College Bulletin 2023-2024 
    
    May 20, 2024  
College Bulletin 2023-2024

Course Search


 

Other Courses

  
  
  
  • ARTH 060. Building New Worlds: The Arts and Architectures of Liberation


    This mid-level course examines the legacies of artists and architects who, since the 1960s, have relied on the power of cultural work in struggles for racial emancipation. It centers the contributions to the fields of socially engaged art and architecture of African American, Latinx, Asian American, and Native American practitioners who worked to make the United States a nation for all. Faced with a hostile environment of systemic racism that often excluded them from institutions of artistic and architectural legitimacy, these practitioners relied on imagination and the power of community to plan, realize, and historize their interventions. We will focus on six sites of the built environment that have historically been settings of struggle against racialized systemic violence: the prison, the home, public space, the school, the international border, and the neighborhood.
    Humanities.
    1 credit.
    Catalog chapter: Art History  
    Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/art-and-art-history


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  
  • ARTT 023B. 3D Design II: Process and Iteration.


    3D Design II is focused on expanding skills and techniques within three-dimensional design practice. This course puts an emphasis on working between analog and digital processes as a method for ideation and design development. Basic model-making techniques will serve as a foundation for students to utilize the digital tools in the Makerspace, including 3D modeling with Rhino, 3D scanning, 3D printing, and laser cutting. The course will explore how handmade models can be scanned, manipulated, and reproduced as a tool for working with various three-dimensional design problems. We will consider real-world scenarios through a sustained investigation of form and function, and students will explore the creation of prototypes that can lead to results in additive manufacturing, casting, flat-packed designs, and more. This course balances theory and practice and is supported by lectures, readings, class discussions, and field trips that engage with contemporary issues faced by designers, such as ethics, sustainability, and technology.


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ASAM 001. First-Year Seminar: Chinatowns: Then & Now


    Cross-listed as HIST 001N  
    Chinatowns have long been a fixture of urban life, serving as a haven for workers fleeing anti-Asian violence, a home for immigrant families, and a hub for tourism. This course will focus on the histories and contemporary conditions of Chinatowns in major U.S. cities, though we will also discuss the development of suburban Chinatowns and Chinatowns around the world. We will explore questions including: what spurred the development of Chinatowns? What purpose do they continue to serve, and for whom? What has been their role in Asian American, American, and urban history?
    Social Sciences.
    Writing course.
    1 credit.
    Eligible for ASIA.
    Fall 2023. Truong.
    Catalog chapter: History  
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/history


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ASAM 002. Taiko & Asian American Experiences


    (Cross-listed as DANC 003 MUSI 002C )
    In this course we will examine the origins of Taiko drumming in Japan and consider how the tradition has developed in North America over the past four decades.  We will discuss the role of Taiko drumming in the Asian American Movement, explore different styles of contemporary Taiko in Asian America, and gain basic drumming competency.  Through the integration of academic and performance study we will consider and experience Taiko drumming as a prominent and dynamic Asian American performing art. Open to all students without prerequisite. No prior performance or musical background is required.
    Humanities.
    1 credit.
    Eligible for ASIA, ESCH.
    Spring 2024. Ouyang.
    Catalog chapter: Asian American Studies  
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/asian-american-studies


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ASAM 003. Introduction to Asian American Studies


    This course provides an introduction to the history and experiences of Asian & Pacific Islander people in the Americas, broadly conceived. It will explore the diverse range of experiences that fall under the “AAPI” rubric, including developing frameworks for understanding processes of racialization. We will explore some of the major debates in Asian American studies, including how it is positioned within (and sometimes against) other ethnic studies approaches.
    1 credit.
    Fall 2024. Liu.
    Catalog chapter: Asian American History
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/asian-american-studies


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  
  • ASAM 011. Advancing Inclusive Histories: Creating a K-12 Asian American Studies Curriculum.


    (Cross-listed as EDUC 011)
    In light of persistent anti-Asian racism, organizers across the US have pushed for state legislation to teach Asian American history in public schools and have achieved some levels of success. In 2022, Connecticut mandated the teaching of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) history in grades K-12. In this course, we will collaborate with Connecticut-based organizers who are drafting a model AAPI history curriculum for the state education department, and we will explore the politics of public schooling and curriculum design, including whose histories are taught, and how. All students are welcome to participate in the work of creating curricula that advances more inclusive and accurate histories, and combats harmful stereotypes. No previous coursework or experience needed.
    1 credit.
    Fall 2023. Liu.
    Catalog chapter: Asian American Studies
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/asian-american-studies


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ASAM 047A. Asian American Literature and Culture


    (Cross-listed as ENGL 047A )
    Asians resurface in U.S. national culture from time to time, remembered anew amid perennial forgetting. To what extent does this (in)visibility betray a constitutive role in history? Through literary and cultural texts as well as ethnic historiography and criticism, this course charts the shifting place of Asians in modern America-as activists, transnational holders of capital, immigrants, family members, coolies, migrant laborers, colonized “nationals,” “internees,” refugees, diasporic/hybrid/futuristic subjects of color, alien suspects, and artists-by examining im/migration, empire’s wars, and the interracial future/diaspora. In providing a critical history of Asian America, this course expands the foundational concerns of Asian American studies as a field toward a transpacific and continental Asia/America while exploring minor adoptions of and resistances to Western politics, economics, and aesthetics. Readings may include Crazy Rich Asians, The Year of the Dragon, Philippine-American War political cartoons, America is in the Heart, Obasan, Dictee, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, Tropic of Orange, Homeland Elegies, The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Immigrant Acts, Compositional Subjects, Coolies and Cane, Impossible Subjects, The Oriental Obscene, Partly Colored, Alien Capital, and Racial Melancholia, Racial Dissociation. This course may be combined with another in the 47 series into an Honors Preparation course (pending instructor approval).

    20th/21st c.
    Prerequisite: At least one W course.
    Recommended before or while taking the course: HIST 05B or HIST 010.

    Humanities.
    1 credit.
    Eligible for ASIA, GLBL-paired.
    Fall 2023. Ku.
    Fall 2024. Ku.
    Catalog chapter: Asian American Studies  
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/asian-american-studies


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ASAM 047C. Asian American Gender/Sexuality/Species


    (Cross-listed as ENGL 047C
    Asian Americans are typically represented as either the model minority, the immigrant whose successful assimilation serves to discipline other minorities, or the yellow peril, the eternal foreigner threatening to invade (including from within). How are these figures not only racial but also gendered and sexual, ultimately rooted in the fear that the other may not be human-and that this other will encroach upon the self, reveal the human as other? In what ways do gender, sexuality, and animality, in turn, challenge, even undermine, race? This course zeroes in on Asian/American gender/sexuality to examine the intertwined constitution and irreducible contradictions of desire, power, and identity while keeping an eye on the animal at humanity’s limits. Interrogating the social structures-e.g., patriarchy, white supremacy, Western colonialism, heteronormativity, anthropocentrism-that underpin subjective categories, the course will more broadly think about relationality itself, with everything that it entails-e.g., (in)visibility, love, violence, beauty, abjection, friendship, family, the body, consumption, pain, joy, emotionality, optimism, fantasy, and the crossing of boundaries. We will focus on American representations of Asian masculinity and femininity, Asian association in the (post)colony with appetite, and Asian reclamations of the queer/child/animal. Readings may include M. Butterfly, Warrior, The Chinaman Pacific and Frisco R. R. Co., Charlie Chan is Dead 2, The Joy Luck Club, “Happiness: A Manifesto,” The Book of Salt, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel, The Surrendered, Dogeaters, Sort Of, and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

     

     

     
    Prerequisite: Prerequisite: At least one W course. 

