SLC Undergraduate Course Catalogue 2011-2012

Transcription

Undergraduate Curriculum
2011 – 2012
Calendar
FA L L 2 011
Saturday, August 27
Opening day
New students arrive
Sunday, August 28
Orientation
Monday, August 29
Returning students arrive
Registration for returning students
Tuesday, August 30
through Thursday, September 1
Donning, first-choice interviews,
and registration
Friday, September 2
Students placed in first-choice courses
Saturday, September 3
Donning and interviews for
alternate registration
Sunday, September 4
Students placed in alternate courses
Monday, September 5
Classes begin
Monday, October 17
and Tuesday, October 18
October Study Days
Wednesday, November 23
through Sunday, November 27
Thanksgiving break
Friday, December 16
Last day of classes
Saturday, December 17
Residence halls close at 10 a.m.
S P R I N G 2 012
Sunday, January 15
Students return
Monday, January 16
Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday
Tuesday, January 17
and Wednesday, January 18
Donning, interviews, and registration
Tuesday, January 17
Yearlong classes resume
Thursday, January 19
Students placed in first-choice courses
Friday, January 20
Donning and interviews for
alternate registration
(no classes on Friday, January 20)
Monday, January 23
Spring semester-long courses begin
Saturday, March 17
through Sunday, April 1
Spring break
Friday, May 11
Last day of classes
Sunday, May 13
Residence halls close for non-seniors
at 5 p.m.
Friday, May 18
Commencement
Residence halls close for seniors at 8 p.m.
The Curriculum.................................... 3
Africana Studies................................... 3
Anthropology....................................... 4
Art History........................................... 8
Asian Studies ..................................... 12
Biology ............................................... 15
Chemistry........................................... 18
Computer Science ............................. 19
Dance ................................................. 22
Design Studies.................................... 26
Economics .......................................... 27
Environmental Studies ...................... 31
Ethnic and Diasporic Studies............. 33
Film History ....................................... 35
Filmmaking (See Visual Arts) ......... 131
French ................................................ 36
Geography.......................................... 40
German .............................................. 42
Global Studies.................................... 43
Greek.................................................. 43
Health, Science, and Society............. 44
History................................................ 45
International Studies ......................... 54
Italian................................................. 56
Japanese.............................................. 58
Latin................................................... 59
Latin American and Latino/a
Studies........................................ 60
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and
Transgender Studies ................... 61
Literature............................................ 62
Mathematics ...................................... 73
Modern Languages and Literatures.... 75
Music.................................................. 76
Philosophy ......................................... 89
Physics................................................ 92
Politics................................................ 94
Pre-Health Program (see Science and
Mathematics)........................... 112
Psychology.......................................... 98
Public Policy .................................... 106
Religion............................................ 107
Russian ............................................. 110
Science and Mathematics................ 112
Science, Technology, and Society ... 112
Social Science.................................. 113
Sociology.......................................... 113
Spanish............................................. 116
Theatre............................................. 118
Visual Arts ....................................... 131
Architectural Design
Drawing
Filmmaking
New Media
Painting
Photography
Printmaking
Sculpture
Visual Fundamentals
Women’s Studies.............................. 142
Writing............................................. 142
Faculty .............................................. 153
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The Curriculum
T
he Curriculum of the College as planned
for 2011-2012 is described in the
following pages. All courses are planned
as full-year courses, except as otherwise indicated.
Where possible, seminar descriptions include
examples of areas of study in which a student
could concentrate for the conference portion of
the course. In a seminar course, each student not
only pursues the main course material but also
selects a related topic for concentrated study,
often resulting in a major paper. In this way, each
seminar becomes both a shared and an individual
experience.
Africana Studies
Africana Studies embraces a number of scholarly
disciplines and subjects at Sarah Lawrence
College, including anthropology, architecture, art
history, dance, economics, film, filmmaking,
history, Islamic studies, law, literature,
philosophy, politics, psychology, religion,
sociology, theatre, and writing. Students will
examine the experience of Africans and people of
African descent in the diaspora, including Latin
America, the Caribbean, North America, and
beyond. Study includes the important cultural,
economic, technological, political, and social
intellectual interplay and exchanges of those
peoples as they help make our world. Students
will explore the literature of Africans and peoples
of African descent in various languages,
including Spanish, Portuguese, French, and
English. The dynamics of immigration and
community formation are vital in this field.
Students will examine the art and architecture of
Africa and the diaspora; their history, societies,
and cultures; their economy and politics; the
impact of Islam and the Middle East; the
processes of slavery; the slave trade and
colonialism; as well as postcolonial literature in
Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The
program also includes creative work in
filmmaking, theatre, and writing.
Courses offered this year in Africana Studies are
listed below. Full descriptions of the courses may
be found under the appropriate disciplines.
The Anthropology of Life Itself (p. 5),
Robert R. Desjarlais Anthropology
Field Methods in the Study of Language and
Culture (p. 6), Aurora Donzelli
Anthropology
Language and Race: Constructing the Self
and Imagining the Other in the United
States and Beyond (p. 5), Aurora
Donzelli Anthropology
Language, Culture, and Performance (p. 4),
Aurora Donzelli Anthropology
Political Language and Performance (p. 7),
Introduction to Anthropology: Debates,
Controversies, and Re/visions (p. 4),
Kathleen Kilroy-Marac Anthropology
Making History of Non-Western Art History:
Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
(p. 10), Susan Kart Art History
Arts of the African Continent (p. 9), Susan
Kart Art History
Hunger and Excess: Histories, Politics, and
Cultures of Food (p. 31), Charles Zerner
Environmental Studies, Persis Charles History
Introduction to Development Studies: The
Political Ecology of
Development (p. 40), Joshua Muldavin
Geography
Food, Agriculture, Environment, and
Geography
Leisure and Danger (p. 52), Persis Charles
History
Sickness and Health in Africa (p. 50), Mary
Dillard History
Ideas of Africa: Africa Writes Back (p. 51),
Mary Dillard History
Gender, Education, and Opportunity in
Africa (p. 53), Mary Dillard History
First-Year Studies: “In the Tradition”: An
Introduction to African American
History and Black Cultural
Renaissance (p. 46), Komozi Woodard
History
The Black Arts Renaissance & American
Culture: Rethinking Urban and Ethnic
History in America (p. 46), Komozi
Woodard History
African American Literature Survey
(1789-2011) (p. 64), Alwin A. D. Jones
Literature
Creating New Blackness: The Expressions of
the Harlem Renaissance (p. 72),
Alwin A. D. Jones Literature
4 Anthropology
Spoken Wor(l)ds: African American Poetry
From Black Arts to Hip Hop
(1960-2012) (p. 73), Alwin A. D. Jones
Literature
Conscience of the Nations: Classics of
African Literature (p. 68), William
Shullenberger Literature
Slavery: A Literary History (p. 69), William
Reform and Revolution in the
Contemporary Middle East and North
Africa (p. 50), Hamid Rezai Politics
Cinema and Society in the Middle East and
North Africa (p. 51), Hamid Rezai Politics
Collective Violence and Post-Conflict
Reconciliation (p. 97), Elke Zuern Politics
Rainbow Nation: Growing Up South African
in the Apartheid and Post-Apartheid
Eras (p. 100), Kim Ferguson Psychology
Poverty in America: Integrating Theory,
Research, Policy & Practice (p. 101),
Kim Ferguson Psychology
Beyond the Matrix of Race: Psychologies of
Race and Ethnicity (p. 99), Linwood J.
Lewis Psychology
Muslim Literature, Film, and Art (p. 110),
Kristin Zahra Sands Religion
Islam and the Muslim World (p. 108), Kristin
Zahra Sands Religion
Anthropology
The study of anthropology traditionally covers
four “fields”: sociocultural anthropology,
linguistic anthropology, biological anthropology
and archaeology. At Sarah Lawrence College, we
concentrate on sociocultural and linguistic
anthropology.
Behind almost every aspect of our lives is a
cultural realm: a shared construction that shapes
assumptions and determines much of how we
perceive and relate to the world. Sociocultural
anthropology is the study of that realm—its
extent and its effects. As students learn to
approach with an anthropological eye what they
formerly might have taken for granted, they gain
insight into how social forces govern the ways in
which we relate to ourselves and each other: how
we use words, how we define ourselves and
others, how we make sense of our bodies—even
how we feel emotions. Through examining the
writings of anthropologists, viewing ethnographic
films, and discussing these and other materials in
seminar and conference sessions, students
develop a comprehensive and multipatterned
sense of the cultural dimensions of human lives.
By studying the underpinnings of language,
symbolic practices, race, gender, sexuality, policy
and advocacy, medical systems, cities, modernity,
or social organization across a range of Western
and non-Western settings, they come to
understand better how meaning is made. With
seminar dynamics and content characteristic of
graduate-level work, Sarah Lawrence’s
anthropology courses take students in often
unexpected and challenging directions.
Introduction to
Anthropology: Debates,
Controversies, and Re/visions
Kathleen Kilroy-Marac
Open, Lecture—Fall
The discipline of anthropology has housed a
number of dramatic confrontations over the past
several decades. Each of these debates,
controversies, and re/visionary moments has
made claims about—and has attempted to
redefine—the appropriate theoretical and
methodological parameters of the discipline. In
this semester-long lecture, we will examine
several of these more heated confrontations
(including the Mead/Freeman debate, the
Yanomami controversy, the Captain Cook
debate, the Kalahari “San” debate, and responses
to Turnbull’s contentious portrayal of the
Mountain Ik) and use them as springboards for
talking about anthropological practice and theory
in more general terms. Through all of this, we
will ask questions about the politics of
representation, the ethics of fieldwork, and the
authority of the anthropologist to speak “for a
people.” Further, we will explore the relationship
between theory, data, and explanation—and also
consider how a single event can be interpreted in
radically different ways. We will look to the
publication of Malinowski’s diaries and Edward
Said’s Orientalism as critical junctures in the
discipline and will discuss the profound impact
that feminist theory and scholarship has had on
both ethnographic research and writing.
Language, Culture, and
Performance
Aurora Donzelli
Open, Lecture—Spring
Language is such a ubiquitous and unavoidable
component of our quotidian experience of the
world that we are often inclined to take it for
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granted and to assume that it is just an external
objective system of signs apt at enabling the
transmission of information. The aim of this
course is to encourage students to suspend what
Edmund Husserl would call our “natural attitude”
toward the way we engage with language in our
everyday lives. By “bracketing” this naively taken
for granted “natural standpoint,” we will be able
to develop a deeper understanding of the
multifaceted nature of human interaction and,
hence, discover how humans constitute and, at
the same time, are constituted by language.
Through a series of readings, we will investigate
language as a form of social action and discover
the key role it plays in mediating emotions,
transmitting aesthetic and cultural values,
organizing cognition, structuring experience,
reproducing social structures, enabling
intersubjective recognition, as well as
reproducing and challenging power relations. By
looking closely at the unfolding of verbal and
nonverbal interactions across a number of
communities in the world, we will develop an
understanding of the poetic and performative
aspects of communication and gain critical
insights into multiple intersections between
language and culture. In addition to providing a
discussion of the different theoretical and
methodological approaches available for the
analysis of the language-culture interface, the
selected readings will cover topics such as
bilingualism and codeswitching; the relation
between language, sound, and images in
performance; the creativity of verbal art and
verbal duels; the performance of identity; the
structure of narrative and storytelling, language
hegemony, language ideologies, political
communication; and the aesthetics of persuasion.
Culture and Mental Illness
Kathleen Kilroy-Marac
Does schizophrenia exist all over the world? Does
depression look different in India than it does in
the United States? Why was hysteria so widely
diagnosed in England during the latter part of the
19th century, and why did this diagnosis seem to
fade out of fashion? This semester-long lecture
will explore the role played by culture in the
experience, expression, definition, and treatment
of mental illness. Together, we will explore
mental illness as both a subjective (and yet
culturally informed) experience and a social
process. We will also examine the ways in which
mental illness in the West has become both an
object of knowledge and a site of intervention.
We will consider the strengths and weaknesses of
the DSM classification system and critically
assess what it refers to as “culture-bound
syndromes,” such as koro, zar spirit possession,
latah, nervios, and susto. What makes these more
“culture-bound” than, say, Borderline Personality
Disorder or PTSD? Finally, we will learn about a
number of culturally informed modes of therapy
and look closely at the doctor/patient (or healer/
patient) encounter in a variety of settings.
The Anthropology of Life
Itself
Robert R. Desjarlais
Open—Fall
“Life is ecstasy,” wrote Emerson. This course will
explore the intrigues and problematics of such a
statement. What is life? What is a life? How do
human beings value the gist of life (or not) in
particular situations? In this course, we will
consider these fundamental questions through
the prism of anthropological inquiry. By delving
into what life means for people in distinct
cultural settings, how they perceive and engage
with it and live it amongst others, we will be able
get a better handle on the many social,
biological, historical, and political dimensions of
constructs of life—and death. In particular, we
will read a number of recent ethnographic and
philosophical writings that take measure of the
subject. We will consider bare life in zones of
social abandonment in Brazil, ideas of well-being
and existential dissatisfaction in Sierra Leone,
the survival techniques of heroin addicts in San
Francisco, the pull of suicide among Inuit youths,
violence and memory in India, and generative
fashioning in the Nepal Himalayas. Along the
way, we will give thought to some key writings by
important theorists of life, such as Benedict de
Spinoza, Michel Foucault, Giorgio Agamben, and
Gilles Deleuze. In so doing, the course will offer
students an intensive introduction to the field of
sociocultural anthropology.
Language and Race:
Constructing the Self and
Imagining the Other in the
United States and Beyond
Aurora Donzelli
Open—Fall
“No, no, no, no. You gotta listen to the way
people talk! You don't say "affirmative" or some
6 Anthropology
crap like that. You say "no problemo.” […] And if
you want to shine them on, it's “hasta la vista,
baby.”
In this famous exchange from the 1991
blockbuster, Terminator 2, the young hero of the
film was teaching his cyborg friend (Arnold
Schwarzenegger) how to speak like a “real
person.” These famous lines epitomize what has
become the rather common conversational
practice of interspersing English with Spanish (or
Spanish-sounding words). In a similar fashion,
the rising celebrity of hip-hop culture among US
urban youth contributed to popularize linguistic
practices that were once considered to be a
prerogative of the African American speech
community. Standard American English has
gradually incorporated lexical items and
expressions traditionally belonging to linguistic
minorities. But what is the semiotic and cultural
logic underlying these habits? What are the
implications of these conversational practices for
the reproduction of certain cultural
representations of historically Spanish-speaking
populations in the United States? How does the
appropriation of African American English into
vernacular English by white, upper-middle-class
American teenagers partake in the production of
certain forms of youth identities? How can we
interpret these forms of cultural mimicry and
appropriation? How does language operate as an
index of distance, solidarity, and power among
social groups? How do social actors use language
to craft a racialized representation of individual
and collective “selves” in colonial and
postcolonial contexts? This course explores the
varied and sometimes surprising interconnections
between language and race. The aim will be to
show how language is a primary locus for the
production of stereotypes, the performance of
identity, the presentation of the self, and the
reproduction (or the challenge) of social
inequalities. We will scrutinize the role of
linguistic ideologies in the colonial encounter,
explore the interplay between language and the
construction of hegemonic power, and examine
the connection between communicative
practices and the reproduction of racial discourse
and racial stereotypes. Moving away from the
idea that racism is a phenomenon of the past or a
prerogative of conservatives and uneducated
others, this course constitutes a reading (and,
hopefully, an experiential) journey through the
interplay between language and race.
Performing Culture
Deanna Barenboim
Open—Spring
This course takes up questions of cultural
performance and how it intersects with the
poetics and politics of ritual, heritage, and
identity in Latin American, Latino/a, and
indigenous contexts. Drawing upon a rich set of
ethnographic examples, we will examine
expressive culture in a variety of forms, including
media, theatre, dance, music, storytelling, and
art. In cultivating an anthropological sensibility
of how culture is acted, enacted, and embodied,
we will delve into topics such as authenticity,
representation, ethnicity, globalization,
migration, and social change. Course readings
will thus challenge us to grapple with a range of
issues central to contemporary anthropological
understandings of aesthetic practice and
experience. We will look at topics such as the
negotiation of Bolivian national and indigenous
identities through musical performance, the
innovative use of video technology by Kayapó to
stake territorial claims in Brazil, and the new
ways in which “folkloric” dance is employed by
transborder Maya migrant communities as a form
of resistance and empowerment. For their
conference work, students will have the
opportunity to conduct original ethnographic
fieldwork on the topic of cultural performance.
Field Methods in the Study of
Language and Culture
Aurora Donzelli
Intermediate—Fall
The idea that language and culture are deeply
interconnected seems almost commonsensical.
But what are the actual mechanics of the
interplay between these two key notions in the
study of human experience? Linguistic
anthropology offers an important contribution to
the understanding of language as cultural
practice, at the same time enhancing our
awareness that language is a culturally loaded
semiotic medium. This course will offer an
overview of the rich scholarly tradition that
examines the language/culture interface. We will
discuss how social meanings and cultural values
are constructed and reproduced through prosaic
and unsensational conversational practices. We
will learn how people’s ideas and beliefs about
language(s) can be mapped onto people and have
profound implications in the life of a social
group. We will scrutinize key issues in the study
of endangered languages and learn how field
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linguists compile grammars of unknown
languages spoken by only a few surviving
speakers. We will see how the grammar of the
specific languages that we speak shapes how we
view the world and discover how language
mediates perceptions of time, space, form, and
matter. We will explore forms of lived experience
such as music concerts, story telling, and dance
and discover the culturally specific ways through
which people engage with the images and sounds
of a performance. In so doing, we will explore
different practical approaches to ethnographic
and linguistic fieldwork. Special emphasis will be
given to practicing and understanding the
methodological specificities of linguistic
anthropological work, which combines
traditional ethnographic methods (such as
interviewing and participant-observation) with
the use of audio-visual recording and
transcription of spontaneous interaction. This
methodological training will provide students
with a deeper appreciation of the potential of
these different techniques for grasping the
nuances of communicative interaction and will
enhance their awareness of the importance of
linguistic details for the understanding of broader
sociocultural processes.
Play: Psychological and
Anthropological Perspectives
Robert R. Desjarlais, Barbara
Schecter
Intermediate—Spring
“For many years, the conviction has grown upon
me that civilization arises and unfolds in and as
play”—Huizinga, Homo Ludens
Play is central to human experience—but what
does it mean to play, and to what extent is play
intrinsic to the human condition? In this course,
we will consider play to be a central aspect of all
imaginative life. We will look closely at the
amazing complexity of human playworlds, both
adult and child, and at the many aspects of our
experiences through play. We will consider
various domains of cultural life, such as ritual,
theatre, improvisation, and
storytelling—including the developmental
origins in children of these modes of expression.
Other topics will include therapeutic uses of play,
the role of play in learning, play in virtual worlds,
and the lifeworlds of competitive chess players.
Throughout these inquiries, we will adopt an
interdisciplinary perspective—charting the
psychological, cultural, and social underpinnings
of this imaginative realm. Students will be asked
to choose a context in which to observe and/or
participate in play with adults or children (such
as at our Early Childhood Center or in another
setting). Previous course work in psychology or
anthropology is required.
Ethnographic Research and
Writing
Robert R. Desjarlais
Advanced—Year
Javanese shadow theatre, Bedouin love poems,
and American street-corner societies are but a
few of the cultural realities about which
anthropologists have effectively studied and
written. This is no easy task, given the substantial
difficulties involved in understanding—and
portraying through writing—the concerns,
activities, and logic of lives other than one’s own.
Students in this course will similarly try their
hands at ethnographic research and writing. In
the fall semester, each student will be asked to
undertake an ethnographic research project in
order to investigate the features of a specific
social world, such as a homeless shelter, a
religious festival, or dorm life at a liberal arts
college. In the spring, she or he will craft a fully
realized piece of ethnographic writing that
conveys something of the features and dynamics
of that world in lively, accurate, and
comprehensive terms. Along the way, and with
the help of anthropological writings that are
either exceptional or experimental in nature, we
will collectively think through some of the most
important questions inherent in ethnographic
projects, such as the use of field notes, the
interlacing of theory and data, the role of
dialogue and the author’s voice in ethnographic
prose, and the ethical and political
responsibilities that come with any attempt to
understand and portray the lives of others.
Previous course work in anthropology required.
Political Language and
Performance
Aurora Donzelli
Advanced—Spring
The involvement of humans with the world is
essentially manifested in our being constantly
engaged in performing actions, evaluating the
potential results or regretting the actual outcomes
of our own or other people’s deeds, assuming or
disclaiming responsibility for the acts that we
actually perform or imagine to perform, debating
8 Art History
whether to act or refrain from action or act in a
certain way or another. Language plays a key role
in structuring and mediating humans’ political
agency and moral reasoning. However, while
language is often understood as a mere device for
the transmission of information, the term
“politics” often evokes in our minds large-scale
processes involving local institutions, national
governments, or international agencies. This
course would like to challenge these traditional
representations of both language and politics and
provide an understanding of how the
micropolitical usages of language lie at the heart
of human sociality. Through a series of readings
and practical exercises, we will see how the way
that we say something is often just as (or even
more) important than what we actually say. We
will discover how language is inherently political
and how politics entails an important
performative and aesthetic component.
Throughout the semester, we will explore how, in
our everyday lives, we are often (although not
always completely consciously) involved in subtle
and complex political dynamics concerning our
own and/or our interlocutors’ “identity” and
footing. We will seek to understand how speakers
construct credibility and assertiveness while
communicating among themselves and how they
manage issues of agreement, affiliation, and
disalignment in the moral domain of everyday
conversation and political speechmaking. At the
same time, we will examine how political
discourse—both in the United States and in
more “exotic” contexts—constitutes a form of
verbal art that entails different aesthetics of
persuasion and reproduces different moral
philosophies and cultural values. Students will be
involved in conducting original research, either
individually or in small groups, about the
ethnography of everyday speech and political
discourse in settings of their choice. Through
selected readings on linguistic construction of
identity and the presentation of the political self,
political performances and audience reactions,
stance-taking, the construction of credibility and
assertiveness, evidence and responsibility,
vernacular moral and political philosophies,
indexicality, reported speech, and heteroglossia,
students will achieve a deeper appreciation of
how speakers use language, as well as other
semiotic resources (i.e., space, nonverbal
behavior, cosmetics, and clothing), to construct
meaning. Previous course work in anthropology or
permission of the instructor is required.
Art History
The art history curriculum at Sarah Lawrence
Collegecovers a broad territory historically,
culturally, and methodologically. Students
interested in art theory, social art history, or
material culture have considerable flexibility in
designing a program of study and in choosing
conference projects that link artistic, literary,
historical, social, philosophical, and other
interests. Courses often include field trips to
major museums, auction houses, and art galleries
in New York City and the broader regional area,
as well as to relevant screenings, performances,
and architectural sites. Many students have
extended their classroom work in art history
through internships at museums and galleries, at
nonprofit arts organizations, or with studio artists;
through their own studio projects; or through
advanced-level senior thesis work. Sarah
Lawrence students have gone on to graduate
programs in art history at Columbia, Johns
Hopkins, Northwestern, Bard, Williams, Yale,
University of Chicago, Oxford University and
University of London, among others. Many of
their classmates have pursued museum and
curatorial work at organizations such as the
Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago; others
have entered the art business by working at
auction houses such as Sotheby’s or by starting
their own galleries; and still others have entered
such professions as nonprofit arts management
and advocacy, media production, and publishing.
Beauty, Bridges, Boxes, and
Brutes: “Modern”
Architecture From 1750 to
1960
Joseph C. Forte
This course aims to give, through slides and
readings, a comprehensive and nuanced
understanding of modern architectural practice
and theory from its origins in Enlightenment
notions of ideal beauty, type, form, and scientific
function to its postwar iteration in the new
Brutalism, based on truth to materials, concrete
challenges, subconscious impulses, and a theory
of the ugly. Along with major movements (Arts
and Crafts, Technological Sublime, Art Nouveau,
Bauhaus) and figures (William Morris, Frank
Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier), we will learn to
read architecture and to read with architects in
order to contextualize form and its urban,
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sociopolitical, and epistemological implications
and to see how architecture gives form to
context. Group conferences will focus on primary
sources, dealing with beauty, the sublime,
ornament, destruction, and totalizing reason in
architectural theory. Two papers and an
architectural notebook dedicated to class notes,
readings, drawings, musings, etc. will be required.
Arts of the Americas: The
Continents Before Columbus
and Cortés
Susan Kart
Pre-Hispanic visual culture will be the focus of
this class. We will cross on both Mesoamerica
and the Andes. In Central America, our focus
will be on the Olmec, Maya, and Aztec cultures;
in the Andes, we will focus on the lowland
Paracas, Nazca, and Moche, along with the
highland Chavín, Wari, Tiahuanaco, and Inka
city-states. Along with architecture, textiles,
manuscripts, metallurgy, and sculpted works, we
will consider primary sources and current debates
in art history and archaeology. Early theorists of
pre-Columbian art such as George Kubler, Junius
Bird, Octavio Paz, Zelia Nuttall, Marilyn Bridges,
and Tatiana Proskouriakoff will be discussed in
conjunction with more recent scholarship by
Anne Paul, Elizabeth Boone, and Dorie Reents,
among many others. Among the themes we will
discuss: questions of cultural patrimony, art
historical methodology, archaeological theory,
the politics of collecting and museum
exhibitions, and relationships between art
historical and anthropological modes of
interpretation. To this end, the class will utilize
the objects and libraries available at the major
collections of pre-Columbian art in New York
City: the Metropolitan Museum of Art and its
Goldwater Library and the American Museum of
Natural History and its library.
Problems By Design: Studies
in the Theory and Practice of
Contemporary Architecture
Joseph C. Forte
This course grounds analysis of contemporary
architectural practice in theory and individual
responses to evolving media and methods of
design from 1960 to the present. The emphasis
will be on North American, Asian, and European
architectural practitioners, institutional and
intellectual frameworks, and explorations of
global urbanism as reflexive elements. A survey
of attitudes in the immediate postwar period will
be juxtaposed with post-9/11 issues. Readings will
involve works in philosophy, theory, criticism,
politics, and social analysis. Topics covered will
touch on: careers of architects such as Aldo
Rossi, Jean Nouvel, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Rem
Koolhaas, Lebbeus Woods, Santiago Calatrava,
Rural and Urban Studio, Future Systems,
MVRDV, West 8, Zaha Hadid, Kenneth Yeang,
Foreign Office; movements such as Rationalism,
New Brutalism/Team 10, Situationalism,
Postmodernism, Deconstructivism, New
Urbanism/Townscape; design strategies such as
blobs, dots and folds, fractal form, fractured
landscapes, datatowns and metacities, ascetic
aesthetic/minimalist consumption,
megastructures, themed urbanism,
transformational design grammars, economic and
informational models for sustainable growth/
development/design. Three assignments will
involve analytical and critical papers on new
works—such as Diller and Scofidio’s High Line,
Brian Tolle’s Irish Famine Museum, SANAA’s
New Museum, and Frank Gehry’s Beekman
Tower—or design problems inspired by various
typologies and modernities. An artists’ notebook
is an option for a final class project.
Arts of the African Continent
Susan Kart
“Africa” is a concept that was created during the
colonial period. As such, our understanding of
“African Art” is historically based on colonial
models of documentation and knowledge
collection. Once we understand this, we can
engage more honestly with the diversity of
cultures and arts on the continent. To understand
this, we will read from a variety of art historical,
anthropological, literary, and primary colonial
sources, including Georg Schweinfurth, Joseph
Conrad, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Johannes
Fabian, Suzanne Blier, and Monica
Visona—whose book, A History of Art in Africa,
is used as the primary textbook for the course. We
will also use the collections at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art and the American Museum of
Natural History as extended classrooms. This
affords the opportunity not only to view the
original objects and thus learn about the
craftsmanship, scale, materials, and provenance
of the pieces but also to encourage students to use
the museum resources. The course will have a
10 Art History
thematic focus on issues pertaining to the
interchange of cultural ideas and art, as
manifested in religion and regional exchanges
between peoples. I want to encourage students to
think about the impact of Western religions
(Christianity and Islam) on African societies and
the objects that they produce, as well as on how
cultures (and objects) are interrelated with their
neighbors. In other words, the class strives to
eliminate thinking of African peoples as concrete
units in easily definable boxes—Sub-Saharan vs
North African, Kongo vs. Fang, Traditional vs
Contemporary—as cultural borders are much
more fluid than we imagine them to be. Finally,
the class will explore contemporary art
movements, drawing attention to the arts
produced in modern times and bringing students’
attention to the fact that their own generation in
Africa is continually updating, redefining, and
restructuring the art of their times.
Making History of NonWestern Art History: Africa,
Oceania, and the Americas
Susan Kart
Open—Year
This class examines the creation of the field of
non-Western art historically known as “AOA” or
the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas.
When the conceit emerged, its purpose was to
provide a means for classifying art of nonEuropean manufacture into an organized system
that would allow for understandings of value,
merit, and quality in comparison (but not on par)
with European arts. The legacy of this strategy of
“the West and the Rest” is seen today in
museums, textbooks, galleries, and journals. Arts
from the “AOA” regions will be examined from
within their own cultural contexts, as well as
within the European canons of art history. Art
historical theories of art, value, display, the West,
religion, colonialism, and conquest will be
examined in conjunction with objects from
around the world. We will focus on the
“unmaking” of this unwieldy art historical
category, and students will propose new strategies
for examining material culture from global
perspectives. Students will evaluate exhibitions
of non-Western material in New York collections
and will design their own “corrective” exhibition
as a final class project. As the class is a service
learning class in partnership with The Art
Gallery at the Yonkers Riverfront Library,
students will expand upon their classroom
knowledge over the course of the year by
directing curatorial, programming, and
educational service learning opportunities at The
Art Gallery and with Yonkers residents and highschool students. A possible travel component for
a service learning/art exhibition project to Dakar
Senegal in May 2012 is in the works for this class.
Enrolled students will be kept up to date on this
opportunity. Students must attend both a group
interview and a personal interview with the instructor
during registration week to be eligible for this class.
Performance Art
Judith Rodenbeck
Open—Year
“Let’s murder the moonlight!”—Filippo
Tommaso Marinetti (1909)
This course traces the history of “performance
art,” a medium named in the 1960s but with roots
in the avant-garde movements of the early 20th
century. Distinct from theatre and emerging more
often from the visual and musical arts,
performance is a slippery object. Our explorations
will be recursive. We will examine its history
chronologically from Futurism and Dada to the
happenings of the 1960s and up to present-day
projects. Framing critical concepts—from ideas of
the gesamtkunstwerk and synesthesia to the
trennung der elemente of Berthold Brecht and from
the “theater of cruelty” of Antonin Artaud to
current formulations of performance,
performativity, and the participatory—will guide
a second pass, expanded to draw on examples
from Wagner to Disney, from Stanislavski to
Butler, and through the history of performance.
We will also be considering formal issues,
including questions concerning audience, the
space/time of the event, the score,
documentation, and the afterlives of
performance.
The Greeks and their
Neighbors: The Hellenization
of the Mediterranean From
the Homeric Age to Augustus
David Castriota
Open—Fall
Although the Romans come to mind most
immediately as the people who absorbed and
passed on the achievements of Greek civilization
to the Western world, the transmission of Greek
culture to Western posterity was a far more
complex process involving various other peoples.
Already during the early first millennium BC,
THE CURRICULUM 11
Greek culture began to affect the neighboring
peoples to the east, such as the Phrygians,
Lydians, and Lycians, as well as the Greeks’
western neighbors in Italy: the Etruscans and
Romans. In time, the Phoenicians and their
western colony of Carthage and the western
regions of the great Persian Empire would
increasingly come to adopt many aspects of
Greek material culture, art, and religion—even
before the Asiatic conquests of Alexander the
Great and his successors. It was this long and
varied process that the Romans gradually
inherited and fused into a pan-Mediterranean
Greco-Roman Pax Romana, beginning with
Augustus. The course will examine this process
from the perspective of artistic monuments and
literary or historical sources, as well.
The Fall of the Roman
Empire
David Castriota
Open—Fall
The fall of the Roman Empire was not an event
but a process, one that unfolded slowly over
several centuries. This course will examine how
Rome went from a period of unquestioned power
and prosperity in the late second century AD
into an era of economic, political, and military
instability that resulted in a steady decline,
punctuated by periodic revivals that ultimately
failed. We will examine the evidence of
literature, military, and political history and
major artistic monuments. The course will focus
on the root causes of this decline in Roman
military and economic policy under relentless
pressure from barbarian Europe and in
competition with the neighboring Persian
Empire. We will also consider the emergence of
Christianity, not so much as a cause or symptom
of decline but as the cultural process through
which the Romans reinvented themselves one
last time.
“La Piu Grassa Minerva
(Minerva in Her Fullness)”
Theories of Art and
Architecture From 1300 to
1600
Joseph C. Forte
Open—Fall
The nature of art has been described by the
philosopher Richard Wollheim as “one of the
most elusive of the traditional problems of
human culture.” It has been defined as a vehicle
for the expression or communication of emotions
and ideas, a means of exploring and appreciating
formal elements for their own sake, and as
mimesis or representation. An inquiry into the
various ways that artists, patrons, and, a new
phenomenon, art critics, developed a
comprehensive theory of something we now
know as the fine arts and addressed this issue
from a complex perspective of religious belief,
prescientific concepts of nature, complicated
theories of the self, and an increasing interest in
classical aesthetics, rhetoric, and poetics.
Readings will cover theories of subject matter
and formal composition, ideas and words, works
and their authors. Focus will be on the theory
and practice of Alberti, Leonardo da Vinci,
Michelangelo, and Titian; historical phenomena
and movements such as theory and the
craftman’s skill; visual poetics and humanism;
neo-Platonism and the limits of mimesis;
Aristotelian poetics and moral narrative;
Reformation iconoclasm; Counter Reform
orthodoxy; and Venetian inventive naturalism.
A Paradox for Painters:
Problems in Imitation,
Expression, and Reflexivity in
the 17th-Century European
Painting
Joseph C. Forte
Open—Spring
This class aims to integrate into a coherent
historical narrative the diversity of aesthetic
claims, national schools, religious professions,
individual styles, and critical approaches that
characterize painting in 17th-century Europe.
The Italian grand manner of the 16th
century—Michelangelo, Titian, etc.—provided a
model and a paradox for painters of the following
century. Had an apogee been reached, was
invention now impossible? In short, how can
artists proceed? Did the religious “reform” of the
16th century, the struggle to innovate or preserve
the dogma of the Catholic Church, change the
rules for painters and their patrons, clients, and
institutions? The theory and practice of the
“reform” of paintings by the Italian artists
Caravaggio and the Carracci are only the first
attempts to answer these questions. Next, we
study the development of the Flemish school,
best characterized by the complex literacy
process, theatricality, and brilliant colorism of
Rubens and the social and religious concerns that
frame the Spanish school, represented by
12 Asian Studies
Zubaran, Ribera, and Velazquez. We will deal
with the development of realistic painting in
Holland, its ideological and theological roots,
and the careers of Rembrandt and Vermeer.
Finally, we will finish with France—the
crossroads of north and south—with naturalistic
painters such as Georges de la Tour, classicists
such as Nicolas Poussin, and debates between
proponents of classical art or of sensuous
painting, literary or visual models, theory or
practice in picture theory and making. After
introductory discussions of the artistic and
cultural heritage of each geographical area or the
theoretical frameworks of important masters'
styles based on contemporary sources, we will
intensely study a few representative works
through the use of slides. Issues addressed may be
chronology and development of styles; the effect
of patronage on style and meaning in a work; and
the effect on the arts of new religious, political,
and social groups and institutions. Aesthetic
issues will be raised: the disputed criteria for
artistic excellence, contemplation vs.
theatricality, epic vs. tragic, the natural vs. the
perfect work, the frame vs. the individual object.
Readings will range broadly, with particular
attention to modern critical approaches applied
to 17th-century works. Conference work will be
encouraged on works of art in New York
museums, art, architecture, and theory from 1400
to the present, including women's patronage of
cultural activities.
