neatly transferred into another. The translator works on the border of cultures as well as languages. This gap becomes even more difficult when translating across cultures that do not share the same basic concepts. The idea of translation as treachery is an old one. In this class we will read theoretical and practical works about translation, as well as fictional texts that foreground the task of the translator, such as R.F. Kuang's novel Babel. We will also read poems and short prose texts in multiple translations, and practice our own translations, individually and also in groups. Each student will undertake a translation project. It would be helpful to know a language other than English, but this is *not* a requirement for taking the course. There will be several guest visits by translators. Keywords:Literature, Languages, Border Crossing, Multilingualism
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC5
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 107
The course focuses on the musics of Africa and the African diaspora through the lens of ethnomusicology. Concentrating on selected countries, including Brazil, Cuba, Nigeria, South Africa, and the United States, it examines the musical performance of gender, race, ethnicity, and nationality and the role of music in social and political movements. The course explores the global dimensions of Africanist musical aesthetics as enabled historically and sustained through ongoing transatlantic exchanges between Africa and the African diaspora. Also discussed are the issues of representation and identity in iconic works like Black Is King & Lemonade by Beyonce. Other topics include hip-hop adaptation in Africa and the phenomenal popularity of West African Afrobeats in the United States and globally. Class discussions will be supplemented by workshops conducted by visiting professional musicians as well as the instructor's ethnographic research in West Africa, Brazil, Cuba, and the United States.
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution: LC5
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / RECITAL
Hearing The World: Journalism,Fieldwork,Story,Sound will explore ethnographic practices as powerful tools for understanding culture, identity, and place. Through hands-on fieldwork, students will learn methods of sound recording, interview techniques, and field observation to document the stories and soundscapes that shape everyday life. With an emphasis on the art of conducting interviews and oral histories, students will engage ethically and creatively with communities and individuals, capturing voices and experiences that might otherwise go unheard. Blending theory and practice, students will examine how sounds and soundscapes reveal hidden narratives, connect communities, and challenge us to rethink what it means to hear the world. Students will work on a semester-long project that weaves together voices, environments, and memory into compelling sonic stories. Keywords:journalism,fieldwork, ethnography, interviewing, oral history, community
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution: LC5
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 105
This course introduces students to basic mechanisms of diatonic harmony. Through analysis, performance, and composition, we will build a solid working understanding of basic principles of melody, harmony, and form common in many musical traditions that we consume in our everyday lives. In the first half of the course, we explore composition in 4-part polyphonic texture with and without modulation. In the second half, we explore modes as storytelling devices. Throughout the semester, we study different ways to build a larger coherent structure from smaller melodic motifs and harmonic progressions. Students interested in taking this course need to take the diagnostic evaluation in the first class and demonstrate their music theory competency to get the instructor's permission. Please check the prerequisite below. Keywords:Music theory, harmony, voice-leading, modes, storytelling
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time, , Pre-requisite:Taking a diagnostic placement test is required., Instructor's permission is given for the students who are ready, for the course materials
Distribution:
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 110
"Listening" occupies a special place in Japanese cultures. Whether it be in the haiku poetry, religious ceremonies, political protests, or mundane activities, listening enables people to transcend spatiotemporal boundaries, connect with the invisible and intangible, and engage in the world and the self in a deeper philosophical consciousness. This course explores Japanese sound cultures, with special attention to the underlying unique conceptions of "listening": how have people in Japan cultivated distinct sensibilities in listening, and how, in turn, such sensibilities have shaped Japanese sound cultures. Course materials are drawn from diverse sources across different art forms as well as quotidian sound-making and listening activities across history. This is NOT a Japanese music course. Students are invited to open their ears, senses, and minds to unique cultural values, sensibilities, and practices of listening in Japanese sound cultures and rigorously question their own practices of "listening." Keywords:Japan, listening, sound cultures
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution:
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 110
The focus of this course is dreaming up and creating the tools necessary for a sustainable future for analog filmmaking. This is necessary because a lot of the tools needed for working with 16mm and Super 8 film are no longer made and as a result are very expensive to buy and not accessible to many filmmakers. We will spend part of the semester dreaming up and designing the tools we need and the rest of the semester working in groups focused on making specific designs come to life. We will be partnering with the Center for Design in the creation of these tools. This course will require that we all work towards a common goal of creating filmmaking tools for students to use in future Hampshire film courses. Keywords:Design, Analog, Film, C4D, Future
Lab/Materials fee:$65, , Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution:
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / SHOP
In this class, students will begin by studying fibers and textile practices that are engaged in political action, liberation and social crs change while learning and practicing a range of fiber arts techniques through a series of small projects. In the second half of the class, students will propose and execute their own personal or collaborative activist project. Projects and practices studied will include Underground Railroad quilt codes, suffragist protest banners, the AIDS Quilt, yarn bombing, Heather Schulte's Stitching the Situation, the work of artists like LJ Roberts, Bisa Butler, Kandy Lopez and many more. Class will include a combination of reading, writing and art making. Students will write a project proposal and complete a socially-engaged art work. Keywords:fibers, activism, art, politics
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC5
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / STUDIO 2
Handmade Pictures: Explorations in Historic Photographic Print Processes: This course will explore handmade photographic techniques such as cyanotype, platinum/palladium, wetplate, gravure, and carbon printing. We will examine photographic imagery made using these techniques by historic and contemporary figures in photography. Workshops, readings, and critique will be integrated into the technical aspects of this course. While there will be a healthy emphasis placed on technical application, the overall objective here is for students to actively explore alternative processes so as to incorporate these options into photographic practice. Engaged participation is a critical factor of this course and it will, along with an end of the semester portfolio, figure prominently in course evaluations. Students with prior college-level photography experience will be better prepared to excel in this class. There will be two, teaching assistant supervised lab sessions held during the weeknights. Students will elect to attend one or the other lab session. Keywords:Photography, alternative photographic printing and process.