    Recommended: At least one ENGL, ASAM, or GSST course
    Humanities.
    1 credit.
    Eligible for ASAM, ASIA, GSST
    Spring 2024. Ku.
    Catalog chapter: Asian American Studies  
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/asian-american-studies


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ASAM 050. Consuming Asian America


    Food, glorious food! Tikka masala, adobo, pad thai, General Tso’s-all dishes that are popular and ubiquitous in the US. But how did this come to be? And why is Asian America so often associated with food? This course explores the foodways of Asian America-that is, the cultural, social, and economic processes that shape the production and consumption of food. It also explores the gustatory delights of Asian American food, requiring students to not only create dishes that demonstrate knowledge of migration patterns and cultural contact, but also to cook dishes that taste good!
    Social Sciences.
    1 credit.
    Spring 2024. Liu.


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  
  
  
  
  • BLST 033. African Cinemas


    This course is an introduction to the filmmakers and history of the cinemas (film, video, and new media) of the African continent, focusing primarily on Francophone West Africa. Students will be introduced to key film concepts and will develop their ability to write critically on the moving image. Discussion immediately follows each film. Readings and course discussion are in English. Films are subtitled in English.
    0.5
    Eligible for BLST, GLBL-Paired


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • BLST 054. Toni Morrison


    (Cross listed as ENGL 054 )
    As the recipient of numerous literary prizes (Nobel, Pulitzer, and National Book Critics Circle Award, to name a few), Toni Morrison was an author of international renown whose books routinely occupied a place on domestic and international best seller lists. Indeed, it is safe to say that her work transcended what many readers ascertain as “black writing” in the 21st Century. Her works consistently engaged the role memory, place, and community play in our lived experience. But how did Morrison understand her literary project in light of the fact that she eschewed the white gaze as a controlling motif in her fictions? In a moment when discussions about how-and sometimes, whether-we value Black bodies are happening all around us, this course offers us an opportunity to use the reading of Morrison’s novels as a catalyst for new ways to think not only about how we can occupy place, but happily cohabit with our neighbors whether they look like us, share our point of origin, or reflect our values. In the process, we will endeavor to become a learning community in which critical thinking, analysis, dialogue, and debate are central to developing inclusive methods of inquiry.
    Humanities.
    Eligible for BLST
    Catalog chapter: Black Studies  


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • BLST 060. Early Black Media Cultures


    ENGL 060
    This course studies the wide variety of Black media cultures in the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Atlantic world, including newspapers, broadside poetry, sheet music, friendship albums, political pamphlets, and novels. We will attend closely to the materiality of these texts, reading not only for the work of authors but also that of illustrators, editors, typesetters, and readers. How did these cultural workers shape racial identities, aesthetic forms, and political possibilities through media technologies? Our investigations will be informed by readings in recent theory and criticism on Black Studies, media culture, and literary history. In their final projects, students will have the chance to pursue their own original research using the rich resources of Philadelphia-area libraries.
    1
    Eligible for BLST
    Spring 2025. Cohen.


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  
  
  
  
  
  • CPSC 091R. Special Topics: Open Source Software Development


    Free and open source software (FOSS) has evolved into an important model of development in the software industry. This course exposes students to the cultural, technical, and legal aspects of FOSS development and provides students with an opportunity to work on a real-world open source software project and gain experience in software maintenance and enhancing software quality.

    The course covers topics such as: the need for and benefits of free and open source software; open source licensing and business models; intellectual property; case studies of successful open source software projects; humanitarian free and open source software; and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility issues in open source software development.

    Class meetings will be run in a seminar style and involve discussion of assigned readings. There will also be two projects in which students become involved in and contribute to an open source software project. 
    This is a Group 3 course.
    Prerequisite: CPSC 035 required.
    Natural science.
    1.0 credit.
    Fall 2024. Murphy.
    Catalog chapter: Computer Science 
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/computer-science


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • CPSC 091R. Special Topics: Social and Crowd Computing


    Social computing is the study of how technology mediates social interactions between humans, including interpersonal relationships, teams, crowds, communities, institutions, and entire societies. It explores how technology shapes human social interaction and vice versa, as well as the design of new social computing technologies or systems. The field encompasses the study of social media platforms (e.g., TikTok and Snapchat), crowdsourcing platforms (Mechanical Turk, Wikipedia), online communities (Pokemon Go, Tumblr), collaboration software (Google Docs, Figma, Slack), among others. This course will examine the landscape of social computing, taking a systems-oriented perspective to examine and imagine new social computing systems to address societal issues. We will read literature on different subareas of social computing to learn why some posts go viral and others don’t, how sociotechnical algorithms are perceived to work and how they actually work, why some platforms fail while others succeed, and how platforms enable both incredibly prosocial and occasionally terrifying behavior. We will also learn to use different web programming languages and application programming interfaces (APIs) to augment existing social computing systems or build entirely new ones.
    This is a Group 3 course.
    Prerequisite: CPSC 035  
    Natural Science
    1.0 credit.
    Fall 2023. Venkatagiri.
    Catalog chapter: Computer Science  
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/computer-science


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • CPSC 091T. Special Topics: Pattern Matching


    Pattern matching is the problem of searching through given data to find a subset of data that exactly matches a given pattern.  The kinds of data and patterns can be varied to create different pattern matching problems.  In this course, we will investigate popular pattern matching problems, their algorithmic complexity, and applications to other areas of computer science such as computer graphics, computational geometry, and data mining.  Furthermore, we will explore how algorithmic approaches for pattern matching can be applied to computer graphics and image generation tasks.
    This is a Group 1 course.
    1.0 credit.
    Spring 2024. Wehar.
    Catalog chapter: Computer Science  
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/computer-science


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  
  • ENGL 006. Investigative Journalism as an Agent of Social Change