Writing Contemporary Art
Judith Rodenbeck
Advanced—Year
This course takes as its object the varieties of text
that are produced within the ambit of what
philosopher Arthur Danto calls the “artworld.”
We will be reading art works, criticism, history,
memoirs—texts that can be literal, poetic,
logical, experimental, encyclopedic or
monosyllabic, “orate” or literate, open,
imperative, ekphrastic. Authors range from
Gertrude Stein to David Antin, from George
Brecht to Mary Kelly, from Donald Judd to
Rosalind Krauss. Exercises range from haiku to
catalogue essay.
Asian Studies
Asian Studies is an interdisciplinary field
grounded in current approaches to the varied
regions of Asia. Seminars and lectures are offered
on China, Japan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and
Indonesia. Courses explore Asian cultures,
geographies, histories, societies, and religions.
Visual and performing arts are included in the
Asian Studies curriculum. Faculty, trained in
languages of their areas, draw on extensive field
experience in Asia. Their courses bridge
humanities, social sciences, and global studies.
Students are encouraged to consider
studying in Asia during their junior year. The
Office of International Programs assists students
in locating appropriate opportunities. Recent
Sarah Lawrence College students have
participated in programs of study in India, China,
and Japan.
First-Year Studies: Cultures
and Arts of India
Sandra Robinson
FYS
The Indian subcontinent hosts many diverse
cultures grounded in Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic,
secular, and unassimilated traditions. This
multifaceted course explores the diverse cultural
traditions of India through the visual and
performing arts and through exemplary literature.
Fiction and poetic narratives are studied in
conjunction with nonverbal arts, as we explore
modes of Indian thought and expression.
Aesthetic, religious, economic, and political
aspects of South Asian arts are viewed in light of
transcultural theories of production and
consumption. We study Hindu temple sculpture,
Moghul miniature painting, and Dalit theatre,
with attention to aesthetic principles, religious
sectarian histories, caste hierarchies, and systems
of patronage. Our inquiries address these
questions: How do arts of the 21st century both
reflect and transform traditional myths and
images? What social agendas have led to
conventional distinctions between “classical” and
“folk” arts, and why are such definitions now
widely rejected? Why does the Indian canon
regard cuisine and body decoration to be classical
art forms? Which arts were historically available
to women? How did British colonial values
influence South Asian artists’ identities and selfrepresentations? Sources include the music of
Ravi Shankar, films of Satyajit Ray and Mira
Nair, and work of prominent photographers. The
seminar culminates with readings from recent
works of Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, and
other postcolonial writers who continue to
inscribe images of India onto the global scene.
THE CURRICULUM 13
Bitter Victories, Sweet
Defeats
Kevin Landdeck
Open—Year
This seminar is a sustained look at a major aspect
of East Asian history in the first half of the 20th
century: war. The course will not be “military
history” in the sense of battles and campaigns
but, instead, a look at war’s deep impact on
politics, society, and culture in China and Japan
from the 1890s to the 1950s, as governments and
people prepared for war, waged it, propagandized
for it, and rebuilt in its wake. For China, we will
focus on the link between prolonged warfare and
revolution. The Second Sino-Japanese War
(1937-45) was preceded by decades of violent
struggles among warlords and revolutionary
parties and was followed by the PRC’s first major
international conflict, the Korean War. The
importance of these long years of warfare for the
Chinese revolution cannot be overstated. We
will ask how men were mobilized, how wars
affected civilians, how revolutionary leaders and
parties made use of warfare, why some Chinese
collaborated with the Japanese, and why a regime
whose flag was barely hoisted over Tiananmen
Square decided to fight one of the world’s
superpowers. For Japan, war was no less crucial
but in different ways. To understand Japan’s
disastrous imperial adventure and the effects of
defeat, we will reverse the China rubric to look at
the connections between aggressive militarism
and the Meiji political “revolution” (1868), as
well as later brushes with social revolution. The
Nanjing Massacre (December 1937) will be
dissected, as we attempt to understand the
anatomy of that atrocity. Finally, we will look at
the ramifications of defeat. How was
“responsibility” for the war determined? Using
scholarly studies, fiction, and the photographs of
Shomei Tomatsu, we will ask what it meant to be
an occupied country and what changes US
occupation brought in its wake. We will confront
the difficult issue of Japan as “victim” by
discussing the atomic bombs—a singular event in
world history—and their cultural effects in Japan.
Personal Narratives
Kevin Landdeck
Open—Fall
This course explores the realm of private life and
individual identity as revealed in forms of
autobiographical writings from modern China.
Ranging from the late Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
and into the Reform era (1980s), our
investigations will cover an eclectic mix of
“personal” literature: diaries, memoirs, oral
testimony, autobiographies, third-party
anthropological reconstructions of individuals,
and (auto)biographical fiction. We will
encounter late imperial petty scholars, young
urban women and their mothers with bound feet,
peasants, radical revolutionaries, intellectuals,
Maoist Red Guards, and factory workers. In a
purely historical sense, the readings provide
opportunities to understand the past by working
directly with different types of sources. Yet, these
personal stories not only open up windows on the
lives and times of their writers but also allow us
to explore the intersection between the practice
of writing and identity construction, which some
theorists argue is one of the distinctive elements
of modernity. We will ask ourselves how these
authors present themselves: What are their selfconceptions and self-deceptions? Where does
their sense of “self” come from, and how do they
construct private selves through writing? Why are
they writing and for whom? We should even dare
to ask whether these categories of “private” and
“self” are even relevant. The rapid and often
traumatic changes of these decades will cause us
to consider how these people understood and
situated themselves in wider society and the
events of their time and, thus, will open up
questions about the imaginative constructions of
national (or social) communities that are
smuggled inside these “personal” stories.
Empire to Nation
Kevin Landdeck
Open—Spring
What did it mean to be a subject of the Qing
dynasty in 1800 or a citizen of one of the modern
Chinese Republics founded in the 20th century?
What changed in the course of that century and
a half? This course is a reading seminar in
China’s fitful transition from the empire of the
Manchu (Qing) dynasty (1644-1911) to the
nation-state of the PRC (1949-present). The
Qing dynasty was massive. From its height in the
18th century to the middle of the 20th, this
continental power was remade into a member of
the modern international community of nationstates. As we chart this process, recurring themes
will be the changing nature of (state) sovereignty,
relations with outsiders/foreigners, and the
relationship of individuals to state power. We will
examine the sinews of the Manchu dynasty’s
domestic authority, including the balancing act
between the emperor’s personal will and the
14 Asian Studies
bureaucracy’s routinized power. Qing colonialism
in Xinjiang will illuminate the multiethnic
nature of its empire and its interactions with
foreign “others.” Despite internal challenges,
external relations were what brought
fundamental challenges to the imperial
state—particularly the corrosive interactions
with another imperial power, the seafaring
British. The role of translation (of Western
philosophy and international law) will be our
entry point for China’s slide into the modern
international system of nation-states. The
concept of race highlights how Chinese struggled
with the definition of “nation” itself. From there,
we will turn to the growth of a modern nationstate. Keeping in mind the distinction between
rural and urban environments, the changing
nature of power, the relationship between the
state and individuals, and revolutionary political
mobilization will be topics of particular interest.
Chinese Philosophy: Tao,
Mind, and Human Nature
Ellen Neskar
Intermediate, Sophomore and above—Year
The nature of human nature, the proper
functioning of the mind, and the relationship of
both to the Tao are central preoccupations of
Chinese philosophy. In the first semester, we will
explore these concerns through a careful reading
of the foundational texts from the early Taoist
and Confucian traditions. In the second semester,
we will look at the ways in which later NeoTaoist and Neo-Confucian philosophers
reevaluated the classics and created metaphysical
systems to ground their understanding of
perfectibility of all people. Our goals are twofold:
First, we will pay close attention to each
philosopher’s conceptions of the mind, emotions,
human nature, thought, and knowledge. Second,
we will examine the unfolding of the debates
among the philosophers concerning the manner
in which these conceptions relate to the Tao and
shape the individual’s practice of self-cultivation.
Philosophers and texts will include: Confucius,
Lao-tzu, Mencius, Chuang-tzu, Hsun-tzu, Great
Learning, Doctrine of the Mean, Kuo Hsiang, and
Chu Hsi.
Writing India: Transnational
Narratives
Sandra Robinson
Sophomore and above—Fall
The global visibility of South Asian writers has
changed the face of contemporary English
literature. Many writers from the Indian
subcontinent continue to narrate tumultuous
events that surrounded the 1947 partition of
India and Pakistan with independence from
British imperial rule. Their writings join utopian
imaginings and legacies of the past with dystopias
and thwarted aspirations of recent decades. More
promising visions currently prevail. This seminar
addresses themes of identity, fragmentation,
hybridity, memory, and alienation that link
South Asian literary production to contemporary
writing from postcolonial cultures in Southeast
Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Accounts of
South Asian communal violence reflect
urgencies resonant with those expressed in
literatures of the Holocaust. The cultural space of
India has been repeatedly transformed and
redeployed according to varied cultural projects,
political interests, and economic agendas. After
briefly considering representations of India in
travel chronicles of Chinese Buddhist pilgrims,
Greek adventurers, and Turko-Persian
conquerors, we explore modern constructions of
India found in excerpts from Kipling, Forster,
Orwell, and other writers of the British Raj. The
central focus of the seminar is on India as
remembered and imagined in selected works of
writers, including Salman Rushdie, Vikram Seth
and Arundhati Roy. We use interdisciplinary
critical inquiry as we pursue a literature that
shifts increasingly from narrating the nation to
narrating its diasporic fragments in transnational
contexts.
Images of India: Text/Photo/
Film
Sandra Robinson
Sophomore and above—Spring
This seminar examines the interface of colonial
and postcolonial representations of India as
imagined and imaged. Visual artists and writers
from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are actively
engaged in reinterpreting the British colonial
impact on South Asia. Their work presents
sensibilities of the colonized in counter-narration
to images previously established during the
regime of the Raj. Highlighting previously
unexposed impressions, such works inevitably
THE CURRICULUM 15
supplement, usually challenge, and frequently
undermine traditional accounts underwritten by
imperialist interests. Colonial discourse depicted
peoples of the Indian subcontinent both in terms
of degradation and in terms of the romance of
empire, thereby rationalizing various economic,
political, and psychological agendas. The
external invention and deployment of the term
“Indian” is emblematic of the epoch, with
colonial designation presuming to reframe
indigenous identity. Postcolonial writers and
artists are consequently preoccupied with issues
of identity formation. What does it mean to have
been conceived of as an Indian? What historical
claims are implicit in allegories of the nation?
How do such claims inform events taking place
today, given the resurgence of Hindu
fundamentalism? For this inquiry, sources include
works by prominent South Asian writers,
photographers, and filmmakers.
Other courses offered this year in Asian Studies
are listed below. Full descriptions of the courses
may be found under the appropriate disciplines.
Geography
Geography
Japanese I (p. 58), Kuniko Katz Japanese
Japanese II (p. 58), Miyabi Yamamoto Japanese
Japanese III (p. 58), Cheiko Naka Japanese
First-Year Studies: The Buddhist Philosophy
of Emptiness (p. 107), T. Griffith Foulk
Religion
Buddhist Art and Architecture (p. 108),
T. Griffith Foulk Religion
Biology
Biology is the study of life in its broadest sense,
ranging from such topics as the role of trees in
affecting global atmospheric carbon dioxide
down to the molecular mechanisms switching
genes on and off in human brain cells. It includes
a tremendous variety of disciplines: molecular
biology, immunology, histology, anatomy,
physiology, developmental biology, behavior,
evolution, ecology, and many others. Because
Sarah Lawrence College faculty are broadly
trained and frequently teach across the
traditional disciplinary boundaries, students gain
an integrated knowledge of living things—a view
of the forest as well as the trees.
General Biology I: Cellular
and Molecular Biology
Drew E. Cressman
Biology, the study of life on Earth, encompasses
structures and forms ranging from the very
minute to the very large. In order to grasp the
complexities of life, we begin this study with the
cellular and molecular forms and mechanisms
that serve as the foundation for all living
organisms. The initial part of the semester will
introduce the fundamental molecules critical to
the biochemistry of life processes. From there, we
branch out to investigate the major ideas,
structures, and concepts central to the biology of
cells, genetics, and the chromosomal basis of
inheritance. Finally, we conclude the semester by
examining how these principles relate to the
mechanisms of evolution. Throughout the
semester, we will discuss the individuals
responsible for major discoveries, as well as the
experimental techniques and process by which
such advances in biological understanding are
made. Classes will be supplemented with weekly
laboratory work. This course is designed to be
followed in sequence by General Biology II:
Organismal and Population Biology.
General Biology II:
Organismal and Population
Biology
Leah Olson
The number and diversity of living organisms on
Earth is staggering—and so common that we
often take their very existence for granted. Yet
the nature of these organisms, their mechanisms
of survival, and their modes of interaction with
each other and with the environment form the
basis of endless and fascinating study. This course
serves as a fundamental introduction to the
science of life—the broad field of biology. As
such, we cover a wide variety of topics, ranging
from the microscopic to the macroscopic and
from the laboratory to the field. The course will
be divided into three parts. The first portion of
16 Biology
the year will focus on the biology of cells and the
chromosomal basis of inheritance. We will then
turn our attention to the mechanisms of
evolution and biological diversity. Finally, we will
conclude by examining organismal functions and
ecology. In addition to the science involved, we
will discuss the individuals responsible for major
discoveries and the process of hypothesis
formation, experimental design, and
interpretation of results. Classes will be
supplemented with weekly laboratory work.
Marine Biology
Raymond D. Clarke
Open—Fall
The ocean is the last of the great frontiers on
Earth and is widely heralded as the source of our
future energy and food resources. The ocean is
believed to be the cradle of life and certainly
supports a much greater variety of living things
than the freshwater or terrestrial environments.
What is the nature of life in the ocean? How does
marine life capture and share the sun’s energy?
Why are some areas of the ocean rich in life and
others almost devoid of life? Can we farm the
seas? These and other questions will be discussed
in a systematic inquiry into marine biology. We
will study the physical characteristics of each of
the major zones of the ocean and then examine
the kinds of marine organisms and the
adaptations that suit them to their characteristic
zones. This will lead to a discussion of our present
use of the seas and our impact on the organisms
that live there. With this knowledge, we will
examine some of the exotic schemes proposed to
harvest food and energy from the ocean and
evaluate their probable effects on the ocean
system. Classes will be supplemented by
laboratory sessions and field trips. Conferences
will be used to explain class material, to review
the tests, and to discuss conference papers, which
may be written on any basic or applied aspect of
marine biology.
Anatomy and Physiology
Beth Ann Ditkoff
Open—Fall
Anatomy is the branch of science that explores
the bodily structure of living organisms, while
physiology is the study of the normal functions of
these organisms. In this course, we will explore
the human body in both health and disease.
Focus will be placed on the major body units such
as skin, skeletal, muscular, nervous, endocrine,
cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive, urinary and
reproductive systems. By emphasizing concepts
rather than the memorization of facts, we will
make associations between anatomical structures
and their functions. The course will take a
clinical approach to health and illness, with
examples drawn from medical disciplines such as
radiology, pathology, and surgery. A final
conference paper is required at the conclusion of
the course. The topic will be chosen by each
student to emphasize the relevance of anatomy/
physiology to our understanding of the human
body.
Principles of Botany
Kenneth G. Karol
Open—Fall
Understanding the biology of plants is
fundamental to understanding the complex web
of life on Earth and its evolutionary history.
Nearly all other organisms, including humans,
directly or indirectly rely on plants for their food
and oxygen. Consequently, plants are essential to
our existence; and by studying them in detail, we
learn more about our own species and the world
that we inhabit. This course is an introductory
survey of botany. The first half of the course will
examine aspects of plant anatomy, morphology,
physiology, and development. The second half
will cover plant genetics, reproduction, diversity,
and evolution. In addition to covering many
facets of plant biology, an introduction to
bacteria and algae will also be presented. Weekly
lectures and textbook readings will be
supplemented with occasional laboratory
sessions.
Introduction to Genetics
Drew E. Cressman
Open—Spring
At the biological core of all life on Earth is the
gene. The unique combination of genes in each
individual ultimately forms the basis for that
person's physical appearance, metabolic capacity,
thought processes, and behavior. Therefore, in
order to understand how life develops and
functions, it is critical to understand what genes
are, how they work, and how they are passed on
from parents to offspring. In this course, we will
begin by investigating the theories of inheritance
first put forth by Mendel and then progress to our
current concepts of how genes are transmitted
through individuals, families, and whole
populations. We will also examine chromosome
structure and the molecular functions of genes
and DNA and how mutations in DNA can lead
THE CURRICULUM 17
to physical abnormalities and diseases such as
Down’s and Turner’s syndromes or hemophilia.
Finally, we will discuss the role of genetics in
influencing such complex phenotypes as behavior
and intelligence. Classes will be supplemented
with weekly laboratory work.
Biology of Cancer
Drew E. Cressman
Intermediate—Fall
Cancer is likely the most feared and notorious of
human diseases, being devastating in both its
scope and its prognosis. It has been described as
an alien invader inside one’s own body,
characterized by its insidious spread and devious
ability to resist countermeasures. Cancer’s
legendary status is rightfully earned, accounting
for 13% of all human deaths worldwide and
killing an estimated eight million people
annually. In 1971, President Richard Nixon
declared a “war on cancer” and, since then, more
than $200 billion has been spent on cancer
research. While clinical success has been modest,
tremendous insights have been generated in
understanding the cellular, molecular, and
genetic mechanisms of this disease. In this
course, we will explore the field of cancer biology,
covering topics such as tumor viruses, cellular
oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, cell
immortalization, multistep tumorigenesis, cancer
development and metastasis, and the treatment
of cancer. In addition, we will discuss new
advances in cancer research and draw from
recent articles in the published literature.
Ecology
Raymond D. Clarke
Ecology is the science of the relationship of living
things to their living and nonliving
environments. While providing the
underpinnings for environmentalism, ecology
exists independently as a basic science. This
course will introduce the student to the major
concepts of ecology: the flow of energy and
cycling of nutrients through ecosystems, the
regulation of population size, the ways in which
species are grouped together to form natural
communities, and the factors that contribute to
the stability of natural systems. In addition to the
fundamental principles, we will explore the
observational and experimental support for these
ideas, both qualitative and quantitative. These
methods and concepts will help students evaluate
such current issues as biodiversity, global
warming, food production, and energy use.
Classes will be augmented by field trips.
Virology
Drew E. Cressman
Advanced—Spring
Viruses are some of the smallest biological
entities found in nature—yet, at the same time,
perhaps the most notorious. Having no
independent metabolic activity of their own,
they function as intracellular parasites, depending
entirely on infecting and interacting with the
cells of a host organism to produce new copies of
themselves. The effects on the host organism can
be catastrophic, leading to disease and death.
HIV has killed more than 18 million people since
its identification and has infected twice that
number. Ebola, West Nile virus, herpes, and pox
viruses—are all well-known viruses yet shrouded
in fear and mystery. During the course of this
semester, we will examine the biology of viruses,
discussing their physical and genetic properties,
their interaction with host cells, their ability to
commandeer the cellular machinery for their own
reproductive needs, the effects of viral infection
on host cells, and finally how viruses and other
subviral entities may have originated and
evolved. In addition, we will examine how
viruses have been portrayed in literature, with
readings that include Laurie Garrett’s The Coming
Plague and Richard Preston’s The Hot Zone.
Topics in Cell Biology
Leah Olson
Advanced—Spring
Cell biological pathways that define the basic
metabolic processes of cells are currently
understood to be responsible for cell aging and
cell death; that is, the very processes that are
essential for maintaining life—the breakdown
and processing of food—are the pathways that
eventually cause death. This
understanding—that nutrient pathways are
central in informing cellular decisions about life
and death—recently led to the stunning
experiment that showed that feeding mice large
amounts of resveratrol, the ingredient in red wine
thought to be responsible for the “French
paradox,” could significantly extend the healthy
lifespan of mice. What are these pathways? This
course will explore these and related topics that
are on the cutting edge of work in cell biology.
The course will be conducted as a journal club;
that is, students will be reading and making
18 Chemistry
presentations from the primary literature on
selected topics primarily centered on issues
related to nutrient processing and cell senescence
and aging. Topics covered will include: insulin
receptor signaling, which functions to maintain
levels of blood glucose, and how defects in those
signaling pathways give rise to diabetes; other
nutrient-sensing pathways in the cell; cell death,
or apoptosis; oxygen-free radical production and
its regulation; and fat metabolism. We will also
be tying the mechanisms being studied at the cell
level to issues related to the regulation of eating,
obesity, aging, and other organismal-level
functions.
Chemistry
Chemistry seeks to understand our physical world
on an atomic level. This microscopic picture uses
the elements of the periodic table as building
blocks for a vast array of molecules, ranging from
water to DNA. But some of the most fascinating
aspects of chemistry involve chemical reactions,
where molecules combine and
transform—sometimes dramatically—to generate
new molecules.
Chemistry explores many areas of our
physical world, ranging from our bodies and the
air that we breathe to the many products of the
human endeavor, including art and a plethora of
consumer products. Students at Sarah Lawrence
College may investigate these diverse areas of
chemistry through a variety of courses:
Atmospheric Chemistry, Environmental
Chemistry, Nutrition, Photographic Chemistry,
and Extraordinary Chemistry of Everyday Life, to
name a few. In addition to these courses, the
College routinely offers General, Organic, and
Biochemistry to provide a foundation in the
theories central to this discipline.
Just as experimentation played a
fundamental role in the formulation of the
theories of chemistry, it plays an integral part in
learning them. Therefore, laboratory experiments
complement many of the seminar courses.
First-Year Studies: Green
Chemistry: An
Environmental Revolution
Colin D. Abernethy
FYS
Humanity’s knowledge and application of science
and technology have significantly enhanced the
quality of life for billions of people. New sources
of affordable energy for the world’s everincreasing population, revolutionary
pharmaceuticals used to treat once debilitating or
killer diseases, synthetic fertilizers used to
enhance crop yields, and advanced materials used
to provide improved clothing and shelter have all
contributed to rising living standards and
longevity. These achievements, however, have
come at a cost. The manufacture, use, and
disposal of chemicals harmful to our environment
threaten the long-term well-being of both
humans and other species. Chemists have
responded to these environmental concerns by
developing “Green Chemistry,” a revolutionary
philosophy and methodology designed to place
human and environmental health at the heart of
their endeavors. This course introduces students
to the moral obligations of scientists to work for
both the benefit of society and for the wider
natural world. It guides students to an
understanding of how the Twelve Principles of
Green Chemistry can be applied to minimize
health and environmental dangers posed by
today’s agricultural, mining, manufacturing, and
energy industries.
General Chemistry I
Colin D. Abernethy
Chemistry is the study of the properties,
composition, and transformation of matter. It is
central to the production of the materials
required for modern life; for example, the
synthesis of pharmaceuticals to treat disease, the
manufacture of fertilizers and pesticides required
to feed an ever-growing population, and the
development of efficient and environmentally
benign energy sources. This course provides an
introduction to the fundamental concepts of
modern chemistry. We will begin by examining
the structure and properties of atoms, which are
the building blocks of the elements—the simplest
substances in the material world around us. We
will then explore how atoms of different elements
can bond with each other to form an infinite
variety of more complex substances called
compounds. This will lead us to an investigation
of several classes of chemical reactions, the
processes by which substances are transformed
into new materials with different physical
properties. Along the way, we will learn how and
why the three states of matter (solids, liquids, and
gases) differ from one another and how energy
may be either produced or consumed by chemical
THE CURRICULUM 19
reactions. In weekly laboratory sessions, we will
perform experiments to illustrate and test the
theories presented in the lecture part of the
course. These experiments will also serve to
develop practical skills in both synthetic and
analytic chemical techniques.
General Chemistry II
Colin D. Abernethy
This course is a continuation of General
Chemistry I. We will begin with a detailed study
of both the physical and chemical properties of
solutions. This will enable us to consider the
factors that affect both the rates and the
direction of chemical reactions. We will then
investigate the properties of acids and bases and
the role that electricity plays in chemistry. The
course will conclude with introductions to
nuclear chemistry and organic chemistry. Weekly
laboratory sessions will allow us to demonstrate
and test the theories described in the lecture
segment of the course. Students must have
completed General Chemistry I.
Environmental Chemistry
Mali Yin
Open—Fall
This course provides an introduction to basic
concepts of chemistry and their application to
current environmental issues. Topics include acid
rain, ozone depletion, air pollution, global
warming, and surface water and groundwater
pollution. We will then consider how human
activities such as transportation, energy
production, and chemical industries influence the
environment.
Nutrition
Mali Yin
Open—Spring
Nutrition is the sum of all interactions between
us and the food we consume. The study of
nutrition includes the nature and general role of
nutrients in forming structural material,
providing energy, and helping to regulate
metabolism. How do food chemists synthesize the
fat that can't be digested? Can this kind of fat
satisfy our innate appetite for fats? Are there
unwanted side effects and why? What constitutes
a healthy diet? What are the consequences of
severely restricted food intake seen in prevalent
emotional disorders such as anorexia or bulimia?
These and other questions will be discussed. We
will discuss the effect of development, pregnancy,
emotional state, and disease on nutritional
requirements. We will also consider the effects of
food production and processing on nutrition
value and food safety.
Organic Chemistry
Mali Yin
Intermediate—Year
This yearlong course is a systematic study of the
chemistry of carbon compounds. Introductory
topics include bonding, structure, properties,
reactions, nomenclature, stereochemistry,
spectroscopy, and synthesis of organic compounds
from a functional group approach. More
advanced topics include reaction mechanisms,
chemistry of aromatic compounds, carbonyl
compounds, and biomolecules such as
carbohydrates and amino acids. In the laboratory,
students learn the basic techniques used in the
synthesis, isolation, and identification of organic
compounds. Prerequisite: General Chemistry or its
equivalent.
Computer Science
What is computer science? Ask 100 computer
scientists, and you will likely receive 100
different answers. One possible, fairly succinct,
answer is that computer science is the study of
algorithms: step-by-step procedures for
accomplishing tasks formalized into very precise,
atomic (indivisible) instructions. An algorithm
should allow for a task to be accomplished by
someone who or something that does not even
understand the task. In other words, it is a recipe
for an automated solution to a problem.
Computers are tools for executing algorithms.
(Not that long ago, “computer” referred to a
person who computed!)
What are the basic building blocks of
algorithms? How do we go about finding
algorithmic solutions to problems? What makes
an efficient algorithm in terms of the resources
(time, memory, energy) that it requires? What
does the efficiency of algorithms say about major
applications of computer science such as
cryptology, databases, and artificial intelligence?
Computer science courses at Sarah Lawrence
College are aimed at answering questions such as
these. Sarah Lawrence computer science students
20 Computer Science
also investigate how the discipline intersects
other fields of study, including mathematics,
philosophy, biology, and physics.
Privacy vs. Security on the
Internet
Michael Siff
The Internet was developed at the height of the
Cold War as a way to maintain a robust
communication system in the event of a nuclear
attack. It is ironic, then, that the same
technology may put us at risk of 21st century
security threats such as electronic surveillance,
aggregation and mining of personal information,
and cyberterrorism. In this lecture, we contrast
doomsday myths popularized by movies such as
“War Games” with more mundane scenarios such
as total disruption of electronic commerce. Along
the way, we address questions such as: Does
modern technology allow people to communicate
secretly and anonymously? Can a few individuals
disable the entire Internet? Can hackers launch
missiles or uncover blueprints for nuclear power
plants from remote computers on the other side
of the world? We will also investigate other
computer security issues, including spam,
computer viruses, and identity theft. Meanwhile,
with our reliance on Facebook, Twitter, cell
phones, text messages, and electronic mail, have
we unwittingly signed ourselves up to live in an
Orwellian society? Or can other technologies
keep “1984” at bay? Our goal is to investigate if
and how society can strike a balance so as to
achieve computer security without substantially
curtailing rights to free speech and privacy.
Along the way, we will introduce the science of
networks and describe the underlying theories
that make the Internet at once tremendously
successful and so challenging to regulate. A
substantial portion of the course will be devoted
to introductory cryptology—the science (and art)
of encoding and decoding information to enable
private communication. We will conclude with a
discussion of how cutting-edge technologies such
as quantum cryptography and quantum
computing may impact the privacy of electronic
communications in the near future. Group
conferences will include a mix of seminar-style
debates over privacy rights (e.g., on the ethics of
Wikileaks) and hands-on laboratories in which
students will experiment with network simulators
and code-making and code-breaking software.
The Soul of the Machine
Michael Siff
Open—Fall
The focus of this course is on the selection and
interconnection of components used to create a
computer. There are two essential categories of
components in modern computers: the hardware
(the physical medium of computation) and the
software (the instructions executed by the
computer). As technology becomes more
complex, the distinction between hardware and
software blurs. We will study why this happens, as
well as why hardware designers need to be
concerned about the way software designers write
programs and vice versa. Along the way, we will
learn how computers work from higher level
programming languages, such as Java, Python and
C, down to the basic zeroes and ones of machine
code. Specific topics include Boolean logic,
circuit design, computer arithmetic, assembly
language, memory hierarchies, and, time
permitting, mobile architectures. Students should
have at least one semester of programming
experience, preferably in C, C++, Java, or
Python. Permission of the instructor is required.
The Way of the Program
Michael Siff
Open—Fall
This course is an introduction to computer
science and the art of computer programming,
using the elegant, yet easy-to-learn programming
language Python. Students will learn the
fundamental principles of problem solving with a
computer while gaining the programming skills
necessary for further study in the discipline.
Throughout the course, we will emphasize the
power of abstraction and the benefits of clearly
written, well-structured programs. We will begin
with basic procedural programming and work our
way up to object-oriented concepts such as
classes, methods, and inheritance. Along the way,
we will explore fundamental concepts such as
algorithms and their complexity, binary
representations of analog data, digital logic,
recursion and, time permitting, network
communication. Other topics include
introductory computer graphics, file processing,
efficient storage and retrieval of data, and some
principles of game design and implementation.
Weekly laboratory sessions will reinforce the
concepts covered in class through extensive
hands-on practice at the computer.
THE CURRICULUM 21
Objects and Algorithms for
Interactive Media
Matthew Parker
Intermediate, Small seminar—Fall
One of the primary challenges of learning objectoriented programming (OOP) is to find realworld applications that demonstrate how
concepts such as encapsulation, subtype
polymorphism, and inheritance empower a
programmer or a team of programmers to develop
sophisticated, robust software. This class will
attempt to meet that challenge by exploring
OOP as it applies to the implementation of
digital games and interactive art. Students will
learn the process of iterative design and its
relationship to game and interface development
through the creation of prototypes. Projects will
be built in Processing, but the concepts discussed
will be applicable to other object-oriented
languages and digital formats. The class will focus
on core programming techniques, data structures,
and algorithms as they apply to game and
installation development. A main goal will be for
students to understand why object-oriented code
can be powerful, dynamic, and easier to manage.
We will also examine interactive programming
concepts such as collision detection, level
construction, the use of sprite sheets to animate
characters, application flow, and basic ways to
make game elements appear intelligent. Class
discussions and guest speakers will help
contextualize the power and potential of games
and installations in our culture. Assignments will
consist primarily of programming but will also
include readings, presentations, and the critical
evaluation of digital games. Permission of
instructor required. Students should have at least one
semester of programming experience, preferably in
Processing, Java or C++.
Software Design and
Development
Matthew Parker
Intermediate, Small seminar—Spring
Donald E. Knuth, one of the world’s most
distinguished computer scientists, has said both
that “computer programs are fun to write” and
that “software is hard.” The goal of this course is
to give students a taste of what it is like to design
and develop real software. Knuth’s quotes
illustrate two themes of this course that are not
necessarily at odds: The challenge of writing
good software should not offset the pleasure
derived from writing it. Some of the main topics
that we will cover include the power of
abstraction, the separation of design from
implementation, version control, the selection of
development environments, the creative use of
existing software libraries and tools, the benefits
of a flexible approach, the role of maintaining
good documentation, and how to write software
in teams. No place is the adage "there is no
substitute for experience” more relevant than in
software engineering. With that in mind, this
course is intended to be hands-on. Design and
development techniques will be taught primarily
by designing and developing a semester-long
software project. Examples of project categories
include (but are not limited to) digital games and
mobile applications. Permission of the instructor is
required. Students should have at least one semester
of programming experience, preferably in Python,
Processing, Java or C++.
Information and the Arrow
of Time
Michael Siff, Kanwal Singh
Intermediate, Sophomore and above—Spring
What is information? What is entropy? How can
the utterly reliable and predictable behavior of
computers as we know them arise from subatomic
particles governed by the wholly
nondeterministic rules of quantum mechanics?
Are quantum computers exponentially superior
to their classical counterparts? Do the limits of
classical computation apply to these machines?
What are the philosophical implications of
quantum computers; and, in particular, might
they lend support to the many-worlds hypothesis?
Will a practical quantum computer be built in
the near future? If so, is it possible that these
devices will demolish electronic privacy as we
know it? This course will cover topics at the
intersection of quantum physics and computer
science, with an aim toward exploring how the
fundamental laws of quantum mechanics impact
the representation and manipulation of
information on computers. Topics will include
bits and qubits; the Nyquist limit; the basics of
Shannon information theory; quantum
computers and quantum cryptography; energy,
entropy, and reversibility; the EPR paradox; and
spooky action at a distance. This is a jointly taught
seminar. Half the class will have conferences with
Mr. Singh; half with Mr. Siff. Intermediate: Open to
sophomores and above.
22 Dance
Dance
The Sarah Lawrence College Dance program
presents undergraduate students with an inclusive
curriculum that exposes them to vital aspects of
dance through physical, creative, and analytical
practices. Students are encouraged to study
broadly, widen their definitions of dance and
performance, and engage in explorations of form
and function.
Basic principles of functional anatomy are at
the heart of the program, which offers classes in
modern and postmodern contemporary styles,
classical ballet, Yoga, Feldenkrais: Awareness
Through Movement®, African dance, and belly
dance. Composition, improvisation, contact
improvisation, Labanotation, dance history,
music for dancers, teaching conference, lighting
design/stagecraft, and performance projects with
visiting artists round out the program, which aims
to develop the sensibility necessary for students
to realize their own ideas and to internalize
information.
Each student creates an individual program
and meets regularly with advisers to discuss
overall objectives and progress. Students enroll in
a yearlong series of coordinated component
courses that make a Dance Third, which typically
consists of 12 or more hours of in-class time that
includes physical practice classes at least four
times per week. In addition, all students taking a
Dance Third will participate at least once each
semester in movement training sessions to
address their individual needs. These sessions will
provide opportunities to address strength,
flexibility, alignment, and coordination, as well as
to set short- and long-term training goals.
A variety of performing opportunities for
undergraduate and graduate students are
available in both informal and formal settings.
Although projects with guest choreographers are
frequent, it is the students’ own creative work
that is the culmination of their dance experience
at the College. In order to support the
performance aspect of the program, all students
are expected to participate in the production of
concerts. Technical credit is required.
We encourage the interplay between
theatre, music, visual arts, and dance. Music
Thirds and Theatre Thirds may take dance
components, with the permission of the
appropriate faculty.
In the interest of protecting the well-being
of our students, the Dance program reserves the
right, at our discretion, to require any student to
be evaluated by Health Services.
Prospective and admitted students may only
observe classes.
First-Year Studies in Dance
Peggy Gould
FYS
The Dance program encourages first-year
students to study aspects of dance in an
integrated and vital curriculum of technical
movement practices, improvisation, and dance
history. In technical practice, attention will be
given to sharpening the student‘s awareness of
space and time, use of energy, articulation of form
through sensation, and understanding of
functional anatomy. Improvisation classes
provide students of all experience levels with
opportunities to explore and generate movement
from a variety of specific viewpoints. Vocabulary,
strength, and awareness will be expanded
through group and individual problem solving. In
dance history, students will be introduced to the
history of concert dance in he United States from
the early 20th century to the present. The FirstYear Studies Third differs from the regular Dance
Third in that students have an additional weekly
forum in which to consider and develop critical
perspectives on dance as an art form through
reading, writing, discussion, and movement
studies, building skills in each of those areas
throughout the year. Emphasis is placed on
developing the skills necessary for effective
communication, independent research, and study.