Lab and Materials fee:$100, , Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution:
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 201
This course will survey filmic techniques of resistance in Latin American cinema with a heavy focus on the Third Cinema Movement. This course will ask: What has a cinema of liberation looked like in the past and what do we want it to look like in the future? Students will spend time watching, analyzing, discussing and writing about these films. They will then be tasked with creating one film that utilizes specific filmic techniques as resistance to push against systems of oppression that intersect with their own lives. Keywords:Cinema, Film, Latine, third cinema, Latin American
Lab/Materials fee:$65, , Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC2
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 120
This course is designed for intermediate and advanced photography students to explore the art of photography and bookmaking. Students will learn the principles of book binding, design, and image sequencing, all aimed at developing their personal photographic projects. Beyond obtaining technical skills, this course will foster a space for constructive critiques and lectures that encourage students to recognize photobooks not just as collections of images, but as profound tools for intellectual exploration and complex storytelling. Keywords:Photography, Photobooks, Bookmaking.
Lab/Materials fee:, , Materials costs range from $150 - $200 for this course. In, addition, a $65 fee for digital photo lab use, such as printer, ink. , , Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC5
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 201
This integrative seminar is designed for students who are working on a DIV III or an advanced DIV II Project (or independent Study) in the arts, media, and humanities. The course will include regular opportunities for class workshopping of students' ongoing DIV III /DIV II advanced projects work. In addition, during the first half of the semester, students will read broadly on topics of shared interest and complete several short written responses to articles that draw from various disciplines in the arts, media, and humanities. The second half of the semester will be student run: each student will select a reading assignment and will lead class discussion on these articles. This course fulfills the Advanced Learning Activity for DIV III students and the Advanced Projects requirement for Division II students. Keywords:arts, media, humanities, independent projects
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC5
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 104
What kinds of stories can we tell from archives? What stories do archives themselves tell? Cultural historians and literary critics often rely on archives and special collections, which contain materials like letters, journals, manuscripts, organizational records, oral histories, photographs, periodicals, and ephemera. Creative writers, artists, and filmmakers can draw upon archives to shape their work as well. In this research- and writing-intensive seminar, students will have the opportunity to develop independent projects in the humanities, arts, media and cultural studies, using archival materials as the foundation for their work. During the first half of the semester, we will visit local archives and special collections at Hampshire, Amherst, Mount Holyoke, Smith, UMass, and the Emily Dickinson Museum, using scholarly sources to develop critical and methodological tools for archival practice. The second half of the semester will focus on the process of developing a substantial independent research project in stages. Peer review workshops will be a key component of the course, complemented by library research sessions and instruction in effective argumentation. Students interested in creative final projects in writing, film and photography, media, and other areas relevant to research in humanities and cultural studies are welcome, as well as students pursuing divisional work in literary studies, film and visual culture, history, and related areas. While students need not have previous background in archival research, they should have a working knowledge of the field in which they will conduct independent research. This course meets the Division II Supported Projects Requirement and is an affiliated course for the Art & Politics Learning Collaborative Keywords:archives, research, library, project
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time. P
Distribution: LC5
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 107
This integrative seminar is designed for students who are working on a DIV III or an advanced DIV II Project (or independent Study) in the arts, media, and humanities. The course will include regular opportunities for class workshopping of students' ongoing DIV III /DIV II advanced projects work. In addition, during the first half of the semester, students will read broadly on topics of shared interest and complete several short written responses to articles that draw from various disciplines in the arts, media, and humanities. The second half of the semester will be student run: each student will select a reading assignment and will lead class discussion on these articles. This course fulfills the Advanced Learning Activity for DIV III students and the Advanced Projects requirement for Division II students. Keywords:arts, media, humanities, independent projects
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC5
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 104