    This course examines the role that investigative journalism has played and continues to play as an agent of change in American society, as a defender of democratic values, and a promoter of social equity. It examines the historical role of investigative journalism in realms as diverse as civil rights, poverty, product safety, corporate malfeasance, and public corruption. Students read a diverse array of texts by authors such as Michiko Kakutani, Ta-Nehisi Coates, David Copeland, Woody Klein, Isabel Wilkerson, Kate Boo, Seymour Hersh, and Sari Horwitz. Guest speakers will include veteran journalists and those newer to the field. The course will be conducted as a seminar limited to fifteen students. 
    Humanities.
    1 credit.
    Fall 2023. Gup.
    Catalog chapter: English Literature  
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/english-literature


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ENGL 006B. Why Journalism (Still) Matters


    This is a hybrid course intended both for students considering going into the field of journalism, as well as those interested in understanding more about the profession and its role in a democracy. It is a course that will combine the teaching of  journalistic skills and principles - interviewing techniques, story structure, working with documents, multi-platform story-telling, emerging technologies (video, audio, geotagging, Data Viz, etc.) - as well as ethics, considerations of balance and objectivity, the changing media landscape, and the impact of disinformation. It will be a kind of journalistic sampler that will explore hard news stories, features, profiles, editorials, investigative stories, international  reporting, environmental journalism and long-form stories. Students will be encouraged to pursue their own disciplinary interests (science, medicine, diversity, justice, politics, etc.) through the prism of journalism. The objective of the class is to immerse students in the complex and diverse world of the working journalist, as well as to produce more savvy and critical consumers of the news. Class size is limited to fifteen and will be conducted as a seminar. Outside journalists and media scholars will be invited to speak to the class. There is also the possibility of a field trip or two. Class will meet twice weekly
    Humanities
    Fall 2024. Gup.
    Catalog chapter: English Literature  
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/english-literature


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  
  
  
  • ENGL 070S. Screenwriting


    (Cross-listed as FMST 015 )
    This course introduces students to the fundamentals of screenwriting while enabling them to explore their unique sensibility as writers. We consider how screenplays differ from other dramatic forms and understand what makes good cinematic storytelling. By looking at short and feature-length scripts and films, we examine issues of structure, character development, effective use of dramatic tension and dialogue, tone, and theme. Through in-class exercises and discussions, students flesh out their ideas and grapple with their writing in a supportive workshop atmosphere. Coursework includes screenings, short assignments, and the completion of several drafts of a short screenplay. No previous writing experience required.
    Prerequisite: Instructor’s approval.
    Humanities.
    1 credit.
    Eligible for FMST and ENGL.
    Fall 2023. Evans
    Spring 2024. Evans
    Fall 2024. Evans.
    Fall 2025. Staff.
    Catalog chapter: Film and Media Studies  
    Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/film-media-studies


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ENGL 085. Virginia Woolf


    A prolific novelist, essayist, literary critic, publisher, diarist, and letter writer, Virginia Woolf at once defined and challenged the literary currents of her era. This course will explore the arc of Virginia Woolf’s career from the 1910s to the 1940s, a period coincident with the emergence of British modernism. We will read widely across Woolf’s works, situating them within the seismic cultural and political shifts of the early twentieth century and grappling with their reception in the latter half of the century and beyond.  Readings of Woolf have shaped key interventions in narrative theory, modernist studies, feminist and queer theory, among others, and so we will ask: what formal, social, and political commitments shape Woolf’s work?  And how do those commitments morph, evolve, or persist into our own time? Expect to read broadly and deeply, discuss thoughtfully, and develop tools to pursue your own archival and critical projects over the course of the semester.


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ENGR 051. Biomedical Signals


    This course explores methods for the analysis of biomedical signals. The types of signals discussed in this course include those that emanate from electrical activity in the body, such as electrocardiograms (ECG), electroencephalograms (EEG), and electromyograms (EMG).  In addition, this course will examine signals generated from external sources such as image data from x-rays, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance images (MRI), and ultrasound.  Methods of analysis for biomedical signals and images studied in this course include standard digital signal processing techniques as well as newer time-frequency domain methods such as the wavelet transform.  Applications of these methods include filtering, denoising, spectral estimation, and classification. Topics such as the Radon transform, used in tomographic reconstruction of image data, will also be covered.
    Prerequisite: ENGR 012  or permission of instructor.
    Natural sciences and engineering practicum.
    Lab and project included.
    1.0 credit.
    Fall 2024. Moser.
    Catalog chapter: Engineering  
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/engineering


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ENGR 068. Energy and the Environment.


    (Cross-listed as ENVS 068 )
    This course is an introduction to quantitative concepts related to energy and the environment. It covers current and future demands for energy; methods of power generation including fossil fuel, nuclear, and renewables; associated detrimental by-products; and advanced strategies to improve power densities, efficiencies and emissions. The course covers the critical issues facing energy extraction, cultivation, transformation, transportation, consumption, disposal, environmental impacts and policy.
    Natural Sciences and engineering practicum.
    1 credit.
    Eligible for ESCH, ENVS.
    Fall 2023. Plata.
    Catalog chapter: Engineering  
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/engineering


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  
  • ENVS 007. Chester Semester Fellowship


    (Cross-listed as BLST 007 )
    ChesterSemester is an interdisciplinary course on social change with an engaged scholarship internship component. Housed within the Environmental Studies Program and the Black Studies Program and supported by the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility, it consists of a weekly class facilitated by engaged faculty, staff, and community partners; a supervised internship in the nearby city of Chester; and a final research paper with a public-facing presentation. The purpose of ChesterSemester is to build strong relationships between committed students and community leaders on common projects of mutual transformation.
    In sum, the ChesterSemester Fellowship includes a Fall course with a 4-5 hr/wk internship (and Spring paid internship) in Chester City. 
    Humanities.
    1.0 credit.
    Eligible for BLST, ENVS, ESCH.
    Fall 2023. Di Chiro.
    Fall 2024. Berger.
    Catalog chapter: Environmental Studies   
    Department website: Environmental Studies


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ENVS 012. Compost and Climate Change


    The management of food, garden and other organic wastes has significant effects on anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. This course focuses on understanding the environmental impacts of organic waste stream management practices. As part of the course, students will take part in assessing current practices and developing recommendations for organic waste management at the college. Multiple field trips.
    Natural sciences and engineering.
    1 credit.
    Eligible for ENVS, ESCH
    Catalog chapter: Environmental Studies  
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/environmental-studies


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ENVS 016. Redefining Scientific Ways of Knowing


    Upscaled by global colonization, European cultural and scientific practices have left a devastating impact on the Earth. At the same time, global technological efficacy currently serves as a lifeline of empowerment. By working in concert with ages-old indigenous wisdom and the Western experimental idiom, this course equips students to achieve joy and sustainability in our changing world.
    1.0 credit
    Eligible for ENVS.
    Spring 2025. Costa.
    Catalog chapter: Environmental Studies  
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/environmental-studies


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ENVS 022. Environmental Policy and Politics