Dance Fundamentals
Merceditas Mañago-Alexander
Year
This class is an introduction to the basic
principles of contemporary and ballet practices.
The fundamentals class will develop skills basic
to all movement studies, such as dynamic
alignment through coordination and integration
of the neuro/skeletal/muscular system, strength,
balance, and basic spatial and rhythmic
awareness. Students may enter this yearlong course
in the second semester only with permission of the
instructor.
THE CURRICULUM 23
Modern and Post-Modern
Practice
Emily Devine, Peter Kyle, Gwen
Welliver
In these classes, emphasis will be on the
continued development of basic skills, energy use,
strength, and control. Intermediate and advanced
students will study more complex movement
patterns, investigate somatic use, and
concentrate on the demands of performance. At
all levels, attention will be given to sharpening
each student’s awareness of time and energy and
to disciplining the body to move rhythmically,
precisely, and in accordance with sound
anatomical principles.
Ballet
Barbara Forbes
Year
At all levels, ballet studies will guide students in
creative and expressive freedom by enhancing
the qualities of ease, grace, musicality, and
symmetry that define the form. To this end, we
will explore alignment with an emphasis on
anatomical principles and enlist the appropriate
neuromuscular effort needed to dance with
optimal integration of every aspect of the
individual body, mind, and spirit. Students may
enter this yearlong course in the second semester only
with permission of the instructor.
Dance Training Conference
Liz Rodgers
Year
Students taking a Dance Third will confer with
the instructor at least once per semester to
address individual dance training issues. Overall
progress, specific challenges, and short- and longterm goals may be addressed here. If applicable,
students will learn supplemental exercises to be
done independently, addressing factors such as
strength, flexibility, kinesthetic awareness, and
movement coordination. Dance Training
Conference is required for all students taking a
Dance Third. It is offered to support the work
being done in movement practice classes,
rehearsals, and performance projects.
Improvisation
Emily Devine, Peggy Gould, Kathy
Westwater
Merge your mind and body in the moment
through dance improvisation. This invaluable
creative mode will help you recognize, embody,
and develop sensations and ideas in motion.
Internal and external perceptions will be honed
while looking at movement from many points of
view—as an individual or in partnership with
others. Beginning Improvisation is required for
all students new to the Dance program. This class
is an entry into the creative trajectory that later
leads to composition and dance making. Improvisation A, B, C, and D are recommended for
students who have already taken beginning
improvisation and want to explore this form
further.
Improvisation: Embodied
Awareness
Barbara Forbes
Year
In Awareness Through Movement® (ATM)
lessons, we can learn how to sense subtle
differences and let go of habits of inhibition and
expectation. We will translate the particular
quality of ATM into the possibility of a more
flexible self-image, exploring our ability to
practice mindful spontaneity. The process
of examining our patterns of moving, thinking,
sensing, and feeling will allow the creation of
innovative movement designs, spatial
configurations, and dynamics—ultimately
facilitating more creative and effective action in
life.
Contact Improvisation
Kathy Westwater
Year
This course will examine the underlying
principles of an improvisatory form predicated on
two or more bodies coming into physical contact.
Contact Improvisation, which emerged in the
1960s out of the Judson Experimental Dance
Theater, combines aspects of social and theatrical
dance, bodywork, gymnastics, and martial arts.
We will explore movement practices that
enhance our sensory awareness, with an emphasis
on action and physical risktaking. Contemporary
partnering skills, such as taking and giving weight
and finding a common “center,” will provide a
basis for further exploration. Students may enter
this yearlong course in the second semester only with
permission of the instructor.
24 Dance
Composition A, B, and C
Anatomy in Action
Emily Devine, Dan Hurlin, Sara
Rudner
Peggy Gould
Movement is the birthright of every human
being. These components explore its expressive
and communicative possibilities by introducing
different strategies for making dances. Problems
posed run the gamut from conceptually driven
dance/theatre to structured movement
improvisations. These approaches vary depending
on faculty. Learn to mold kinetic vocabularies of
your own choice and incorporate sound, objects,
visual elements, and text to contextualize and
identify your vision. Students will be asked to
create and perform studies, direct one another,
and share and discuss ideas and solutions with
peers. Students are not required to make finished
products but to involve themselves in the joy of
creation. Beginning Improvisation is either a
prerequisite or should be taken at the same time.
Year
How is it possible for humans to move in the
multitude of ways that we do? Learn to develop
your X-ray vision of the human being in motion
in a course that combines movement practice,
drawing, lecture, and problem solving. In this
course, movement is the vehicle for exploration
of our profoundly adaptable anatomy. In addition
to making drawings as we study the entire
musculoskeletal system, we will learn Irene
Dowd’s “Spirals™,” a comprehensive warm-up/
cool-down for dancing that coordinates all joints
and muscles through their fullest range of
motion. Insights gained in this course can
provide tremendous inspiration in the creative
process. Introductory-level course. Students may
enter this yearlong course in the second semester only
with the permission of the instructor.
Dance Making
Anatomy Seminar
Sara Rudner, Dan Hurlin, John A.
Yannelli, William Catanzaro
Year
Individual choreographic projects will be
designed and directed by students with special
interest and experience in dance composition.
Students and faculty will meet weekly to view
works-in-progress and to discuss relevant artistic
and practical problems. Whenever possible, the
music for these projects, whether new or extant,
will be performed live in concert. Dance Making
students are encouraged to enroll in Lighting
Design and Stagecraft for Dance. Prerequisites:
Dance Composition, Music for Dancers, and
Senior Seminar
Sara Rudner
Year
This class is designed to support the creative and
technical practices, as well as the practical
concerns of students in their senior year. It will
also serve as a forum for discussions of art
practices in other media and the nature of the
creative process. Choreographic projects will be
presented and discussed in seminar and in
conference.
Peggy Gould
Year
This is an opportunity for advanced students who
have completed Anatomy/Kinesiology to pursue
their study of anatomy in greater depth. Each
student will develop a specific project that will
allow further exploration of functional anatomy.
We will meet as a group on alternate weeks to
discuss questions and share experiences.
Advanced. Students may enter this yearlong course
in the second semester only with the permission of the
instructor.
Yoga
Patti Bradshaw
Year
This course offers students the opportunity to
study the ancient art of Yoga. Classes emphasize
the union of spirit, mind, and body through
practices that include breathing techniques,
vocalizations, and postures (asanas). By offering
clear principles of biomechanical alignment and
balance, the practice develops integrated strength
and flexibility and helps dancers interweave
technique and artistry.
THE CURRICULUM 25
Feldenkrais: Awareness
Through Movement®
Barbara Forbes
Year
Moshe Feldenkrais believed that “rigidity, mental
or physical, is contrary to the laws of life.” His
system of somatic education develops awareness,
flexibility, and coordination as students are
verbally guided through precisely structured
movement explorations. The lessons are done
lying on the floor, sitting, or standing; and they
gradually increase in range and complexity.
Students are required to bring their full attention
to their experience in order to develop their
capacity for spontaneous, effortless action. Selfgenerated learning will release habitual patterns,
offer new options, and enhance the integrated
activity of the entire nervous system.
African Dance
Rujeko Dumbutshena
Spring
In this class, students will explore the
fundamental aesthetic of African dance. There
will be an emphasis on work to internalize the
intricacies of African polyrhythm. Students will
spend time exploring the cultural meaning and
importance of grounding, strength, and stability,
which are essential to the form. Learning African
dance exposes students to the meaning of dance
in African culture. This class also builds personal
awareness, as it transcends cultural boundaries.
Classes will be accompanied by live drumming.
Students may enter this yearlong course in the second
semester with permission of the instructor.
Belly Dance
Sarah Hassan
Fall
This course will examine the basic movements of
Raqs Sharqi, otherwise known as Middle Eastern
belly dance. We will blend traditional steps with
elements of Tribal Fusion that take inspiration
from flamenco, African, and North Indian
classical dance. Emphasis will be on proper
alignment, coiling, muscle isolation, and gaining
strength in the core and arms. Particular
attention will be paid to combining cabaret-style
belly dance technique with slow, sinuous
movements set to a variety of musical traditions
from Balkan beatbox to Egyptian folk. Yoga
postures will be used for ease of transition
between movements and to demonstrate the use
of the carriage in belly dance. Cultural context
will be addressed in class, and short readings will
be suggested but not required.
Dance History
Rose Anne Thom
Year
This is a course in the history of performance in
the United States from the early 20th century to
the present, as exemplified by the dancers,
choreographers, and teachers who brought about
notable changes in the art. The relationship of
dance to the larger cultural environment will be
discussed, with emphasis placed on the dance of
our time. This course is designed to help the
student relate his or her own work to the
development of the art and to encourage creative
critical perception. For all students beginning the
Dance program. Open to any interested student.
Music for Dancers
William Catanzaro
Year
The objective of this course is to provide dance
students with the tools to better understand
relationships between music and dance. Students
will expand their knowledge of musical elements,
terminology, and procedures and learn the basics
of rhythmic notation. Students will also learn
how to scan musical scores with various degrees
of complexity and explore the diverse rhythmic
styles that have developed in response to
different geographical, social, and philosophical
conditions. This course will provide students
with the opportunity to play percussion
instruments. Students may enter this yearlong course
in the second semester only with permission of the
instructor.
Labanotation/Repertory
Rose Anne Thom
Year
This course will cover elementary and
intermediate levels of Laban’s system of
movement notation. Students will concentrate
on correct observation and analysis of movement,
writing facility, and the ability to read and
perform authentic historical dance forms.
Reconstruction and performance of a notated
work from the modern dance or ballet repertoire
will be the culmination of the second semester’s
work.
26 Design Studies
Teaching Conference
Rose Anne Thom
Year
An inquiry into the ways in which dance might
be taught in various settings and under various
conditions, detailed study of kinesthetic, verbal,
and creative factors in teaching will be presented
and analyzed in terms of teaching objectives.
Students will be placed as practice teachers,
under supervision, in dance classes on campus
and in community schools. For advanced and
graduate students. Students may enter this yearlong
course in the second semester only with permission of
the instructor.
Lighting Design and
Stagecraft for Dance
Beverly Emmons, Nicole Pearce
Year
The art of illuminating dance is the subject of
this component. We will examine the theoretical
and practical aspects of designing lights for
dance. Students will create original lighting
designs for Dance program concerts. Preference
will be given to graduate students and seniors.
Dance Meeting
Dance Faculty
Year
This is a monthly gathering of all Dance Thirds
in which we share ongoing student interests and
invite guests to teach, perform, and inform.
Topics have included dance injuries, dance
therapy, kinesthetic awareness, nutrition, world
dance forms, and presentations by New York City
choreographers.
Performance Project
Patti Bradshaw, Barbara Bray
Ketchum
Fall
Ms. Bradshaw will create a dance and visual-art
event that is an ode to the mysterious and
compelling nature of the natural world. It will be
an imaging of the constant change that occurs in
nature as everything under the sun comes into
focus, evolves, and dissolves away. The working
title of the project is “Songs of Despair, Songs of
Bliss.” Students will build and work with puppets,
objects, and costumes, as well as movement. The
creative process will include structured
improvisatory explorations, flanked by intervals
of meditative practices that explore the
movement in stillness and the stillness in
movement. Attention will be paid to bringing
out the unique abilities of each participant and to
creating a multilayered experience for the
performers and for the audience.
Performance Project, Yvonne
Rainer’s “Trio A” and “Chair
Pillow”
Pat Catterson
Spring
Yvonne Rainer’s classics of American
postmodern dance, “Trio A” and “Chair Pillow,”
will be taught by Pat Catterson and performed at
Dia Beacon in May 2012. “Trio A” (1966) is an
uninterrupted series of complex, challenging
movements consisting of task-oriented actions.
The dance emphasizes neutral performance and
features no interaction with the audience. The
dancer never makes eye contact with his/her
observers. “Chair Pillow” (1969) is an
investigation of minimalist dance aesthetic using
two props (a chair and a pillow).
Design Studies
Design Studies at Sarah Lawrence is a crossdisciplinary initiative that offers a variety of
analytical approaches to the cultural act of
constructing environments, buildings, and
aesthetic, yet functional, objects. Courses in
architectural and art history and theory,
computer design, environmental studies, physics,
and sculpture allow students to investigate in
course work and conference a wide range of
perspectives and issues dealing with all facets of
built design. These perspectives include
theoretical explorations in history and criticism,
formal approaches that engage sociopolitical
issues, sustainable problem solving, and spatial
exploration using design tools both digital and
analog. Courses of study might include structural
engineering in physics and projects on bridge
design that reflect these structural principles in
courses on virtual architecture and sculpture; the
study of the architecture and politics of
sustainability in class and conference work for art
and architectural history and environmental
studies; and sculpture and art history courses that
engage issues of technology, expression, and
transgression in the uses of the techniques and
crafts of construction. When coordinated with
participating faculty, programs of study offer an
THE CURRICULUM 27
excellent preparation for further engagement in
the fields of architecture, both theory and
practice, digital and environmental design, and
engineering.
Courses offered this year in Design Studies are
Beauty, Bridges, Boxes, and Brutes:
“Modern” Architecture From 1750 to
1960 (p. 8), Joseph C. Forte Art History
“La Piu Grassa Minerva (Minerva in Her
Fullness)” Theories of Art and
Architecture From 1300 to 1600 (p. 11),
Joseph C. Forte Art History
Problems By Design: Studies in the Theory
and Practice of Contemporary
Architecture (p. 9), Joseph C. Forte Art
History
Performance Art (p. 10), Judith Rodenbeck
Art History
Writing Contemporary Art (p. 12), Judith
Rodenbeck Art History
Sustainable Development (p. 29), Marilyn
Power Economics
New Nature: Environmental Design in the
21st Century (p. 32), Charles Zerner
Environmental Studies
Introduction to Mechanics (General Physics
Without Calculus) (p. 93), Scott Calvin
Physics
Buddhist Art and Architecture (p. 108),
Architecture Studio: Designing Built
Form (p. 140), Tishan Hsu Visual Arts
Things and Beyond (p. 140), Tishan Hsu
Visual Arts
Let’s Get Physical: Building an Interactive
World (p. 134), Brian Jones Visual Arts
Economics
At Sarah Lawrence College, economics is not
taught as a set of techniques for working in a
static field but as an evolving discipline. In the
liberal arts tradition, Sarah Lawrence students
approach the study of economics by addressing
issues in historical, political, and cultural
context. They analyze and evaluate multiple
schools of thought as they relate to actual
situations, exploring such topics as globalization,
growth and social policy, inequality, capitalism,
and the environment from an economic
perspective. Students who have focused on
economics have gone on to be union organizers,
joined the Peace Corps, interned with United
Nations agencies, gone to law school, and
entered graduate programs in public policy and
international development.
First-Year Studies: Political
Economics of the
Environment
Marilyn Power
FYS
Is it possible to provide economic well-being to
the world’s population without destroying the
natural environment? Is sustainable development
a possibility or a utopian dream? How do we
determine how much pollution we are willing to
live with? Why are toxic waste dumps
overwhelmingly located in poor, frequently
minority, communities? Whether through
activities such as farming, mining, and fishing,
through manufacturing processes that discharge
wastes, or through the construction of
communities and roadways, human economic
activity profoundly affects the environment. The
growing and contentious field of environmental
economics attempts to analyze the
environmental impact of economic activity and
to propose policies aimed at balancing economic
and environmental concerns. There is
considerable debate, with some theorists putting
great faith in the market’s ability to achieve good
environmental outcomes, others advocating
much more direct intervention in defense of the
environment, and some questioning the
desirability of economic growth as a goal.
Underlying these differences are political
economic questions of distribution of power and
resources among classes and groups within the
United States and across the globe. This course
will explore the range of views, with an emphasis
on understanding the assumptions underlying
their disagreements and on the policy
implications of those views. The concepts will be
developed through an examination of ongoing
policy debates on issues such as air pollution and
global warming, the decimation of the world’s
fish population, automobiles and the reliance on
petrochemicals, and the possibility of sustainable
development.
28 Economics
Social Metrics: Introduction
to Statistical Measurement
and Structural Analysis in the
Social Sciences
Jamee K. Moudud
This course is designed for all students interested
in the social sciences who wish to understand the
methodology and techniques involved in the
estimation of structural relationships between
variables. It is designed for students who wish,
both at Sarah Lawrence College and beyond, to
be able to carry out empirical work in their
particular field. After taking this course, students
will be able to analyze questions such as the
following: What effects do race, gender, and
educational attainment have in the
determination of wages? How does the female
literacy rate affect the child mortality rate? How
can one model the effect of economic growth on
carbon dioxide emissions? What is the
relationship among sociopolitical instability,
inequality, and economic growth? How do
geographic location and state spending affect
average public-school teacher salaries? How do
socioeconomic factors determine the crime rate
in the United States? How can one model the
US defense budget? In this class, we will study
the application of statistical methods and
techniques in order to: a) understand, analyze,
and interpret a wide range of social phenomena
such as those mentioned above, b) test
hypotheses/theories regarding the possible links
between variables, and c) make predictions about
prospective changes in the economy. Social
metrics is fundamentally a regression-based
correlation methodology used to measure the
overall strength, direction, and statistical
significance between a “dependent”
variable—the variable whose movement or
change is to be explained—and one or more
“independent” variables that will explain the
movement or change in the dependent variable.
Social metrics will require a detailed
understanding of the mechanics, advantages, and
limitations of the “classical” linear regression
model. Thus, the first part of the course will
cover the theoretical and applied statistical
principles that underlie Ordinary Lest Squares
(OLS) regression techniques. This part will cover
the assumptions needed to obtain the Best Linear
Unbiased Estimates of a regression equation, also
known as the “BLUE” conditions. Particular
emphasis will be placed on the assumptions
regarding the distribution of a model’s error term
and other BLUE conditions. We will also cover
hypothesis testing, sample selection, and the
critical role of the t- and F-statistic in
determining the statistical significance of a social
metric model and its associated slope or “b”
parameters. The second part of the course will
address the three main problems associated with
the violation of a particular BLUE assumption:
multicollinearity, autocorrelation, and
heteroscedasticity. We will learn how to identify,
address, and remedy each of these problems. In
addition, we will take a similar approach to
understanding and correcting model specification
errors. The third part of the course will focus on
the analysis of historical time-series models and
the study of long-run trend relationships between
variables. No prior background in economics or the
social sciences is required, but a knowledge of basic
statistics and high-school algebra is required.
Introduction to Economic
Theory and Policy
Kim Christensen
Open—Year
Economics has a profound impact on all of our
lives—from where we live and go to school to
what we do for a living to how we dress to how
we entertain ourselves. Economics is also
crucially intertwined with the social and political
issues—such as global warming, poverty, and
discrimination—that we care about. This
yearlong course introduces a variety of
approaches to economics, including neoclassical,
Keynesian, behavioralist, Marxian, and feminist,
and encourages students to apply these
contrasting perspectives to current economic
problems. The course begins with a brief history
of our capitalist economic system, emphasizing
the roles played by slavery and by women’s
unpaid labor. We then discuss the Industrial
Revolution, which provides historical context for
the rise of the market-based “neoclassical
perspective.” We explore and critique several
centrally important concepts in this approach,
including price/profit-based resource allocation,
efficiency and opportunity cost, supply and
demand, and market equilibrium. Next, we
examine the Great Depression (the context for
the Keynesian Revolution) and explore Keynes’
insights into the instability of the financial
system. We contrast the “disequilibrium”
Keynesian perspective of Minsky and
Leijonhufvud with the market-based Keynesian
perspective found in standard economics
textbooks and examine the strengths and
THE CURRICULUM 29
weaknesses of each. We briefly examine the
emerging behavioralist perspective, one that
combines insights from psychology and
economics, to determine to what extent this
micro-based perspective provides a foundation for
Keynes’ macroeconomic insights. We then
explore the Marxian/political economy
perspective, including the historical context for
the development of this paradigm and the origins
and dynamics of class societies. We examine the
labor market from a Marxian perspective,
emphasizing labor control, labor relations, and
the impact of political power on market
phenomena. We then discuss the feminist
perspective on economics and examine how
feminist insights can expand and enrich our
economic analyses. Finally, using the insights
gained from the various approaches, we analyze
the recent financial crisis and the Great
Recession, with a particular emphasis on public
policy.
Sustainable Development
Marilyn Power
Open—Spring
The seventh of the United Nations Millennium
Development Goals reads: “Ensure
environmental sustainability.” Indeed, on the
surface, sustainable development is a goal about
which everyone could agree. Who would be for
unsustainable development? In fact, there is no
consensus on the meaning of the term. Some
definitions emphasize the importance of
preserving natural capital for future generations,
while others aggregate all forms of capital
together—arguing that our only obligation to the
future is access to an equivalent standard of
living. A related dispute is over the relationship
between environmental sustainability and human
well-being, as well as how the relationship may
differ by gender, class, and other factors. This
course will examine these differing views of
sustainable development, both in theory and
through the examination of specific development
projects. Economists approach environmental
questions through three differing theoretical
schools: environmental economics, ecological
economics, and political economics. These
schools use differing techniques to value the
environment, offer different understandings of
what would be good environmental and
economic outcomes, and advocate different
policies to achieve sustainability. Underlying
these differences are political economic questions
of the distribution of power and resources, both
globally and within specific countries. This
course will explore the range of views, with an
emphasis on understanding the assumptions
underlying their disagreements and on the policy
implications of these views. Topics will include
the policies of the World Bank, sustainable
agriculture, the controversial issue of resource
privatization, and cases of specific commodities
such as gold and cotton that illuminate the
problems and complexities of sustainable
development.
The Political Economy of
Global and Local Inequality:
The Welfare State,
Developmental State, and
Poverty
Jamee K. Moudud
Intermediate—Year
In the last few decades, there has been a dramatic
increase in inequality at both the national and
the international levels. While there is increasing
acceptance of the importance of monitoring
inequality (e.g., by the World Bank, UN
Development Programme), there is far more
disagreement about national and global
inequality trends, what the fundamental
determinants of inequality are, how inequality
should be measured, what causes shifts in
inequality, what impact it will have upon
domestic and global politics and economic
relations, and what policy responses are
appropriate. This interdisciplinary course will
consider a wide range of theoretical analyses to
address these questions. At the international
level, since states are embedded in an
increasingly interwoven market system, we will
discuss the issue of persistent market inequalities
by analyzing different theories of market
competition and their implications for
international trade. This analysis of international
competition will allow us to study the constraints
within which individual states operate in order to
promote domestic socioeconomic development
policies. In the fall semester, the theoretical
debates and their implications will be discussed;
in the spring, we will analyze the concrete
development experiences of a number of
countries in order to consider the interactions
between development, democracy, and economic
inequality. In both semesters, we will discuss the
relationship between the welfare state and the
developmental state and how they have shaped
the links between and among development,
30 Economics
inequality, and poverty. Issues of taxation and
industrial policies will be combined with analyses
of state capacity building and the ways in which
domestic and international power structures
shape a state’s ability to bring about
socioeconomic development. This seminar is
designed for students who are interested in
studying concrete problems in development
along with the analytical/theoretical factors that
underpin them. It requires no prior background
in economics but does require some background
in the social sciences.
Money and Financial Crises:
Theory, History, and Policy
Jamee K. Moudud
Intermediate—Fall
In this seminar, we will analyze the nature of
money and finance from a variety of theoretical
perspectives—primarily the Marxian, postKeynesian, and neoclassical frameworks. The
theoretical discussions will be related to the
current and previous financial crises. Since the
Reagan/Thatcher era of the early 1980s, the
conventional wisdom is the doctrine of
monetarism and the policy of laissez faire financial
globalization, which is based on the theory of
rational expectations and the efficient markets
hypothesis. These policy proposals came into
prominence on the heels of the global economic
crisis that started in the late 1960s/early 1970s
and the Third World Debt Crisis of the 1980s.
We will critically analyze the monetarist doctrine
by first studying the nature of money and debt
from both the monetarist and alternative
approaches. The goal of this part of the course is
to analyze monetarist policies regarding the
supposed ability of central banks to control the
money supply so as to maintain the economy at
its full-employment level of output. These
policies are at the core of the so-called
Washington Consensus (IMF and US Treasury
Department) policies. With a laissez faire policy
in place, according to this perspective, the
economic system will not exhibit endogenous
financial instability. This approach will be
contrasted with rival ones in which radical
uncertainty prevails and financial instability is
endogenous and recurrent, while the central
bank cannot control the money supply. We will
study alternative theoretical analyses of business
cycles and seek to situate all of these debates in
the context of the history of economic thought
on monetary issues. The second part of the course
will be an analysis of the current financial crisis
and situate it in a historical context. This part of
the course will introduce students to the
relatively new literature on monetary stocks and
flows and their implications for the accumulation
of debt. Finally, the third part of the course will
focus on the policy responses of debt crises, as
well as their effects. Here, we will focus on
alternative policy proposals; in particular,
monetary and fiscal policies. Some background in
economics or social science and a strong interest in
political economy are required.
Smith, Marx, and Keynes
Marilyn Power
Intermediate—Fall
John Maynard Keynes wrote, “The ideas of
economists and political philosophers, both when
they are right and when they are wrong, are more
powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed
the world is ruled by little else. Practical men,
who believe themselves to be quite exempt from
any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves
of some defunct economist. Madmen in
authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling
their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few
years back.” Since capitalism emerged as the
dominant economic system in Europe and North
America in the 18th century, theorists and
policymakers have sought to understand the logic
of this new way of organizing production and
distribution. What determined the price of
goods? The wages of labor? The profits to owners
of capital? Would capitalism grow unceasingly,
suffer from cycles, or inevitably decline into
stagnation or collapse? Should the government
actively regulate the economy, or should it play a
minimal role and leave markets to determine
outcomes without intervention? Should trade
with other countries be regulated or free? What
was the responsibility of the government with
respect to the poor? Should they be assisted?
Controlled? In the vigorous debates over these
issues, continuing into the present, Adam Smith,
Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes are
frequently invoked as economic policy. A careful
reading of these authors, however, shows that
they were far more complex thinkers than the
simplified versions of their ideas commonly
circulated. This course will focus on the debates
about value, distribution, economic dynamics,
and the role of government through a careful
reading of Smith, Marx, and Keynes in the
original, followed by an examination of modern
interpretations of their ideas.
THE CURRICULUM 31
Another course offered this year in Economics is
listed below. A full description of the course may
be found under the appropriate discipline.
Imagining War (p. 64), Fredric Smoler
Literature
Environmental Studies at Sarah Lawrence
College is an engagement with human
relationships to the environment through a
variety of disciplines. Sarah Lawrence’s
Environmental Studies program is a critical
component of a liberal arts education; it is an
intersection of knowledge-making and questions
about the environment that are based in the
humanities, the arts, and the social and natural
sciences. Sarah Lawrence students seeking to
expand their knowledge of environmental studies
are encouraged to explore the interconnections
between disciplinary perspectives, while
developing areas of particular interest in greater
depth. The Environmental Studies program seeks
to develop students’ capacities for critical
thought and analysis, applying theory to specific
examples from Asia, Africa, and the Americas,
and making comparisons across geographic
regions and historical moments. Courses include
environmental justice and politics,
environmental history and economics, policy and
development, property and the commons,
environmental risk and the rhetoric of emerging
threats, and cultural perspectives on nature, as
well as courses in the natural sciences.
Environmental Studies, in conjunction with
the Science, Technology, and Society program,
offers an annual, thematically focused colloquium
entitled Intersections: Boundary Work in Science
and Environmental Studies. This series brings
advocates, scholars, writers, and filmmakers to
the College, encouraging conversations across
the disciplines among students, faculty, and guest
speakers; access to new ideas; and lively
exchanges. Students may participate in
internships during the academic year or in rural
and urban settings across the country and
throughout the world during the summer. Gueststudy at Reed College, the Council on
International Educational Exchange, the
semester in environmental science at the Marine
Biological Laboratory (Woods Hole), or other
programs are available to qualified Sarah
Lawrence students. Vibrant connections across
the faculty mean that students can craft
distinctive competencies while building a broadly
based knowledge of environmental issues,
problems, policies, and possibilities.
Questions of the Commons:
Interrogating Property
Charles Zerner
Open—Fall
Perhaps few issues are more contentious in the
environmental arena than those surrounding
struggles over rights to private, as well as
common, property resources. What is property,
and how is it made? Who makes property? How
are property rights performed, publicized, and
enforced? What is a commons, and what is
common property? Debates over the “commons”
implicate ideas of citizenship, community, the
public good, justice, and governance.
Controversies over public space and community
gardens, genetic recombinant research and rights
to the genome, North-South disputes over rights
to biodiversity in the geographic South, as well as
debates over property in the Middle East, form
some of the hotly contested terrain of property
rights and the commons, use and ownership.
Property rights on a variety of scales, from the
biomolecular to whole organs and organisms,
from individual trees to whole ecosystems, are
examined in varied geographic, biological,
cultural, and historical contexts. This course is an
introduction to ideas and cultures of property
(private, public, and collective); debates, claims,
and arguments over the commons; and the
environmental and social consequences of
different property regimes.
Hunger and Excess: Histories,
Politics, and Cultures of Food
Charles Zerner, Persis Charles
Open—Spring
Beliefs about food, foodmaking, and food
consumption are practices that have historically
indexed, identified, and mapped the contours of
self, community, and nation. This course analyzes
food issues through the lenses of culture and
history. Histories of particular foods, including
sugar, potatoes, coffee, and chocolate, are
examined in order to reveal their crucial roles in
social change, identity, class formation and
conflict, nationalism, and the promotion of
slavery. How were potatoes, famine, and the
enforcement of free-trade ideology linked in
19th-century Anglo-Irish relations? How have
episodic food riots, greeting perceived shortages
32 Environmental Studies
and injustices in distribution, led to the
constitution of new forms of sociability? What
accounts for the birth of restaurants? How has the
coming of the recipe book affected gender roles
and domesticity? And how has the arrival of
abundance brought changes to the human body,
ideas, and ideals of normality? The course
explores relationships between ideas of “nature”
and the “natural” and ideas of natural diets,
“locavorisms,” the “wild,” the raw, and the
cooked. Through the lens of cultural studies and
cultural anthropology, food production and
consumption are revealed as a symbolic medium
whose “travels’ across continents, as well as into
individual digestive systems, illuminate and map
topographies of class, tastes, the forbidden, and
the erotic. Food as a symbolic substance moves
through fashion, contemporary art, and nutrition.
How, for example, is the natural body imagined
and modeled in the 21st century? Is it taboo to
eat chocolate after yoga? What do the rules of
kosher do? And how do food taboos in the
natural food movement resonate with the rules of
kosher in the Old Testament?
New Nature: Environmental
Design in the 21st Century
Charles Zerner
This course investigates emerging technologies,
philosophies, and practices of environmental
design and management in the early 21st century
from the level of regional landscapes to the level
of cells. What are the values, visions, and
assumptions that animate contemporary
developments in environmental design? What
forms of technological know-how and knowledge
production practices enable these developments?
What ethical, aesthetic, or political implications
might these shifts in the making of
environments, organs, and organisms entail? How
might we begin to make informed judgments
about emerging form(s) of nature, environmental
design, and humanity? The course begins with an
introduction to debates on the nature of nature
and machines in America in the 18th century,
grounding discussion through examining
changing ideas of environment, ecosystems, and
equilibriums. Post-World War II ideologies of
design, command, and control of the
environment, including nuclear power and
developments in chemistry, are examined. We
then turn to debates on nature, communities, and
conservation from the 1970s through the late
1990s, from the era of “the green planet” and
“rain-forest conservation.” Preoccupations with
biowarfare, genetic engineering, and human
enhancement in the post-September 11 era are
key topics. We examine contemporary
developments in environmental design in several
domains, including landscape architecture;
cyborg technology; simulation, mediation, and
virtual environments; and biotechnology/
biowarfare. The work of bioartists and engineers,
genetic engineers working for private industry
and the government, as well as the work of
environmental networks—including the Critical
Art Ensemble, Rhizome, and the New Media
Caucus—form part of this itinerary. Attitudes
toward pollution are undergoing sea changes as
landscape designers remediate toxic sites using
natural processes and timescales. Industrial
designers and environmental chemists are
reconceptualizing the basis for resource
extraction, processing, and manufacturing. On a
micro level, molecular biologists and
nanoengineers are creating emergent forms of
tissues and organisms for purposes of medicine, as
well as for waging war. On the battlefield, the
nature of war is rapidly changing. Robotic armies
under “human control” may be the armed forces
of the future. Organisms and biochemical
processes are being enlisted and drafted into
military, as well as medical, service. At the same
time, landscape architecture is being
reconceptualized as the discipline charged with
responsibility for “imagining and saving the
earth.” A marvelous diversity of efforts at
innovative sustainable uses of energy, water, and
industrial design will be examined through texts,
Web sites, films, and speakers from the ES/STS
Colloquium Series. Where possible, field trips
within the New York City/New York State area
will be arranged. In New York City, for example,
community gardens, rooftop agriculture and
botanical gardens, waste treatment, and
innovative urban installations may be visited.
What will constitute our planetary home in a
world of emerging, new nature(s)? What forms of
energy, water, and toxic management are being
imagined, designed, and implemented? How are
engineers, artists, architects, and agronomists, as
well as writers of science fiction and film,
contributing to the formation of new nature and
human relationships to the environment in the
21st century?
Other courses offered this year in Environmental
Studies are listed below. Full descriptions of the
courses may be found under the appropriate
disciplines.
THE CURRICULUM 33
Culture and Mental Illness (p. 5), Kathleen
Kilroy-Marac Anthropology
Problems By Design: Studies in the Theory
and Practice of Contemporary
Architecture (p. 9), Joseph C. Forte Art
History
Marine Biology (p. 16), Raymond D. Clarke
Biology
Ecology (p. 17), Raymond D. Clarke Biology
General Biology I: Cellular and Molecular
Biology (p. 15), Drew E. Cressman Biology
Biology of Cancer (p. 17), Drew E. Cressman
Biology
Introduction to Genetics (p. 16), Drew E.
Cressman Biology
Virology (p. 17), Drew E. Cressman Biology
Principles of Botany (p. 16), Kenneth G.
Karol Biology
General Biology II: Organismal and
Population Biology (p. 15), Leah Olson
Biology
First-Year Studies: Green Chemistry: An
Environmental Revolution (p. 18),
Colin D. Abernethy Chemistry
General Chemistry I (p. 18), Colin D.
Abernethy Chemistry
General Chemistry II (p. 19), Colin D.
Abernethy Chemistry
Environmental Chemistry (p. 19), Mali Yin
Chemistry
Organic Chemistry (p. 19), Mali Yin Chemistry
Nutrition (p. 19), Mali Yin Chemistry
Information and the Arrow of Time (p. 21),
Michael Siff Computer Science, Kanwal
Singh Physics
First-Year Studies: Political Economics of the
Environment (p. 27), Marilyn Power
Economics
The Political Economy of Global and Local
Inequality: The Welfare State,
Developmental State, and Poverty
(p. 29), Jamee K. Moudud Economics
Power Economics
Geography
Geography
Harvest: A Social History of Agriculture in
Latin America (p. 53), Matilde
Zimmermann History
The Poetry of Earth: Imagination and
Environment in English Renaissance
Poetry (p. 67), William Shullenberger
Literature
Green Romanticism (p. 69), Fiona Wilson
Literature
First-Year Studies: Utopia (p. 62), Una Chung
Literature
Architecture Studio: Designing Built
Form (p. 140), Tishan Hsu Visual Arts
Ethnic and Diasporic
Studies
Ethnic Studies as an academic discipline lies at
the intersection of several increasingly powerful
developments in American thought and culture.