This course is geared toward Division III students and Five College seniors completing or anticipating advanced architectural or other design studio projects. The Advanced Architecture + Design Lab course provides a structured and critical creative environment for students to explore, experiment and design in both an individual and collaborative studio setting. In this course, students will develop their own individual design projects, identifying their own approach, scope and thesis, then executing their creative acts throughout the semester. As a concentrator's course, students will be expected to engage in both the creative challenges presented by the course while working on their own independent semester-long projects. This course is highly interdisciplinary in nature, yet designed for students developing projects in various areas of graphic design, industrial design, environmental studies, architecture and urban planning. This course will be marked by a brief, intense reading and discussion period, followed by both writing and design production on topics both culled from our readings and individual student projects. This course requires substantial out-of-class studio work and commitments to a rigorous schedule of production, culminating in a collective exhibition at the end of the semester. Students must have an individual project in mind or in progress at the start of the term. For non-Hampshire students, students should have an established work methodology and taken several studios in art or architectural design. Students will develop work for a collective exhibition at the end of the semester. Division II Hampshire students are welcome if space permits. Instructor Permission Required--Priority for acceptance will be given to upper-level students; Contact Thom Long at tlong@hampshire.edu for details Keywords:Design, Architecture, Concentrator, Capstone, Studio
Lab/Materials fee:$50, , Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution:
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 3
This course is for Div II and III students who are engaged in significant creative projects in dance, performance, or other embodied/interdisciplinary practices. Students should enter with a project in mind or underway. We will meet weekly to discuss and share tools for multiple stages of the creative process: goal-setting, planning, research, development, revising, and production/presentation. Students will share elements of works-in-process at regular intervals, and they will activate co-working methods and other structures of support. Accompanying materials will bridge the project work with future career visioning and the development of artist mission statements. Guest visits will offer glimpses into creative fields beyond college. Previous enrollment in a dance, theatre, or related course with creative assignments or final projects is suggested. While some students will be working toward a specific concert, enrollment in this course does not guarantee a slot in dance program productions. Keywords:Dance, Performance, Theater, Production, Art
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution:
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 112
This intro-level workshop is for students interested in pursuing all types of narrative/prose fiction, whether literary fiction or genre fiction (science fiction, fantasy, horror, etc). We'll spend some time as a community critically examining short fiction from authors such as Carmen Maria Machado, Octavia Butler, Ursula K. LeGuin, and others, in order to understand how they make use of character, form, structure, place, voice, and other fundamental tools of fiction-writing. The heart of the class, however, will be engaging in in-class writing exercises, developing our own original works of fiction, and then learning how to workshop, iterate, revise, and improve our creative writing in a supportive community of artists. Students will come out of class with a small portfolio of creative work as well as a strong foundation of writing skills to carry into future workshops and other creative courses. Keywords:creative writing, fiction, literature, genre fiction, writing
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution: LC5
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 2
Designers, choreographers, and performers frequently face a traditional performance space or, as is often the case, face a nontraditional space and then question how to "fill" or design within it. What elements help create the functionality and appropriateness of a performance space? We will explore a variety of spaces, traditional and non-traditional, and the "performers" who use or have used them. Through studio/hands-on experiences, we will also explore performance design elements such as scenery, lighting, sound, costumes, or projections. We examine the many ways these elements may serve a text, and/or vision of a performance piece within an array of spaces. Keywords:theater, design, space, performance
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution:
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 21
This course will give you the opportunity to learn how to write stories for the stage through both practice and discussion. We will explore the major elements of playwriting, including conflict, character, dialogue and action and we will deepen our understanding of these various elements by completing and workshopping writing assignments, and giving and receiving feedback with our ensemble members. We will also be reading the work of some of the most exciting contemporary playwrights who are using their voices to tell stories about people and groups often underrepresented by the traditional canon. Over the course of the semester, we'll write pieces of varying lengths and by the completion of the course you will have written and revised at least one ten-minute play. We all have stories to tell, and this class will help you unearth the stories that you may not have previously known were living within you. Keywords:playwriting, plays, writing, theater
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution: LC2
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 21
This course proceeds from the premise that the ideas behind a successful artwork should be intimately related to its media, conventions and platforms-and that those in turn shape which ideas we even think. We will investigate the underlying assumptions of digital media, through the process of making. Students will work with a wide variety of tools that allow for the creation and manipulation of various media, including bitmap and vector images, 2D animation, and sound. In each case, we will look at the history of the medium and the technologies we use to manipulate it (digital photographs and Adobe Photoshop, for example) and make work that explores and critiques their social and cultural context. Students will create a series of conceptually based digital artworks, culminating in a multimedia final project. Art making in general is largely a matter of critical thinking: thinking about one's work, the world in which it exists, and what one hopes to achieve with it. To quote conceptual artist, Sol Le Witt, "The idea becomes a machine that makes the art. " In this course, we will explore the machines that make the art-and our ideas.