    (Cross-listed as POLS 043 )
    Topics in environmental politics, policy, and law. In the United States, we focus on national regulation and proposals for more flexible responses to achieve environmental goals; environmental movements and environmental justice; the role of science in democratic policy-making; courts and the impact of federalism, the commerce clause, and rights on regulation. The course also considers the role and efficacy of supranational institutions and NGOs and controversies between more and less developed nations. Topics include most of the following: air and water pollution, common-pool resource problems, toxic and radioactive waste, sustainable development, food, natural resource management, wilderness, environmental racism, effects of climate change.
    Social Sciences.
    1 credit.
    Eligible for ENVS, CBL, GLBL-Paired
    Catalog chapter: Environmental Studies  
    Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/environmental-studies


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ENVS 024. Environmental Anthropology


    (Cross-listed as ANTH 033B 
    This course offers students an introduction to Environmental Anthropology, a subfield of anthropology which encompasses the study of the interrelationships between humans and the ecosystems in which they are embedded as well as analysis and application of anthropological knowledge to contemporary environmental issues. Humans have transformed their environments for millennia, but in recent decades, have altered the global environment in ways that have no precedent in human history or in geological time. With contemporary environmental crises as its backdrop, this course examines some classic and contemporary anthropological approaches to the environment, exploring the value of anthropological theory, methods, and approaches in the humanistic study of the environment. In this sense, the course will expose students to diverse ways for thinking about the environment in its many dimensions and critical perspectives on contemporary environmental issues. We will review various theoretical approaches and their implications for our understanding of human relations to the environment, and explore how anthropologists and those they study are engaging with contemporary environmental issues including biodiversity conservation, deforestation, community-based natural resource management, ecotourism, and climate change.
    Social sciences.
    1 credit.
    Eligible for ENVS
    Catalog chapter: Environmental Studies  
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/environmental-studies


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ENVS 025. The Environmental History of Africa


    (Cross-listed as HIST 089 )
    This course examines African history from an ecological and environmental perspective.
    Social Sciences.
    1 credit.
    Eligible for BLST, ENVS
    Fall 2024. Burke.
    Spring 2025. Burke.


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ENVS 029. Environmental Justice: Ethnography, Politics, and Action


    (Cross-listed as ANTH 033E )
    This course offers students an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of environmental justice.  It will draw on a range of research approaches and scholarship from the disciplines of environmental anthropology, political ecology, environmental science, history, geography, the environmental humanities, and social movement theory.  Taking advantage of the special format of the J-term, the course will focus on a series of texts each week, offering deep engagement to analyze diverse environmental justice struggles and community activism in contemporary environmental issues. Moreover, given the immediacy of the current global situation, we will explore the intersections and linkages between environmental justice and other socio-ecological crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.  In addition to focusing on the course’s core texts, the class will also explore the interlocking themes of social and environmental justice through other formats including podcasts, documentary films, and other digital media to provide a sense of what environmental injustice looks like in everyday life and how different people are rising up to bring about change.  Students in this course will learn to analyze the social and political dimensions of environmental problems, how these entwine with scientific and technical dimensions, and to think creatively about possible solutions.
    Social Sciences
    1 credit.
    Eligible for ENVS, GLBL-core, INTP, PEAC
    Catalog chapter: Environmental Studies  
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/environmental-studies


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ENVS 041. Ecopoetry and the Climate Crisis


    (Cross-listed as ENGL 071E )
    his course will survey nature poems as well as poems on other relevant topics written in English from the Romantics in the early 19th century up to the present, with particular emphasis on poems from the post-WWII era-that time when scientists began publishing evidence that human beings’ use of fossil fuels was altering the Earth’s climate in ways that might bring about the sixth Great Extinction in our planet’s history. Also emphasized: the primary role that women and/or writers of color have played in shaping ecopoetry, and in linking the climate crisis to historical trauma, social inequality, and why reparative justice is needed. The course will be taught in ways to make it welcoming to students who have not taken a literature course at Swarthmore, much less a course on poetry. Advanced students in cultural studies or poetry are also welcome. This course is cross-listed, which means that students should register for credit as either ENVS 041 or English 071E.
    Humanities.
    1 credit.
    Spring 2024. Schmidt.
    Catalog chapter: Environmental Studies  
    Department website: Environmental Studies


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ENVS 047. Environment, Cultural Memory, and Social Change in Japan


    (Cross-listed as JPNS 036  and PEAC 036 )
    This course will explore the history, contemporary situation, and future possibilities regarding the interlinked realms of the environment, historical trauma, and social movements in Japan. Topics will include the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings and the subsequent peace and anti-nuclear movements, the environmental movement in Japan, and the “triple disaster” earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant disaster in Fukushima and Northeastern Japan. We will also discuss how environmental issues intersect with other current social issues such as rural depopulation, an aging population, and gender and economic inequality, and study a variety of contemporary approaches to addressing these issues. Under the guidance of Lang Professor for Social Change Denise Crossan, we will study the theory and practice of social entrepreneurship as a vehicle for social change and explore applications of this model in Japan. In addition, throughout the semester we will engage with community partners in Japan, particularly in the Hiroshima area, through online exchanges and collaborative projects related to contemporary environmental and peace activism.  
    Humanities
    1 credit.
    Eligible for ASIA, GLBL-Paired
    Catalog chapter: Environmental Studies  
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/environmental-studies


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ENVS 049. Indigenous Food Sovereignty in the United States.


    Indigenous lands and foodways are intrinsic to community health and wellbeing, cultural identity, and cultural continuity. This course will explore multiple dimensions of Indigenous food sovereignty in the United States that include: Native American political rights, land rights, impacts of colonization, access to traditional food sources, local economy, interconnected relationships, and traditional land practices and food systems based on Indigenous science. Case studies will be used to examine various topics and how distinct Native American tribal communities are framing and practicing food sovereignty. The course will use a framework of decoloniality and cultural and ecological sustainability centering Indigenous voice.
    This course is an elective ENVS course for both the major and the minor in ENVS. 
    Prerequisite: ENVS 014  
    1 credit.
    Eligible for ESCH, ENVS
    Spring 2024. Benally.
    Spring 2026. Benally.
    Catalog chapter: Environmental Studies  
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/environmental-studies


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ENVS 053. Land Art, Place, and Environment


    (Cross-listed as ARTH 062 )
    As climate change brings about the breakdown of global ecological systems, humanity is faced with the urgent need to evaluate our place in those systems and reckon with our impact as agents of change. Art has long been a site through which societies have visually and materially expressed and explored their relationships to nature, both as a cultural-aesthetic construction and as a real site inhabited by human and non-human beings. This course will examine the changing nature of land, place, and environment in modern and contemporary art and its representation and deployment as a genre, theme, and medium over the last half-century, with special attention to the Eastern Woodlands as an ancestral and contested site. Approaching diverse art forms such as earthworks, painting, photography, installation art, and site-specificity from ecocritical and decolonial art historical lenses, we will consider “nature” as a cultural-aesthetic construction and as a politically embattled site inhabited by human and non-human agents and beings. With select local site and collection visits, we will examine the role of [the] E/earth in art as material, vibrant matter, pigment, place, and collective home of social, cosmological, and ecological relations.
    Humanities.
    1 credit.
    Spring 2024. Green.
    Catalog chapter: Environmental Studies  
    Department website: Environmental Studies


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ENVS 054. Resisting the Apocalypse: Activism, Theater, and Envisioning a Good Future.