First, interdisciplinary and comparative
scholarship has become so prevalent as to
represent a dominant intellectual norm. Second,
the use of this new scholarly methodology to
meet new academic needs and illuminate new
subject matter has given rise to a plethora of
discourses—women’s studies; Native American
studies; African American studies; gay, lesbian,
and transgender studies; and global studies.
Third, and perhaps most important, there has
been a growing recognition, both inside and
outside academia, that American reality is
incorrigibly and irremediably plural and that
responsible research and pedagogy must account
for and accommodate this fact.
We define Ethnic Studies, loosely, as the
study of the dynamics of racial and ethnic groups
(also loosely conceived) who have been denied,
at one time or another, full participation, and the
full benefits of citizenship, in American society.
We see these dynamics as fascinating in
themselves, but we also feel that studying them
illuminates the entire spectrum of humanistic
inquiry and that a fruitful cross-fertilization will
obtain between Ethnic Studies and the College’s
well-established curricula in the humanities, the
arts, the sciences, and the social sciences.
34 Ethnic and Diasporic Studies
Courses offered this year in Ethnic and Diasporic
Studies are listed below. Full descriptions of the
disciplines.
Anthropology
Arts of the Americas: The Continents
Before Columbus and Cortés (p. 9),
Susan Kart Art History
Kart Art History
Chinese Philosophy: Tao, Mind, and Human
Nature (p. 14), Ellen Neskar Asian Studies
First-Year Studies: Cultures and Arts of India
(p. 12), Sandra Robinson Asian Studies
Narratives (p. 14), Sandra Robinson Asian
Studies
Images of India: Text/Photo/Film (p. 14),
Sandra Robinson Asian Studies
Geography
Geography
Dillard History
Public Stories, Private Lives: Methods of
Oral History (p. 53), Mary Dillard History
In/Migration: How Immigrants and Migrants
Changed New York City From a Small
Trading Post to an Emerging World
Metropolis (p. 54), Rona Holub History
First-Year Studies: The Sixties (p. 45),
Priscilla Murolo History
Imperial Russia: Power and Society (p. 49),
Philip Swoboda History
History
Woodard History
Global Intertextualities (p. 72), Bella Brodzki
Literature
Art of Power: Literature, Media,
Theory (p. 70), Una Chung Literature
(1789-2011) (p. 64), Alwin A. D. Jones
Literature
(1960-2012) (p. 73), Alwin A. D. Jones
Literature
Slavery: A Literary History (p. 69), William
Structure and Change in Life Historical
Accounts (p. 100), Sean Akerman
Psychology
Home and Other Figments: Qualitative
Approaches to Exile and Immigration
(p. 100), Sean Akerman Psychology
Bullies and Their Victims: Social and
Physical Aggression in Childhood and
Adolescence (p. 103), Carl Barenboim
Psychology
THE CURRICULUM 35
Poverty in America: Integrating Theory,
Research, Policy & Practice (p. 101),
Lewis Psychology
Studying Men and Masculinities (p. 103),
Linwood J. Lewis Psychology
Children’s Health in a Multicultural
Context (p. 105), Linwood J. Lewis
Psychology
From the Plantation to the Prison: Criminal
Justice Policies (p. 106), Rima VeselyFlad Public Policy
The Offensive Against Civil Rights: Crime
Policy and Politics (p. 107), Rima VeselyFlad Public Policy
Borges (p. 73), Maria Negroni Spanish
Literature in Translation: Fantastic Gallery:
20th-Century Latin American Short
Fiction (p. 65), Maria Negroni Spanish
Film History
Sarah Lawrence students approach film, first and
foremost, as an art. The College’s film history
courses take social, cultural, and historical
contexts into account; but films themselves are
the focus of study and discussion. Students seek
artistic value equally in Hollywood films, art
films, avant-garde films, and documentaries, with
emphasis on understanding the intentions of
filmmakers and appreciating their creativity. As a
valuable part of a larger humanistic education in
the arts, the study of film often includes
exploration of connections to the other arts, such
as painting and literature. Close association with
the filmmaking and visual arts departments
enables students working in these areas to apply
their knowledge of film to creative projects. And
within the discipline, the study of film gives
students insight into stylistic techniques and how
they shape meaning. Advanced courses in
specific national genres, forms, movements and
filmmakers—both Western and nonWestern—provide a superb background in the
history of film and a basis for sound critical
judgment. Students benefit from New York City’s
enormously rich film environment, in which film
series, lectures and festivals run on a nearly
continuous basis.
Cinema and Society
Gilberto Perez
Open, Lecture—Year
All art is social—it is made for an audience,
presented to a public—and a popular art such as
the movies is perhaps more social than most. In
this course, we will deal with the art of film in its
nexus with society and in connection with social,
cultural, and political issues. We will certainly
not neglect the art of film—this is not a course in
sociology, cultural studies, or political
science—but we will consider the art in relation
to the society in which it was made and to which
it speaks. We will begin at the beginning of
cinema at the turn of the 20th century and cover
a wide range of movies from Hollywood and
around the world—Europe, Asia, Africa, the
Middle East, Latin America—up to the present
time. This course will offer the student a
comprehensive social history of the movies. We
will be concerned both with socially conscious
and politically engaged films and with films
raising social issues less explicitly, maybe even
unconsciously, but no less significantly.
Melodramas and documentaries, comedies and
crime films, national epics and portrayals of
everyday life, works of searching realism and
fantasies that represent dreams or fears, accounts
of the past and allegories of the future, the grand
and the subtle, the mainstream and the
alternative—these are all within the scope of this
course. We will examine not only the content
but also the form of films, the techniques of
expression, the conventions of representation,
the modes of transaction with the audience—and
the ways in which these carry social implications.
Television History and
Criticism
Frank Tomasulo
This course is an examination of the television
medium as an art form, sociocultural text, and
industry. Emphasis will be on the development of
formal/aesthetic elements, genres (sitcom, soap
opera, talk show, drama, news, reality
programming, etc.), themes, narrative patterns,
and characters, as well as the depiction of gender,
race, and class on network and cable channels.
Relevant TV shows and episodes will be
screened, analyzed, and discussed in the context
of their historical and theoretical significance.
The required textbooks are: Television: Critical
36 French
Methods and Applications, 3rd edition, by Jeremy
G. Butler, and Television: The Critical View, 7th
edition, by Horace Newcomb.
Television Criticism and
Analysis
Frank Tomasulo
This class will involve a close examination of
important television shows and genres, as well as
an in-depth investigation of the significant
scholarly literature on the medium. Television
will be studied through the lens of those classical
and contemporary paradigms that have
illuminated other art forms: realism, formalism,
structuralism, semiotics, psychoanalysis,
Marxism, feminism, deconstructionism,
postmodernism, cultural studies, cognitive
science, and phenomenology. Emphasis will be
on selected televisual “texts” (shows) that
represent various theoretical approaches to
television as an art form, entertainment vehicle,
information platform, cultural force, and industry.
Relevant network and cable TV shows and
episodes will be screened, analyzed, and critiqued
in the context of their theoretical implications.
Rhetoric of Film
Gilberto Perez
Intermediate—Year
How movies move us, the different ways in which
they engage and affect us, will be the subject of
study. Rhetoric is the art of persuasion, the
endeavor to influence others, the sway of attitude
and belief, orientation and viewpoint. In this
course, we will look into the various means of
persuasion—emotional or logical, personal or
social, and usually a combination of
things—employed in the cinema from the silent
era to the present day. We will focus on the
transaction between movies and their audiences.
We will inquire into where a movie is coming
from, what position it takes and would have us
share, what designs it has on us, and how it
shapes our response. Much of our discussion will
be devoted to the forms and techniques of film
art but with emphasis on their effect on the
spectator. Realism is often treated as a matter of
content, but we will consider how it is also a
matter of rhetoric: A shaky camera in the
manner of a newsreel, for example, gives us the
sense of being right there in the midst of things
and serves to achieve what Roland Barthes called
the “reality effect.” We will pay special attention
to tropes and figures of film rhetoric, classical
tropes (metaphor, synecdoche, metonymy, irony)
and, specifically, cinematic figures such as the
close-up, the reverse angle, cross-cutting, or
camera movement. Identification will be a
central concern. We will examine the way
identification is always partial—partial both in
the sense of incomplete and in the sense of
biased—and how our identification with
characters enters into a larger and often complex
rhetorical play of identification. To give a simple
example: In a love scene set by a river with trees
in flower and birds singing, we identify with the
lovers while they are identified with nature—and
nature in our culture is generally identified with
good things. But Carl Dreyer’s Day of Wrath takes
place in 17th-century Denmark, a milieu in
which religion was strict, witches were burned,
and nature was identified with paganism and the
devil; so young lovers by a river would not be
seen in a positive light, and we are torn—this is
part of the film’s rhetoric and its moral
complexity—between our identifications and
beliefs and those of another culture. In this
course, we will study the workings of persuasion
in a variety of films of different provenances and
styles and with different motivations and
intentions.
Another course offered this year in Film History
is listed below. A full description of the course
may be found under the appropriate discipline.
The Cold War In History and Film (p. 49),
Jefferson Adams History
French
Sarah Lawrence College offers six modern
languages and their literatures. Students may take
French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian and
Spanish from beginning to advanced levels that
equally stress the development of communicative
skills such as speaking, listening comprehension,
reading, and writing, as well as the study of
literature written in these languages in Europe,
Africa, and the Americas. In addition to the
regular seminar work with the language faculty,
students will work closely with language
assistants in individual or small-group meetings
to practice their language skills and make further
progress; language teaching is also supported by
fully equipped computer labs, where students can
use the Web, do computer exercises and enjoy
THE CURRICULUM 37
audio facilities. Students of Spanish may also
have the opportunity to make use of Community
Partnerships. Some departments also offer
literature courses in translation in which students
are introduced to the various cultural and
historical contexts of the modern languages at
the College.
In an attempt to encourage students to study
more than one foreign language at the same time,
Sarah Lawrence College offers sophomores,
juniors, and seniors the option of taking a
Language Third. This allows students to continue
a language on a more advanced level while, at
the same time, enrolling in a beginner’s class in a
different language. Students taking a Language
Third will earn 10 credits for the combined study
of two languages of their choice at no extra cost.
An excellent option offered by the Modern
Languages and Literatures department is the
Lecture Language Third. This interdisciplinary
link affords students the great opportunity of
meeting the lecture requirement while fully
benefiting from studying the foreign language of
their preference at any level of proficiency, also at
no extra cost. Students taking this option are not
required to do conference work in their language
courses.
Beginning French: Language
and Culture
Kirsten Ellicson, Liza Gabaston
Open—Year
An introduction to French, using the multimedia
“Débuts” system (textbook/two-part workbook/
full-length movie, Le Chemin du retour), this class
will allow students to develop an active
command of the fundamentals of spoken and
written French. In class and group conferences,
emphasis will be placed on activities relating to
students’ daily lives and to French and
Francophone culture. The textbook integrates a
French film with grammar study, exposing
students to the spoken language from the very
beginning of the course. Other materials may
include French songs, cinema, newspaper articles,
poems, and short stories. Group conferences
replace individual conference meetings for this
level, and a weekly conversation session with a
French language assistant(e) is required.
Attendance at the weekly French lunch table
and French film screenings are both highly
encouraged. Students who successfully completed
a beginning and an intermediate level French
course are eligible to study in Paris with Sarah
Lawrence College during their junior year. This
course will be taught by Kirsten Ellicson in the fall,
and Liza Gabaston in the spring. Course conducted
in French.
Beginning French
David Fieni
Open—Year
An introduction to French using the multimedia
“Débuts” system (textbook/two-part workbook/
full-length movie, Le Chemin du retour), this class
will allow students to develop an active
command of the fundamentals of spoken and
written French. In class and in group
conferences, emphasis will be placed on activities
relating to students’ daily lives and to French and
Francophone culture. The textbook integrates a
French film with grammar study, exposing
students to the spoken language from the very
beginning of the course. Other materials may
include French songs, cinema, newspaper articles,
poems, and short stories. Group conferences
replace individual conference meetings for this
level, and a weekly conversation session with a
French language assistant(e) is required.
Attendance at the weekly French lunch table
and French film screenings are both highly
encouraged. Students who have successfully
completed a beginning and an intermediate-level
French course are eligible to study in Paris with
Sarah Lawrence College during their junior year.
Course conducted in French.
Advanced Beginning French:
The Literary Prison
Annelle Curulla
Open—Year
This yearlong course has two objectives: to
provide a comprehensive grammar review to
students with some prior knowledge of French
and to apply that grammatical knowledge in a
literary study of the prison. Approaching the
prison as a narrative setting, formal device, and
culturally charged symbol, we will examine its
connection to changing concepts of selfhood,
innocence and guilt, the relationship between
the individual and the state, and the process of
literary creation itself. The course will unfold in
two phases: The first semester offers a fast-paced,
systematic review of the fundamentals of French
language; short essays and presentations will
allow students to study literary and historical
prisons and prisoners in poetry, drama, fiction,
and memoirs from 1450 to 1800. In the spring,
students will refine their linguistic and literary
38 French
knowledge through the study of longer texts from
the 19th to the 21st century. Authors for the year
may include Villon, Corneille, Voltaire, Roland,
Balzac, Hugo, Camus, Djebar, Bon. Individual
conferences will allow students to pursue their
interests in aesthetic, political, or social
dimensions of literary prisons and prisoners or in
any other area of French and Francophone
literatures and cultures. In addition to
conferences, students will attend a weekly
conversation session with a French language
assistant. Students are also strongly encouraged
to attend the weekly French lunch table, as well
as French film screenings. Students who
successfully complete this course and an
intermediate-level course may be eligible to study
in Paris with Sarah Lawrence College during
their junior year. Course conducted in French.
Admission by placement test to be taken during
interview week at the beginning of the fall semester.
Intermediate French I: The
Figure of the Artist in 19thand 20th-Century France
Kirsten Ellicson, Liza Gabaston
Intermediate—Year
This course will offer a systematic review of
French grammar and is designed to strengthen
and deepen students’ mastery of grammatical
structures and vocabulary. Students will develop
their analytical and creative writing skills in
French through essays and rewrites. The course
will take as its thematic point de départ the literary
representation of the figure of the artist
(including the writer) in 19th- and 20th-century
French texts. Authors, writing in a variety of
genres, will be drawn from among the following:
Chateaubriand, De Staël, Balzac, Nerval,
Gautier, Baudelaire, the Goncourts, Huysmans,
Zola, Rimbaud, Verlaine, Mallarmé, Colette,
Apollinaire, and Breton. Critical and theoretical
perspectives, as well as the viewing of art and
film, will enrich our discussions and analyses.
Intermediate I and II French courses are specially
designed to help prepare students for studying in
Paris with Sarah Lawrence College during their
junior year. Course conducted in French. Admission
by placement test to be taken during interview week
at the beginning of the fall semester.
Intermediate French I:
French Identities from
Jeanne D’Arc to Zidane
Eric Leveau
Intermediate—Year
This course will offer a systematic review of
French grammar and is designed to strengthen
and deepen students’ mastery of grammatical
structures and vocabulary. Students will also
begin to use linguistic concepts as tools for
developing their analytic writing. More than
other countries, France’s identity was shaped by
centuries of what is now perceived by the French
as a historically coherent past. It is not surprising,
then, that the 15th-century figure of Jeanne
d’Arc is today the symbol of the extreme rightwing party of Le Pen, which has gained a
significant influence in France in the last 30
years. This phenomenon can be seen, in part, as a
reaction to the changing face of France’s society
as exemplified by the French “Black-Blanc-Beur”
soccer team, which Zidane led to victory in the
1998 World Cup. In this course, we will explore
the complexities of today’s French identity or,
rather, identities, following the most
contemporary controversies that have shaken
French society in the past 20 years while, at the
same time, exploring historical influences and
cultural paradigms at play in these “débats
franco-français.” Thus, in addition to newspapers,
online resources, recent movies, and songs, we
will also study masterpieces of the past in
literature and in the arts. Topics discussed will
include, among others, school and laicism;
“cuisine” and tradition; immigration, integration
and urban ghettos; French love; individuals as
citizens, etc. Authors studied will include Marie
de France, Montaigne, Racine, Voltaire, Hugo,
Flaubert, Proust, Colette, Duras, Césaire,
Chamoiseau, Bouraoui. The Intermediate I and II
French courses are specially designed to help
prepare students for studying in Paris with Sarah
Lawrence College during their junior year. Course
conducted in French. Admission by placement test to
be taken during interview week at the beginning of the
fall semester or completion of Beginning French.
THE CURRICULUM 39
Intermediate French II:
Masters, Slaves, and “New
Men”: Francophone Writing
Against Empire
David Fieni
Intermediate—Year
This course is designed for students who already
have a strong understanding of the major aspects
of French grammar and language but who wish to
develop their vocabulary and their grasp of more
complex aspects of the language. Students are
expected to be able to read more complex texts
easily and to express themselves more abstractly.
A major part of the course will be devoted to the
study and discussion of French or Francophone
literary texts. The Intermediate I and II French
courses are specially designed to help prepare
students for studying in Paris with Sarah
Lawrence College during their junior year. Course
conducted in French. Admission by placement test or
by completion of Intermediate French I.
Just Balzac
Angela Moger
Intermediate, Advanced—Fall
Despite a pious regard for Père Goriot and
Eugénie Grandet and a poststructuralist obsession
with “Sarrasine,” Balzac’s works remain largely
unknown, particularly his many novellas. In this
course, we will investigate several of the most
compelling of these shorter tales, attempting to
probe the connection between Balzac’s choice of
the form and his ultimate preoccupations. Why
did the consummate novelist turn frequently to
the novella? Furthermore, we will try to uncover
the narratological implications of Balzac’s plots
and methodology, as his fictions seem to engage,
quite self-consciously, issues crucial to current
inquires into narrative. Thus, particular stories
can be seen to offer not only a theory of gender
and/or a theory of language but also a coherent
and apparently deliberate set of reflections on
matters ranging from the status of authorship and
the “character” to the problem of “closure” and
the problematic of desire as metaphor for both
money and narrative. Finally, if, as Michael
Wood says, “The very possibility of a meaning
ruins a certain form of freedom…yet stories carry
the disease of meaning,” we will examine how
the Balzacian tale immunizes itself. Readings
include Sarrasine, La Maison Nucingen, Adieu, and
Albert Savarus. Advanced intermediate students with
Love Stories From France
Angela Moger
Many of the world’s greatest love stories come
from France, the culture that codified the notion
of romantic love that still holds the Western
world “in thrall.” But whereas the works of La
Fayette, of Rousseau, of Stendhal, and of Proust
are well-known and widely read, more modest (in
their dimensions) contributions on the subject
remain somewhat “under the radar.” This course
will be devoted to the examination of a number
of these lesser known works that also interrogate
the nature of that compelling version of human
attachment and similarly provoke, through their
narrative strategies, awareness that the romantic
passion plot often lends itself to being read as
allegory of fiction. Thus, Balzac’s small and
remarkable story, La grande Brèteche, Mérimée’s
Le vase étrusque, and Radiguet’s Le Diable au corps
merit scrutiny, as do the more eccentric tales of
the decadent writer Barbey D’Aurévilly (Le plus
bel amour de Don Juan) and the novel written by
the “primitive” artist Marguerite Audoux (Marie
Claire). Conference work might include
francophone writers whose works both extend
and deviate from the tradition, such as the
Moroccan Tahar Ben Jelloun and the Canadian
Anne Hébert.
Advanced French: The Quill
and the Dress: French
Women Writers in Early
Modern France
Eric Leveau
Advanced—Fall
This course will focus on all aspects of the strong
influence that women exerted on literature and
culture in France during the period from the
Renaissance to the French Revolution. We’ll
study the historical and social implications of the
phenomenon of the “salon,” perceived as a space
of freedom for women to redefine the literary
landscape of their time. We’ll look at how
women writers challenged their male colleagues
at the heart of their esthetic and ideological
dominance but also how intellectually
independent women were, in return, perceived by
society. We’ll focus on major subversive
masterpieces written by women during the
period, but we’ll also explore the vast
implications of the idea of a feminine form of
writing among male writers. In such a rich
context of past debates and literary works, we’ll
40 Geography
also try to bring into our discussion the
contribution of recent feminist theory in order to
foster a dialogue across the centuries. Authors
studied will notably include: Mlle de Scudery,
Corneille, Molière, Mme. de Sévigné, Mme de
Lafayette, Mme. de Graffigny, Diderot, Mme. du
Chatelet, Rousseau, Mme. Roland,
Beaumarchais. Course conducted in French.
Admission by placement test to be taken during
interview week at the beginning of the fall semester or
completion of Intermediate French II or higher.
Another course offered this year in French is
Literature in Translation: “Because We
Know That Language Exists”: Roland
Barthes and French Literature and Theory
(1945-2011) (p. 69), Eric Leveau French
Geography
Geography is a fundamentally interdisciplinary
field, often seen as straddling the natural and
social sciences and increasingly drawing upon the
arts and other forms of expression and
representation. For these reasons, Sarah
Lawrence College provides an exciting context,
as the community is predisposed to welcome
Geography’s breadth and interdisciplinary
qualities. Geography courses are infused with the
central questions of the discipline. What is the
relationship between human beings and “nature”?
How does globalization change spatial patterns of
historical, political, economic, social, and
cultural human activities? And how do these
patterns provide avenues for understanding our
contemporary world and pathways for the future?
Two seminars are taught on a regular basis:
Political Ecology of Development and The
Geography of Contemporary China and Its Place
in a Globalizing World Economy. In addition, a
lecture course entitled, Food, Agriculture,
Environment, and Development, provides
students an opportunity to investigate these
issues and their connections both in lecture and
in group conference activities that include
debates and special presentations.
As a discipline built on field study, students
in Geography classes participate in field
trips—most recently, for example, to farming
communities in Pennsylvania but also to
Manhattan’s Chinatown, where students engage
aspects of Chinese culture in walks through the
city that expose the heterogeneity of China
through food, art, religion, and language while
simultaneously clarifying the challenges facing
recent immigrants and legacies of institutions
imbued with racism carved into the built
environment. That is one of the overarching
goals of contemporary geography: to investigate
the ways that landscape and place both reflect
and reproduce the evolving relationship of
humans to each other and to their environments.
Introduction to Development
Studies: The Political Ecology
of Development
Joshua Muldavin
Intermediate, Sophomore and above—Fall
We will begin this seminar by examining
competing paradigms and approaches to
understanding “development” and the “Third
World.” We will set the stage by answering the
question: What did the world look like 500 years
ago? The purpose of this part of the course is to
acquaint us with and to analyze the historical
origins and evolution of a world political
economy, of which the “Third World” is an
intrinsic component. We will thus study the
transition from feudalism to capitalism, the rise of
merchant and finance capital, and the
colonization of the world by European powers.
We will analyze case studies of colonial
“development” to understand the evolving
meaning of this term. These case studies will help
us assess the varied legacies of colonialism
apparent in the emergence of new nations
through the fitful and uneven process of
decolonization that followed. In the next part of
the course, we will look at the United Nations
and the role some of its associated institutions
have played in the post-World War II global
political economy—one marked by persistent and
intensifying socioeconomic inequalities, as well
as frequent outbreaks of political violence across
the globe. By examining the development
institutions that have emerged and evolved since
1945, we will attempt to unravel the paradoxes of
development in different eras. We will
deconstruct the measures of development
through a thematic exploration of population,
resource use, poverty, access to food, the
environment, agricultural productivity, and
different development strategies adopted by
“Third World” nation-states. We will then
examine globalization and its relation to
THE CURRICULUM 41
emergent international institutions and their
policies; for example, the IMF, World Bank, and
WTO. We will then turn to contemporary
development debates and controversies; for
example, the widespread land grabbing (by
sovereign wealth funds, China, hedge funds, etc.)
that increasingly finds space in the headlines.
Throughout the course, our investigations of
international institutions, transnational
corporations, the role of the state, and civil
society will provide the backdrop for the final
focus of the class—the emergence of regional
coalitions for self-reliance, environmental and
social justice, and sustainable development. Our
analysis of development in practice will draw
upon case studies primarily from Africa but also
from Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean,
and the United States. Conference work will be
closely integrated with the themes of the course
with a two-stage substantive research project.
Project presentations will incorporate a range of
formats, from traditional papers to multimedia
visual productions. Where possible and feasible,
you will be encouraged to do primary research
during fall study days. Some experience in the social
sciences is desired but not required.
Food, Agriculture,
Environment, and
Development
Joshua Muldavin
Where does the food we eat come from? Why do
some people have enough food to eat and others
do not? Are there too many people for the world
to feed? Who controls the world’s food? Will
global food prices continue their recent rapid rise;
and if so, what will be the consequences? What
are the environmental impacts of our food
production systems? How do answers to these
questions differ by place or the person asking the
question? How have they changed over time?
This course will explore the following
fundamental issue: the relationship between
development and the environment, focusing in
particular on agriculture and the production and
consumption of food. The questions above often
hinge on the contentious debate concerning
population, natural resources, and the
environment. Thus, we will begin by critically
assessing the fundamental ideological positions
and philosophical paradigms of “modernization,”
as well as the critical counterpoints that lie at the
heart of this debate. Within this context of
competing sets of philosophical assumptions
concerning the population-resource debate, we
will investigate the concept of “poverty” and the
making of the “Third World,” access to food,
hunger, grain production and food aid,
agricultural productivity (the green and gene
revolutions), biofuels, the role of transnational
corporations (TNCs), the international division
of labor, migration, globalization and global
commodity chains, and the different strategies
adopted by nation-states to “develop” natural
resources and agricultural production. Through a
historical investigation of environmental change
and the biogeography of plant domestication and
dispersal, we will look at the creation of
indigenous, subsistence, peasant, plantation,
collective, and commercial forms of agriculture.
We will analyze the physical environment and
ecology that help shape but rarely determine the
organization of resource use and agriculture.
Rather, through the dialectical rise of various
political-economic systems such as feudalism,
slavery, mercantilism, colonialism, capitalism,
and socialism, we will study how humans have
transformed the world’s environments. We will
follow with studies of specific issues:
technological change in food production;
commercialization and industrialization of
agriculture and the decline of the family farm;
food and public health, culture, and family; land
grabbing and food security; the role of markets
and transnational corporations in transforming
the environment; and the global environmental
changes stemming from modern agriculture,
dams, deforestation, grassland destruction,
desertification, biodiversity loss, and the
interrelationship with climate change. Case
studies of particular regions and issues will be
drawn from Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe,
and the United States. The final part of the
course examines the restructuring of the global
economy and its relation to emergent
international laws and institutions regulating
trade, the environment, agriculture, resource
extraction treaties, the changing role of the state,
and competing conceptualizations of territoriality
and control. We will end with discussions of
emergent local, regional, and transnational
coalitions for food self-reliance, alternative and
community-supported agriculture, communitybased resource-management systems, sustainable
development, and grassroots movements for
social and environmental justice. Films,
multimedia materials, and distinguished guest
lectures will be interspersed throughout the
course. One farm field trip is possible, if funding
permits. The seminar participants may also take a
42 German
leading role in a campus-wide event on “food and
agriculture,” tentatively planned for the fall.
Please mark your calendars when the dates are
announced, as attendance for all of the above is
required. Attendance and participation is also
required at special guest lectures and film
viewings in the Geography Lecture Series, held
approximately twice per month in the evening
from 6-8 pm. The Webboard is an important part
of the course. Regular postings of assignments, as
well as follow-up commentaries, will be made
there. There will be in-class essays, debates, and
small group discussions. Conferences will focus
on in-depth analysis of course topics. You will be
required to prepare a poster project on a topic of
your choice, related to the course, which will be
presented at the end of the semester in a special
session.
German
As the official language of the Federal Republic
of Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, and portions
of several other European countries—and with
linguistic enclaves in the Americas and
Africa—German is today the native tongue of
close to 120 million people. For such advanced
degree programs as art history, music history,
philosophy, and European history, German is still
a required language. And whether the motivation
for study is business, culture, travel, friendship, or
heritage, a knowledge of German can add
inestimable depth to a student’s landscape of
thought and feeling.
Students should ideally plan to study
German for at least two years. First- and secondyear German aim to teach students how to
communicate in German and acquire
grammatical competency through exercises that
both demand accuracy and encourage free
expression. While conference work in Beginning
German consists of intensive grammar work with
the German assistant (both group and individual
conferences), intermediate-level students work
on their cultural competency by reading German
literature (fairly tales, novellas; poems) and
working on class-, group-, or individual research
projects (for example, writing a short story or
screenplay in German; exploring German cities
online; reading newspaper articles on current
events). Advanced German is a cultural studies
seminar. Students solidify their cultural
competency by studying German history and
culture from the late 18th century to the present.
A special emphasis is placed on 20th-century
German history and culture, including
contemporary German literature and film.
Many German students spend a semester or
year in Germany. Beginning in 2012, students
have the opportunity to take a 5-weeks long
summer seminar in Berlin (6 credits). Students
will take a seminar on German Cultural Studies
with an emphasis on the history and culture of
Berlin AND a class in Art/Architecture, Dance
or German Language (taught at Neue Schule in
Berlin).
Beginning German
Roland Dollinger, Nike Mizelle
Open—Year
This course concentrates on the study of
grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation in order
to secure the basic tools of the German language.
Through grammar exercises in class, dialogues,
and short compositions, students will learn the
fundamental skills to speak, read, and write in
German. This class will meet three times (90
minutes) per week: twice with Mr. Dollinger and
once with Ms. Mizelle, who will also meet with
students individually or in small groups for
an extra conference. Course materials include the
textbook, Neue Horizonte, along with a workbook
and a graded German reader that will allow
students to start reading in German after the first
week. We will cover at least 12 chapters from the
textbook—all of the basic grammar and
vocabulary that students will need to know in
order to advance to the next level. There will be
short written tests at the end of each chapter.
Students will also learn basic facts about
Germany today.
Intermediate German
Roland Dollinger
Intermediate—Year
This course stresses speaking, reading, and
writing German and a thorough review of
German grammar. Its aim is to give students more
fluency and to prepare them for a possible junior
year in Germany. Readings in the fall will consist
of fairy tales, short stories, poems, and three
novellas by the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig.
Students will give several oral presentations (on a
fairy tale, on a German city, on a German artist
or intellectual). In the spring semester, we will
use Im Spiegel der Literatur, a collection of short
stories written by some of the most famous
German writers such as Thomas Mann and
Bertolt Brecht. A solid grammar review, based on
THE CURRICULUM 43
the book German Grammar in Review, will help
students improve their speaking and writing
skills. Regular conferences with Nike Mizelle will
supplement class work.
Advanced German:
Contemporary German
Literature
Advanced—Fall
In the fall semester, we will read stories and
novels written in Germany after 1989. Writers
such as Daniel Kehlmann, Clemens Meyer,
Bernhard Schlink, Judith Hermann, Monika
Maron, W.G. Sebald, Maxim Biller, and others
will introduce students to contemporary German
culture. We will explore how German writers
deal with the legacy of national socialism and the
Holocaust, German reunification and the
Stalinist past in the former East Germany, and a
new “multicultural” Germany. Films and articles
from the magazine Der Spiegel will enrich our
discussions. This course consists of three equally
important components: Students will have one
seminar with Mr. Dollinger, who will discuss the
class materials in German; one seminar with Ms.
Mizelle, who will work with students collectively
on various grammar and vocabulary issues; and
one biweekly individual conference with Mr.
Dollinger. Students must demonstrate advanced
language skills during registration in order to be
permitted into this class. Course conducted entirely
in German.
Advanced German: German
“Classics” From Goethe to
Brecht
Advanced—Spring
In the spring semester, we will study some of the
most famous works of German literature from the
18th to the 20th centuries, including Goethe’s
Die Leiden des Jungen Werther, Kleist’s Das
Erdbeben von Chile, Tieck’s Der Blonde Eckbert,
Eichendorff’s Das Marmorbild, Storm’s Der
Schimmelreiter, Thomas Mann’s Der Kleine Herr
Friedemann, and Brecht’s Die Dreigroschenoper.
Students will also become familiar with the major
developments in Germany history. This course
consists of three equally important components:
Students will have one seminar with Mr.
Dollinger, who will discuss the class materials in
German; one seminar with Ms. Mizelle, who will
work with students collectively on various
grammar and vocabulary issues; and one biweekly
individual conference with Mr. Dollinger.
Students must demonstrate advanced language
skills during registration in order to be permitted
into this class. This course is conducted entirely in
German.
Global Studies
Global processes, exchanges, and movements
have remapped the contemporary world. Global
Studies courses seek to provide a coherent critical
framework with which to study such increasingly
fluid cultural and national crossings. Global
Studies faculty members, working in the
disciplines of Asian Studies, history, and
literature, have been engaged in rethinking
previous assumptions about history and
cartography. Their courses tend to reframe
familiar histories, as well as to uncover unfamiliar
routes of human interaction. These classes adopt
interdisciplinary approaches that help bring to
light historic concerns that otherwise might be
rendered invisible.
Examples of Global Studies offerings include
courses on the intersection of cultures
surrounding the Mediterranean; overlapping
colonial and postcolonial histories of Europe,
Africa, Asia, and Latin America; linked Pacific
Rim cultures, for example, shared histories among
peoples from the western coast of the Americas,
the Philippines, and Japan; intertwined histories
and literatures of Africa and the Americas in
light of the concept of a Black Atlantic; and
homologous literatures and histories of native
peoples from different geographic regions.
For course descriptions, see Asian Studies,
History, and Literature.
Greek
The Sarah Lawrence College Classics program
emphasizes the study of the languages and
literature of ancient Greece and Rome. Greek
and Latin constitute an essential component of
any humanistic education, enabling students to
examine the foundations of Western culture and
explore timeless questions concerning the nature
of the world, the place of human beings in it, and
the components of a life well lived. In studying
the literature, history, philosophy, and society of
the ancient Greeks and Romans, students come
44 Health, Science, and Society
to appreciate them for themselves, examine the
continuity between the ancient and modern
worlds and, perhaps, discover “a place to
stand”—an objective vantage point for assessing
modern culture.
In their first year of study, students acquire
proficiency in vocabulary, grammar, and syntax,
with the aim of reading accurately and with
increasing insight. Selected passages of ancient
works are read in the original languages almost
immediately. Intermediate and advanced courses
develop students’ critical and analytical abilities,
while exploring ancient works in their literary,
historical, and cultural context. Conference
projects provide opportunities for specialized
work in areas of interest in classical antiquity.
Recent conference projects include close readings
of Homer’s Iliad, Aristophanes’ Clouds, Pindar’s
Odes, Plato’s Republic, Cicero’s de Amicitia, the
poetry of Catullus, Virgil’s Aeneid, as well as
studies of modern theories of myth, Nietzsche’s
Birth of Tragedy in connection with the tragedies
of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, the social
implications of Roman domestic architecture,
and a comparison of Euripides’ Hippolytus with
Racine’s Phèdre.
Greek and Latin will be especially beneficial
for students interested in related disciplines,
including religion, philosophy, art history,
archaeology, history, political science, English,
comparative literature, and medieval studies, as
well as education, law, medicine, and business.
Greek and Latin can also prove valuable to all
those who wish to enrich their imagination in
the creative pursuits of writing, dance, music,
visual arts, and acting.
Beginning Greek
Emily Katz Anhalt
Open—Year
This course provides an intensive introduction to
Ancient Greek grammar, syntax, and vocabulary,
with the aim of reading authentic excerpts of
Ancient Greek poetry and prose as soon as
possible. Students will also read and discuss
several dialogues of Plato in English. During the
spring semester, while continuing to refine their
grammar and reading skills, students will read
extended selections of Plato’s Apology in the
original Greek. Ms. Anhalt will teach this course in
the fall. The faculty for the spring is currently TBA.
Intermediate Greek
Samuel B. Seigle
Intermediate—Year
This course has two aims: to develop the
student’s ability to read Greek intelligently and
fluently and to give the student a general
understanding of Greek history and literature.
The authors to be read will be determined at the
time of registration.
Advanced Greek
Samuel B. Seigle
Advanced—Year
This course has two aims: to extend the student’s
ability to read classical Greek and to deepen the
student’s appreciation of the literary traditions of
the Greeks. The authors to be read will be
determined at the time of registration.