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution:
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 126
Design Fundamentals: This is an introductory level design class focusing on understanding problems, generating ideas and developing practical elegant solutions. We will begin with a series of guided activities and projects, with the course culminating in a final independent project. Students will become familiar with a range of basic design tools and skills, such as drawing, computer aided design, model making, and prototyping in materials such as cardboard, metal and plastic. Throughout the course students will work toward improving visual communication skills and the ability to convey ideas. Keywords:Design, fabrication, hands-on, Center for Design,
Lab/Materials fee:$40, , Students should expect to spend 8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution: LC1
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / SHOP
Light Art encourages us to slow down, observe, absorb, perceive, and feel. Light art is immersive, it alters our mental and emotional state. Light art truly invites us into it, not in the figurative manner that all art can, but literally. You pass through it, and it devours you. Whether it's calming, agitating, or whimsical, light can provoke thought or initiate a chuckle. Within a studio format the class will manipulate light and explore light as sculpture and environment. We will tell stories and create acts of guerilla lighting. Using theatre lighting instruments and a vast array of other light emitting sources, students will create individual lightworks that express narratives, or simply reveal. We will study color, color mixing, reflection, and refraction. Students will develop skills and techniques that will inform students' personal use of light as an expressive medium. We will review the history of light art as well as the works of several light artists. Keywords:light, art, installation, studio, color
Lab/Materials fee:$65.00, , Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution:
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 21
This studio course introduces and examines principles of directing for the stage. We explore the world of a play, conflicts, staging, and learning the language of designers. We also explore different modes of communicating with actors. We will look at the work of current directors. How do they approach a script? What is their rehearsal process? How do they collaborate with designers in producing the work on stage? Students will keep a directing journal, analyze plays, and review productions throughout the semester. Keywords:directing, plays, actors, staging.
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution:
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 21
From the Italian word, "sonetto," meaning "little song," the sonnet is among the oldest, strictest, and most easily recognizable inherited poetic forms. In this intermediate poetry workshop, students will read, closely study, and practice drafting and revising a variety of different sonnets-Shakespearean, Petrarchan, Spenserian, and variations thereof. As this workshop level is intermediate, participants will be expected to possess a working knowledge and practice of foundational techniques of poetry. Students may read work by Jericho Brown, Natalie Diaz, Robert Frost, Douglas Kearney, and Meg Day, among others. Keywords:sonnet, craft, poetry, workshop
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution: LC5
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 5
How can we translate the lived experiences of difference, disability, and illness, variously defined, to the page, rendering in language what necessarily exceeds it? What are our ethical imperatives when writing about these topics? In this course, we will think, write, and talk about what it means to inhabit the world in ways that situate one outside of an imagined norm. Together we'll explore the complex connections between the body and mind and the relationship of trauma to difference, disability, and illness. We'll consider the place of science in these conversations: what does it illuminate and what are its limitations? And we'll approach the challenges, and the pain, of writing about difference, disability, and illness while also opening ourselves to the possibilities of transformation and joy that these experiences give to us, not only on the personal but on the societal level, too. This is a Race & Power-affiliated course; as such, we will spend time exploring the intersections between the movements for disability justice and racial justice and the ways in which issues of race, gender, and power inflect lived experiences of difference.