    (Cross-listed as THEA 026 )
    Many of us are just…tired. We’re exhausted, frustrated, or we’ve grown numb to the state of the world. It’s hard to continuously and repeatedly summon the strength and the will to practice optimism. How do we, as artists, as activists, as humans living on this planet, find ways to imagine a future where things work out? Where suffering and disaster aren’t the inevitable end-state?

    This course explores how we build emotional, collective resilience in the face of the many crises of our time. Working through the lens of climate crisis, students will engage with: 1) the work of local activists (e.g. The Sunrise Movement, PhillyThrive, the Earth Quaker Action Team), 2) the writings of facilitators/authors working on collective action and building a sustainable future (e.g. Joanna Macy, Adrienne Maree Brown, Robin Wall Kimmerer), and 3) the tools of theater (e.g. vulnerability, creativity, embodiment) to explore: How do we process our intense, exhausted, or numbed feelings? What do we mean by collective power, and how will we fuel movements for the future together? How do we begin to dream of our future with practicality, hope, and even joy?

     
    Prerequisite: No prior experience in activism or theater required.
    Humanities.
    1.0 credit.
    Eligible for ENVS


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ENVS 060. Environmental Chemistry


    (Cross-listed as CHEM 015 )
    The course covers selected aspects of atmospheric chemistry, aquatic chemistry, and soil chemistry. There will be a specific focus on the environmentally important element cycles for C, N, O, P, and S in the absence and presence of current human activity. The chemistry of organic pollutants across the three zones will also be examined. The course content will involve a discussion of relevant current events.
    Prerequisite: CHEM 010  or CHEM 011 ; or discretion of the instructor.
    Natural sciences and engineering practicum.
    One laboratory period weekly.
    1 credit.
    Eligible for Eligible for ENVS, GLBL-core
    Spring 2024. Beaulic.
    Catalog chapter: Environmental Studies  
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/environmental-studies


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ENVS 061. Climate Change Science and Communication


    (Cross-listed as BIOL 042 )
    Climate change is shaped by and shapes biological processes from the individual to the biome.  In this course, students will develop a foundational understanding of the physical and geochemical factors underlying Earth’s changing climate, the impact of such changes on the biological systems, and the consequences for human-environment interactions.  Students will also develop strategic communication skills for sustainability through practice with research-tested science communication tools.  Course meetings will be split between lecture, hands-on activities, paper discussions, and workshops.  
    Prerequisite: BIOL 001  or BIOL 002  and one additional NSE course or permission of the instructor. 
    Natural sciences and engineering.
    1 credit.
    Eligible for ENVS, GLBL-Core
    Catalog chapter: Environmental Studies  
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/environmental-studies


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ENVS 063. Conservation Biology


    (Cross-listed as BIOL 037 )
    This course provides an overview of the foundational concepts and future horizons of biodiversity conservation in the era of global climate change. Class materials and discussions illustrate central issues in contemporary conservation with case studies from around the globe. Using an active learning approach the class will include: 1) critical reading of primary literature, 2) field trips inside and outside campus, 3) hands-on experience in the field and laboratory on how to conduct conservation research, and 4) applying quantitative methods and R programming to real data. Previous experience in those areas is not required, but students should be motivated
    to learn new skills.

    Because conservation involves every member of society, readings will include content produced by science communication outlets, policymakers, news outlets and personal stories. The class will explore and discuss the role that diversity, equity and inclusion plays on conservation efforts, and we will hear from invited speakers from indigenous communities working on conservation projects.
    **Multiple accessible all-day field trips will be offered outside the class schedule. These will mostly take place during the weekends. Attending ONE of those field trips will be required as part of the final grade. Attending more than one is encouraged but optional.**
    Prerequisite: BIOL 001  and BIOL 002  or permission of the instructor.
    For Haverford College: BIOL H200 and BIOL H201 or permission of the instructor.
    For Bryn Mawr College: BIOL B110 and BIOL B111 or permission of the instructor.
    Natural sciences and engineering practicum.
    One laboratory period or field trip per week.
    1 credit.
    Eligible for ENVS, GLBL-Core
    Fall 2023. Caviedes-Solis.
    Fall 2024. Caviedes-Solis.
    Catalog chapter: Environmental Studies  
    Department website: Environmental Studies


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ENVS 068. Energy and the Environment.


    Cross-listed as (ENGR 068 )
    This course is an introduction to quantitative concepts related to energy and the environment. It covers current and future demands for energy; methods of power generation including fossil fuel, nuclear, and renewables; associated detrimental by-products; and advanced strategies to improve power densities, efficiencies and emissions. The course covers the critical issues facing energy extraction, cultivation, transformation, transportation, consumption, disposal, environmental impacts and policy.
    Natural Sciences and engineering practicum.
    1 credit.
    Eligible for ENVS, ESCH.
    Catalog chapter: Engineering  
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/engineering


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  
  
  
  • ENVS 120. Environmental Economics


    (Cross-listed as ECON 176 )
    This seminar examines the microeconomics of environmental issues with applications to the design of environmental policy. The seminar will cover the concepts and methods used in the valuation of environmental goods as well as the design of policy instruments and regulations to improve environmental quality. Specific topics include pollution and environmental degradation, the use of renewable and non-renewable resources, and climate change.
    Prerequisite: Prerequisite: ECON 011  and ECON 031  (or its equivalent), and single-variable calculus (MATH 025 or higher).
    Social Sciences
    2 credits.
    Eligible for ENVS
    Fall 2023. Peck.
    Fall 2024. Peck.
    Fall 2025. Peck.
    Catalog chapter: Environmental Studies  
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/environmental-studies


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • FMST 026. Popular Music and Media


    (Cross-listed as GMST 026/MUSI 005E/LITR 026)
    What do classical music, teenie bop, soul, battle rap, and jazz have in common? Philadelphia. This team-taught interdisciplinary course investigates the histories, structures and cultural connections between popular music and other media in the city of Philadelphia. What links sound, image, and place? How do musical expressions and genres interact with urban life at specific junctures in Philadelphia history? How do modes of production and exhibition formats (radio vs. television, club v.s stadium) along with distribution venues (record store vs. Spotify) engage with genre, gender, and race configurations? What lies at the intersection of regional, national, and global fan cultures? How does celebrity culture then and now impact what is popular and how does it affect Philadelphia’s music industry and vice versa? Providing a grounding in music and media history and theory, we will research and analyze mainstream and independent Philadelphia-specific case studies in radio, film, theater, television and social media in order to better understand and engage with the complex webs that characterize contemporary media, its production, and its consumption. Student projects will explore the intersections and interactions between individuals, ethnic and racial groups, established and new Philadelphians, city government, region, empire, and nation that have and continue to shape Philadelphia through the music and media created here. This course will be taught in Philadelphia.