Another course offered this year in Greek is listed
below. A full description of the course may be
found under the appropriate discipline.
The Age of Caesar (p. 67), Emily Katz Anhalt
Greek
Health, Science, and
Society
Health, Science and Society is a cluster of
undergraduate and graduate courses, programs,
and events which addresses the meaning of
health and illness, advocacy for health and
health care, and structures of medical and
scientific knowledge. Courses and events are
multidisciplinary, bringing together perspectives
from the humanities, creative arts, social
sciences, and natural sciences. Undergraduate
students who are interested in health, science,
and society are encouraged to take courses from
across the curriculum and to design
interdisciplinary conference projects.
Over the past 25 years, as health and disease
have been examined from social, economic,
political and historical perspectives, there has
been an increased awareness of the ways in which
definitions of disease are framed in relation to the
values, social structures, and bases of knowledge
of particular communities. Globalization has
required us to understand health and disease as
crucial international issues, and environmental
health is increasingly seen to be a matter of
policy that has significantly differential effects on
THE CURRICULUM 45
different populations. Public talks and events are
regularly scheduled, to bring together
undergraduate and graduate faculty and students
to consider these questions of health, medicine,
and scientific knowledge from a broad variety of
perspectives.
This focus of study may be of interest to
students interested in the health professions,
including pre-med, nursing, or other professions
such as physical therapy, allowing them to
combine courses in the natural sciences with
explorations of the social sciences, arts, and
humanities. Similarly, students in the arts and
humanities who are interested in health and
illness may find that incorporating science and
social science into their educational program
enables them to achieve a greater depth of
understanding and expression in their work.
Health, Science and Society offers
undergraduate students the unique opportunity to
take advantage of Sarah Lawrence College’s
nationally recognized graduate master’s programs
in Human Genetics and Health Advocacy, both
the first such graduate programs offered in the
country. Events and programs are also
coordinated with the graduate programs in Art of
Teaching and Child Development, and in
collaboration with the Child Development
Institute.
Courses offered this year in Health, Science, and
Society are listed below. Full descriptions of the
disciplines.
Biology of Cancer (p. 17), Drew E. Cressman
Biology
Dillard History
Psychology
Embodiment and Biological Knowledge:
Public Engagement in Medicine and
Science (p. 114), Sarah Wilcox Sociology
Fictions of Embodiment (p. 145), Sayantani
DasGupta Writing
History
The History curriculum covers the globe. Most
courses focus on particular regions or nations, but
offerings also include courses that transcend
geographical boundaries to examine subjects such
as African diasporas, Islamic radicalism, or
European influences on US intellectual history.
Some courses are surveys—of colonial Latin
America, for example, or Europe since World
War II. Others zero in on more specific topics,
such as medieval Christianity, the Cuban
revolution, urban poverty and public policy in
the United States, or feminist movements and
theories. While history seminars center on
reading and discussion, many also train students
in aspects of the historian’s craft, including
archival research, historiographic analysis, and
oral history.
First-Year Studies: The Sixties
Priscilla Murolo
FYS
According to our national mythology, social
insurgencies of the 1960s originated in the
United States and pitted radical youth against
the American mainstream. The real story is much
more complicated. Politically speaking, “the
sixties” began in the late 1940s and extended
well into the 1970s, the ferment was by no means
confined to youth, and developments within the
United States were following global patterns.
Revolutionary movements and ideas reverberated
from Asia and Africa to Europe and the
Americas, and they mobilized people from
virtually all walks of life. This course will situate
US movements within their global contexts and
will focus especially on movements inspired by
revolutionary nationalism and its various
permutations among activists addressing issues of
colonialism, class, race, gender, and sexuality.
Readings include historical documents, as well as
scholarship; we will also make ample use of music
and film.
First-Year Studies: Gender
and the Culture of War in US
History, 1775-1975
Lyde Cullen Sizer
FYS
The course will look closely—and from several
vantage points—at domestic and international
wars in the history of the United States from the
American Revolution to Vietnam. Instead of a
classic political-history approach, we will study
the ways in which war drew attention to, and
often reshaped, daily life and core assumptions
about manhood and masculinity, womanhood
and femininity. Rather than focusing on leaders
46 History
and decision makers alone, we will analyze the
work and lives of other affected constituents:
rank-and-file soldiers, war workers, cultural
critics, and those left to juggle new
responsibilities on the home front. This course
will also consider other “wars”—in particular,
over slavery—that are not usually so named and
their effect on domestic and gender sensibilities.
Texts will include history books, biographies,
memoirs, letters, editorials, novels, and, when
historically appropriate, photographs and films.
This will be a writing-intensive course.
First-Year Studies: “In the
Tradition”: An Introduction
to African American History
and Black Cultural
Renaissance
Komozi Woodard
FYS
African American history is an important
window into the history of the United States and
the rise of the modern world. Using African
American history, culture, and consciousness as
the focus, this course will introduce students to
American history and world history. Students will
begin with classics such as The Souls of Black Folk
and Up from Slavery, as well as Coming of Age in
Mississippi and Down These Mean Streets. We will
explore where writers such as St. Augustine,
Aleksandr Pushkin, and Alexandre Dumas fit
into the traditions of the African diaspora and
Africana studies. The course will also examine
major developments such as the Atlantic slave
trade in the making of the modern world;
comparative slavery and emancipation; the
classic slave narratives; the Civil War and
Reconstruction; the Great Migration and Harlem
Renaissance; making race and nation in the
United States, Brazil, and South Africa; the
racial politics of New Deal citizenship; African
Americans in the city; the rise of blues and jazz;
women in the black revolt; civil rights and black
power; and the black arts movement.
The Black Arts Renaissance
& American Culture:
Rethinking Urban and Ethnic
History in America
Komozi Woodard
The Black Arts Renaissance is an essential
window into American cultural history. How did
jazz become American classical music? Looking
back one century, American culture was defined
not in terms of our way of life but rather in terms
of “refinement.” In line with that, Black America
was defined not in terms of an American ethnic
group but rather in terms of an inferior race. By
1903, Anglo-American authorities insisted that
“no full-blooded Negro has ever been
distinguished as a man of science, a poet, or an
artist.” The lectures and films in this course
examine the contours of US history and
American studies to explore how, in one century,
the value of Black America, blues, jazz, and hiphop culture was transformed from worthless to
priceless. The triumph of the Black Arts
Renaissance, jazz studies, and Africana studies
was produced by an epic century of extraordinary
American cultural revolution; and that cultural
revolution embraced social and cultural
transformations that also produced golden ages of
Irish, Yiddish, Chicano, and Nuyorican
Renaissance. In other words, this course
introduces students to the rethinking of urban
and ethnic history in America.
The Contemporary Practice
of International Law
Mark R. Shulman
In a landscape pocked by genocide, wars of
choice, piracy, and international terrorism, what
good is international law? Can it mean anything
without a global police force and a universal
judiciary? Is “might makes right” the only law
that works? Or is it true that “most states comply
with most of their obligations most of the time”?
These essential questions frame the
contemporary practice of law across borders. This
lecture provides an overview of international
law—its substance, theory, and practice. It
addresses a wide range of issues, including the
bases and norms of international law, the law of
war (jus ad bellum and jus in bello), human-rights
claims, domestic implementation of international
norms, treaty interpretation, and state formation/
succession. Readings will draw from two key
texts: Murphy’s treatise, Principles of International
Law, and International Law Stories edited by
Noyes, Janis & Dickinson. These readings will be
supplemented by articles and original sources
such as conventions, cases, and statutes.
THE CURRICULUM 47
Art and the Sacred in Late
Antiquity and the Middle
Ages
David Bernstein
No time in history saw a richer, more varied
expression of sacred art than the European
Middle Ages. And no other age has known as
powerful, as all-embracing a religious institution
as the medieval church. In this interdisciplinary
lecture course, we will ask why the Christian
church and the art made in its service took such
extraordinarily varied forms in the 1,000-year
period from the catacombs to Chartres, from the
third century to the 13th. We will also ask why
certain features of contemporary Christianity
that are looked upon as quintessentially Catholic
rather than Protestant were established not in
the earliest years of the church but in Late
Antiquity and the Middle Ages: monasteries and
nunneries, the cult of the Virgin, a celibate
clergy, and a papal monarchy with virtually
unlimited powers. Since Christianity is a religion
not only for the here and now but for the
afterlife, of special interest will be perplexing
beliefs such as that we on earth might affect the
fate of the dead in purgatory and, conversely, that
some of the “very special dead” might assist the
living or perhaps punish them. Perhaps the most
distinguishing feature of the course will be
studying these topics in visual, as well as in
written, texts; for instance, in the architecture
and decoration of early Christian and
Romanesque churches and, at St. Denis and
Chartres, in the birth of the uniquely Western
style that we call Gothic. By also examining how
sacred words were illuminated in manuscripts
linked to Lindisfarne, Kells, and Charlemagne’s
court, we will attempt to engage with a novel
expression of spirituality in the Middle Ages: the
book as icon. Near the end of our course, we will
follow men and women from all over Europe on
their pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela,
stopping at such memorable French Romanesque
churches as Vézelay, Conques, and Moissac. In
New York museums, students will have
opportunities to view chapels and cloisters
brought from Europe, as well as sculptures,
ivories, metalwork, stained glass, books,
paintings, and tapestries that are among the
world’s most precious treasures. Lectures will be
devoted primarily to art; the weekly group
conferences, to readings from the Middle Ages.
The U.S. Constitution:
Interpretation and History
Jeffrey Miller
This lecture course examines how the structure of
our government and the guarantees of our
liberties have been shaped by history, political
philosophy, and experience. We will study the
Constitution, related documents, and Supreme
Court decisions interpreting the Constitution.
The course should be considered by students
interested in American history, government,
politics, and intellectual analysis. Lectures will
combine presentations by the instructor,
discussion, and Socratic dialogue to develop
analytical skills. Grades will be based on openbook midterm and final exams in which students
will be asked to write a Supreme Court opinion
resolving a constitutional issue.
The American Revolution
and Its Legacy: From British
to American Nationalism
Eileen Ka-May Cheng
Open—Year
It may be comforting to know that historians
agree that an American Revolution did indeed
occur. Less comforting but more intriguing may
be the realization that historians do not agree on
when it commenced and when it ended, much
less on the full meaning of what exactly took
place beyond the mere facts of the Revolution.
Certainly, the question was profound enough to
move John Adams to ask, “What do we mean by
the Revolution?” In the fall, we will examine the
causes and character of the Revolution by
studying the political, intellectual, social, and
cultural dimensions of this event. In the spring,
we will look at how Americans adapted the
legacy of the Revolution to the social and
political changes of the 19th century and at how
that legacy at once divided and unified
Americans in this period. How were both
opponents and defenders of slavery able to appeal
to the Revolution to legitimize their views? What
was the relationship between the Revolution and
the Civil War? Was the Civil War a “second
American Revolution”? By looking at how
Americans used the memory of the Revolution to
define their identity, the course ultimately aims
to achieve a better understanding of the basis for
and nature of American nationalism. Some
background in history is helpful but not required.
48 History
“Mystic Chords of Memory”:
Myth, Tradition, and the
Making of American
Nationalism
Eileen Ka-May Cheng
Open—Year
Is history just a memory of memories? The course
will explore this question by looking at how
Americans have remembered and mythologized
important events and individuals in the nation’s
history. One of the best-known such myths is the
story of George Washington and the cherry tree.
On being questioned by his father about who
chopped down the cherry tree, Washington
confessed that he had done it, telling his father,
“I cannot tell a lie.” Ironically, however, this story
was itself a fabrication. We must also not forget
“Honest Abe,” where the theme of “honesty”
recurs. Why have such myths been so important
to the American national identity? For example,
was Washington’s purported truthfulness a way of
creating a sense of transparency and a bond of
trust between the people and their democratically
elected government? The course will address such
questions by looking at the construction and
function of tradition and myth, as well as the
relationship between myth and tradition in
American culture from the colonial period to
World War II. We will examine some of the
specific myths and traditions that Americans
invented, beginning with the story of Pocahontas
and John Smith and ending with the image of
World War II as “The Good War.” The course
will pay special attention to the mythologization
of the American Revolution and the “Founding
Fathers” and the myth of the self-made man,
examining how figures such as George
Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Andrew
Jackson, and Abraham Lincoln both contributed
to and embodied these myths. We will consider
how and why myths about these events and
individuals were created and the extent to which
they corresponded to social reality. The course
will study how these myths both unified and
divided Americans, as different groups used the
same myths for conflicting social purposes. And
finally, we will examine what these myths
revealed about how Americans defined the
nation’s identity. Was the United States a nation
bound by “mystic chords of memory,” as Lincoln
so poetically claimed, or were Americans
ultimately a “present-minded people,” defined by
their rejection of the past? More precisely, did
Americans view the very notion of tradition as
an impediment to the unlimited possibilities for
growth and the actualization of their “manifest
destiny”?
The Idea of a Balance of
Power
Fredric Smoler
Open—Year
In this course, we will examine the idea of a
balance of power—one of the key terms in the
disciplines of international relations, strategic
theory, and history—and also some instances in
diplomatic and military history that will allow us
to assess some versions of the theory. In its purest
and most optimistic version, a balance of power is
imagined to be a self-adjusting system of military
alliances, one in which a balance of power keeps
the peace by preventing any one state from
accumulating so great a relative military
advantage that war may seem a rational course of
action. In a slightly less optimistic form, a
balance of power can mean a distribution of
power among states sufficient to prevent any one
major power from seriously threatening the
fundamental interests of another. In significantly
less optimistic versions, the pursuit of a balance
of power is imagined to be as likely to provoke
wars as to prevent them, and a very equal balance
of power may simply insure that a war will be
peculiarly protracted and destructive. The First
World War is sometimes imagined to be a war
both caused and protracted by balance-of-power
policies, while the Second World War is often
imagined as the horrific result of insufficient
attention to the maintenance of a dissuasive
balance of power. The phrase dates to at least
1701, was memorably expressed in an essay of
Hume’s (Of the Balance of Power) in 1752, is
clearly imagined to exert pressure on political
actors as early as Thucydides’ The Peloponnesian
War, and is sometimes considered one of the core
theories of international relations. We shall look
at different versions of the theory and at some of
the history that the theories attempt to explain,
particularly the outbreak and prevention of wars,
some sequences of diplomatic history, and arms
races.
Romantic Europe
Philip Swoboda
Open—Year
Between the 1790s and the middle of the 19th
century, European culture was largely shaped by
the broad current of thought and feeling that we
THE CURRICULUM 49
know as “romanticism.” This course will examine
the rise of the romantic sensibility in the decades
between the 1760s and 1800 and survey diverse
manifestations of romanticism in thought,
literature, and art during the subsequent halfcentury. We will give particular attention to the
complex relations between romanticism and the
three most portentous historical developments of
its era: the French Revolution, the birth of
industrial society in Britain, and the rise of
national consciousness among Germans, Italians,
and other European peoples. Readings will
include prose fiction by Goethe, E. T. A.
Hoffmann, and Walter Scott; poetry by
Wordsworth, Shelley, Hölderlin, and Mickiewicz;
works on religion, ethics, and the philosophy of
history; and political treatises by the pioneers of
modern conservativism, liberalism, and socialism.
Imperial Russia: Power and
Society
Philip Swoboda
Open, Sophomore and above—Year
Imperial Russia was the creation of Peter the
Great (1672–1725). It was he who decided to
impose on the backward country over which he
ruled the modernizing reforms that would enable
Russia to occupy a respected place among the
European Great Powers. To provide himself with
collaborators in realizing this vision of Russian
greatness, he created a new cultural elite of
landed noblemen educated on Western lines. It
was this new elite, called into being by Peter and
fostered by the empresses and tsars who
succeeded him, whose offspring were responsible
for 19th-century Russia’s stupendous
achievements in the realms of literature, art,
music, and science. Over the course of the two
centuries between 1700 and 1900, Russia’s
educated elite grew increasingly restive under the
tutelage of the autocratic state, and some of its
members eventually set about overthrowing the
rule of the tsars by revolutionary means—a goal
they achieved in 1917. The hypothesis to be
considered in this course is that the tremendous
flowering of cultural creativity for which 19thcentury Russia is remembered was directly the
product of the difficult relationship between the
modernizing state and the Westernized elite that
it had brought into being—between what
Russians called “the power” (vlast) and “educated
society” (obshchestvo). To explore this hypothesis,
we will examine from a number of different
angles the evolution of the Russian state, Russian
society, and Russian culture in the 18th and 19th
centuries. We will look at court politics,
institutional and legal history, economic
developments, and the system of serfdom that
sustained the elite’s material position and social
status until 1861. We will discuss government
decrees, poems, novels, publicism, paintings, and
operas. In the second half of the spring semester,
we will trace the history of the Russian
revolutionary movement and investigate how
and why the Imperial regime abruptly collapsed
in 1917. Open to first-year students with permission
of the instructor.
The Cold War In History and
Film
Jefferson Adams
Open—Fall
The half-century conflict that, following the end
of World War II, developed between the United
States and the Soviet Union—along with their
respective allies—manifested itself in many
different spheres of life. This course will explore
the integral role that film played on both sides of
the Iron Curtain. Following an introductory
survey of the leading events of the Cold War, we
will examine a series of major films (mostly in
chronological order), focusing on the context in
which they were made and the larger historical
themes that they contain. Various genres—such
as the rubble film, the thaw film, the Czech new
wave, the spy film, the musical, and
animation—will also be represented. A sampling
of the syllabus includes The Murderers Are Among
Us, The Cranes Are Flying, On the Waterfront,
Man of Marble, The Spy Who Came in From the
Cold, and Goodbye Lenin! A short written
assessment is required after each of the weekly
screenings, and supplementary readings will be
assigned, as well, to aid our discussions. For
conference, students are encouraged to
investigate the work of an individual director
during this era, the depiction of a specific Cold
War event or issue in several films, or the
national cinemas of countries—particularly in
the East block.
France and Germany in the
20th Century
Jefferson Adams
Open—Fall
“If France were married to a country," one
historian astutely observed, “it would be to
Germany.” Bitter adversaries during the First
World War and yet, today, intimate partners
50 History
within the European Union, France and
Germany have indeed sustained one of the most
complex and intriguing relationships during the
past century. This course will examine the
development of that relationship, looking
carefully at economic, political, and social
conditions in both countries. As they each
experienced a remarkable cultural efflorescence
(albeit under quite different circumstances), we
will also investigate the role played by various
writers and artists. The class assignments will be
varied, relying not only on historical accounts
but also on memoirs, biographies, novels, and
films. A few of the main topics include: the
legacy of the First World War; the rise of
totalitarian movements; the impact of the
Second World War on ordinary citizens of both
countries; the significance of leaders such as
Philippe Pétain, Charles de Gaulle, Adolf Hitler,
and Konrad Adenauer; the construction of a
larger European community after 1945; and the
impact of Germany’s reunification in 1990. For
conference projects, students may select a
historical figure or problem from either country;
topics that embrace both France and Germany
are especially encouraged.
Sickness and Health in Africa
Mary Dillard
Open—Fall
Depending on the level of his or her resources, a
sick person in Africa potentially has access to a
variety of options for treatment. How illness is
perceived becomes a crucial determinant in how
people seek care. Despite the array of treatment
options, the state of public health in most
African countries has become woefully
inadequate. While the reasons for this decline in
health status are related to questions of the
international political economy, they can also be
traced historically. This class studies the history
of health, healing, and medical practices in
Africa in order to identify the social, historic, and
economic factors that influence how therapeutic
systems in Africa have changed over time. We
will investigate a range of topics, including the
place of traditional healers in providing care, the
impact of the AIDS pandemic on overall public
health, and the role of globalization in changing
the structure of health-care delivery in most
African countries.
Reform and Revolution in
the Contemporary Middle
East and North Africa
Hamid Rezai
Open—Fall
There is no doubt that, in today’s age of
information, states are not the only important
players in the national and global political arena.
Since their emergence in 18th-century England,
social movements have played an increasingly
crucial role in political and social developments.
They have impacted the political decision
making of almost every country in the Middle
East, from the constitutional revolution in
Turkey and Iran in the early 20th century to the
nationalist movements in the Arab world in the
1950s and ’60s and to the recent waves of popular
uprising in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya. Despite the
vitality and complexity of these movements in
authoritarian contexts, many analysts and
observers have assumed until recently that public
collective actions and popular protests are
predominantly specific to liberal democracies.
This course challenges this assumption by
examining numerous powerful protest
movements in the contemporary Middle East
from the 20th century to the present, including
those in Egypt, Algeria, Turkey, Tunisia, Libya,
and Iran, and exploring the impact of people’s
power on the course and direction of their
respective societies. Examining the collective
actions of students, women, youth, and ethnic
and religious minorities as vital forces towards
change and democratization, this course
investigates the profound impact of social
movements on political and institutional
decision-making procedures in the region. We
will read and discuss texts on social movements
that have shaped the sociopolitical landscape of
the modern Middle East and North Africa. We
will evaluate from a comparative perspective the
origins, trajectories, and outcomes of popular
unrest throughout this strategically important
and contentious region. In this course, we will
ask and debate questions such as these: What
important internal players, other than the state
and political parties, competed for power in the
social and political arenas of each country? What
are the demographic and historical roots of these
movements, and how did they rise and fall? Why
did the tactics of movements differ at divergent
localities and times, and why did some
movements turn militant? And finally, what are
the social, intellectual, and historical causes of
the emergence and outcomes of popular unrest?
THE CURRICULUM 51
Tudor England: Politics,
Gender, and Religion. An
Introductory Workshop in
Doing History
David Bernstein
Open—Spring
Sixteenth-century England experienced radical
shifts in intellectual life, profound religious
upheavals, and the first successful experiment in
English history of a woman ruler. These
developments, part of the broader European
movements of Renaissance and Reformation,
continue to shape our lives. To sharpen what is
distinctive about England’s legacies, we will ask
the following questions: How was the
Renaissance humanist movement that began in
Italy transformed by those debating how Tudor
religion and society ought to be reformed? How
did Luther’s insights and heroism shape the
Reformation on the continent? Did Lutheranism
take hold in England? The Bible in English: Since
2011 is the 400th anniversary of the King James
Bible, shouldn’t we give credit to the scholar and
reformer in Henry VIII’s reign—William
Tyndale—who really deserves credit for the most
influential book in the English language? In all
these momentous changes, how important were
the desires and deeds of individual Tudors: Henry
VIII, his six wives, his three children—Edward,
Mary, and Elizabeth? During the second part of
the semester, Queen Elizabeth’s reign will be the
focus. Of special import will be her decision,
outrageous to contemporaries, to be known as
The Virgin Queen. A question: Could it be that
she was successful politically precisely because
she turned what was deemed her greatest
liability—her sex—into her greatest asset?
Distinguished biographies and famous plays and
films will be resources. Much of our reading will
be in primary sources by Lorenzo Valla, Erasmus,
Luther, William Tyndale, Thomas More, Thomas
Cromwell, Queen Elizabeth. In a series of
workshop sessions, we will try our hands at doing
biography and history, as we help each other
reconstruct out of primary sources a profound
crisis confronting the young Elizabeth. Many of
her advisors and many in her House of Commons
and in her House of Lords were arrayed against
her. Feeling deserted by those she thought
supported her, she stood alone against hundreds
of the most powerful men in the kingdom
throughout a crisis in which that age’s anxieties
about politics, gender, and religion overlapped.
Ideas of Africa: Africa Writes
Back
Mary Dillard
Open—Spring
The continent of Africa has been variously
described as the birthplace of humanity, the
Motherland, a country, a continent, and a heart
of darkness. All of these descriptions reflect
representations of Africa, but how accurately do
they reflect reality? This course analyzes the
intellectual history of ideas about Africa and
argues that some ideas have an enduring shelf
life—even when they have been consistently
proven to be inaccurate. We will critically
interrogate historical and anthropological studies,
travelers’ accounts, media representations, and
films created by non-Africans. However, we will
also examine the critical responses by African
philosophers, novelists, academics, artists, and
journalists who have attempted to address these
images.
Cinema and Society in the
Middle East and North Africa
Hamid Rezai
Open—Spring
As a pathway to modernity and an important part
of intellectual life, cinema has been playing a
crucial role in the sociopolitical and cultural
development of the Middle East and North
Africa since its emergence in the early 20th
century. In the popular media and language of
official politics, the voices of artists and
filmmakers of this region have not received the
attention they deserve. For decades, Algerian,
Egyptian, Iranian, and Palestinian cinemas have
been a major force reflecting on their countries’
and the region’s struggle against colonialism,
authoritarianism, gender inequality, and poverty.
In this course, we will read works on film theory
and Middle Eastern and North African directors
and their films. In addition to watching and
discussing films, we will ask questions such as
these: What role did cinema play in the
formation of national and ethnic identities since
its emergence in the early 20th century? How
does film serve as a medium for transformation
from a “traditional” society to a “modern” one?
How do feminist directors use their films to
negotiate women’s rights? How do filmmakers
resist censorship by authoritarian and repressive
regimes? And finally, what role does cinema play
as an influential medium in the representation of
this region within global culture?
52 History
Hunger and Excess: Histories,
Politics, and Cultures of Food
Charles Zerner, Persis Charles
Open—Spring
Beliefs about food, foodmaking, and food
consumption are practices that have historically
indexed, identified, and mapped the contours of
self, community, and nation. This course analyzes
food issues through the lenses of culture and
history. Histories of particular foods, including
sugar, potatoes, coffee, and chocolate, are
examined in order to reveal their crucial roles in
social change, identity, class formation and
conflict, nationalism, and the promotion of
slavery. How were potatoes, famine, and the
enforcement of free-trade ideology linked in
19th-century Anglo-Irish relations? How have
episodic food riots, greeting perceived shortages
and injustices in distribution, led to the
constitution of new forms of sociability? What
accounts for the birth of restaurants? How has the
coming of the recipe book affected gender roles
and domesticity? And how has the arrival of
abundance brought changes to the human body,
ideas, and ideals of normality? The course
explores relationships between ideas of “nature”
and the “natural” and ideas of natural diets,
“locavorisms,” the “wild,” the raw, and the
cooked. Through the lens of cultural studies and
cultural anthropology, food production and
consumption are revealed as a symbolic medium
whose “travels’ across continents, as well as into
individual digestive systems, illuminate and map
topographies of class, tastes, the forbidden, and
the erotic. Food as a symbolic substance moves
through fashion, contemporary art, and nutrition.
How, for example, is the natural body imagined
and modeled in the 21st century? Is it taboo to
eat chocolate after yoga? What do the rules of
kosher do? And how do food taboos in the
natural food movement resonate with the rules of
kosher in the Old Testament?
Revolution and
Counterrevolution in Central
America
Matilde Zimmermann
Open—Spring
Until the 1970s, most Americans were only
dimly aware of Central America—if anything, it
might bring forth an association with earthquakes
or “banana republics.” The victory of the
Nicaraguan revolution in 1979 and then the
eruption of guerrilla wars in El Salvador and
Guatemala changed all that, bringing the active
intervention of the US government, sparking the
interest of a post-Vietnam generation of
American youth, and putting new terms and
faces on the front pages: Iran-Contra,
Archbishop Oscar Romero, Sandino and the
FSLN, the sanctuary movement, “low intensity
warfare,” the annihilation of Mayan villages. This
course examines the origins and dynamics of
these revolutionary movements and the reasons
for their success or failure. We will look at the
revolutionaries’ ideologies, political and military
strategies, class base, and the ethnic and gender
composition of their leadership and ranks. To
what extent was each side inspired by or
dependent upon outside forces—Cuba and the
Soviet Union in the case of the leftist guerrillas
and the United States in the case of the
counterrevolutionary armies and governments?
What lessons can we draw from the fact that the
leading revolutionary parties of the 1980s have
all now abandoned armed struggle in favor of
elections? In addition to historical monographs,
we will make extensive use of primary
sources—including revolutionary speeches,
memoirs, songs, and manifestos, as well as
declassified CIA and other US government
documents.
Leisure and Danger
Persis Charles
Intermediate—Year
The interaction between work and play has taken
various forms in history. Our project in this
course will be to examine the changes and
continuities in the idea of leisure. Beginning in
early modern Europe, we will trace the concept
up to the present—concentrating on Europe and
America and reflecting on subjects such as travel
and the pursuit of the exotic, theatricality,
consumerism, luxury, and display. In the 19th
century, leisure became democratized, and an
anxious debate grew louder. What were the
implications of making leisure available to masses
of people? From romance novels to cheap liquor,
from shopping to the cinema, new avenues of
leisure aroused both fear and excitement.
Moralists felt a need to police both public and
private space and to reassert the primacy of work,
thrift, and duty. We will study them and the
various forms of accommodations and resistance
that met their efforts. Class, ethnicity, gender,
and geography all acted to structure people’s
access to leisure. We will look at struggles over
race, gender, and popular culture; the way certain
THE CURRICULUM 53
groups became designated as providers of
entertainment; or how certain locations were
created as places of pleasure. To set the terms of
the debate, we will begin with some 18th-century
readings about the theatre and the market, the
salon and the court. Readings will include work
of Montesquieu, Flaubert, Wilde, Wharton,
George Eliot, and Fitzgerald. In addition, we will
read works of nonfiction that show how leisure
helped to create new forms of subjectivity and
interiority. Students will be encouraged to work
on conference topics linking leisure to a variety
of subjects such as childhood and education, the
construction of racial identities, or the changing
nature of parenthood as birth control became
more and more widely available, to name just a
few areas. Potentially, this course—through the
study of complex oppositions such as need and
desire, purpose and aimlessness, the necessary and
gratuitous—can give us a sense of the dizzying
questions about life’s very meaning that present
themselves when we aim at a life of leisure.
Gender, Education, and
Opportunity in Africa
Mary Dillard
In modern Africa, equity in education—whether
in relation to gender, ethnicity, race, class, or
religion—remains an important arena of social
and political debate. As formal colonial rule
ended on the African continent and more
African nations gained independence, education
became synonymous with modernity and a
leading indicator of a country’s progress towards
development. Gender has consistently played a
powerful role in determining who would receive
access to education. An awareness of the
significance of both formal and informal
education has been reflected within the realms of
African politics, popular culture, literature, and
film. This class studies the history of education in
Africa, focusing on a wide variety of training,
classroom experiences, and socialization
practices. In particular, we will investigate the
influence of gender in defining access to
educational opportunity. We will begin by
questioning prevailing constructs of gender and
determine how relevant Western gender
categories have historically been for African
societies. By focusing several of our readings on
countries as diverse as Nigeria, Tanzania,
Ethiopia, and Zimbabwe, students will develop a
broad overview of educational policy changes and
practices throughout the African continent.
Harvest: A Social History of
Agriculture in Latin America
Matilde Zimmermann
Two irrepressible conflicts run through the
history of agriculture in Latin America: first,
between the men and women who work the soil
and those who own and control the land; and
second, between, on the one hand, the growing
of food and fiber for the farmers’ own use and
trade and, on the other, the production of cash
crops for export to a world market. This course
looks at various forms of agricultural production
that have had important impacts on Latin
American history: pre-colonial agriculture in the
Andes; plantation economies based on African
slave labor in the Caribbean and Brazil; the
introduction of European livestock and the
development of huge ranches and haciendas in
the colonial period; extractive industries
(“plunder agriculture”) such as rubber and
lumber; peasant production and how it has
changed over time; modern agribusiness and its
relationship to globalization and imperialism. We
will look at the impact of these different forms of
production on the environment and on rural
cultural practices, including religion, family
relations and popular art. We will study the
relationship between the landowning classes and
the state, especially in the 19th and 20th
centuries, and the role of peasants and other rural
workers in movements for national liberation and
social revolution. Sources will include theoretical
articles, historical monographs, and primary
sources. Open to sophomores and above with some
background in Latin American history, geography, or
literature.
Public Stories, Private Lives:
Methods of Oral History
Mary Dillard
Advanced—Fall
Oral history methodology has moved from a
contested approach to studying history to an
integral method of learning about the past. This
is because oral histories allow us to gain an
understanding of past events from a diverse array
of vantage points. Methods of recording oral
history also allow the possibility of bringing
private stories into the public. In contrast, public
history in the form of monuments, museums, and
World Heritage Sites are consciously preserved in
order to emphasize particular aspects of a
national, regional, or local past that their
54 International Studies
protectors deem to be important. Who owns this
history? Is it Civil War reenactors, who dedicate
their weekends to remembering that war? Is it the
African Americans who return to West Africa in
search of their African past or the West Africans
who want to forget about their slave-trading past?
What happens when the methods for interpreting
public and oral histories combine? This course
places particular attention on the importance of
oral history in tracing memories of the past. We
will discuss how Africanist and feminist scholars
have used oral history to study the history of
underrepresented groups. We will also investigate
how methods of oral history and public history
can be used in reconstructing the local history of
our surrounding community (i.e., Yonkers,
Bronxville, Westchester County).
In/Migration: How
Immigrants and Migrants
Changed New York City
From a Small Trading Post to
an Emerging World
Metropolis
Rona Holub
Advanced—Spring
The question is: Who Created New York City?
The answer is: slaves, immigrants, migrants—its
people! This course traces the development of
New York City beginning with its first
inhabitants, the Lenape. It then follows its
growth from a small trading post at the tip of
Manhattan into a great commercial and cultural
center. With special emphasis on the factors that
push people out of one place and pull them into
another, what they find when they arrive in their
new environments, and how they struggle,
negotiate, and figure out how to survive
there—including how they exert power and how
they deal with power exerted over them—we will
explore the social, political, economic, and
cultural history of the city through a wide range
of readings that include primary source
documents and historical scholarship. We will
also experience the rhythms of this famous
metropolis on its streets, as we attempt to
understand the complex relationship between the
city’s social history and its built environment
through field trips (attendance required). The
class focuses on those groups of migrants and
immigrants who entered into and lived in the
city from the early 1600s to the 1920s. Our
historical explorations will provide an
understanding of how and why New York City
came to be what it is today and how, as a
dynamic organism, it continues to change.
Although the course covers a particular time
period, students may do conference projects that
cover years not specifically addressed in the
course. Open to juniors, seniors and graduate
students
International Studies
What kind of global society will evolve in the
21st century? Linked by worldwide organizations
and communications, yet divided by histories and
ethnic identities, people everywhere are involved
in the process of re-evaluation and selfdefinition. To help students better understand
the complex forces that will determine the shape
of the 21st century, Sarah Lawrence College
offers an interdisciplinary approach to
International Studies. Broadly defined,
International Studies include the dynamics of
interstate relations; the interplay of cultural,
ideological, economic, and religious factors; and
the multifaceted structures of Asian, African,
Latin American, Middle Eastern, and European
societies. A variety of programs abroad further
extends students’ curricular options in
International Studies. The experience of overseas
learning, valuable in itself, also encourages more
vivid cultural insight and integration of different
scholarly perspectives. The courses offered in
International Studies are listed throughout the
catalogue in disciplines as diverse as
Anthropology, Art History, Asian Studies,
Economics, Environmental Science, Geography,
History, Literature, Politics, and Religion.
Courses offered this year in International Studies
are listed below. Full descriptions of the courses
may be found under the appropriate disciplines.
Performing Culture (p. 6), Deanna Barenboim
Anthropology
Anthropology
THE CURRICULUM 55
Kart Art History
Bitter Victories, Sweet Defeats (p. 13), Kevin
Landdeck Asian Studies
Empire to Nation (p. 13), Kevin Landdeck
Asian Studies
Chinese Philosophy: Tao, Mind, and Human
Nature (p. 14), Ellen Neskar Asian Studies
First-Year Studies: Cultures and Arts of India
(p. 12), Sandra Robinson Asian Studies
Narratives (p. 14), Sandra Robinson Asian
Studies
Images of India: Text/Photo/Film (p. 14),
Sandra Robinson Asian Studies
Introduction to Economic Theory & Policy
(p. 28), Kim Christensen Economics
The Political Economy of Global and Local
Inequality: The Welfare State,
Developmental State, and Poverty
(p. 29), Jamee K. Moudud Economics
Money and Financial Crises: Theory,
History, and Policy (p. 30), Jamee K.