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC5
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / WRC
In this course we will examine how narrators and narration drive and impose structure onto short stories. By doing so, we will begin to consider the role of the narrator in our own creative work. We will study the role narrators play into the function of the stories they tell, whether they feature in those stories or not. Thinking about the veracity of our narrators, we will approach storytelling by thinking about what these narrators add to our stories, and of course what they know and what they think they know, with respect to the story they are telling, and how all of that affects the reader's understanding of the piece. You will submit two stories for workshop, and write a short analytical essay (3-5 pgs) on one of the published works we read. Keywords:writing, creative writing, fiction
Students should expect to spend 8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
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Time:
Location: / WRC
Considered the greatest graphic novel in the history of the medium, Watchmen "presents a world where the mere presence of American superheroes changed history-the U.S. won the Vietnam War, Nixon is still president, and the Cold War is in full effect." Damon Lindelof's adaptation/remix/continuation of the 1986 graphic novel updates its themes of Cold War and nuclear annihilation to center race and white supremacy. This course will closely examine both treatments, along with interstitial materials that act as supplementary documents and a crucial part of each narrative's structure. What can these stories teach us about racism, policing, propaganda, and uses/abuses of power? What can they teach us about the necessity of storytelling? Keywords:watchmen, graphic, comic, television
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time, , Books:, , Title:Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, Author:Scott McCloud, ISBN:978-0060976255, Cost:$16.00, , Title:Watchmen, Author:Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, ISBN:978-1401238964, Cost:$18.25
Distribution: LC2
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 108
This class is a collaboration between Hampshire College faculty Donna Cohn and Division III student Luka Eriksen. We will start the semester by learning and practicing the techniques of traditional broom making that Luka learned while enrolled at Berea College in Kentucky. We will gather natural materials from surrounding local habitats. We will make brooms that are functional, to a chosen specific task that can also be beautiful works of art. We will explore the meaning and value of making things by hand, using renewable materials, and practices that have little negative impact on the environment. We will also look at other examples of broom making - the medium and high-volume production of inexpensive brooms. This class will involve a combination of reading, writing and making objects. You must apply to be in this class - we are looking for people who are willing and able to commit the time it takes to engage with the readings, attend class regularly and practice this craft which requires a fair amount of hand eye coordination, body awareness and patience. Each student will do a final project which involves designing and making an object, either to sell, barter or give as a gift.
Lab/Materials fee:$40, , Students should expect to spend 8-10 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC1
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / SHOP
This course is for students working on long fiction projects of any genre in either Div II or III. We'll build on the foundations of writing craft and develop an understanding of how to apply concepts like character, structure, narrative design, and more, specifically to the form of the novel. We'll also be exploring strategies for developing a consistent and prolonged writing practice - how to sustain one's self as an artist across the long span of time and labor required to plan, execute, and revise a long-form fiction project. Lastly, we'll also consider the position of the novel in our current cultural landscape - what unique powers it has, what its social and cultural responsibilities might be, and where we see it going in the future. Students enrolling in this class will get credit for a Div-II supported project or a Div-III AEA, but *must* be willing to share and discuss their work with others Keywords:creative writing, novels, literature, writing, workshop
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC5
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 2
This studio course introduces intermediate level sculpture and studio art concentrators to mold making and casting processes. Students will be exposed to a range of cast sculpture both historic and contemporary via books and slide lectures. Through assignments and independent work, students will explore the process of mold making and casting through a range of different materials including Plaster, concrete, silicone rubber and thermoplastics. Students will research historical and contemporary artists who utilize casting and present relevant work for class discussion. The course will culminate in an ambitious independent project.
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class tim
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Time:
Location: / STUDIO 3
An introduction to fundamental principles in biology. Topics covered in the course include the following:chemistry of life, cell structure and membranes, cellular functions (metabolism, respiration, photosynthesis,communication, and reproduction), genetics (inheritance patterns, DNA structure and function, gene expression,and biotechnology), evolution, and the principles of scientific experimentation. This course includes both lecture and lab components. Keywords:cell, genetics, evolution, science, laboratory
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside, of class time
Distribution: LC1
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 305
This course, building on a renaissance in game development, will use a variety of games to explore concepts from several fields of mathematics, nearly all of which are pertinent to the study and management of complex systems. We will play games. We will identify and analyze key concepts and structures within those games. We will use that analysis to improve our game playing. Then we will turn that same analytical lens onto the real world. Throughout the course, we will see that the dynamics and concepts that appear in our games (e.g. exponential growth) also appear with surprising regularity in systems we care about and that are important to the sustainability of the human enterprise. Keywords:Games, Systems, Probability, Strategy
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution: LC1
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 333
