First Year Seminar

The modern world is a dangerous place, filled with threats both real and imagined. As if to compound that reality, modern societies seem to thrive on horror movies, murder tales, and representations of ghastly violence. What roles do enemies and terror play in the cultures of the modern world from the nineteenth century to the present? What are the connections between fictional representations of enemies, terror, and paranoia and the ways we perceive our actual world? This course will explore such themes through examinations of fictional works, films, and scholarly analysis. Students will hone their writing skills through a series of short papers and will give oral presentations based on original research.

This course studies great questions in the fields of philosophy, politics, and economics. Questions include the meaning of life, the existence of God and free will, the meaning of justice and the rule of law, and justifications for and criticisms of a free market economy. Enrolled Presidential Fellows students are encouraged but not required to participate in the Great Questions Presidential Track. The course is not limited to Presidential Fellows and is open to all interested students. Special guests will enrich the educational experience.

Gamblers, Trickers, Actors, and Sinners: Seeing the World Through the Theatrical "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players." Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act II, scene 7 Can watching Hamlet influence an audience to murder their parents? Does dancing inevitably lead to sexual intimacy? Will watching Harry Potter lead children to practice witchcraft? Does celebrating Christmas with presents and singing make a mockery of the religious basis of the day? Was the Declaration of Independence meant to be a performed script? Writers, philosophers, and scholars throughout history have crafted strong arguments both for the seduction and dangers of entertainments like theatre, dancing, gambling, and holiday celebrations, as well as for the inherent importance of the theatricality of life. This seminar invites students to explore the world through the lenses of theatricality and anti-theatricality using a variety of readings, lively class discussion, written response, and an original research paper and presentation, as we consider the importance of performance and play in our everyday lives.

What is the point of having 'good' manners, and what are the consequences (if any) of having 'bad' manners? Do manners even matter anymore? We might wonder what purpose it serves to hold a door open for someone, choose the right fork at dinner, or wear black at a funeral. Nevertheless, as a society, we invest great value in these seemingly minor elements of dress, gesture, and speech. These codes of conduct regulate our behavior, maintain group cohesion, and exclude outsiders. Our goal this semester will be to decide whether manners ultimately benefit society or inhibit personal freedom. To achieve our aim, we will read fiction from America between 1875-1925, a time of incredible economic, racial, and gendered change. During this time, the literary genre of the 'novel of manners' saw a resurgence in popularity. Reading stories by Henry James, Charles Chesnutt, and Edith Wharton will illustrate how ambition can catapult some people to the highest ranks of society, while a single misstep may mean social catastrophe. Throughout the semester we will play and practice with manners both good and bad and you'll answer for yourself: do manners even matter?

Want to create a Tasty-style video from a historic recipe? Would you like to read-aloud a historic speech from a time before recorded audio existed? Or perhaps you want to tell the story of a famous adventurer complete with historic depictions of their battlefield deaths? Dive into Washington College's Archives, rare books, and digital archives from the college and public archives to explore primary sources and use them as seeds to create your own short videos, or other creative endeavor. No experience required, only curiosity and determination. Students will learn how to delve deeper through library and archival materials, beyond what a cursory researcher might look for and use. Students will learn tools and frameworks for identification, analysis, and connection to the work of archival materials.

Humanity has existed for two hundred thousand years, always under external threat by asteroids, supervolcanoes, and other natural events. In the past hundred years, humanity has developed tools that enable us to end the world. During the Cuban missile crisis, JFK famously estimated the probability of nuclear war to be as high as a 50/50 coin toss. Today we live in a world with nuclear weapons, climate change, global pandemics, and other threats. Emerging fields like synthetic biology, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence may present even larger risks in the near future. In this class we will discuss strategies to evaluate and mitigate these existential risks. We are in a unique moment in human history. We survived a coin toss in the last century. Will humanity continue on a bit more until our luck runs out, or will we reduce these risks and persist for many more millennia?

This FYS will begin by showing students how the future was imagined by writers, artists, and social and natural scientists from around the start of the 20th century through the 1980s, then will shift to an examination of how "the future" has been made into reality in recent decades (such as the virtual/augmented reality "metaverse" and service robots), and finally will ask students to themselves "imagine the future" looking forward - engaging their creativity about how the world might evolve over the course of their lifetimes. It will link creative imaging of the future with social science research and planning for future world challenges such as conducted by the US government's National Intelligence Council, which publishes the open-source Global Trends report on principal expected world challenges twenty years ahead.

Do you know for sure if a paper is written by a human or ChatGPT? Does your professor? Is Grammarly cheating? In this class, we will use information literacy tools to examine the heart and soul of writing. Students will discuss and debate AI use and the ethics of AI in academics. Students will write and review papers written by classmates and ChatGPT to determine who wrote the papers using information literacy techniques.

The course will introduce students to the period of late 18^th Century and early 19^th Century English Literature known as the Romantic Period. William Wordsworth, Dorothy Wordsworth Coleridge, Shelley, and Keats will be the writers included. 

This course introduces students to the role that film music plays in bringing a movie to life. The course introduces students to the ideological and psychoanalytic approaches to film analysis. The course next traces various styles of musical accompaniment from the silent era to the present day, and stresses differences in film music conventions among various cultures during significant periods of historical change. The course discusses music and narrative and differences among various studios (Hollywood, Bollywood, and other international cinema studios) and the hierarchy in which composers create in these various studios. The course does not require a background in music or film studies.