Moudud Economics
First-Year Studies: Political Economics of the
Environment (p. 27), Marilyn Power
Economics
Power Economics
Smith, Marx, and Keynes (p. 30), Marilyn
Power Economics
Questions of the Commons: Interrogating
Property (p. 31), Charles Zerner
Literature in Translation: “Because We
Know That Language Exists”: Roland
Barthes and French Literature and
Theory (1945-2011) (p. 69), Eric Leveau
French
Geography
Geography
France and Germany in the 20th
Century (p. 49), Jefferson Adams History
The Cold War In History and Film (p. 49),
Jefferson Adams History
Leisure and Danger (p. 52), Persis Charles
History
Dillard History
Imperial Russia: Power and Society (p. 49),
History
Woodard History
Revolution and Counterrevolution in
Central America (p. 52), Matilde
Zimmermann History
Zimmermann History
First-Year Studies: Utopia (p. 62), Una Chung
Literature
Art of Power: Literature, Media,
Theory (p. 70), Una Chung Literature
Experiment and Scandal: The 18th-Century
British Novel (p. 67), James Horowitz
Literature
(1789-2011) (p. 64), Alwin A. D. Jones
Literature
(1960-2012) (p. 73), Alwin A. D. Jones
Literature
56 Italian
“Untied” Kingdom: British Literature Since
1945 (p. 68), Fiona Wilson Literature
Imagining War (p. 64), Fredric Smoler
Literature
Cinema and Society in the Middle East and
North Africa (p. 51), Hamid Rezai Politics
First-Year Studies: The American Polity
(p. 95), Samuel Abrams Politics
Looking at Leadership and Decision Making
in the Political World (p. 96), Samuel
Abrams Politics
The Legitimacy of Modernity? Basic Texts in
Social Theory (p. 95), David Peritz Politics
Democracy and Diversity (p. 97), David
Peritz Politics
Collective Violence and Post-Conflict
Reconciliation (p. 97), Elke Zuern Politics
Rainbow Nation: Growing Up South African
in the Apartheid and Post-Apartheid
Eras (p. 100), Kim Ferguson Psychology
Lewis Psychology
Psychology
Ancient Israelite Epic (p. 108), Cameron C.
Afzal Religion
Jewish Mysticism From Antiquity to the
Present (p. 110), Glenn Dynner Religion
Jewish Life in Eastern Europe (p. 109),
Glenn Dynner Religion
Travel and Tourism: Economies of Pleasure,
Profit, and Power (p. 115), Shahnaz
Rouse Sociology
From Republicanism to Authoritarianism:
Re-Viewing the Spanish Civil
War (p. 116), Shahnaz Rouse Sociology
Italian
The study of Italian at Sarah Lawrence College
offers the rigors of language study and the joys of
immersion in one of the richest cultures of the
West. The course of study consists of classroom,
conference, and conversational components, all
enhanced by the flexible academic structure of
the College and proximity to New York. In the
classroom, students learn Italian grammar, syntax,
and phonology, using sources of everyday
communication and literary texts. In conference
sessions—especially helpful in customizing study
to each student’s level of fluency—students
pursue reading and writing related to topics that
compel them. And in conversation meetings,
students simply talk with native Italians about
anything of common interest. Individual
conference projects can be as creative and diverse
as is appropriate for each student and can include
interdisciplinary work in the Italian language. As
in other disciplines, the resources of New York
City enhance student experience: opera
performances at the Metropolitan Opera (after
preparatory readings from libretti), film series and
lectures, museums, and internships related to
conference work all offer ways to bring Italian to
life. And for bringing students to Italy, Sarah
Lawrence’s study program in Florence maintains
the small scale and individual attention that is
the mark of the College, providing an
exceptional opportunity to combine a yearlong
academic experience with the cultural immersion
of a homestay living arrangement.
The Italian Department periodically offers
courses in Literature in Translation as part of the
literature curriculum. Among these courses are
Images of Heaven and Hell, The Grand Tour: A
Literary Journey to Italy, and The Three Crowns:
Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio.
Beginning Italian
Tristana Rorandelli, Stefania Benzoni
Open—Year
This course is for students with no previous
knowledge of Italian. It aims at giving the
student a complete foundation in the Italian
language, with particular attention to the oral
and written communication of everyday use and
to all aspects of Italian culture. The course will be
conducted in Italian (after the first couple of
weeks) and will involve the study of all the basic
structures of the language—phonological,
grammatical, syntactical—with practice in
conversation, reading, composition, and
THE CURRICULUM 57
translation. In addition to the basic Italian
textbook and an array of supplementary computer
and Internet material, the course will include
texts from prose fiction, poetry, journalistic prose,
songs, films, recipe books, and the language of
publicity. Conference work (in group) is largely
based on reading and writing, and the use of the
language is encouraged through games and
creative composition. In addition to class and
group conference, the course also has a
conversation component in regular workshops
with the language assistants. Supplementary
activities such as opera and relevant exhibits in
New York City are made available when possible.
By the end of this yearlong course, students will
attain a basic competence in all aspects of the
language. This class will be taught by Ms. Rorandelli
in the fall and Ms. Benzoni in the spring.
Beginning Italian
Judith P. Serafini-Sauli
Open—Year
knowledge of Italian. It aims at giving the
student a complete foundation in the Italian
language, with particular attention to the oral
and written communication of everyday use and
to all aspects of Italian culture. The course will be
conducted in Italian (after the first couple of
weeks) and will involve the study of all the basic
structures of the language—phonological,
grammatical, syntactical—with practice in
conversation, reading, composition, and
translation. In addition to the basic Italian
textbook and an array of supplementary computer
and Internet material, the course will include
texts from prose fiction, poetry, journalistic prose,
songs, films, recipe books, and the language of
publicity. Conference work (in group) is largely
based on reading and writing, and the use of the
language is encouraged through games and
creative composition. In addition to class and
group conference, the course also has a
conversation component in regular workshops
with the language assistants. Supplementary
activities such as opera and relevant exhibits in
New York City are made available when possible.
By the end of this yearlong course, students will
attain a basic competence in all aspects of the
language.
Intermediate Italian: Modern
Italian Prose
Judith P. Serafini-Sauli
Intermediate—Year
This course will constitute an in-depth review of
Italian grammar and an introduction to modern
Italian literature and culture. For each aspect of
the grammar, we will use a text, short stories,
poems, songs, films, newspaper articles, plays, and
novels that will serve as a focus for aspects of
Italian culture, as well as for elements of the
language. Work on the Web is an integral part of
the course for grammar exercises and research, as
well as a source for audio, video, and film. Web
activities will include topics such as planning a
trip, writing a film review, creating a recipe, or
describing a sports event. Writing assignments
will include critical analysis of literary texts as
they evolve from the weekly reading assignments
of authors such as Calvino, Eco, Moravia, Pavese,
Fo, and many others. Conference work will focus
on an author, a genre, or a topic of particular
interest to the student. All students attend
conversation sections twice a week. Open to
students with one year of college Italian or the
equivalent.
Advanced Italian: Fascism,
World War II, and the
Resistance in 20th-Century
Italian Narrative and Cinema
Tristana Rorandelli
Advanced—Fall
This course is intended for advanced students of
Italian who want to better their comprehension
of, as well as their oral and written skills in, the
language. This will be achieved by reading
literary works and watching films in the original
language, producing written compositions, and
also through in-class discussion of the material.
The course examines the manner in which
crucial historical events that occurred during the
20th century—specifically the rise and fall of
fascism, World War II, and the Resistance—were
represented within Italian literature and cinema
of the time, as well as throughout the decades
following the end of the war (up to the 1970s).
Literary texts will include those authored by
Ignazio Silone, Vasco Pratolini, Italo Calvino,
Mario Carli, Renata Viganò, Carlo Cassola,
Beppe Fenoglio, Elio Vittorini, Alberto Moravia
and Carlo Mazzantini. Films will include fascist
propaganda and documentaries (from the Istituto
Luce’s archives), as well as films by Roberto
58 Japanese
Rossellini (his fascist-era war trilogy, as well as his
neo-realist films), Vittorio De Sica, Luigi
Comencini, Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, Bernardo
Bertolucci, Giuliano Montaldo, Ettore Scola,
Luchino Visconti, Liliana Cavani, Pier Paolo
Pasolini, and Federico Fellini. Conference topics
may include the study of a particular author,
literary text, or film that might be of interest to
the student. Conversation classes will be held
with the language assistants. Literary texts will be
available for purchase; critical material will be
available through e-reserve.
Japanese
Students may explore both Japanese language
and Japanese literature at Sarah Lawrence
College. In beginning and intermediate-level
language courses, students master the basic skills
in speaking, listening comprehension, reading
comprehension, and writing. By the end of the
first year, students should be able to use their
skills to express themselves in a variety of
situations and have reading comprehension of
the hiragana, katakana, and approximately 150
kanji (Chinese characters). In the second year,
students continue to broaden their knowledge of
Japanese grammar, vocabulary, and kanji.
Learning Japanese also involves developing an
awareness of expressions without direct English
equivalents, such as honorific and modest verbal
forms. Through intensive practice both in class
and with language assistants in smaller groups,
students are given the opportunity to actively
practice their skills and reinforce their
understanding in ways that relate to their own
experiences.
Courses offered in Japanese literature
include Modern Japanese Literature, Postwar
Japanese Literature, and Representations of
Ethnicity in Japanese Literature and Film. In
these courses, students are introduced to a variety
of Japanese literary texts in English translation.
From Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s plays of love
suicides, to the mysterious worlds created by
Izumi Kyoka, to Ooka Shohei's depiction of a
soldier's struggle to survive in the Philippines at
the end of the Pacific War, to the existential
fiction of Abe Kobo in the postwar period,
students explore different authors' writings in
terms of style as well as in relation to social and
historical contexts. In addition to literature,
courses include screenings of films (including
dramas, anime, and documentaries) that are
directly relevant to the literary texts and their
themes. Such themes include the representation
of social obligation (duty) versus emotional
desire, the alienation of the modern self,
Westernization, the experience of war and
memory, and the search for meaningful existence
in the postwar era.
Japanese I
Kuniko Katz
Open—Year
knowledge of Japanese. Students will develop
basic communicative skills in listening
comprehension and speaking, as well as skills in
reading and writing (katakana, hiragana, and basic
kanji) in Japanese. While class time and weekly
conference meetings will be devoted primarily to
language practice, an understanding of Japanese
grammar will also be emphasized as an important
basis for continued language learning. Class work
will be supplemented with weekly group
conferences with the instructor. Students will
also meet with a language assistant once a week,
in small groups, for tutorials, a mandatory
component of the course.
Japanese II
Miyabi Yamamoto
Intermediate—Year
This course is designed for students who have
completed Japanese I (formerly Beginning
Japanese) or its equivalent. Students will
continue to develop their speaking, listening,
reading, and writing skills, while expanding their
vocabulary and knowledge of grammar. At the
end of the course, students should be able to
handle simple communicative tasks and
situations effectively, understand simple daily
conversations, write short essays, read simple
essays, and discuss their content. Class work will
be supplemented with weekly group conferences
with the instructor. Students will also meet with
a language assistant once a week, in small groups,
for tutorials, a mandatory component of the
course.
Japanese III
Cheiko Naka
Advanced—Year
This course is designed for students who have
completed Japanese II or its equivalent. Students
will continue to develop Japanese proficiency in
aural and reading comprehension, in addition to
THE CURRICULUM 59
speaking and writing skills. Activities include
listening to and discussing television programs
and films; writing and performing dialogues and
speeches; reading essays, newspaper articles, and
short stories; and writing a diary, letters, and
short essays. Students will also meet weekly with
a language assistant for tutorials, a mandatory
component of the course.
Latin
Sarah Lawrence College’s Classics program
emphasizes the study of the languages and
literature of ancient Greece and Rome. Greek
and Latin constitute an essential component of
any humanistic education, enabling students to
examine the foundations of Western culture and
explore timeless questions concerning the nature
of the world, the place of human beings in it, and
the components of a life well lived. In studying
the literature, history, philosophy, and society of
the ancient Greeks and Romans, students come
to appreciate them for themselves, examine the
continuity between the ancient and modern
worlds, and, perhaps, discover “a place to
stand”—an objective vantage point for assessing
modern culture.
In their first year of study, students acquire
proficiency in vocabulary, grammar and syntax,
with the aim of reading accurately and with
increasing insight. Selected passages of ancient
works are read in the original languages almost
immediately. Intermediate and advanced courses
develop students’ critical and analytical abilities
while exploring ancient works in their literary,
historical, and cultural context. Conference
projects provide opportunities for specialized
work in areas of interest in classical antiquity.
Recent conference projects include close readings
of Homer’s Iliad, Aristophanes’ Clouds, Pindar’s
Odes, Plato’s Republic, Cicero’s de Amicitia, the
poetry of Catullus, and Virgil’s Aeneid, as well as
studies of modern theories of myth, Nietzsche’s
Birth of Tragedy in connection with the tragedies
of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, the social
implications of Roman domestic architecture,
and a comparison of Euripides’ Hippolytus with
Racine’s Phèdre.
Greek and Latin will be especially beneficial
for students interested in related disciplines,
including religion, philosophy, art history,
archaeology, history, political science, English,
comparative literature, and medieval studies, as
well as education, law, medicine, and business.
Greek and Latin can also prove valuable to all
those who wish to enrich their imagination in
the creative pursuits of writing, dance, music,
visual arts, and acting.
Beginning Latin
Samuel B. Seigle
Open—Year
This course will introduce the student, as quickly
as possible, to the reading of classical Latin
literature. Selections by the poet Ovid will be
read in the second semester.
Intermediate Latin
Emily Katz Anhalt
Intermediate—Fall
This course will explore the literature, history,
and politics of the Late Roman Republic, with
particular emphasis on the tumultuous years from
the death of Sulla (78 BCE) to the death of
Caesar (44 BCE). Closely examining works of
Catullus, Lucretius, Cicero, Caesar, and Sallust,
we will consider how the violent struggle for
political power resulted in the demise of
republican government and the centralization of
authority in the hands of one individual. Class
discussions and writing assignments will assess
the relationship between intellectual views and
political action during this critical moment in
Western history. The course will be taught in
conjunction with Literature: The Age of Caesar.
Students will attend seminar meetings and, in
addition, develop and refine their reading
comprehension skills by reading selections of the
seminar texts in Latin in their conference work.
Reading assignments will be read in their entirety
in English. Additional conference hours and
grammar review will be included as
necessary.This course will be taught in
conjunction with Literature: The Age of Caesar.
Students will attend seminar meetings and, in
addition, develop and refine their reading
comprehension skills by reading selections of the
seminar texts in Latin in their conference work.
Reading assignments will be read in their entirety
in English. Additional conference hours and
grammar review will be included, as necessary.
Advanced Latin
Emily Katz Anhalt
Advanced—Fall
60 Latin American and Latino/a Studies
conjunction with Literature in Translation: The
Age of Caesar. Students will attend seminar
meetings and, in addition, develop and refine
their reading comprehension skills by reading
selections of the seminar texts in Latin for their
conference work. Reading assignments will be
read in their entirety in English. Additional
conference hours and grammar review will be
included, as necessary.
resistance in the area also require broad inquiry
into the often turbulent and violent realities of
political economic forces.
As this program is concerned with a broad
set of border crossings, faculty in LALS are also
committed to expanding educational experiences
beyond Sarah Lawrence College. Accordingly,
students are encouraged to study abroad through
the Sarah Lawrence College in Cuba program,
Sarah Lawrence-sponsored trips to Nicaragua and
the US-Mexico border, or other programs in
Latin America. Students will also have
opportunities to explore the borderlands closer to
Sarah Lawrence College, including Latino
communities in New York City and Westchester
County.
Another course offered this year in Latin is listed
below. A full description of the course may be
found under the appropriate discipline.
Cinema and Society (p. 35), Gilberto Perez
Film History
Revolution and Counterrevolution in
Central America (p. 52), Matilde
Zimmermann History
Zimmermann History
Intermediate Spanish III: “Calles y Plaza
Antigua”: From the Country to the City
in Hispanic Literature and
Film (p. 117), Isabel de Sena Literature
Ethnomusicology of the Americas: Music,
Language, and Identity (p. 77), Jonathan
King Music
Latino Crossings (p. 114), Patrisia Macías
Sociology
Borges (p. 73), Maria Negroni Spanish
The Age of Caesar (p. 67), Emily Katz Anhalt
Greek
Latin American and
Latino/a Studies
This program in Latin American and Latino/a
Studies (LALS) is devoted to the
interdisciplinary investigation of Latin
American, Caribbean, and Latino cultures,
politics, and histories. Through a variety of
disciplines, students will have opportunities to
explore the vibrant cultural life of Latin
American and Caribbean countries, as well as the
experiences of the Latino communities in the
United States. Course offerings will include
language, literature, dance, film, music, art, and
other cultural expressions as a way to familiarize
the students with a world that is rich in
imagination, powerful in social impact, and
defiant of the stereotypes usually imposed upon
it. Students will also interrogate the complex
political dynamics involved in such processes as
(post)colonialism, migration, revolution, social
movements, citizenship, and the cultural politics
of race, gender, sexuality, and class. The histories
of conquest, colonialism, development, and
Courses offered this year in Latin American and
Latino/a Studies are listed below. Full
descriptions of the courses may be found under
the appropriate disciplines.
THE CURRICULUM 61
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
and Transgender Studies
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies
is an interdisciplinary field that engages questions
extending across a number of areas of study.
Sarah Lawrence College offers students the
opportunity to explore a range of theories and
issues concerning gender and sexuality across
cultures, categories, and historical periods. This
can be accomplished through seminar course
work and discussion and/or individual conference
research.
destroying the very groups they are working to
openly join. In this class, we will use these
contradictions as a framework for studying the
complex social roles that queers have occupied
and the complex social worlds they have created
at different times and places—shaped by different
understandings of gender, race, class, ethnicity,
and nationality—since the emergence of modern
homosexual identities. We will also consider the
implications of these contradictions for current
LGBT political battles. Our sources will include
histories, sociological and anthropological
studies, the writings of scientists and political
activists, legal cases, novels, and films.
Perverts in Groups: The
Social Life of Homosexuals
Queer Theory: A History
Julie Abraham
Open—Fall
Contradictory assumptions about the relation of
homosexuals to groups have dominated accounts
of modern LGBT life. In Western Europe and the
United States from the late-19th century
onwards, queers have been presented as
profoundly isolated persons—burdened by the
conviction that they are the only ones ever to
have had such feelings when they first realize
their deviant desires and are immediately
separated by those desires from the families and
cultures into which they were born. Yet, at the
same time, these isolated individuals have been
seen as inseparable from a worldwide network. By
means of mysterious signs decipherable only by
other group members, homosexuals were
supposed to instantly recognize each other and to
be committed, above all, to protecting their
fellows and advancing their collective interests.
Homosexuals were, then, denounced as persons
who did not contribute to society; homosexuality
was presented as, by definition, the hedonistic
choice of reckless, self-indulgent individualism
over sober, social good. Nevertheless, all
homosexuals were implicated in a nefarious
conspiracy, stealthily working through their web
of connections to one another to take over the
world—or at least whichever part of the world
the commentator wished to defend: the political
establishment of the United States or its art,
theatre, or film industries, for example. Recent
manifestations of these contradictory assumptions
can be seen in the battles that have raged since
the 1970s, when queers began seeking public
recognition of their lives within existing social
institutions from the military to marriage. LGBT
persons have been attacked as threats (whether
to unit cohesion or to the family), intent on
Julie Abraham
Queer Theory emerged in the United States, in
tandem with Queer Nation, at the beginning of
the 1990s as the intellectual framework for a new
round in ongoing contests over understandings of
sexuality and gender in Western culture. “Queer”
was presented as a radical break with
homosexual, as well as heterosexual, pasts. Queer
theorists and activists hoped to reconstruct
lesbian and gay politics, intellectual life, and
culture; renegotiate differences of gender, race,
and class among lesbians and gay men; and
establish new ways of thinking about sexuality,
new understandings of sexual dissidence, and new
relations among sexual dissidents. Nevertheless,
Queer Theory had complex sources in the
intellectual and political work that had gone
before. And it has had, predictably, unpredictable
effects on current intellectual and political
projects. This class will make the history of
Queer Theory the basis for an intensive study of
contemporary intellectual and political work on
sexuality and gender. We will also be addressing
the fundamental questions raised by the career of
Queer Theory, about the relations between
political movements and intellectual movements,
the politics of intellectual life, and the politics of
the academy in the United States in particular, in
this new millenium. (For students with a
background in women’s, gender, or LGBT
studies.)
Courses offered this year in Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual, and Transgender Studies are listed
below. Full descriptions of the courses may be
found under the appropriate disciplines.
62 Literature
The Greeks and their Neighbors: The
Hellenization of the Mediterranean
From the Homeric Age to
Augustus (p. 10), David Castriota Art
History
Performance Art (p. 10), Judith Rodenbeck
Art History
Lewis Psychology
First-Year Studies: Outside Cinema:
Contemporary Approaches to Video Art
Production (p. 132), Robin Starbuck
Visual Arts
Literature
Literature at Sarah Lawrence College is a
disciplined and cross-disciplinary study founded
on the belief that reflective attention to a variety
of fictions can lead to deeper insight into the
truths of self and society. Among the goals of the
discipline: to strengthen critical skills; widen
cultural literacy; refine writing, discussion,
speaking, and research skills; and open students
to engagement with the concerns of other
disciplines—including history, philosophy,
political science, psychology, religion, and
anthropology—as they emerge within literature’s
rich discourse.
Curricular offerings include core American
and European texts but range widely through
world literature—African, Asian, and Latin
American. Courses may be broadly organized
around a historical period (for example, the
Middle Ages or the 17th century), around a
genre (comedy, autobiography, the novel), or may
combine historical and generic concerns (ancient
Greek theater, 20th-century American poetry).
Some courses are devoted to the study of a single
author, such as Chaucer or Virginia Woolf, or to
a particular thematic or critical goal: examining
ideas of culture since the Enlightenment,
exploring postcolonial revisions to classics of the
Western canon, or developing an inclusive
approach to American literature that reads
African American and Native American texts
along with more traditional works. Throughout
the literature curriculum, meeting with faculty
members in regularly scheduled conferences
allows students to individualize their course work,
to combine it where appropriate with other
disciplines, and to write with the deep
understanding that can only result from intense,
guided study.
First-Year Studies: Self/Life/
Writing: Studies in
Autobiography
Bella Brodzki
FYS
How does a self—the most intimate and elusive
of concepts—become a text? What is the
relationship between living a life and writing
about it? What assumptions might authors and
readers not share about the ways experience is
endowed with symbolic value? For modernists
and postmodernists particularly obsessed by the
problems of identity and self-expression, the
study of autobiography is a fascinating enterprise.
This course is intended to introduce students to
the autobiographical mode in literature. We will
examine a rich variety of “life stories,” including
memoirs, letters, and diaries that span from
medieval times through the 21st century. Special
attention will be paid to the following patterns
and themes: the complex interplay between
“truth” and “fiction,” sincerity and artifice,
memory and representation; the nature of
confessional writing; the use of autobiography as
cultural document; and the role of gender in both
the writing and reading of autobiographies.
Among the authors to be included are St.
Augustine, Kempe, Rousseau, Franklin, Douglass,
Brent, Stein, Kafka, Nabokov, Wright, de
Beauvoir, Sartre, Hurston, and Kingston.
Students will submit one piece of
autobiographical writing at the beginning of the
course and will write short, frequent papers on
the readings throughout the year.
First-Year Studies: Utopia
Una Chung
FYS
“Utopia has always been a political issue, an
unusual destiny for a literary form”—Fredric
Jameson
This course explores the idea of utopia in
literature, beginning with St. Thomas More’s
Utopia and moving through diverse works of
science fiction, speculative fiction, and
postcolonial literature. We will contextualize the
notion of “utopia” within the tradition of Marxist
critical theory, as well as investigate issues of
race, gender, and sexuality as they have been
articulated in recent decades. The primary focus
THE CURRICULUM 63
of the course will be on 20th-century literature
and the politics of the contemporary
age—globalization, digital technologies, and
environmental crisis. Literature, philosophy, and
politics will each play a significant role in
coursework.
First-Year Studies: New
Literature From Europe
Eduardo Lago
FYS
Perhaps more than anything else, literature
defines the identity of cultures and nations. At
the same time, few cultural manifestations help
to bring together peoples and cultures as
powerfully as literature, which gives a special
significance to the fact that only three percent of
the books published in the United States are
translations. In a world where technology has
made borders obsolete in many ways, the lack of
curiosity for the great literatures of the world is
an alarming symptom of North America´s
cultural isolation. Starting with Latin America,
all continents have an astonishing wealth of
literatures. Europe is just one of them. The seat of
ancient civilizations and empires that conquered
the rest of the world, the Europe of today is
dramatically different from what it once was.
After two world wars and the collapse of
formidable utopias, contemporary European
reality is extraordinarily elusive and complex.
Forty languages are spoken in almost as many
European countries nowadays, each of them
representing a vibrant body of literature. In this
course, we will study the literary manifestations
of the new Europe, paying special attention to
her youngest authors. In our aproach, we will
focus on sociopolitical displacements such as the
reshaping of the European identities, resulting
from the influx of immigrants from all over the
world, and the conflicts derived from the dream
of a unity that coexists with the birth of a whole
set of youthful countries that transcend the
notion of nationality—ethnically, culturally, and
linguistically.
First-Year Studies:
Declarations of
Independence: American
Literary Masterworks,
American Art
Nicolaus Mills
FYS
On July 4, 1845, Henry Thoreau began spending
his days and nights at Walden Pond. His
declaration of independence from the America in
which he was living epitomizes a tradition that
goes to the heart of American literature. Time
and again, America’s best writers have adapted
the values of the American Revolution to their
own times. In rebelling against religious
orthodoxy, slavery, a market economy, the
relegation of women to second-class citizens—to
name just a few of their targets—America’s prose
writers have produced a tradition at odds with
the country but consistent with the spirit of the
Founding Fathers. Declarations of Independence
will focus on this tradition in terms of a series of
American literary masterworks that feature the
writing of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry
Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman
Melville, Frederick Douglass, Mark Twain, Henry
James, Edith Wharton, Willa Cather, Ernest
Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and J.D. Salinger.
The course will look at the parallels between
America’s writers and America’s painters from
the mid-19th to the mid-20th century by closely
following the contours of American history.
Students will begin their conference work putting
the classic American novel in perspective by
looking at classic, 19th-century British fiction.
First-Year Studies:
Romanticism and Love
Fiona Wilson
FYS
For Percy Shelley, passionate love is the bond
that connects us “with every thing which exists”;
for Jane Austen, on the other hand, a heroine
may lose her heart but not her self-control. It is
generally known that Romanticism assigned high
value to the emotion of love, but “love” has
always been understood in many different ways.
This course explores the multiple meanings of
love as embodied in the literature of the
Romantic period (1780-1830) and its long 19thcentury afterglow. To what extent did Romantic
attitudes toward desire reflect a reaction against
Enlightenment rationality? How did the rise of
the so-called companionate marriage change
64 Literature
family life? Did the idealization of free love
presage a new sexual politics—or simply reinforce
the existing social order? Why did Romantic love
so often emphasize cruelty and pain and
impossible longing? We read poetry, fiction,
drama, and polemical prose as a means of
approaching such questions and of expanding our
conversation, with works by Goethe, Blake,
Coleridge, Austen, Keats, Byron, the Shelleys,
Dickens, Brontë, Wilde, Stoppard, and others.
African American Literature
Survey (1789-2011)
Alwin A. D. Jones
This yearlong lecture will examine pivotal
moments and texts in the history of African
American letters, ranging from Olaudah
Equiano’s Interesting Narrative (1789) to Saul
Williams’s The Dead Emcee Scrolls (2006).
Working our way through a variety of genres
(elegy, drama, the captivity narrative, the slave
narrative, the essay, public oratory, speeches,
fiction, poetry, drama, polemical prose,
autobiography, music, and film), we will explore a
number of matters pertinent to literary studies in
general, as well as those with specific
implications for African American writing and
writers. We will consider the circumstances of
textual production and reception, ideas and
ideologies of literary history and culture,
aesthetics, authorship, and audience. We will
focus our attention immediately on the
emergence of African American writing under
the regime of chattel slavery and the questions it
poses about “race,” “authorship,” “subjectivity,”
“self-mastery,” and “freedom.” We will consider
the material and social conditions under which
our selected texts were edited, published,
marketed, and “authenticated.” Our ultimate aim
is to situate our selections within the broadest
possible contexts of their time and ours. We will
also focus on the changing notions of racial
identification in the 20th and 21st centuries,
addressing how the wide array of genres shape
and are shaped by pivotal cultural and political
movements such as the “New Negro,” the
Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights, Black Arts/
Black Power, and Womanism, as well as current
debates over matters such as hip hop, samesexuality, incarceration, and “premature death.”
Also, we will examine how the texts deal with
recent questions about Black identities and
subjectivities that get funneled through notions
of a postrace and/or postethnic (international)
society. Some authors whom we might study
include, but are not limited to, Thomas Jefferson,
David Walker, Frederick Douglass, Harriet
Wilson, Anna Julia Cooper, Charles Chesnutt,
Booker T. Washington, Jean Toomer, W.E.B. Du
Bois, Nella Larsen, Langston Hughes, Zora Neal
Hurston, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, James
Baldwin, Lorraine Hansberry, Margaret Walker,
Amiri Baraka, Huey Newton, Sonya Sanchez,
Carolyn Rodgers, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison,
and Audre Lorde.
Imagining War
Fredric Smoler
War is one of the great themes in European
literature. The greatest works of Greco-Roman
antiquity are meditations on war; and as an
organizing metaphor, war pervades our attempts
to represent politics, economics, and sexuality.
Efforts to comprehend war were the genesis of the
disciplines of history and political science; and
the disaster of the Peloponnesian War forms the
critical, if concealed, background to the first
great works of Western philosophy. We shall
begin the first semester with readings from the
Iliad, Thucydides, Plato, and Augustine. We shall
go on to study the Aeneid, Machiavelli,
Shakespeare’s Henriad (Richard II, Henry IV Part
1 and Part 2, Henry V), and Hobbes. In the
second semester, we shall look at the origins of
political economy, among other things a
discipline that sought to transcend the military
metaphor; at Marxism, which remilitarized
political economy; at Byron’s mock epic, Don
Juan; and at two 19th-century novelists,
Stendhal and Tolstoy—one of whom concerned
himself with war directly; the other used it as an
organizing metaphor for erotic and economic life.
We will conclude with a look at some 20thcentury literary, artistic, historical, and critical
attempts to represent war with an allegedly
unprecedented accuracy. This is an
interdisciplinary course. Group conferences will
usually be committed to works of modern
scholarship, often by historians and social
scientists. Both semesters’ reading lists are subject
to revision.
Who’s Afraid of James Joyce?
Karen R. Lawrence
Open, Lecture, Sophomore and above—Fall
Joyce once boasted, “I’ve put in so many enigmas
and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy
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for centuries arguing over what I meant, and
that’s the only way of ensuring one's
immortality.” With parallels to Hamlet, the Bible,
and Homer’s Odyssey in his own Ulysses, Joyce
attempts to rival the epic ambitions of the
greatest writers in the Western tradition. No
wonder that he is considered an icon of difficulty,
arguably the greatest writer of the 20th century,
an Irish writer of lasting international influence.
In this course, we will confront Joyce’s reputation
and social context, as well as his rich
complexity—from the deceptively simple
sentences of his short stories in Dubliners, to the
evolving narrative of Stephen Hero in A Portrait
of the Artist as a Young Man, to his experiment in
dramatic form in Exiles, to the odyssey of
character and language in Ulysses, to the
linguistic invention of a short section of
Finnegans Wake: “I cannot express myself in
English without enclosing myself in a tradition.
I’m at the end of English.” In this course, we will
tackle Joyce’s comic, epic, modernist,
postmodernist, and semi- and postcolonial
fictional experiments.
Empire of Letters: Mapping
the Arts and the World in the
Age of Johnson
James Horowitz
Although they were Victorian critics who dubbed
the late 18th century the “Age of Johnson,”
contemporaries of Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
would have recognized the justice of the term.
Aside from compiling the first English dictionary
of note, Johnson was a gifted and hugely
influential critic, poet, political commentator,
biographer, and novelist, as well as a legendarily
pithy conversationalist and a master of the
English sentence. His overbearing but strangely
lovable personality was preserved for posterity by
his friend and disciple James Boswell, who in
1791 published the greatest of all literary
biographies, The Life of Johnson, which records
(among much else) Johnson’s near-blindness,
probable Tourette’s Syndrome, and selfless love of
cats. Now, three years after the tercentenary of
his birth and the flood of books commemorating
it, Johnson remains perhaps the most familiar
model of a vigorously independent public
intellectual, even with (or perhaps because of)
his many eccentricities and contradictions (his
hatred of both slavery and the American
Revolution, for instance). The age of Johnson,
moreover, remains uniquely pertinent to students
not only of cultural history but also of
government and international relations, as it was
his era (and, in part, his literary circle) that
produced the contesting theories of empire and of
cosmopolitanism, of trade and of liberty, with
which we are still reckoning as global citizens.
This course will reappraise Johnson’s legacy but
will do so within a broad cultural survey of the
Anglophone world across the second half of the
18th century. In addition to Johnson, Boswell,
and other titans of Enlightenment prose—such as
Edward Gibbon, David Hume, and Adam
Smith—we will sample international writing on
imperialism and the slave trade (Olaudah
Equiano, the abolitionist poets), the French and
American revolutions (Thomas Paine, Edmund
Burke), and women’s rights (the bluestocking
circle, Mary Wollstonecraft). We will read some
novels (Horace Walpole, Oliver Goldsmith),
dramas (Richard Brinsley Sheridan), oriental
tales (William Beckford), and personal writing
(Fanny Burney’s diary, Boswell’s shockingly
candid London Journal), as well as pay attention
to the emerging literature of Scotland and
Ireland (James Macpherson, Maria Edgeworth),
visual art (Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas
Rowlandson), and the poetic innovations that
laid the groundwork for Romanticism (Thomas
Gray, William Collins, George Crabbe). We will
also glance at Johnson’s reception and influence
over the centuries; for instance, in the work of
Virginia Woolf.
Literature in Translation:
Fantastic Gallery: 20thCentury Latin American
Short Fiction
Maria Negroni
Gothic stories, usually linked in people’s
imagination to B-movies and best sellers of all
times (Dracula, The Phantom of the Opera, The
Golem, Frankenstein, Edgar A. Poe’s short stories,
Carmilla, The Castle of Otranto, 20,000 Leagues
under the Sea, The Portrait of Dorian Gray,
Rapaccini’s Daughter, or Aliens) are all, despite
their intense individuality, unending variations
on a single subject—mainly the relation between
sexuality (the body, the material), art, and Death.
Accordingly, the scenarios where these Gothic
sagas take place are solitary and archaic places:
castles, rundown mansions, and the like. As if a
sublime geography and scenery, subdued by awe
and despair, were crucial for the display of
emotions, that is for the apparition of the
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unconscious, the hidden otherness of “evil.”
Gothic “monsters,” on the other hand, constitute
a strange gallery of unwanted and/or orphaned
characters—usually artists fixated on desire and
sexual fears. In this course, we will explore,
through literary texts and films, both the North
American and European “classics.” Then, we will
concentrate on the wonderful contributions of
Latin American writers to the Gothic “canon,”
while drawing a possible portrait of the artist/poet
as a deprived child who obssessively yearns for
the impossible and, in so doing, becomes an
intruder into the sexual politics of the symbolic.
In other words, we will use Gothic literature to
discuss aesthetics—mainly, the relation between
beauty and mourning, loss and desire, death and
forbidden drives. Mandatory film screenings will
be part of this course.
Epic: From Gilgamesh to
Paradise Lost
William Shullenberger
The epic is a monumental literary form that is an
index to the depth and richness of a culture and
the ultimate test of a writer’s creative power.