Science is a product of the society in which the work is conducted. Every political administration in the United States has influenced science, but the acuteness with which the current administration is impacting the direction and dissemination of scientific research is unprecedented. Areas of science including agriculture, health and disease, technology, environment, and energy are all being shaped by the Trump administration. We will review this administration's specific reports, policies, orders, and laws that will affect scientific research. We will review the published science that supports or refutes those reports and policies. Each student will be responsible for adopting a particular area of science of their choosing and documenting how that type of research is being impacted. Students will learn to use scientific primary sources to help differentiate fake science from what has been supported by data. Keywords:scientific research, politics, social media, scientific publication, science communication
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC1
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 2-OPEN
The effects of emerging wildlife diseases are global and profound. They can result in economic and agricultural impacts, declines in wildlife populations, ecological disturbance and even the loss of human lives. Disease dynamics are governed by species interactions and the abiotic environment. We will consider the synergistic effects of globalization, climate change, and agriculture on the spread of pathogens. This course will focus on both wildlife diseases and the ecological context of vector borne human pathogens including but not limited to the Sylvatic plague, West Nile Virus, Lyme disease and the newly emergent Rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus. Keywords:biology, health science, wildlife, ecology
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution: LC1
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 110
In this introductory neuroscience course, examine the function of the nervous system with particular focus on mechanisms at work in the brain. The course will link current advances in cellular, molecular and developmental physiology research in the context of neuronal functional mechanisms. Topics may include neurotransmitter function and regulation, brain area function, integrative intracellular signaling pathways, neuroendocrine control. Advanced topics may include the correlation of ion channel properties and synaptic transmission with physiological functions such as learning and memory, circuits involved in behavior, and the organizational principles for the development of functional neural networks at synaptic and cellular levels. Along with regular reading and discussion participation and problem solving, students will prepare papers and lead discussions on their own chosen topics. Keywords:neuroscience, behavior, physiology, biology, psychology
Students should expect to spend 8-10 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution:
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 333
Science is a product of the society in which the work is conducted. Every political administration in the United States has influenced science, but the acuteness with which the current administration is impacting the direction and dissemination of scientific research is unprecedented. Areas of science including agriculture, health & disease, technology, environment, and energy are all being shaped by the Trump administration. We will review this administration's specific reports, policies, orders, and laws that will affect scientific research. We will review the published science that supports or refutes those reports and policies. Each student will be responsible for adopting a particular area of science of their choosing and documenting how that type of research is being impacted. Students will learn to use scientific primary sources to help differentiate fake science from what has been supported by data. Keywords:scientific research, politics, social media, scientific publication, science communication
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution: LC1
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 2-OPEN
Overview of topics within environmental engineering and how humans have built infrastructure around us. Learn how to leverage chemical, biological, and physical processes to clean the environment. Course topics will span from drinking water treatment, wastewater treatment, solid waste management, hazardous waste management and more. There will be several opportunities for field trips to visit local infrastructure. Throughout the course, we will explore how our approaches to environmental engineering infrastructure intersect with equality and social justice in the community. Friday lab section will be a dedicated space for diving into engineering problems, mathematics concepts, homework review, and ongoing discussions. Keywords:Engineering, drinking water, waste, pollution
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC1
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 316
The laboratory will be an exploration of these chemical, physical, and biological processes with a project to build a semi-functional drinking water treatment facility. These labs will include hydraulic retention time, coagulation and flocculation, adsorption isotherms, calculating biological oxygen demand, measuring water quality and disinfection, as well as dedicated time to build and test a semi-functional drinking water treatment plant. Note: It is a Half Course and Student Must be enrolled in NS-215 Environmental Engineering Principles Keywords:Engineering, drinking water, waste, pollution
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution: LC1
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 2-OPEN
This course will cover physiology of organ systems in a variety of animal phyla, including vertebrates and invertebrates. Topics may include nutrition, temperature regulation and neural, cardiovascular, respiratory, renal, digestive and endocrine function. One focus will be on cellular and molecular mechanisms common across systems and phyla. We will spend some time outdoors and at the Hampshire College Farm. Students will engage in class problems, discussion, and reading of text and primary science literature. Keywords:biology, physiology, animal, health, zoology
Students should expect to spend 8-10 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution: LC1
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 333
Music, art and mathematics share a deeply creative and aesthetic core. They all involve exploring reality within the confines of a created set of rules, and they all hold the potential to reveal powerful truths about the nature of the world, the universe, and human consciousness. The book Godel, Escher, Bach is an intellectual tour-de-force that explores the relationships between these three areas while at the same time drawing connections to many other fascinating topics such as genetics, Zen Buddhism, and artificial intelligence. It is also delightfully playful and is itself a true work of art. At the core of the book is Godel's Incompleteness Theorem, one of the most important and far-reaching theorems of 20th century mathematics with many philosophical ramifications. To come to an understanding of this theorem and why it is true will take us into the rabbit hole and beyond! Keywords:Math, Music, Art, Logic, Computer Science