    Core class in the Tri-Co Philly Program.
    Humanities.
    1 credit.
    Catalog chapter: Film and Media Studies
    Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/film-media-studies


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  
  
  
  • FMST 070. Media Industries and the Future of the Internet


    This course is focused on understanding the nature of “media convergence.” It is a theory, a practice, and a strategy that experts, practitioners, scholars, and consumers engage with everyday to make sense of the impulses and forces that guide our social media use, what we buy, what we eat, what we watch, and how we think about the internet. The course aims to guide students through trends and issues in a wide variety of media industries such as advertising, music, audio, movies and television, gaming, and the “internet industry” at large, as well as scholarly and industry research that aims to critically uncover and predict the future of these industries.
    Humanities.
    1 credit.
    Catalog chapter: Film and Media Studies  
    Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/film-media-studies


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • FREN 013A. Phonétique


    “Phonétique” is a mandatory pronunciation workshop attachment to all elementary and intermediate French-language courses. Sessions meet several times over the course of the semester. Students in advanced courses who want help with pronunciation may also register for this workshop as an attachment. Sessions reinforce speaking with phonetic accuracy and correct pronunciation and intonation with the goal of enhanced fluency in communication. FREN 013A is offered fall and spring semesters.
    Humanities.
    0 credit.


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • GSST 056. Outbreak Narratives: A Medical Humanities Exploration of Literature on Germs, Vampires, and Other Plagues


    Crosslisted GMST 056/LITR 056G
    This Medical Humanities course invites students to pause and think about the contradiction inherent in human contact: on the one hand, we need it in order to flourish, while on the other hand, it poses potential risks.  Informed by a theoretical framework that draws on insights from fields such as Disability Studies, Cultural Studies, and Gender Studies, this course offers students the opportunity to analyze literature depicting both contagious outbreaks and life in isolation.  This literary examination will also allow students to explore the ethics of cure and human experimentation.

    As part of a larger focus on the ways in which cultural representations of contagion are informed by cultural norms and how, in their turn, these representations have an impact on shaping and building cultural communities, students will be asked to consider the many connotations and valences of the term “contagion.”  Most simply, the word “contagion” denotes a risk of contamination, a potentially lethal danger to the exposed subject.  This course invites students to go beyond this literal interpretation of the word in order to contemplate the ways in which contagion challenges the notion of an isolated, self-contained self.  We will find that outbreak narratives enable us both to explore the intriguing possibility of a self with fluid boundaries that is constantly shaped by a community, and to cultivate empathy for other community members in the face of shared vulnerability.

    Using literature in English translation to explore contemporary reactions to cholera, tuberculosis, HIV, as well as to vampires, we will consider how race, gender, class, and historical époques shape illness stories.  Authors include Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Elfriede Jelinek, Thomas Mann, Heinrich Heine, Fanny Lewald, Namwali Serpell, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Bertha von Suttner.
    1
    Eligible for GLBL-Paired


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • HIST 064A. Cities and Social Movements


    This course examines how movements and activism shaped and were shaped by cities in the 20th-century U.S. We will engage with scholarship that examines the intersections of urban and social movement history, addressing topics including immigration and labor organizing, urban renewal and civil rights, and gentrification and queer liberation. 
    Concentrations: Domination and Resistance; Migration, Diaspora, and Space
    Prerequisite: Previous course in the department, AP/IB history credit, or instructor permission.
    Social Sciences.
    1 credit.
    Eligible for GLBL-paired, Concentrations: Domination and Resistance, Migration, Diaspora, and Space
    Spring 2024. Truong.


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  
  
  • LALS 063. Latinx Images: Film and Visual Culture.


    (Cross-listed as SPAN 063 LITR 063S )
    This course focuses on the audiovisual representation of Latinx in the United States and the politics behind those representations. From Carmen Miranda to Selena and Jennifer Lopez, from the films of Robert Rodríguez to the productions of Lin Manuel Miranda, including works by contemporary visual and performance artists, the course discusses the representation of Latinx identities and sociopolitical issues by both Hollywood and independent Latinx filmmakers and visual artists. Through the analysis of visual narratives in films, documentaries, TV episodes, music videos, performances, and visual artworks, we will examine issues such as the representation of women, sexuality, and gender stereotypes; race, ethnicity and Afro-Latinos; migration, discrimination, and citizenship; and violence, gentrification, and urban life, among other themes relevant to Latinx communities.
    Humanities.
    1 credit.
    Catalog chapter: Latin American and Latino Studies
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/latin-american-and-latino-studies


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  
  
  
  
  • MUSI 008D. (Dis)ability: Perceptions and Music


    LING 008.
    This course is an examination of the nature of music, approached from a disability perspective.  We include music with regard to the ear, the eye, bodily movement, the somatosensory system, and neurodiversity. The issues are to a great extent biological/cognitive, but interpretable via culture.  We explore what notions such as rhythm, pitch, timbre, melody, dynamics, and the like mean in a variety of contexts, asking what similarities and differences there are between, for example

     

    • ordinary expression and artistic expression

    • musical arts and language arts

    • music and poetry

    • music and dance

     

    We consider these questions in a context of whether there exists a differentiating line and according to which people: autism, blindness, deafness … how do these ways of being affect musicking? The music vs. poetry differentiation is of particular relevance to the deaf community and the music vs. dance differentiation is of particular relevance in indigenous contexts.

    Eligible for Global Studies and Interpretation Theory.
    HU
    1
    Eligible for GLBL, INTP
    Spring 2024. Kochavi. Napoli.


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • MUSI 093A. Acting II- Voice Workshop


    THEA 012B
    This course provides foundations for opening possibilities in the full range of the human voice-from speaking to singing to raw sound expression-to help students cultivate an integrative personal practice, unlock creative potential, and connect with what their unique voices have to say. Themes to explore: vocal mechanics and self-care; the voice as a bridge between body, emotion, and imagination; working with song and text; tools for improvisation and composition.  The class is strongly recommended to all acting students and may be taken without prerequisite. Cross-listed with THEA 012B.
    0.5
    Fall 2023. Pernell.


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • PEAC 030. War and Violence in Lived Experience.