Encyclopedic in its inclusiveness, epic reflects a
culture’s origins and projects its destiny, giving
definitive form to its vital mythology and
problematically asserting and questioning its
formative values. This course will study the
emergence and development of the epic genre
from its archaic and oral origins through the
English Renaissance. Our study will be organized
around several central purposes. First, we will
study the major structural, stylistic, and thematic
features of each epic. Second, we will consider
the cultural significance of the epic as the
collective or heroic memory of a people. Third,
we will examine how each poet or narrator
implicates his own work of recording and
narrating into the defining heroic actions and the
cultural and historical themes of the text. Fourth,
we will think about how the epic form changes
shape under changing cultural and historical
circumstances and measure how the influence of
epic tradition becomes a resource for literary and
cultural power. Texts for the lecture: Homer’s The
Odyssey, Vergil’s The Aeneid, Dante’s The Inferno,
Milton’s Paradise Lost; for group conferences:
Gilgamesh, major narrative portions of Hebrew
and Christian scripture.
Imagining
Modernity: Literature and
Society Since Romanticism
Daniel Kaiser
Open—Year
Modernity can be variously conceived (we now
speak of Shakespeare’s period as the “early
modern”); but for the purposes of this course, we
will conceive of it beginning with
Romanticism—when crucial concepts such as
“literature” and “culture” took on roughly the
meanings they still have for us today. We will
study works that examine the questions of literary
form, style, and genre and the social and political
life from which these works emerge. It is hoped
that the approach taken in this course will make
it possible to explore relationships between
literary forms of the period that are usually
studied separately; for example, between lyric
poetry and the novel, between 19th-century
realistic fiction and modernist experimental
fiction, and between imaginative or “creative”
writing and theoretical and critical texts. Writers
to be read include Blake, Emily Bronte, Dickens,
Dostoevsky, Melville, Marx, Nietzsche, Wilde,
Conrad, Yeats, Mann, Brecht, Benjamin,
Adorno, Faulkner, Mailer, Thomas Pynchon, and
Toni Morriison.
English: History of a
Language
Ann Lauinger
Open—Year
What happened to English between Beowulf and
Virginia Woolf? What’s happening to it now?
The first semester of this course introduces
students to some basic concepts in linguistics,
tracing the evolution of pronunciation,
vocabulary, and grammar from Old English
(Anglo-Saxon), through the Middle English of
Chaucer and the Early Modern English of
Shakespeare and the 18th century, to an English
that we recognize—for all its variety—as our
own. Second semester turns from the history of
English and the study of language change over
time to the varieties of contemporary English and
a sociolinguistic approach to the ways language
differs from one community of speakers to
another. Among the topics for second semester
are: pidgins and creoles, American Sign
Language, language and gender, and African
American English (Ebonics). This course is
intended for anyone who loves language and
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literature; students may choose their conference
work from a range of topics in either language or
linguistics or both.
The Age of Caesar
Emily Katz Anhalt
Open—Fall
translation. At the discretion of the instructor,
qualified students may enroll in the course as
Intermediate or Advanced Latin and read selected
texts in the original Latin as part of their conference
work.
Romanticism to Modernism
in Poetry
Neil Arditi
Open—Fall
In the wake of the French Revolution,
Wordsworth and Coleridge invented a new kind
of autobiographical poem that largely
internalized the myths that they inherited. We
will trace the impact of their innovation on a
sequence of poets from the second generation of
Romantics to modernists such as T. S. Eliot, who
loudly rejected their Romantic legacy. In doing
so, we will attempt to make some sense (at least
in relation to poetic tradition) of the terms
“Romanticism” and “modernism.” But our most
important goal will be to appreciate each
poet’s—indeed, each poem’s—unique
contribution to the language. Our understanding
of literary influence and historical trends will
emerge from our close, imaginative reading of
texts. Authors will include: Blake, Wordsworth,
Coleridge, P. B. Shelley, Keats, Whitman,
Dickinson, Hardy, Yeats, and T. S. Eliot, among
others.
Experiment and Scandal: The
18th-Century British Novel
James Horowitz
Open—Fall
The 18th century introduced the long, realist
prose fictions that we now call novels. As often
with emergent literary forms, the novel arrived
with an unsavory reputation; and its early
practitioners labored, usually unsuccessfully, to
distinguish their work from ephemeral printed
news, escapist prose romances, and pornography.
It was not until the defining achievement of
authors such as Jane Austen and Sir Walter
Scott, at the beginning of the next century, that
the novel earned its status as polite and
sometimes serious entertainment. This course
looks at the difficult growth of the novel from its
miscellaneous origins in the 17th century to the
controversial experiments of the early 1700s and
the eclectic masterpieces of Daniel Defoe,
Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, Laurence
Sterne, and Austen. Other authors may include
Aphra Behn, Eliza Haywood, John Cleland,
Tobias Smollett, Matthew Lewis, Fanny Burney,
and Maria Edgeworth. Everything we read will
be arresting and restlessly experimental; much of
it will also be bawdy, transgressive, and
outrageously funny. Topics of conversation will
include the rise of female authorship, the
emergence of Gothic and courtship fiction, the
relationship between the novel and other literary
genres (lyric and epic poetry, life writing,
allegory), novelists’ responses to topical
controversies (slavery, the age of Revolution),
and the meaning of realism. We shall also
consider several films adapted from 18th-century
fiction, perhaps including Tony Richardson’s
1963 Tom Jones and Michael Winterbottom’s
2006 Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story.
The Poetry of Earth:
Imagination and
Environment in English
Renaissance Poetry
Open—Fall
One of John Keats’s sonnets begins, “The poetry
of earth is never dead.” This course will step back
from Keats to the writing of several of his great
predecessors in the English Renaissance to reflect
on how imagination shapes environment and
environment shapes imagination in the early
modern period. The late 16th and 17th centuries
were a time of transition between traditional
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feudal society with its hierarchical ideas of order,
of humanity, and of nature and emerging
modernity with its secularizing humanism, its
centralization of political and economic power,
its development of increasingly dense and
complex urban centers, and its commitments to
the study and potential mastery of nature through
empirical science. With early modernity come all
the challenges to natural environment and its
resources with which we are so familiar and by
which we are so challenged: urban sprawl and
environmental degradation, privatization of land,
air and water pollution, deforestation and
exhaustion of other resources, and diminishment
of local species populations. We will study how
several major writers register and respond to
these tensions and these changes in what we
might call their environmental vision, their
imagination of nature: as wilderness, the “other”
to civilization and its values, as chaos and threat,
as liminal space of transformation, as pastoral
retreat, as cultivatable human habitation and
home. Class reading will include major works of
Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser, John Milton,
Andrew Marvell, and Margaret Cavendish.
Conference work may entail more extended work
in any of these writers or literary modes or other
authors in the period who are engaged in
theorizing and imagining nature and may include
study in history, philosophy, geography, politics,
or theory.
Conscience of the Nations:
Classics of African Literature
Open—Fall
One way to think of literature is as the
conscience of a people, reflecting on their
origins, their values, their losses, and their
possibilities. This course will study major
representative texts in which sub-Saharan
African writers have taken up the challenge of
cultural formation and criticism. Part of what
gives the best writing of modern Africa its
aesthetic power is the political urgency of its task:
the past still bears on the present, the future is
yet to be written, and what writers have to say
matters enough for their work to be considered
dangerous. Political issues and aesthetic issues are
thus inseparable in their work. Creative tensions
in the writing between indigenous languages and
European languages, between traditional forms of
orature and storytelling and self-consciously
“literary” forms, register all the pressures and
conflicts of late colonial and postcolonial history.
To discern the traditionalist sources of modern
African writing, we will first read examples from
epic, folk tales, and other forms of orature. Major
fiction will be selected from the work of Tutuola,
Achebe, Beti, Sembene, Ba, Head, Ngugi, La
Guma, Dangaremgba, and Sarowiwa; drama from
the work of Soyinka and Aidoo; poetry from the
work of Senghor, Rabearivelo, Okigbo, Okot
p’Bitek, Brutus, Mapanje and others. Conference
work may entail more extended work in any of
these writers or literary modes or in other major
African or African American writers and
movements, may be developed around a major
theme or topic, and can include background
or theory.
“Untied” Kingdom: British
Literature Since 1945
Fiona Wilson
Open—Fall
British literature is often described in terms of
tradition and continuity. This course takes a very
different point of view and, looking at British
writing since 1945, explores a literary culture
marked by disruption, change, and remarkable
variety. Through fiction, poetry, and drama
written since 1945, we examine how the alleged
consensus of the postwar period gradually gave
way to challenging and provocative questions
about the nature of Britishness itself. We consider
the cultural effects of the dismantling of the
once-powerful British empire and of Cold War
politics, the Women’s Movement, the Troubles in
Northern Ireland, Thatcherism, the rise of
Scottish and Welsh nationalism, and the
emergence of the modern, multicultural United
Kingdom. Why are Sam Selvon’s Caribbean
Londoners so lonely? What is Belfast confetti?
What did it take to be a “top girl” in the 1980s?
When did North Britain become devolved
Scotland? These and other questions direct our
conversation—with works by George Orwell,
Philip Larkin, Jean Rhys, Jeanette Winterson,
Seamus Heaney, Caryl Churchill, Tom Stoppard,
Alisdair Gray, Hanif Kureishi, Zadie Smith, Ian
McEwan, and others.
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Literature in Translation:
“Because We Know That
Language Exists”: Roland
Barthes and French
Literature and Theory
(1945-2011)
Eric Leveau
Open—Spring
Roland Barthes was at the crossroads of all the
various literary and theoretical currents that
defined post-World War II France. His work thus
constitutes a wonderful introduction to the
passionate debates that defined this period and
still have repercutions today. We will put some of
Barthes’ major works in the context of their
theoretical influences (Marxism, linguistics) but
will also revisit some literary masterpieces with
which he was in constant dialogue. Also, from
Writing Degree Zero (1953) to A Lover’s Discourse:
Fragments (1977) and the posthumous Mourning
Diary (2009), we’ll try to understand the
evolution of Barthes’ writing, which progressively
shows a preoccupation with language shared by
poets and writers. We’ll thus try to assess Barthes’
position in today’s poststructuralist and
postmodern France. Course taught in English, with
the possibility of conducting conferences in French or
English.
Slavery: A Literary History
Open—Spring
This course aims to provide a long view of
literary representations and responses to slavery
and the slave trade in the Americas from William
Shakespeare to Toni Morrison and Edward P.
Jones. Expressing the conflicted public
conscience—and perhaps the collective
unconscious—of a nation, literature registers
vividly the human costs (and profits) and
dehumanizing consequences of a social practice
whose legacy still haunts and implicates us. We
will study some of the major texts that stage the
central crises in human relations, social
institutions, and human identity provoked by
slavery, considering in particular how these texts
represent the perverse dynamics and
identifications of the master-slave relationship;
the systematic assaults on identity and
community developed and practiced in slaveowning cultures; modes of resistance, survival,
and subversion cultivated by slave communities
and individuals to preserve their humanity and
reclaim their liberty; and retrospective
constructions of and meditations on slavery and
its historical consequences. Since literary
structure and style are not only representational
but also a means of subversion, resistance, and
reclamation, we will do a lot of close reading.
Readings will be drawn from the works of
William Shakespeare, Aime Cesaire, Aphra
Behn, Olaudah Equiano, Mary Prince, Frederick
Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Mark Twain,
Charles Chesnutt, William Faulkner, Toni
Morrison, and Edward P. Jones. Conference work
may entail more extended work in any of these
writers or literary modes or in other writers
engaged in the representation and interrogation
of slavery, may be developed around a major
theme or topic, and may include background
or theory.
Green Romanticism
Fiona Wilson
Open—Spring
The British Romantic movement, it has been
said, produced the first “full-fledged ecological
writers in the Western literary tradition.” To
make this claim, however, is to provoke a host of
volatile questions. What exactly did Romantics
mean by “nature”? What were the aesthetic,
scientific, and political implications of so-called
Green Romanticism? Most provocatively, is
modern environmental thought a continuation of
Green Romanticism—or a necessary reaction
against it? This course considers such issues
through the prism of late 18th and early 19thcentury British literature, with additional forays
into contemporary art and scientific writing, as
well as German and American literature. Possible
areas of discussion may include the following:
leveling politics, landscape design, Romantic
idealism, colonial exploration and exploitation,
astronomy and the visionary imagination,
“peasant poetry,” vegetarianism, the sex life of
plants, breastfeeding, ballooning, deism, sublime
longings, organic form, and the republic of
nature—with works by Edmund Burke, William
Gilpin, Dorothy and William Wordsworth, John
Clare, Percy and Mary Shelley, Charlotte Smith,
Charles Darwin, and John Keats, among others.
Nine American Poets
Neil Arditi
American poetry has multiple origins and a vast
array of modes and variations. We will begin our
readings for this course with Whitman and
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Dickinson, the two most influential 19th-century
American poets, before turning our attention to
at least seven modern American poets, including
Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens, Marianne Moore,
T. S. Eliot, Hart Crane, Elizabeth Bishop, and
John Ashbery. We will pay considerable attention
to the different versions of modernism that
emerge in 20th-century American poetry and to
the complexity of intergenerational poetic
influence. Our study of literary influence and
affinity will be in the service, however, of our
central task, which is to appreciate and articulate
the unique qualities of each of the poets—and
poems—that we encounter through close,
imaginative readings and informed speculation.
Art of Power: Literature,
Media, Theory
Una Chung
Intermediate—Year
This course brings together postcolonial theory,
environmental studies, and critiques of digital
media in order to take measure of what we are
becoming today. The question of nature and
culture will lead us into deeper explorations of
embodiment, subjectivity, performativity, and
potentiality. Genealogies of race, gender, and
sexuality take divergent paths, often becoming
radically altered by the encounter with emerging
technologies and non-Western philosophies. We
will mix theory with experimental writing,
speculative fiction, electronic literature, film, and
new-media art in order to investigate the
intimate connection between aesthetics and
politics, especially as it manifests in the
contemporary world. Specifically, we will address
the unique challenge of conceptualizing power
that is self-reflexive and self-modulating
(governmentality, control, network) rather than
set apart and on high. The aesthetic rendering of
such modes of power draw on diverse strategies
and practices that include, but also go beyond,
the politics of representation (especially
nonrepresentational media, affective computing,
and informational aesthetics). We will explore
the multifarious ways in which artists make the
art of power perceptible today.
Modernism and Fiction
Daniel Kaiser
This course will pick up the history of prose
fiction roughly at the point at which the novel
starts to become a self-conscious and problematic
literary form in Flaubert, James, and Conrad.
From these writers, we will proceed to the more
radical and complex formal experiments of the
great “high modernists” of fiction—Mann, Joyce,
Proust, and Kafka. In the last part of the course,
we will consider the question of what is now
called “postmodernism,” both in fiction that
continues the experimental tradition of
modernism while breaking with some of its
assumptions (Beckett and Pynchon) and in
important recent theorizing about problems of
narrative and representation. Throughout, we
will pay close attention to the social and political
meanings of both experimental narrative
techniques and theories of fiction. Previous
completion of at least one year of literature or
philosophy is required.
American Literature
1830-1929
Arnold Krupat
FALL SEMESTER: Beginning roughly in the
1830s, a number of American authors set out to
“invent” American literature as a distinctively
national literature rather than merely an English
literature written elsewhere. Thoreau began his
experiment living at Walden Pond exactly on the
4th of July. Walt Whitman, in his “Song of
Myself,” refers to himself as “Walt Whitman,
American.” And Emerson wrote about the
“American Scholar.” It was also the case,
however, that the country founded upon the
proposition that “all men are created equal” had
to deal with its Constitution’s provision that
some men—slaves—were to count as only 3/5ths
of a man, while others—Indians—were not to be
counted at all. The land of liberty was also a land
of slavery and colonial conquest. This course
examines the invention of American literature
from roughly the 1830s to 1890, the year Sioux
Indians were massacred at Wounded Knee and
the year when the Bureau of the Census
announced the “closing” of the American
frontier. In addition to those named above, our
other authors include Frederick Douglass,
Nathaniel Hawthorne, Emily Dickinson, William
Apess, Herman Melville, Margaret Fuller, and
Mark Twain.
SPRING SEMESTER: The Closed Frontier to
the Great Depression, 1890-1929: With the
“closing” of the frontier in 1890, America had
“manifested” its “destiny” from “sea to shining
sea.” But as the century turned, America was a
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very different place from what it had been before.
The years 1880-1924 were the great age of
immigration; more than three million people
from China, Southern and Eastern Europe,
Scandinavia, and elsewhere arrived here. In those
years, Americans were also still coming to terms
with the implications of Darwin’s theories—only
to discover the new intellectual challenges of
relativity and psychoanalytic theory. If Thoreau,
Emerson, and Whitman struggled to invent a
distinctive literature for America, many of the
writers of this period had to figure out just what
America was before they could produce its
literature. This question became even more
complicated after 1917, when young Americans
found themselves abroad—fighting in World War
I.
ongoing “invention of love,” that profound and
profoundly problematic passion that has seemed
for more than two thousand years of Western
civilization to lie at the heart of human
existence. Additional readings drawn from
Homer, Plato, Catullus, Petrarch, Shakespeare,
the Bible, the Roman de la Rose, and Arthurian
romance will help us establish cultural contexts
and provide some sense of both continuities and
revisions in the literary imagining of love from
antiquity through the Middle Ages to the
Renaissance.
Shakespeare and the
Semiotics of Performance
The aim of this course is to have students
produce a series of nonfiction essays that reflect
Tom Wolfe’s belief that it is “possible to write
journalism that would read like a novel.” The
reading that we do is designed to serve the
writing that we do, which will include but go
beyond standard journalism. We will read a
number of well-known nonfiction
writers—among them Tom Wolfe, Joan Didion,
John McPhee, and Henry Louis Gates—but this
course is not a history of the nonfiction essay.
Students will be given assignments with
deadlines for drafts, rewrites, and final copy. The
assignments are not “writing-class exercises” but
the kinds of work any editor would give out. A
warning: This is not a course in “creative
nonfiction” or covert autobiography. The writer’s
subject, not the writer, is our primary concern.
Accurate reporting is a nonnegotiable starting
and finishing point. The course will begin by
emphasizing writing technique and, as we move
on to longer assignments, will focus on the role
research, interviews, and legwork play in
completing a story. Students should bring a writing
sample to the interview and should not be taking
another writing course.
Joseph Lauinger
The performance of a play is a complex cultural
event that involves far more than the literary
text upon which it is grounded. First, there is the
theatre itself, a building of a certain shape and
utility within a certain neighborhood of a certain
city. On stage, we have actors and their training,
gesture, staging, music, dance, costumes, possibly
scenery and lighting. Offstage, we have the
audience, its makeup, and its reactions; the
people who run the theatre and the reasons why
they do it; and finally the social milieu in which
the theatre exists. In this course, we study all
these elements as a system of signs that convey
meaning (semiotics)—a world of meaning whose
life span is a few hours but whose significances
are ageless. The plays of Shakespeare are our
texts. Reconstructing the performances of those
plays in the England of Elizabeth I and James I is
our starting place. Seeing how those plays have
been approached and re-envisioned over the
centuries is our journey. Tracing their elusive
meanings—from within Shakespeare’s wooden O
to their adaptation in contemporary film—is our
work.
Allegories of Love
Ann Lauinger
This seminar centers on a reading of five great
storytellers and poets: Vergil, Ovid, Dante,
Chaucer, and Spenser. The powerful and complex
fictions of these five contributed crucially to the
The Nonfiction Essay:
Writing the Literature of Fact,
Journalism and Beyond
Nicolaus Mills
The Greco-Roman World: Its
Origins, Crises, Turning
Points, and Final
Transformations
Samuel B. Seigle
This course invites the serious student to
penetrate the tides of time in order to uncover
72 Literature
what really lies behind the making of ancient
Greece and Rome from their earliest times to
their final transformations. The aimed-for result
is a more deeply informed understanding of their
direct contribution to us; namely, the classical
tradition that still shapes our thinking and
exercises our imagination. The methodologies
employed will be derived as much from the fields
of anthropology and sociology as from those of
political science, economics, archaeology, and
religious studies. The particular topics pursued
will be set through joint decision by class
members and the teacher but anchored always in
the reality of what these two gifted peoples
experienced—or believed to be their experience.
To further this goal, all conferences will be in
small groups, and all papers will be written as
joint productions rather than as individual
conclusions. A model for this procedure will be
established in the first two weeks of the fall
semester through the class’s multidisciplinary
reading, in translation, of important selections
from Homer’s Iliad.
Studies in the 19th-Century
Novel
Ilja Wachs
This course entails an intensive and close textual
encounter with the novelistic worlds of the 19thcentury realist tradition. The first fictional
tradition to accept social reality as the ultimate
horizon for human striving, the 19th-century
novels that we will study are all intensely critical
of the severe limitations to human wholeness and
meaning posed by the new social world they were
confronting. At the same time that they accept
the world as a setting and boundary for human
life, they seek to find grounds for transcending its
limitations. We will explore the tensions in these
novelists’ works between accepting the world as
given and seeking to transcend it. At the same
time, we will try to understand why—in spite of a
century and a half of great historical and cultural
change—these novels continue to speak to the
issues posed by the human condition with such
beauty, depth, and wisdom. We will read in the
works of such novelists as Tolstoy, Dostoevsky,
Balzac, Stendhal, Eliot, Austen, Dickens, Twain,
and Goethe.
Creating New Blackness: The
Expressions of the Harlem
Renaissance
Alwin A. D. Jones
Intermediate—Fall
In this intermediate seminar, students will study
various texts from writers and artists associated
with The Harlem (or New Negro) Renaissance.
This movement refers to the highly productive
period of African American arts and letters
occurring roughly between 1920 and 1935,
although its chronological boundaries tend to
shift depending on the literary historian's
persuasion. This course will engage with that
popular and largely taken-for-granted notion of
an artistic movement of Black Americans
identified exclusively with one district in New
York City. Writers and artists whose work
(photography, film, poetry, music, and works of
fiction and nonfiction) we may engage include,
but are not limited to, James Vander Zee,
Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, Carl Van
Vechten, Helene Johnson, Sterling Brown,
Langston Hughes, Alain Locke, Zora Neale
Hurston, James Weldon Johnson, Nella Larsen,
Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Duke Ellington, and
Paul Robeson. Using a range of critical essays as
supplementary reading, we will begin by
exploring how Harlem gets constructed as city
myth and as work of art, while examining the
place it occupied in the cultural imagination of
the l920s and ’30s. Why was Harlem considered
an exotic-erotic pleasure/tourist zone for some
and, for others, the emblem of a utopian ethos of
racial renewal and political progress? What were
some of the generational tensions among the
writers associated most popularly with the
movement, as well as the economics of literary
production? How were artists patronized and
marketed to the American public/s, and what
were the corresponding effects of the patronage
system on black artistic production—and
reception?
Global Intertextualities
Bella Brodzki
This course provides exposure to a wide array of
contemporary global writing from sites as various
as Turkey, Japan, the former Yugoslavia, France,
Israel, Brazil, Canada, India, South Africa,
Morocco, and the United States. Readings
consist of literary texts written in the last decade,
originally in English and in translation, though
THE CURRICULUM 73
students able to read these texts in their original
languages will be encouraged to do so. Primary
attention will be directed to the particular
stylistic, formal, and thematic features of the
individual works, as we keep in mind the
dynamic relation between local contexts and
transnational space—the complex circuits by
which languages and cultures circulate and
exchange in a global economy. Thus, we will
interrogate such notions as “cosmopolitan,”
“world,” “global,” and “postcolonial” as modes of
intertextuality and consider what “comparative
literature” means today.
Spoken Wor(l)ds: African
American Poetry From Black
Arts to Hip Hop (1960-2012)
Alwin A. D. Jones
Spanning 1960 to the present (roughly from the
Black Arts to the Hip Hop movements), this
course will focus on contemporary African
American poetry as represented in the writings
and performances of writers, political figures, and
musicians—including Malcolm X, Martin Luther
King, Nina Simone, John Coltrane, Stokely
Carmichael, Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn
Brooks, Haki Madhabuti, Sonia Sanchez, Maya
Angelou, Toni Morrison, June Jordan, Nikki
Giovanni, Gil Scott Heron, Audre Lorde,
Carolyn Rodgers, Askia Toure, Etheridge Knight,
Amiri Baraka, The Last Poets, Rita Dove, Dick
Gregory, Marvin Gaye, Anita Baker, Linton
Kwesi Johnson, Queen Latifah, Sister Souljah,
Sarah Jones, Ursula Rucker, Talib Kweli, Jessica
Care Moore, Saul Williams, Staceyann Chin,
Mos Def, JayZ, Tupac Shakur, Erykah Badu, J.
Ivy, and others. We will examine these various
genres of Black oral (and written) expressions,
paying particular attention to the role that poetry
played in creating Black aesthetics, it’s role in
giving language to the politics of the moments,
and the theories advanced by the poems and
poets. We will also look at the role that the
space(s) that informed the poems played in
shaping its content, theme, and form, as well as
wrestle with questions of form with regard to the
poems on the stage (oral) and on the page
(written). Other themes that we will query
include questions regarding intergenerational
dialogue and disconnect (within and between
movements) and the notion of performing,
constructing, reflecting, criticizing, and creating a
Black aesthetic and politic within a particular
movement or historical moment. In addition to
completing two analytic/critical essays and
leading class discussion at least once in the
semester, students will be required to keep weekly
creative and critical journal entries/responses
inspired by the works we study, and create/direct
(as a class) a final presentation of Black poetry
that requires memorizing and performing two
poems (one of which must be from a writer on
the syllabus; the other may be their own work/
journal entry). This final presentation must be
open to the Sarah Lawrence public.
Borges
Maria Negroni
Advanced—Fall
Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986)
is, undoubtedly, one of the major figures of 20thcentury world literature. His stunning work
includes poetry, fiction, and nonfiction and is
imbued with philosophical thoughts and
haunting ideas. Although he is usually perceived
as an “intellectual” writer (who constantly
proposes mathematical games and challenges to
the mind), he really confronts the reader with
crucial literary questions and defies all
stereotypical understanding of what Latin
American literature is or should be. Issues
concerning language, reality and representation,
dreams, memory and abstraction, science and art,
to name just a few, appear in his work through
the shape of unforgettable metaphors. The world
as a huge and undecipherable library, an
infinitesimal point in space (“aleph”) that
contains in itself all times and all spaces, a book
of sand that incessantly changes each time you
read it are some of those images and will be
forever identified with his name and work. We
will explore such themes and obsessions in this
course while trying to capture the traits of his
unique “Borgesian” style.
Mathematics
Whether they had any interest in mathematics in
high school, students often discover a new
appreciation for the field at Sarah Lawrence
College. In our courses—which reveal the
inherent elegance of mathematics as a reflection
of the world and how it works—abstract concepts
literally come to life. That vitality further
emerges as faculty members adapt course content
to fit student needs, emphasizing the historical
context and philosophical underpinnings behind
74 Mathematics
ideas and theories. By practicing rigorous logic,
creative problem solving and abstract thought in
small seminar discussions, students cultivate
habits of mind that they can apply to every
interest. With well-developed, rational thinking
and problem-solving skills, many students
continue their studies in mathematics, computer
science, philosophy, medicine, law, or business;
others go into a range of careers in fields such as
business, insurance, technology, defense, and
industry.
An Introduction to Statistical
Methods and Analysis
Daniel King
An introduction to the concepts, techniques, and
reasoning that are central to the understanding of
data, this lecture course focuses on the
fundamental ideas of statistical analysis used to
gain insight into diverse areas of human interest.
The use, abuse, and misuse of statistics will be the
central focus of the course. Topics of exploration
will include the core statistical topics in the areas
of experimental study design, sampling theory,
data analysis, and statistical inference.
Applications will be drawn from current events,
business, psychology, politics, medicine, and
other areas of the natural and social sciences.
Statistical software will be introduced and used
extensively in this course, but no prior
experience with the software is assumed. This
seminar is an invaluable course for anybody
planning to pursue graduate work and/or research
in the natural or social sciences. No college-level
mathematical knowledge is required.
Calculus I: The Study of
Motion and Change
Daniel King
Open—Fall
Our world is dominated by motion and change.
The Earth spins on its axis, as it rotates around
the Sun. Stock prices rise and fall. An apple,
acting in accordance with the laws of physics,
falls onto the head of a modern day Newton.
Calculus is the intriguing branch of mathematics
whose primary goal is the understanding of the
laws governing motion and change. The sum of
the calculus—its methods, tools, and ideas—is
often cited as one of the greatest intellectual
achievements of humanity. Though just a few
hundred years old, the calculus has become an
indispensable research tool in both the natural
and the social sciences. Our study begins with the
central concept of the calculus, the limit, and
proceeds to explore the dual notions of
differentiation and integration. Numerous
applications of the theory will be examined. The
minimum required preparation for successful
study of the calculus is one year each of highschool algebra and geometry. The precalculus
topics of trigonometry and analytic geometry will
be developed as the need arises. For conference
work, students may choose to undertake a deeper
investigation of a single topic or application of
the calculus or conduct a study in some other
branch of mathematics. This seminar is intended
for students interested in advanced study in
mathematics or science, for students preparing for
careers in the health sciences, and for any
student wishing to broaden and enrich the life of
the mind.
Geometry
Joseph W. Woolfson
Open—Fall
The purpose of this course is to explore various
systems of geometry, as well as different
approaches to these systems. A brief review of
high-school geometry (including an exposition of
logical objections to it) will be the starting point
for branching out into other areas. Problem
solving will play a central role in the
development and exposition of much of the
material in the course. Topics may be chosen
from analytic, neutral, non-Euclidean
(Lobechevskian and Riemannian), and incidence
geometries.
Calculus II
Joseph W. Woolfson
Open—Spring
This course will build upon and continue to
develop the study of the differential calculus as it
was developed in Calculus I. It will include the
definitions of antiderivatives and integrals
(including the fundamental theorems of both
integal and differential calculus). We will
develop and study exponential, logarithmic, and
inverse trigonometric functions. Much effort will
be devoted to studying various techniques and
applications (geometric and physical) of
integration. As time permits, some elementary
differential equations and basic infinite series
may be included. Prerequisite: Calculus I
THE CURRICULUM 75
Abstract Algebra
Joseph W. Woolfson
Intermediate—Fall
This highly abstract course will be directed
toward the axiomatic development of basic
algebraic systems. Both mathematical and
nonmathematical models will be used to illustrate
these systems. Topics will be chosen from the
theories of groups, rings, fields, and matrices.
Although there are no prerequisites and no prior
experience with the material is necessary, some
mathematical sophistication is essential.
Individual weekly conferences will be used to
reinforce the class work when necessary and for
independent study projects otherwise.
Discrete Mathematics:
Gateway to Advanced
Mathematics
Daniel King
There is a world of mathematics beyond what
students learn in high-school algebra, geometry,
and calculus courses. This seminar serves as an
introduction to this realm of elegant
mathematical ideas. With an explicit goal of
improving students’ mathematical reasoning and
problem-solving skills, this seminar provides the
ultimate intellectual workout. Five important
themes are interwoven in the course: logic, the
nature of proof, combinatorial analysis, discrete
structures, and mathematical philosophy. For
conference work, students may choose to
undertake a deeper investigation of a single topic
or application of discrete mathematics or to
conduct a study in some other branch of
mathematics. This seminar is a must for students
interested in advanced mathematical study and
highly recommended for students with an interest
in computer science, law, or philosophy. Some
prior study of calculus is required.
Multivariable Calculus
Daniel King
The world and our lives are fundamentally
multivariate. Tomorrow’s weather forecast is
based on today’s solar wind velocity, heat transfer
rates, pressure, and humidity levels, among other
factors. The price to the consumer of a
commercial flight is dependent partly on market
demand, travel distance, cost of fuel, and
governmental taxes. Multivariable calculus
addresses the mathematics of functions such as
these that depend on several variables. Specific
topics to be addressed include vectors, partial
derivatives, gradients, multiple integration, line
and surface integrals, and their diverse
applications. For conference work, students may
choose to undertake a deeper investigation of a
single topic or application of the calculus or to
conduct a study in some other branch of
mathematics. Prerequisite: Two semesters of collegelevel calculus.
Number Theory
Joseph W. Woolfson
This course is devoted to the study of the
integers. Although the approach will be mainly
axiomatic, consideration will be given to
historical aspects of the subject. Special attention
will be given to problem solving, both as a
central device for exposing the development of
the theory of the course and for its own sake.
Topics will include divisibility properties of
integers, prime numbers, modular arithmetic,
Diophantine equations, and special-number
theoretic functions. No prior experience with
this material is necessary, although mathematical
sophistication would be important.
Modern Languages and
Literatures
At Sarah Lawrence College, we recognize that
languages are fundamentally modes of being-inthe-world and uniquely reveal the way that we
exist as human beings. Far from being a
mechanical tool, language study encourages selfexamination and cross-cultural understanding,
offering a vantage point from which to evaluate
personal and cultural assumptions, prejudices,
and certainties. Learning a new language is not
about putting into another verbal system what
you want or know how to say in your own
language; it is about learning by listening and
reading and by gaining the ability to think in
fundamentally different ways.
The College offers six modern and two classical
languages and literatures. Students may take
French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, and
Spanish from beginning to advanced levels that
equally stress the development of communicative
skills such as speaking, listening comprehension,
reading, and writing, as well as the study of
literature written in these languages in Europe,
76 Music
Africa, Asia, and the Americas. We also offer
Ancient Greek and Latin at the beginning,
intermediate, and advanced levels, emphasizing
exploration of ancient texts in their original
historical, political, artistic, and social contexts
and encouraging assessment of ancient works on
their own terms as a means of elucidating both
timeless and contemporary human issues and
concerns.
The College is also actively seeking
collaborations with other area institutions with
the aim of broadening our offerings. Beginning in
2011-12, students will have the option of
registering for courses in Chinese at Eugene Lang
College at the New School for Social Research in
New York City and transferring their credits to
Sarah Lawrence College.
As is the case for all seminars at Sarah Lawrence
College, our language classes are capped at 15,
and students have unparalleled opportunities to
engage with the language in and out of
class—including individual and group
conferences, weekly meetings with language
assistants in small groups, language clubs, and
language tables. Our proximity to New York City
offers terrific opportunities to encounter the
cultures and languages that we teach—through
lectures, exhibits, plays, films, operas, and many
other cultural events that are readily available.
Conference work in a language class provides an
opportunity for students to pursue their own
particular interest in the language. Student
conference projects are exceptionally diverse,
ranging from reading or translation, internships,
or work on scholarly or creative writing to
listening to music, watching films, or the
extended study of grammar. In Ancient Greek
and Latin courses, beginning students acquire in
one year a solid foundation in grammar, syntax,
and vocabulary. Equivalent to three courses at
other colleges and universities, one year of
Ancient Greek or Latin at Sarah Lawrence
College empowers students to read ancient texts
with precision and increasing facility. At the
intermediate and advanced levels, students refine
their linguistic abilities while analyzing specific
ancient authors, genres, or periods—often in
comparison to later artists, writers, theorists, or
critics
The interdisciplinary approach across the
curriculum at Sarah Lawrence College also means
that students can take their study of language to
conference work for another class; for example,
reading primary texts in the original Spanish for a
class on Borges and math, studying Russian
montage or 20th-century Japanese cinema for a
class on film history, or performing German lieder
or Italian opera in voice class or Molière in a
theatre class. The language faculty also offer
literature courses in translation, so that students
can choose to combine literature study with
conference work in the original languages. We
also sponsor an annual journal of translation,
Babel, which invites submissions from across the
College.
Finally, our open curriculum encourages
students to plan a semester or an entire year
abroad, and a large percentage of our students
spend their junior year in non-English-speaking
countries. In addition to our long-established
programs in Florence, Catania, Paris, and Cuba,
the College has recently initiated a study-abroad
program in Barcelona. Starting in 2012, we will
offer a number of new programs, including a
program in Peru for students of Spanish and an
exchange program with Tsuda College in Japan;
2012 will also mark the start of a summer course
in German Studies and Dance in Berlin, as well
as a summer course in translation in Buenos
Aires. Our study-abroad programs are usually
based on a concept of “full immersion,” including
experiences such as study at the local university,
homestays, and volunteer work in the country.