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time. , , BOOKS:, , Title:Godel, Escher, Bach, Author:Douglas Hofstadter, ISBN:978-0-465-02656-2, Cost:$13.00
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Location: / 3-OPEN
The maple syrup industry is a cornerstone of New England's agricultural heritage and economy: connecting ecology, climate, and culture through one of the region's most iconic forest products. The practice of maple harvest has even deeper and earlier roots in Indigenous cultures of the Northeast. In Agricultural Practicum: Maple Sugaring, students will participate in reviving the campus maple enterprise, including assessment of the existing sugarbush, identifying and tapping trees, collecting sap and managing the boil in final syrup production. Alongside fieldwork, we will explore the cultural history of maple harvest and production, and the plant pathology and forest health issues that affect maples in New England, including pests, diseases, and the ecological impacts of a changing climate. Students will visit local maple operations to learn from industry experts sugaring techniques and production scales. This course integrates hands-on practicum with classroom-based learning, blending ecological insight, agricultural skill-building, historical context and community engagement. Enrollment is by instructor permission, please fill out this interest form https://forms.gle/qMrwL3T95Vj4RspYA Keywords:agriculture, botany, sustainability
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution: LC1
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 102
This introductory laboratory-intensive course will explore the process of doing scientific research in a molecular biology lab (which is relevant to many fields of science including neuroscience and other types of biomedical research). Students will learn numerous techniques in the lab, including DNA isolation, PCR, gel electrophoresis, restriction enzyme digests, cloning, and basic microscopy. Students will engage in a semester-long laboratory research project within a cancer biology gene cloning context. Students will perform protocols, collect and analyze data, and report their conclusions in written and oral formats. This course is intended for students with little or no experience in a biology lab, and it will help prepare students for other laboratory courses such as Cell Biology. Students must be able to come into the laboratory to complete work 10-12 hours per week in the laboratory, including coming in outside of designated class time. Keywords:Laboratory research, genetic engineering, cloning, neuroscience, cancer
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
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Location: / 2-MOLC
This course introduces students to fundamental calculus concepts and applications. The course prioritizes mathematical thinking, concepts, and clear communication while de-emphasizing symbolic manipulation and rote exercises. We will apply mathematical ideas such as integration, infinite series, and Taylor polynomials in a variety of contexts from mathematics, physics, economics, and biology. Coding experience is not assumed, but some comfort with using technology to solve mathematical problems will be a plus. While there are no formal mathematical prerequisites, students should be comfortable with the material from Calculus I and college level algebra.
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC1
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 316
Bioinformatics:Community Analysis: Learn the foundations of bioinformatics with a hands-on class using real data. We will explore how to analyze microbial population data from a large, diverse array of microorganisms by sequencing and analyzing 16S rRNA and 18S rRNA gene amplicons. This type of dataset is extremely common in environmental microbiology, medical microbiology, and even applies to other ecology fields. This course will focus heavily on coding using RStudio and large spreadsheets. The final report of this course will *hopefully* be published in a peer-reviewed journal! This year, we will be exploring how graywater impacts the mycobiome (18S) and microbiome (16S) of soil communities and plant growth. Keywords:microbiology, bioinformatics, environmental, ecology, computational Division II Supported Project Keywords:microbiology, mycobiology, bioinformatics, environmental, ecology
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
Distribution: LC1
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 316
Scientists study the physical world at spatial, temporal, and complexity scales that are beyond the reach of ordinary perception. How does a scientist construct their understanding of the physical world at those scales? This course takes a transdisciplinary approach to the study of scientific understanding. What role does visualization play in the formation of scientific knowledge? How do various forms of representation become accepted scientific practice? How can artistic practice help us illuminate what it means to understand something in a scientific context? This course is for students of science, math, art, philosophy, education, and cognitive science interested in bringing their disciplinary skills to approach such questions through independent group research projects, and a study of common texts in history and philosophy of science, education, cognitive science, and the visual arts. Coursework includes weekly research, reading, and writing assignments, class discussions and presentations, and semester-long projects. This course can be used to fulfill the Division II Project requirement. Keywords:science, art, philosophy
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
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Time:
Location: / 3-PHYC
This course introduces students to fundamental topics in linear algebra. We will use technology to visualize concepts, implement algorithms, and perform calculations that would be intractable by hand. No prior programming experience is required. The focus of the course will be on applications in a variety of contexts, though there will be some theory as well. Topics will include systems of equations, vectors, matrix algebra, linear independence, eigenvalues and eigenvectors, and matrix factorization. While the course has no formal prerequisites in terms of mathematics or coding, it will require some mathematical maturity and/or comfort with programming.
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution:
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 316
This semester we will explore organic structure, reactivity, and spectroscopy through the study of aromatic molecules, carbonyl compounds, nitrogen-containing compounds, pericyclic reactions, and radical chemistry. The emphasis will be on organic mechanism and synthesis, along with relevance of the chemistry to biology, medicine, society, and environment. By the end of the semester you will have a solid intuitive sense of how organic molecules react and will be able to extrapolate your understanding to many inorganic molecules as well. Prerequisite: Organic Chemistry I.