    What is violence, and how do we learn to think of it? What is war and why is it started? How can it be avoided? How do we know when we are safe, or what insecurity is? How does media treat war and different forms of violence? How does war end? What are the links between war and everyday life? This course centers on these open questions to develop a framework to make sense of, and critically engage with, issues of conflict, violence, war, and peace. In history books, the news, and our language, violence and war seem to be pervasive. To understand and confront them, we must explore in-depth how they are experienced, interpreted, remembered, institutionalized, normalized, and challenged by everyday people. Exploring diverse approaches to war and peace “from below” and across different contexts, we will build tools to recognize and transform different forms of violence.
    Social sciences.
    Writing Course
    1 credit.
    Eligible for GLBL-paired.
    Fall 2024. Wilson Becerril


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • PEAC 041. Peace and Political Philosophy


    Cross-listed with PHIL 041
    How might we establish a peaceful world? What is the relationship between peace, justice, and individual rights? Can war ever be justified and, if so, under what circumstances? How can societies that have experienced violent conflict transition into peace? This course examines these questions from the perspective of political philosophy. We will ask what a peaceful world might look like and what would be required to bring it about.
    HU
    Eligible for PEAC


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • PEAC 045. Peace and Conflict in Latin America.


    Most people in Latin America live under various forms of “violent peace.” Although most states are not at war formally, the means of violence have not receded despite several “waves of democratization,” and in fact, these have become normalized or concealed in everyday relations. Latin America today is reported to have the highest rate of homicides, worst levels of economic inequality, deadliest settings for environmental defenders, highest levels of police-committed killings, and highest levels of gender-based violence in the world. Likewise, it showcases a wide range of political plurality and representation, cultural and biological diversity, and rich historical trajectories often marked by successful struggles for alternative worlds, social justice, and international peace. This interdisciplinary course centers on a comparative, thematic, and chronological study of Latin America to understand the layered meanings and forms of violence, different methods and challenges of promoting justice, and lessons from attempts to build durable peace.
    Social sciences.
    Writing Course
    1 credit.
    Eligible for GLBL-paired; LALS.
    Fall 2024. Wilson Becerril.


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • PEAC 060. Social Innovation for Peace


    Denise Crossan, the Eugene Lang Professor for Issues of Social Change, will be delivering a high-impact year-long engaged scholarship program entitled, “Social Innovation for Peace” Program (SIP), commencing in Fall 2019. The program’s mission is to, “apply social innovation knowledge through practice in post conflict communities.” Swarthmore College students will collaborate with international peace and conflict Social Entrepreneur partners in Colombia, Northern Ireland, and Japan to co-design and deliver a reciprocal learning social innovation project that works towards addressing the legacy of conflict in their respective communities.  At the beginning of the course in Fall Semester, students will be matched with a Social Entrepreneur partner in-country, and through classes, case study analysis, and peer learning discussion, will begin to identify, develop and prototype solutions to critical post-conflict related issues.  During Winter Break and over summer students will spend time in-country working directly with their community partners to test their solution prototypes.

    The “Social Innovation for Peace” Program is delivered in partnership with the Peace & Conflict Studies program, the Social Innovation Lab@The Lang Center, and sponsored by The Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility. This is a 2-credit class, over 2 semesters and requires commitment to Winter and Summer break international travel. Students who start in PEAC 060A in Fall 2019, must complete PEAC 060B Spring 2020, to receive credit for PEAC 060A. Places are limited and applicants will be interviewed prior to acceptance and class registration. For details email: Denise Crossan, dcrossa1@swarthmore.edu
    Eligible for PEAC,ESCH
    Catalog chapter: Peace and Conflict Studies  
    Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/peace-conflict-studies


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • PHIL 027. Ethics & Technology


    (Cross-listed as CPSC 019  )
    Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other forms of technology have become pervasive in our daily lives. With this technology comes serious ethical questions. How do we use, create, and regulate all of it responsibly? Philosophers are often well-equipped to wrestle with ethical questions, but less well-equipped to wrestle with questions of technology itself. Computer scientists are well-equipped to deal with the problems and challenges of technology, but less well-equipped to deal with the ethical problems and challenges that technology can pose. In this co-taught course, we bring together the two fields to address ethical questions involving social media, data mining, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and other topics.
    Must be taken for PHIL credit to count towards the PHIL major/minor.
    PHIL distribution - V

    Prerequisite: First- and second-year students must complete one introductory level PHIL course before enrolling in this course.
    Humanities.
    1 credit.
    Eligible for COGS
    Spring 2024. Thomason, Meeden.
    Catalog chapter: Philosophy 
    Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/philosophy


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  
  

Ancient History

  
  • ANCH 010. First-Year Seminar: Slavery in Ancient Greece and Rome


    According to the ancient historian M. I. Finley, there have been only five genuine slave societies, and two of them were ancient: those of classical Greece and Rome (the other three are the United States, the Caribbean and Brazil). Slavery was deeply woven into the fabric of everyday life in both societies, since it functioned as the key principle of social organization and the dominant mode of production. This course will explore slavery as a social, political, legal, economic and cultural institution in both the Greek and Roman worlds. In order to consider the impact of slavery on state and society in ancient Greece and Rome we will reflect on a number of topics, including the origins of slavery; the sources, number, legal status and treatment of slaves; ancient attitudes towards slaves and slavery; the family life of slaves; the many forms of slave labor; slave revolts and resistance; and manumission and freedom. We will also consider slavery in the American south to help us situate ancient slavery in a broader historical context.
    Social sciences.
    Writing course.
    1 credit.
    Catalog chapter: Classics  
    Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/classics


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ANCH 011. First Year Seminar: Rome: The Archaeology of Empire


    This first year seminar explores the physical development of Rome as it progressed from a tiny village of shepherds to become the metropolis of the ancient Mediterranean. Through reading ancient sources and examining archaeological sites and monuments, we will investigate the relationships linking politics, religion, art, and architecture in the ancient world.
    Social sciences.
    1 credit.
    Fall 2024. Mahoney.
    Catalog chapter: Classics  
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/classics


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ANCH 012. FYS: The World of the Pharaohs: An Introduction to Egyptology.