While early video games like Pong and Tetris are mechanically simple and practically empty of story, more recent games have developed into intricate non-linear stories with complex systems. Video games carry the burden and expectation of other media in terms of their place in society. How have movements like Gamergate, Child’s Play, and Game Jams changed the way games are made and played? How do the people who play these games engage with their stories? How do the creators of these video games use authorial narrative tools to give their players an intended experience? In this course, we will explore the narrative expression of video games through framing concepts such as of the gendered gaze, ludology, narrative voice, player agency, cheating, and death, among others.

Boon or Boom? Nuclear Technology and Society With the development of nuclear technologies, humanity has been forced to confront the promise and peril that these technologies present. Energy harnessed from the nucleus of an atom has the potential to generate clean and nearly limitless energy. Conversely, bombs employing nuclear technology have the potential to decimate society. In this course, we will study the science associated with the nucleus and radiation, historical factors that influenced the early development of nuclear technologies, and the political and ethical issues surrounding proliferation and use of these technologies worldwide. Course topics will be explored through readings, student research, and in-class discussions. Students will develop skills in critical inquiry as they learn to communicate clearly, research effectively, and produce clear, reasoned, and well-supported arguments.

This course will explore the internet as an idea and a place, utilizing emerging technologies and artificial intelligence to assist in the research and writing process. Students will conduct research to shine a light on historic and contemporary misconceptions from the iron maiden’s use in medieval torture to the McDonald’s coffee incident to the government removing gas stoves, to recognize bias, interrogate reliability, and consider the accessibility of online information.   

What is liberation? To answer this question, we must also consider the ways that we and other beings might be unfree. What imprisons us, individually and collectively? What are the barriers to freedom? How are liberation struggles and liberation dreams rooted in histories of violence, inequality, and oppression? In this course, we will explore some of the spiritual, physical, psychological, political, economic, and other dimensions of liberation. What can particular metaphysical traditions, like Buddhism and liberation theology, tell us about liberation and our deep interconnectedness? In addition to human liberation, we will consider non-human experiences as we ask: Are humans, non-human animals, plants, and other beings equally entitled to liberation, and who gets to decide? We will explore a variety of genres and disciplines as we explore these questions. Washington College students enrolled in this FYS will have the opportunity to exchange written "dialogue assignments" with incarcerated women who will be enrolled in a separate section of the course at a Delaware prison. These exchanges will deepen our understanding of liberation as we consider the spatial (college vs. prison) and experiential perspectives that we bring to our inquiry.

This course introduces students to dance by engaging with the art form by exploring ongoing themes and current states of dance as a form of creative expression, and connecting relevant relationships to other artistic, cultural, and social disciplines past and present. We will look at dance through various lenses such as dance as community, dance as identity, dance as resistance, as well as questions of who gets to dance and who owns the dance. We will engage with course content through embodied learning by "trying on" multiple dance styles. In tandem with hands on experience, the course will involve collaborative discussions related to readings, interviews, podcasts, and dance films to cultivate connections to thematic material. Through the course you will gain a greater appreciation for and understanding of the physical, creative, and performative processes involved in dance. Students will have a deep understanding of dance and its relevance to the scope of artistic, social, cultural, and political landscapes in which it was created and currently exists. More importantly, students develop personal insight into how to talk about and relate to dance as an enduring language of all bodies.

ADAptable: The Fight for Disability Rights This course will explore the following questions thoughout the semester: What is a disability? What does it mean to have equal access and reasonable accommodations? What were the major moments in the fight for disability rights? What were the major moments' legal, political and ethical impacts? What does justice look like in the fight for disability rights? How do race, gender, and sexual orientation intersect with the disability rights movements.

Adulting 101: Exploring the Social Dimensions of Adulthood Adulting 101 explores the Sociological and cultural expectations of adulthood. Post Industrial Revolution and in this global and technological society, the meaning and social requirements have shifted significantly. What are the skills and expectations of adulthood? What does it mean to be an adult today? Drawing on Sociological theory, students explore the changing definitions and expectations of their own transitions into adulthood. This course blends academic inquiry with skill building to help prepare students for their own movement into contemporary adult life.

Homer to Percy Jackson: Greek and Roman Mythology and Its Adaptations This course explores the rich literary and cultural heritage of Greek and Roman mythology, focusing on Homer's Odyssey and Ovid's Metamorphoses, as well as connecting those stories to modern adaptations, including everything from the children's book series Percy Jackson and the Olympians, to Disney's film Hercules, to the webcomic Lore Olympus, to M. NourbeSe Philips' poetry, to Madeleine Miller's novel Circe. The class will culminate in a research project on a modern adaptation of a mythological story, considering how these heroes and heroines, gods and goddesses, villains and ordinary mortals are depicted and reimagined today to address our own versions of enduring dilemmas and challenges that all humans face.

Pancakes, Birdcages, and Intersectionality In this course we will consider some of the major metaphors that have explained and shaped North American feminism. How do metaphors function in explanations? In the context of feminism, what metaphors have shaped our thinking about injustice and the possibility of liberation? Our focus will be on feminist writings of the last 50 years, especially Black feminism, and the various metaphorical conceptions of intersectionality. If needed, pancakes will be gluten-free. ;)

Humans have been called a "storytelling species," distinguished from the rest of life on earth for our propensity for telling, collecting, retelling, and writing stories. This seminar examines the power of storytelling about our diverse global environments with an eye toward the lessons, morals, arguments, and truths that the story-form carries. Through an engagement with several genres - including nature writing, fiction, environmental history, anthropology, and works from the sciences - this course asks: what makes a compelling story about the environment, and what does it impel us to do?