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
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Location: / 2-OPEN
This laboratory course will involve a full-class, full-semester research project aimed at the synthesis of catalysts allowing the use of renewable materials as chemical building blocks. Students will become proficient in synthetic organic laboratory techniques including running and monitoring air- and moisture-sensitive reactions. purifying compounds by extraction, distillation, and column chromatography, and characterizing compounds using physical, spectrometric and spectroscopic techniques, especially NMR and GC/MS. In addition to laboratory techniques, emphasis will be placed on use of primary literature, data interpretation, and experimental design. Prerequisite: Organic Chemistry I with Lab. Corequisite: Organic Chemistry II. Keywords:Chemistry, organic, laboratory, research
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time
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Location: / 2-CHEM
With the dramatic increase in data availability, it is not uncommon to be working with a data set which has far more variables than samples. This is particularly true for ecological data sets, but examples can be found in all scientific fields. This course will teach various multivariate analysis methods designed for exploring high-dimensional data sets and testing related hypotheses. Many of the techniques will use non-parametric, permutation-based algorithms which are simultaneously simple and effective. All skills learned in the course will be applied to real data sets. Students will be expected to culminate the course by finding their own high-dimensional data sets for analysis. They will design and apply an appropriate set of analyses and report their findings. Prior experience in statistics is essential. Keywords:Statistics, Biodiversity, Modeling
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution:
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 316
The effects of emerging wildlife diseases are global and profound. They can result in economic and agricultural impacts, declines in wildlife populations, ecological disturbance and even the loss of human lives. Disease dynamics are governed by species interactions and the abiotic environment. We will consider the synergistic effects of globalization, climate change, and agriculture on the spread of pathogens. This course will focus on both wildlife diseases and the ecological context of vector borne human pathogens including but not limited to the Sylvatic plague, West Nile Virus, Lyme disease and the newly emergent Rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus. Keywords:biology, health science, wildlife, ecology
Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and, preparation outside of class time.
Distribution: LC1
This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / 110
Learn the foundations of yoga through the practice of yoga postures, breathing, techniques, yoga philosophy and meditation. Intended for students who are new to yoga or those looking for an introduction to yoga beyond the poses. Expect detail-oriented instruction, dynamic exploration of movement, and guided relaxation. Please bring your own yoga mat. Yoga mats are for sale at the OPRA equipment room. Five Colleges students will be graded pass/fail.
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Location: / 21
Indoor rock climbing is designed to give students experience on indoor climbing walls focusing on technique and strength development. Students will spend time at the Hampshire rock wall and local rock climbing gyms with the goal of becoming more efficient climbers. Classes will include technique and strength activities/drills in an effort to challenge students at their ability level. When weather becomes warmer, we may spend one to two days outside climbing to explore how indoor skills apply to outdoor scenarios. 5-College students will be graded pass/fail.
Field Trip fee:(mileage, admission fees, etc.), , There will be a $50 course fee which will cover entrance fees to, local rock climbing gyms.
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This course has a Prerequisite:
Time:
Location: / FOYER
The downhill skiing course is designed to give folks experience navigating downhill terrain regardless of experience level. For folks with little to no experience, we will start ground up, building foundational skiing skills over the course of 4 weeks. Students can choose to participate in a formal lesson or learn in a more applied way through experience. For those with preexisting ski skills, you will have the class time to get as many runs in as possible with a group who will provide technical feedback and good company. This course will take place at Berkshire East from January 28th - March 4th. A required course fee of $124 is associated with this course and will cover a lift ticket for Berkshire East for our class timeframe. Students also have the option to rent ski or snowboard equipment ($78) and/or participate in a formal lesson ($63). Please reach out to Michelle (mldop@hampshire.edu) if finances pose a barrier. - Students will receive information on making payments directly to Berkshire East once they sign up. Confirmed dues paid is required PRIOR to the first day of class. This course will be graded pass/fail. A pass for this course is based on attendance and participation.
Field Trip fee: (mileage, admission fees, etc.) $124 min
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Location: / FOYER
Students in this course will practice and learn the basics of using weighted and unweighted exercise to train flexibility/mobility, strength, speed, endurance and coordination. Students will design and receive feedback on an individualized weight training program. Each class session will include cardio warmup, stretching, and weight lifting. Participants who have never been involved in a fitness program are especially welcome, along with experienced students of weight training method. The course instructor for spring 2026 will be John Snyder.
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Location: / WGHT RM
Fundamentals of Tennis: This class covers basic tennis techniques. Our focus will be on developing smooth confident strokes. Students will also spend time learning the rules of the game and playing. 5-College students will be graded pass/fail.
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Location: / CTS/TRK
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This course has a Prerequisite:
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