    This first year seminar explores the culture of ancient Egypt, beginning with its foundations in the 4th millennium BC and culminating in the internationally renowned pharaohs of the New Kingdom (1550-1070 BC). Students will investigate the difficult relationship of Thutnose III and his stepmother Hatspehsut, the only female pharaoh, the revolutionary but ultimately disastrous reforms of he heretical monotheist Akhematen, and the imperialism of Ramses II, usually identified as the pharaoh of the Exodus. Through discussion of the literature, mythology, history and archaeology, we will consider how the rulers of ancient Egypt utilized architecture, writing and religion in order to establish and grow the Nile valley’s earliest civilization. Students will leave the course with a deep appreciation for and understanding of the historical figures and monuments of Egypt. 
    Social Sciences.
    1 credit.
    Catalog chapter: Classics  
    Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/classics


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  
  • ANCH 016. First-Year Seminar: Augustus and Rome


    The great-nephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar rose to sole power in Rome after a series of civil wars culminating in the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra. He, along with his wife Livia, transformed Rome by creating a monarchical system that hid the real power behind the traditional institutions of the Roman republic. The process was supported and explained by a unique program of literary, artistic, and architectural revival. Ancient authors to be read (in English) may include Augustus himself, Livy, Vergil, Horace, Propertius and Ovid; we will also study the artistic and architectural projects that helped to communicate the ideologies of the new regime.
    Social sciences.
    Writing course.
    1 credit.
    Catalog chapter: Classics  
    Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/classics


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ANCH 017. First-Year Seminar: Pompeii: In the Shadow of Vesuvius


    Destroyed  by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE, Pompeii continues to captivate the Western imagination as the prototypic image of apocalyptic disaster. In this course we will use Pompeii to explore how we think about the past. We will study the physical remains of the ancient town in order to better understand social, political and commercial life in the Roman world. We will also consider the site’s role in the development of archaeology as a discipline, from its origins in the eighteenth century as a scientific form of treasure-hunting, up to the present day, when scholars are questioning the ethics of excavating at all. Finally, we will consider how the last days of Pompeii have been imagined and even romanticized in various forms of mass media, such as novels, films and television programs.
    Social sciences.
    Writing course.
    1 credit.
    Catalog chapter: Classics  
    Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/classics


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  
  • ANCH 021. Roman Society and Identity: Food and War


    (Cross-listed as CLST 021 )
    This class will examine the interconnected roles of food and war in ancient Roman society. The first part of the semester will focus on the practicalities of the Roman diet. Building on this knowledge, we will explore how food and war together shaped the Roman sense of identity. Finally, we will study how food drove Roman military and political policy. The last seven weeks of the term will involve detailed case studies considering how issues directly related to food shaped the decisions and actions that enabled Rome to expand from the Italian peninsula to a Mediterranean empire in only 100 years, and then later tear itself apart in civil wars, only to emerge as a stable empire. This class will combine social, political, and military history while looking at a variety of sources of evidence.
    Social Sciences.
    1 credit.
    Catalog chapter: Classics  
    Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/classics


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ANCH 022. Greek Art and Archaeology


    In this course we will survey the art and archaeology of Ancient Greece from its origins through the Hellenistic period. We will investigate a variety of topics, including the beginnings of human activity in the Aegean region during the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, the palace cultures of Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece, the development of Panhellenic sanctuaries and Olympic-style athletic contests, the rise of the Greek city-states, the material culture of Classical Athens, and the multicultural world of Alexander the Great and his successor. In these pursuits we will examine a range of different artifact types, such as pottery, sculpture, painting, and architecture. We will also explore the different methods of archaeology: excavation, survey, archaeometry, and conservation. By the end of the course, you will have a clear understanding of Greek material culture as it developed from ca. 3000 BC until 31 BC, and you will have a deeper understanding of key works of ancient Greek art. 
    Social Sciences.
    1 credit.
    Catalog chapter: Classics  
    Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/classics


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  
  • ANCH 023. Alexander and the Hellenistic World


    The conquests of Alexander the Great (332-323 BCE) as far as Afghanistan and the Hindu Kush mark one of the great turning points of ancient history. In his wake, what it meant to be Greek was radically changed, and a new world and culture emerged. In this course, we start with the life and campaigns of the Macedonian King, before turning to the Hellenistic world of his successors, following events down to the rise of Rome. Along with the political narrative, the course will consider Hellenistic poetry and historiography, archaeology and architecture, and the documentary evidence for daily life.
    Social sciences.
    1 credit.
    Catalog chapter: Classics  
    Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/classics


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ANCH 028. Ancient Egypt


    This course explores the history, culture, and literature of ancient Egypt, beginning with its foundations in the 4th millennium BC and culminating with the internationally renowned pharaohs of the New Kingdom (1550-1070 BC). Students will investigate a wide variety of topics, such as the following: Egyptian cosmology, mythology, and religion; the rise of the earliest pyramid builders and their accompanying ideology, which claimed that the pharaoh was a living god; the development of Egyptian writing, bureaucracy, and militarism; issues of gender in ancient Egypt, best exemplified by the difficult relationship of Thutmose III and his stepmother Hatshepsut, the only female pharaoh; the revolutionary but ultimately disastrous reforms of the heretic Akhenaten, who is widely recognized as the world’s first monotheist; and the imperialism of Ramses II, usually identified as the pharaoh of the Exodus. Through discussion of literature, mythology, history, and archaeology, we will consider how the rulers of ancient Egypt utilized architecture, writing, and religion in order to establish and grow the Nile valley’s earliest civilization. Students will leave the course with a deep appreciation for and understanding of the historical figures and monuments of Egypt. Students will learn how to read material culture and answer the following question: how does a state use symbols, monuments, and - more generally - material things to express its power and ideals to itself, its neighbors, and its enemies?
    Social Sciences.
    1 credit.
    Spring 2024. Mahoney.
    Catalog chapter: Classics  
    Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/classics


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  
  • ANCH 030. History and Archaeology of the Early Roman Empire


    This course is an introduction to the history and archaeology of the Roman Empire from the fall of the Republic through the Antonine Age (50 BCE-192 CE). Major themes include the political, economic, social and cultural impact of the Roman Empire; the material, visual and spatial manifestations of power; the homogeneity and diversity of Roman imperial culture; and the changing relationship between the state and society.  We will draw on a wide range of evidence to explore these themes, focusing mainly on the close reading of works of ancient literature and the study of ancient artifacts and monuments. Key authors include Petronius, Suetonius, Tacitus and Apuleius.
    Social sciences.
    1 credit.
    Catalog chapter: Classics  
    Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/classics


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ANCH 031. The Greeks and the Persian Empire


    This course studies the political and social history of Greece from the Trojan War to the Persian Wars. We will examine the connections between Greeks and non-Greeks and their perceptions of mutual differences and similarities. Readings include Homer, Hesiod, the lyric poets (including Sappho), and Herodotus and Near Eastern documents.
    Social sciences.
    Writing course.
    1 credit.
    Eligible for GLBL - Paired
    Fall 2023. Munson.
    Fall 2025. Munson.
    Catalog chapter: Classics  
    Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/classics


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


  
  • ANCH 032. The Roman Republic


    This course studies Rome from its origins to the civil wars and the establishment of the principate of Augustus (753-27 B.C.E.). Topics include the legends of Rome’s foundation and of its republican constitution; the conquest of the Mediterranean world, with special attention to the causes and pretexts for imperialism; the political system of the Late Republic, and its collapse into civil war.
    Social sciences.
    Writing course.
    1 credit.
    Eligible for GLBL-Paired
    Catalog chapter: Classics  
    Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/classics


    Access the class schedule to search for sections.


 

Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11Forward 10 -> 23