We also send students to many non-Sarah
Lawrence College programs all over the world.
Music
The Music program is structured to integrate
theory and practice. Students select a
combination of component courses that together
constitute one full course (called a Music Third).
A minimal Music Third includes four
components:
1. Individual instruction (instrumental
performance, composition, or voice), the
central area of study around which the rest
of the program is planned;
2. Theory and/or history (see requirements
below);
3. A performance ensemble (see area
requirements below);
4. Concert attendance/Music Tuesdays
requirement (see below).
The student, in consultation with the faculty,
plans the music program best-suited to his or her
needs and interests. Advanced students may, with
faculty consent, elect to take two-thirds of their
course study in music.
THE CURRICULUM 77
Music, Circulation, and
Appropriation
Jonathan King
Open—Spring
This yearlong seminar may also be taken as a
yearlong component in a Music Third. (Please
see course description under the listing of full
courses—seminars with conferences—that
constitute one-third of a student’s total program.)
This is one of the music history component
courses required for all Advanced Theory
students and is also open to students who have
completed the theory sequence.
Seminars and Lecture
The following seminars and lecture with
conferences are offered to the College
community and constitute one-third of a
student’s program. Ethnomusicology of the
Americas: Music, Language & Identity may also
be taken as a yearlong component in a Music
Third. In the spring, Music, Circulation, and
Appropriation may also be taken as a component
in a Music Third. (See Components, below, for
specific requirements.)
Ethnomusicology of the
Americas: Music, Language,
and Identity
Jonathan King
Open—Year
This course provides students with an
introduction to ethnomusicology—the study of
the interactive relationship between musical and
cultural practices—through an examination of
the diverse musical worlds of North America,
Central America, South America, and the
Caribbean. We will gain a highly specific
knowledge of many musical traditions from Cuba,
Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Brazil, Peru, Argentina,
Mexico, Texas, the American Southwest and
Northwest, Appalachia, and New York City. As
we become familiar with these diverse musical
practices, we will begin to use tools from
linguistic and cultural anthropology to examine
how music is a communicative process very much
like language in some ways and quite different in
others. As the year progresses, we will see how
musical communication and expression—what
some have called “musicking”—is used
dynamically to generate and maintain social
identities in complex and ever-changing
contexts. While these musical styles are
sophisticated and challenging, prior experience
with “music theory” is absolutely not required for
this course. No musical experience is
necessary. Participation in Gamelan Angklung
Chandra Buana (fall) is required for all students
taking this course, though occasional exceptions
may be granted by the instructor. Participation in
African Percussion Ensemble Faso Foli (spring) is
optional but encouraged. This course may also be
taken as a yearlong component in a Music Third.
“Non-Western” Western
Musics in Europe and Asia
Jonathan King
When we think of Western music, we often think
of the masterpieces of Beethoven, Verdi, or
Debussy—or of the overwhelming commercial
power of pop, rock, or hip hop. Alongside and
among performances of these well-known
traditions is a wealth of lesser-known musical
traditions across Europe and Western Asia. These
traditions draw upon centuries of local traditions
and focus the actions of contemporary musicians.
In this course, we’ll examine representations of
the “other” in Western classical and popular
traditions; we’ll consider what else might be
considered “Western” in such a context; and we’ll
see and hear how these musics, across Europe and
Asia, represent sophisticated forms of art, as well
as complex modes of social behavior. Although it
may be taken on its own, this course is intended
to prepare students for the more advanced
seminar, Music, Circulation, and Appropriation.
Participation in Gamelan Angklung Chandra
Buana (fall) is encouraged for all students taking
this course. No musical experience is necessary.
Components
Individual Instruction
Arranged by audition with the following members of
the music faculty and affiliate artists:
Clarinet—Igor Begelman
Composition—Chester Biscardi, Patrick
Muchmore, Daniel Wohl, John Yannelli
Contrabass—Mark Helias
Flute—Kelli Kathman
Guitar—William Anderson (acoustic), Glenn
Alexander (jazz/blues), Pedro Cortes (flamenco),
Kermit Driscoll (jazz/blues bass)
Harp—Kirsten Agresta
Harpsichord—Carsten Schmidt
Percussion—Matt Wilson (drum set)
78 Music
Piano—Chester Biscardi, Don Friedman (jazz),
Michael Longo (jazz), Martin Goldray, Bari Mort,
Carsten Schmidt, Jean Wentworth
Saxophone—Robert Magnuson
Violin—Sungrai Sohn
Viola—Daniel Panner
Viols—Judith Davidoff
Voice—Hilda Harris, Eddye Pierce-Young,
Wayne Sanders, Thomas Young
With the following members of the Cygnus Ensemble,
where appropriate:
Flute—Tara Helen O’Connor
Oboe and English Horn—Robert Ingliss
Violin—Calvin Wiersma
Violoncello—Susannah Chapman
Guitar, Banjo, and Mandolin—William
Anderson, Oren Fader
two contrasting works that demonstrate the
student’s musical background and keyboard
technique. Piano auditions enable the faculty to
place the student with the appropriate teacher in
either an individual piano lesson or in the
Keyboard Lab, given his or her current level of
preparation.
Acoustic and Jazz Guitar Auditions and
Placement
The Guitar faculty encourages students to
prepare two contrasting works that demonstrate
the student’s musical background, guitar
technique, and, for jazz and blues,
improvisational ability. Guitar auditions enable
the faculty to place the guitarist with the
appropriate teacher in either an individual guitar
lesson or in the Guitar Class.
The director of the Music program will arrange
all instrumental study with the affiliate artist
faculty, who teach off campus. In all cases,
individual instruction involves consultation with
members of the faculty and/or the director of the
Music program.
Composition Lessons
The student who is interested in individual
instruction in composition must demonstrate an
appropriate background.
Lessons and Auditions
Beginning lessons are offered only in voice and
piano. A limited number of beginning acoustic
guitar lessons are offered based on prior musical
experience. All other instrumentalists are
expected to demonstrate a level of proficiency on
their instruments. In general, the Music faculty
encourages students to prepare two excerpts from
two contrasting works that demonstrate their
musical background and technical abilities.
Auditions for all instruments and voice, which
are held at the beginning of the first week of
classes, are for placement purposes only.
Theory I, Theory II, and Advanced Theory,
including their aural skills and historical studies
corollaries, make up a required theory sequence
that must be followed by all music students unless
they prove their proficiency in a given area; entry
level will be determined by a diagnostic exam,
which will be administered immediately after the
Music orientation meeting that takes place
during the first day of registration.
Vocal Auditions, Placement, and Juries
The Voice faculty encourages students to prepare
two contrasting works that demonstrate the
student’s musical background and vocal
technique. Vocal auditions enable the faculty to
place the singer in the class most appropriate for
his or her current level of vocal production.
Students will be placed in either an individual
voice lesson (two half-hour lessons per week) or
in a studio class (there are four different studio
classes, as well as the seminar Self Discovery
Through Singing). Voice juries at the end of the
year evaluate each student’s progress.
Piano Auditions and Placement
The Piano faculty encourages students to prepare
Theory and Composition Program
Theory I: Materials of Music
Patrick Muchmore, Daniel Wohl
In this introductory course, we will study
elements of music such as pitch, rhythm,
intensity, and timbre to see how they combine in
various musical structures and how these
structures communicate. Studies will include
notation and ear training, as well as theoretical
exercises, rudimentary analyses, and the study of
repertoire from various eras of Western music.
Hearing and Singing is taken concurrently with
this course. This course is a prerequisite to the
Theory II: Basic Tonal Theory and Composition
and Advanced Theory sequence. This course will
meet twice each week (two 1.5-hour sessions).
THE CURRICULUM 79
Theory II: Basic Tonal
Theory and Composition
Patrick Muchmore
As a skill-building course in the language of tonal
music, this course covers diatonic harmony and
voice leading, elementary counterpoint, and
simple forms. Students will develop an
understanding through part writing, analysis, and
composition. Survey of Western Music is required
for all students taking Theory II who have not
had a similar history course. It is highly
recommended, although not required, that
students in this course also take Basic Aural
Skills. The materials of this course are
prerequisite to any Advanced Theory course; at
least one Advanced Theory course is required
after Theory II.
With Advanced Theory, students are required
to take either a year-long seminar or two
semester-long seminars in music history, which
include Beethoven (spring), Mozart and
Beethoven: Music from 1720-1810 (fall);
Debussy and the French School (spring); Jazz
History; Structures of Music, Ethnomusicology
of the Americas: Music, Language & Identity;
and Music, Circulation, and Appropriation
(spring).
Advanced Theory: Advanced
Tonal Theory and
Composition
Daniel Wohl
This course will discuss the fundamentals of
chromatic harmony and will build on diatonic
skills established in Theory II. Students will learn
tools in order to enhance their knowledge of
chord progressions and musical form. They will
also acquire knowledge of essential techniques,
such as counterpoint, modulation, mixture, and
basic 20th-century practices. This class will
emphasize keyboard, writing, and listening skills,
as well as score analysis.
Advanced Theory:
Beethoven
Carsten Schmidt
Spring
Very few composers had a more profound
influence on the course of Western history than
Beethoven. After 200 years, many of his
extraordinary works remain at the very core of
the concert repertoire; and the way in which they
blend formal design, compositional techniques,
and emotional force continue to serve as a great
source of inspiration for many musicians today.
Already during his lifetime, Beethoven became a
new model of what it actually meant to be a
composer. This course will examine a broad range
of his music, including selections from his piano
sonatas and trios, string quartets, symphonies,
opera, mass settings, and songs. Our main focus
will be on detailed analysis. We will also consider
Beethoven’s own sources of inspiration—not
only the musical ones (such as Haydn, Mozart,
J.S. and C.P.E. Bach, Handel, and French
revolutionary music) but also some of the
political, philosophical, and literary currents of
his time. In addition to more general biographic
literature, we will draw upon some recent
writings on Beethoven’s economic, medical, and
psychological circumstances. Successful
completion of the first two years of theory (or
equivalent background) is a requirement. This
course may be taken as either an advanced theory or
a music history component. Permission of the
instructor is required.
Advanced Theory: Jazz
Theory and Harmony I
Glenn Alexander
This course will study the building blocks and
concepts of jazz theory, harmony, and rhythm.
This will include the study of the standard modes
and scales, as well as the use of melodic and
harmonic minor scales and their respective
modals systems. It will include the study and
application of diminished and augmented scales
and their role in harmonic progression,
particularly the diminished chord as a parental
structure. An in-depth study will be given to
harmony and harmonic progression through
analysis and memorization of triads, extensions,
and alterations, as well as substitute chords, reharmonization, and back cycling. We will look at
polytonality and the superposition of various
hybrid chords over different bass tones and other
harmonic structures. We will study and apply all
of the above to their characteristic and stylistic
genres, including bebop, modal, and free and
progressive jazz. The study of rhythm, which is
possibly the single most-important aspect of jazz,
will be a primary focus, as well. We will also use
composition as a way to absorb and truly
understand the concepts discussed. Theory II:
Basic Tonal Theory and Composition is a
prerequisite.
80 Music
Advanced Theory: Jazz
Theory and Harmony II
Glenn Alexander
Jazz Theory and Harmony II will be a
continuation of Level I, with more in-depth study
and application of the same concepts and an
emphasis placed on the actual performance of the
material. This class will also introduce new
concepts in slash-chord harmony, superposition
of pentatonics as both harmonic structures and
scales for improvisation, back cycling on blues,
rhythm changes and standards, extensive chord
substitution, reharmonization, exploring
Coltrane changes, etc.
Advanced Theory: 20thCentury Theoretical
Approaches: Post-Tonal and
Rock Music
Patrick Muchmore
This course will be an examination of various
theoretical approaches to music of the 20th
century, including post-tonal, serial, textural,
minimalist, and pop/rock music. Our primary text
will be Joseph Strauss’ Introduction to Post-Tonal
Theory; but we will also explore other relevant
texts, including scores and recordings of the
works themselves. This course will include study
of the music of Schoenberg, Webern, Pink Floyd,
Ligeti, Bartók, Reich, Radiohead, Nine Inch
Nails, Corigliano, and Del Tredici, among
others. Open to students who have successfully
completed Theory II: Basic Tonal Theory and
Composition.
Advanced Theory: 20thCentury Theoretical
Approaches II: Post-Tonal
and Rock Music
Patrick Muchmore
This course is a direct follow-up to 20th-Century
Theoretical Approaches I: Post-Tonal and Rock
Music. In addition to a more thorough grounding
in set theory and basic serialism, the first
semester will also introduce advanced serial
techniques, neo-Riemannian analysis, and basic
transformation theory. The syllabus will include
some of the same composers studied before, but
there will be a particular emphasis on Elliott
Carter, Milton Babbitt, and Ruth Crawford
Seeger. Discussion will also cover more recent
musical trends such as spectralism, eclecticism,
and The New Complexity. The second semester
will involve a more detailed look at rock,
electronic, and hip-hop music and will cover
artists such as Saul Williams, Animal Collective,
and King Crimson.
Hearing and Singing
Gabriel Shuford
This class focuses on developing fluency with the
rudiments of music. It is the required aural
corollary to Theory I: Materials of Music. As
students begin to explore the fundamental
concepts of written theory—reading notes on the
staff, interpreting rhythm—Hearing and Singing
works to translate these sights into sounds. The
use of solfège helps in this process, as ear, mind,
and voice begin to understand the relationship
between the pitches of the scale. Rhythm drills
help solidify a sense of rhythm and a familiarity
with rhythm patterns. In-class chorale singing
supports this process. All incoming students will
take a diagnostic test to determine
placement. This class fulfills the performance
component of the Music program for those
beginning students who are not ready to
participate in other ensembles. Students who
demonstrate proficiency for this subject may
advance directly into Basic Aural Skills.
Basic Aural Skills
Gabriel Shuford
Basic Aural Skills tackles written theory concepts
from an aural perspective. We will develop the
ability to sing and identify intervals and
sonorities, perform and transcribe rhythm in
simple and compound meters, sing melodies at
sight, and dictate melodies and harmonic
progressions—all of which add dimension and
scope to written theory. Students who have
completed Hearing and Singing or demonstrate
the equivalent may take this course. During the
course of their studies, all Music Thirds are
required to take Basic Aural Skills. It is
recommended, but not required, that this course
be taken in conjunction with Theory II: Basic
Tonal Theory and Composition.
Intermediate Aural Skills
Gabriel Shuford
This class continues to develop the cooperation
of ear, eye, and voice initiated in Hearing and
Singing and Basic Aural Skills, with an emphasis
placed on harmony. The harmonic language in
this level of aural skills broadens to incorporate
an increased variety of 7th chords, as well as
THE CURRICULUM 81
chromatically altered harmonies (including
Neapolitan, augmented 6th, secondary dominant,
and other borrowed chords). Singing, dictations,
and listening exercises of multipart and
modulating music samples help realize this.
Additionally, the study of rhythm will take on
more challenging aspects, expanding to multiple
parts. It is recommended, but not required, that
this course be taken in conjunction with
Advanced Theory: Advanced Tonal Theory and
Composition and may be taken by any student
who has completed the required theory sequence.
Sight Reading for
Instrumentalists
Sungrai Sohn
This course is open to all instrumentalists who
are interested in developing techniques to
improve their sight-reading skills. Groups from
duets to quintets will be formed according to
level. A sight-reading “performance” will be held
at the end of each semester. This course meets once
a week.
20th-Century Compositional
Techniques
Daniel Wohl
This is a workshop in the art of composition with
a focus on 20th-century techniques. We will
discuss recent compositional techniques and
philosophies, as well as issues in orchestration
and notation. We will explore significant works
by a wide variety of major 20th-century
composers, such as Bartók, Berio, Cage, Carter,
Debussy, Ligeti, and Stravinsky, as well as recent
compositions by established and emerging
composers across the world. These works will
serve as models for original student compositions.
It is expected that the students will develop a
fluency in using either Finale or Sibelius. Students
should have completed Theory I: Materials of Music
or its equivalent.
Music Technology Courses
The Sarah Lawrence Electronic Music Studio is a
state-of-the art facility dedicated to the
instruction and development of electronic music
composition. The studio contains the latest in
digital audio hardware and software for synthesis,
recording, and signal processing, along with a full
complement of vintage analog synthesizers and
tape machines. Students in music technology
courses may also choose to evolve collaborative
projects with students in the Film, Theatre and
Dance programs.
Studio for Electronic Music and Experimental
Sound consists of the following four modules:
Introduction to Electronic
Music and Music Technology
John A. Yannelli
Fall
This module is for beginners and is a prerequisite
to the other modules. Areas covered in this
course will include an introduction to the studio’s
equipment, basic musical acoustics, principles of
studio recording, signal processing, and an
historical overview of the medium. Permission of
the instructor is required.
Digital Audio Workstations
and MIDI
John A. Yannelli
Fall
This module will focus on creating electronic
music primarily using software-based digital audio
workstations. Materials covered will include
MIDI, ProTools, Digital Performer, Logic,
Reason, Ableton Live, MaxMsp, and others.
Class assignments will focus on composing
individual works and/or creating music and
designing sound for various media such as film,
dance, and interactive performance art. Projects
will be presented in class for discussion and
critique. This course is open to students who
have successfully completed the beginning
module or its equivalent. Permission of the
Analog and Digital Synthesis
John A. Yannelli
Spring
This module deals exclusively with the Moog,
Buchla, and Arp analog synthesizers, as well as a
variety of MIDI instruments. Students will work
on creative projects centered on the use of these
instruments. Projects will be presented in class for
discussion and critique. This course is open to
students who have successfully completed the
beginning module or its equivalent. Permission of
the instructor is required.
82 Music
Recording, Sequencing, and
Mastering Electronic Music
John A. Yannelli
Spring
This is the final module in the sequence and
focuses on the production of electronic music
from creation to the final mix. Students will have
access to the full range of hardware and software
and use these materials to evolve works of
considerable complexity and range. This course is
open to students who have successfully
completed Introduction to Electronic Music and
Music Technology and either Digital Audio
Workstations and MIDI or Analog and Digital
Synthesis. Permission of the instructor is required.
Studio Composition and
Music Technology
John A. Yannelli
Students work on individual projects involving
aspects of music technology including, but
not limited, to works for electro-acoustic
instruments—live and/or prerecorded works
involving interactive performance media, laptop
ensembles, Disklavier, and improvised or
through-composed works. This component is
open to advanced students who have successfully
completed Studio for Electronic Music and
Experimental Sound and are at or beyond the
Advanced Theory level. Open to a limited number
of students; permission of the instructor is required.
Music History Classes
Survey of Western Music
Chester Biscardi, Carsten Schmidt
This course is a chronological survey of Western
music from the Middle Ages to the present. It is
designed to acquaint the student with significant
compositions of the Western musical tradition, as
well as to explore the cyclical nature of music
that mirrors philosophical and theoretical ideas
in Ancient Greece and how that cycle appears
every 300 years: the ars nova of the 14th century,
le nuove musiche of the 17th century, and the new
music of the 20th century and beyond. The
course involves participation in listening,
reading, and discussion, including occasional
quizzes about and/or written summaries of
historical periods. This component is required for
all students taking Theory II: Basic Tonal Theory
and Composition and is also open to students
who have completed the theory sequence.
Beethoven
Carsten Schmidt
Spring
This is one of the music history component
courses required for all Advanced Theory
students. Please see course description under
Advanced Theory.
Mozart and Beethoven:
Music from 1720-1810
Jean Wentworth
Fall
The classical style especially manifested in the
music of the “divine” Mozart is both
complemented and sharply opposed by his
younger contemporary, Beethoven—and their
lives were scarcely more distant from each other
than was the Enlightenment from the events of
1789 and the world of Napoleon. We will touch
on the source of the classical manner in the
reactions of minor figures such as Sammartini,
Quantz, and the Bach sons to the learned style of
J. S. Bach and then explore the operatic style
that made Mozart possible. His mature works will
then be set alongside both the more genteel early
period and the combative and partly romantic
middle style of Beethoven. Readings in cultural
history will be joined by biographical and musicscore study. Some experience in music theory is
necessary and general historical interest is
desirable for enrollment in this course. This is
one of the music history component courses
required for all Advanced Theory students.
Debussy and the French
School
Jean Wentworth
Spring
Debussy’s influence on today’s music is
incalculable. He has been called the only
“universal” French composer and is very likely
also the greatest. This course will deal with the
ambience of the Second Empire, from which he
emerged, and with Debussy’s relationships to the
impressionist, symbolist, and decadent aesthetics.
Allowing for earlier influences, including the
contradictory effects of Wagner, we will explore
Debussy’s revolutionary musical language in
detail, with many references to older and younger
contemporaries such as Massenet, Saint-Saëns,
Franck, Satie, Ravel, and the group known as Les
Six. For approach and qualifications, see Mozart
THE CURRICULUM 83
and Beethoven: Music from 1720 to 1810. This is
one of the component courses required for all
Advanced Theory students.
exceptions may be granted by the instructor.
Participation in African Percussion Ensemble
Faso Foli (spring) is optional but encouraged.
Jazz History
Music, Circulation, and
Appropriation
Glenn Alexander
Jazz music of all styles and periods will be listened
to, analyzed, and discussed. Emphasis will be
placed on instrumental styles and performance
techniques that have evolved in the performance
of jazz. Skills in listening to and enjoying some of
the finer points of the music will be enhanced by
the study of elements such as form, phrasing,
instrumentation, instrumental technique, and
style. Special emphasis will be placed on the
development of modern jazz and its relationship
to older styles. Some topics: Jelly Roll Morton,
King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, roots and
development of the Big Band sound, Fletcher
Henderson, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, lineage
of pianists, horn players, evolution of the rhythm
section, Art Tatum, Bud Powell, Bill Evans,
Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, John Coltrane,
Charlie Parker, bebop, cool jazz, jazz of the 1960s
and ’70s, fusion and jazz rock, jazz of the 1980s,
and modern trends. The crossover of jazz into
other styles of modern music, such as rock and
R&B, will be discussed, as will the influence that
modern concert music and world music has had
on jazz styles. This is a two-semester class;
however, it will be possible to enter in the second
semester. This is one of the music history
component courses required for all Advanced
Theory students.
Ethnomusicology of the
Americas: Music, Language,
and Identity
Jonathan King
Open—Year
This yearlong seminar may also be taken as a
yearlong component in a Music Third. (Please
see the course description under the listing of full
courses—seminars with conferences—that
constitute one-third of a student’s total
program.) This is one of the music history
component courses required for all Advanced
Theory students and is also open to students who
have completed the theory sequence. No musical
experience is necessary. Participation in Gamelan
Angklung Chandra Buana (fall) is required for all
students taking this course, though occasional
Jonathan King
Open—Spring
What happens when one culture sings in the
musical voice of another? Through close
examination of musical performances, we’ll see
how the effects of both (or more) cultures are
present in the music itself. And in so doing, we’ll
further critique what it means to be “Western,”
“global,” and “modern.” We’ll examine theories
of cultural creolization and media circulation and
apply them to specific case studies of musical
traditions in transformation. We’ll begin in the
19th century, when Hungarian musical traditions
were being heard and imitated by the Romantics
and early Moderns, and continue by examining
how black and white folk traditions from the
United States were assimilated and transformed
in the early 20th century. We’ll see that musical
cultural “flows” don’t always move in the same
direction, as with traditions moving both toward
and from guitar traditions of central Africa in the
1950s and ’60s. Later in the semester, we’ll
closely examine how musical traditions can be
manifested in certain physical objects, which can
gain a life of their own; for example, what
happens when one musical culture uses the
instruments of another for its own purposes?
We’ll ask how the socioeconomic implications of
the circulation of other musical objects—records,
CDs, and mp3s—are affecting the very meaning
of those musics in the 21st century. This course
continues to develop ideas explored in “NonWestern” Western Musics in Europe and Asia,
although that class is not an official prerequisite.
This course may also be taken as a component in a
Music Third.
Performance Ensembles and
Classes
All performance courses listed below are open to
all members of the Sarah Lawrence community,
with permission of the instructor.
Ensemble Auditions
Auditions for all ensembles will take place at the
beginning of the first week of classes.
Choral Ensembles include the following:
84 Music
Women’s Vocal Ensemble
Patrick Romano
Repertoire may include both accompanied and a
cappella works from the Renaissance to the
present that were specifically composed for
women’s chorus. The ensemble will perform
winter and spring concerts. Students are required
to attend either the Monday or the Wednesday
rehearsal; they are welcome but not required to
attend both. All students are welcome to become
a member of this ensemble; auditions are not
necessary. This class meets twice a week.
Chamber Choir
Patrick Romano
Early madrigals and motets and contemporary
works especially suited to a small number of
voices will form the body of this group’s
repertoire. The ensemble will perform winter and
spring concerts. This class meets once a week.
Audition required.
Jazz Studies include the following ensembles
and classes:
The Blues Ensemble
Glenn Alexander
This performance ensemble is geared toward
learning and performing various traditional, as
well as hybrid, styles of blues music. The blues,
like jazz, is purely an American art form. Students
will learn and investigate Delta
Blues—performing songs by Robert Johnson,
Charlie Patton, Skip James, and others—as well
as Texas Country Blues by originators such as
Blind Lemon Jefferson and Chicago Blues,
beginning with Big Bill Broonzy and moving up
through Howlin’ Wolf and Buddy Guy. Students
will also learn songs and stylings by Muddy
Waters, Albert King, and B.B. King and how they
influenced modern blues men such as Johnny
Winter, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and pioneer rockers
such as Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and
Jimi Hendrix. Audition required.
Jazz Colloquium
Glenn Alexander
This ensemble will meet weekly to rehearse and
perform a wide variety of modern jazz music and
other related styles. Repertoire in the past has
included works by composers Thelonius Monk,
Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, and Herbie
Hancock, as well as some rock, Motown, and
blues. All instruments are welcome. Audition
required. This class meets once a week.
Jazz Performance and
Improvisation Workshop
Glenn Alexander
This class is intended for all instrumentalists and
will provide a “hands-on” study of topics relating
to the performance of jazz music. The class will
meet as an ensemble, but the focus will not be on
rehearsing repertoire and giving concerts.
Instead, students will focus on improving jazz
playing by applying the topic at hand directly to
instruments; immediate feedback on the
performance will be given. The workshop
environment will allow students to experiment
with new techniques as they develop their sound.
Topics include jazz chord/scale theory; extensions
of traditional tonal harmony; altered chords;
modes; scales; improvising on chord changes;
analyzing a chord progression or tune; analysis of
form; performance and style study, including
swing, Latin, jazz-rock, and ballade styles; and
ensemble technique. The format can be adapted
to varying instrumentation and levels of
proficiency. Placement audition required.
Jazz Vocal Ensemble
Glenn Alexander
No longer do vocalists need to share valuable
time with those wanting to focus primarily on
instrumental jazz and vice versa. This ensemble
will be dedicated to providing a performanceoriented environment for the aspiring jazz
vocalist. We will mostly concentrate on picking
material from the standard jazz repertoire.
Vocalists will have an opportunity to work on
arrangements, interpretation, delivery, phrasing,
and intonation in a realistic situation with a live
rhythm section and soloists. They will learn how
to work with, give direction to, and get what they
need from the rhythm section. It will provide an
environment to learn to hear forms and changes
and also to work on vocal improvisation, if they
so choose. This will not only give students an
opportunity to work on singing solo or lead
vocals but to work with other vocalists in singing
backup or harmony vocals for and with each
other. This will also serve as a great opportunity
for instrumentalists to learn the true art of
accompanying the jazz vocalist, which will prove
THE CURRICULUM 85
to be a valuable experience in preparing for a
career as a professional musician. Audition
required.
Vocal Studies include the following courses:
Character Development for
Singers
Thomas Young
Spring
This course will ask the following questions:
What does a singer need? How does a singer
process information? How does a singer
communicate the information that he or she has
processed? How does a singer prepare? How does
a singer select material? We will try to find the
answers to these questions together, with the
understanding that different solutions must
necessarily be tailored to the individual
performer. Enrollment is limited.
Diction for Singers
Jonathan Yates
The course intends to discuss the basic rules of
pronunciation and articulation for German,
French, and Italian, as used in lyric diction.
Language-specific aspects such as purity of open
vs. closed vowels, formation of mixed vowels and
diphthongs, treatment of single consonants
(especially plosives), and consonant clusters will
be studied through both spoken and written
exercises using the International Phonetic
Alphabet (IPA). Students will get a chance to
experience the languages through analytical
listening, as well as by being coached in song
repertoire and recitatives. The course further
intends to deepen the student’s understanding of
the three languages by introducing basic aspects
of grammar. This course is required for all Music
Thirds in voice during their first year in the vocal
program.
Jazz Vocal Seminar
Thomas Young
Fall
This course will be an exploration of the
relationship between and among melody,
harmony, rhythm, text, style and of how these
elements can be combined and manipulated to
create meaning and beauty. A significant level of
vocal development will be expected and required.
Audition required.
Self-Discovery Through
Singing
Eddye Pierce-Young
This course will develop the student’s knowledge
and awareness of her or his vocal potential
through experience in singing. Basic vocal
technique will be explored, and individual vocal
needs will be addressed. Repertoire will be chosen
to enhance the strengths of each student, as well
as to present vocal challenges.
Seminar in Vocal
Performance
Thomas Allen Harris, Wayne Sanders
Voice students will gain performance experience
by singing repertoire selected in cooperation with
the studio instructor. Students will become
acquainted with a broader vocal literature
perspective through singing in several languages
and exploring several historical music periods.
Interpretation, diction, and stage deportment will
be stressed. During the course of their studies and
with permission of their instructor, all Music
Thirds in voice are required to take Seminar in
Vocal Performance for two semesters.
So This Is Opera?
Wayne Sanders, Eddye Pierce-Young
This is an introductory course in opera
production. It is open to students enrolled in any
performing art (Music, Dance, and Theatre
Thirds), as well as to the college community at
large. Repertoire will be selected from the
standard traditional and contemporary operatic
expression in English and Italian languages.
There will be one production per year.
Attendance is required for every session. Audition
required.
Studio Class
Wayne Sanders, Eddye Pierce-Young,
Thomas Young, Thomas Allen Harris
This is a beginning course in basic vocal
technique. The voice faculty strongly feels that
classes in voice for the beginner are supportive
and educationally sound ways of approaching
individual vocal needs.
World Music ensembles and courses include the
following:
86 Music
African Classics of the PostColonial Era
Andrew Algire, Jonathan King
Fall
From highlife and jújù in Nigeria to soukous and
makossa in Congo and Cameroon to the sounds
of Manding music in Guinea and “Swinging
Addis” in Ethiopia, the decades following World
War II saw an explosion of musical creativity that
blossomed across sub-Saharan Africa. Syncretic
styles merging African aesthetics with European,
Caribbean, and American influences and
instruments resulted in vibrant new musical
genres that harken back to traditional African
sources, while exploring bold and original
musical forms. As European powers formally
withdrew from their former colonies, newly
inspired African musicians took advantage of
broadened artistic resources and created vital,
contemporary musical expressions. This
performance course will explore a wide range of
African musical styles that emerged in the second
half of the 20th century. We will undertake a
broad musical history, considering prominent
groups and individual musicians during this time
period, and will perform tightly structured
arrangements of some of their most effective and
influential pieces. There will be some
opportunities for genre-appropriate improvisation
and soloing. A wide range of instruments will be
welcome, including strings, horns, guitars,
keyboards, drums, and various other percussion
instruments. Basic facility on one’s musical
instrument is expected, but prior experience with
African musical aesthetics is not assumed nor
required.
Bluegrass Performance
Ensemble
Jonathan King
Spring
Bluegrass music is a 20th-century amalgam of
popular and traditional music styles, emphasizing
vocal performance and instrumental
improvisation, that coalesced in the 1940s in the
American Southeast. This ensemble will
highlight through performance many of the
influences and traditions that bluegrass
comprises, including ballads, breakdowns,
“brother duets,” gospel quartets, Irish-style
medleys, “modal” instrumentals, “old-time”
country, popular song, and rhythm and blues,
among many possible others. Though
experienced players will have plenty of
opportunities to improvise, participants need not
have played bluegrass before. The ensemble
should include fiddle, five-string banjo, steel
string acoustic guitar, mandolin, resophonic
guitar (Dobro®), and upright (double) bass.
Gamelan Angklung Chandra
Buana
Jonathan King, Nyoman Saptanyana
Fall
A gamelan angklung is a bronze orchestra that
includes four-toned metallophones, gongs, drums,
and flutes. Simple patterns played upon the
instruments interlock and combine to form large
structures of great complexity and beauty. The
gamelan angklung that we will play was specially
handcrafted in Bali for the College and was
named Chandra Buana, or “Moon Earth,” at its
dedication on April 16, 2000, in Reisinger
Concert Hall. Any interested student may join;
no previous experience with music is necessary.
Participation in Gamelan Angklung Chandra
Buana (fall) is required for all students taking
Structures of Music and Structures of Power:
Ethnomusicology of Africa, Asia, and the Middle
East; occasional exceptions may be granted by
the instructor.
West African Percussion
Ensemble Faso Foli
Andrew Algire, Jonathan King
Spring
The African Percussion Ensemble Faso Foli
performs music of West Africa on balafons (a
type of xylophone) and djembe drums. “Faso
Foli” is a Mande phrase that translates loosely as
“playing to my father's home.” It refers to the
West African origin of our djembes and balafons,
which were built for the college in Guinea in
2006. Any interested student may join; no
previous experience with music is necessary.
Other ensembles and classes:
Awareness Through
Movement™ for Musicians
Carsten Schmidt
Spring
This course will offer a selection from the
thousands of Awareness-Through-Movement™
lessons developed by Moshe Feldenkrais. The
lessons consist of verbal instructions for carefully
designed movement sequences. These allow the
THE CURRICULUM 87
students to better sense and feel themselves and
thereby develop new and improved
organizational patterns. These gentle movements
are done in comfortable positions (lying, sitting,
and standing), and many instrumentalists and
singers have found them to be hugely helpful in
developing greater ease, reducing unwanted
tension and performance anxiety, and preventing
injuries. Another benefit is the often increased
capacity for learning and, perhaps most
importantly, an increased enjoyment of music
making and the creative process. Open to
everyone.
programs such as dance, theater, film, and
performance art, as well as community outreach.
Open to a limited number of students by audition.
Baroque Ensemble
Carsten Schmidt
Carsten Schmidt
Spring
This performance ensemble focuses on music
from roughly 1600 to 1750 and is open to both
instrumentalists and singers by audition. Using
modern instruments, we will explore the rich and
diverse musical world of the Baroque. Our work
will culminate in a joint concert with the
Chamber Choir. Regular coachings will be
supported by sessions exploring a variety of
performance practice issues, such as
ornamentation, notational conventions,
continuo playing, and editions.
Chamber Music
Sungrai Sohn
Various chamber groups—from quartets or
quintets to violin and piano duos—are formed
each year, depending on the number and variety
of qualified instrumentalists who apply. There are
weekly coaching sessions. Groups will have an
opportunity to perform at the end of each
semester in a chamber music concert.
Chamber Music
Improvisation
John A. Yannelli
This is an experimental performing ensemble
that explores a variety of musical styles and
techniques, including free improvisation,
improvisational conducting, and various other
chance-based methods. The ensemble is open to
all instruments (acoustic and electric), voice,
electronic synthesizers, and laptop computers.
Students must be able to demonstrate a level of
proficiency on their chosen instrument.
Composer-performers, dancers, and actors are
also welcome. Performance opportunities will
include concerts, collaboration with other
Conducting
Jonathan Yates
A course in the basics of conducting is available
to qualified students and is taught on an
individual conference basis. Completion of
Advanced Theory is required. Permission of the
Evolution of a Performance
Spring
This advanced seminar presents a unique
resource designed to help students develop wellinformed and inspired performances. The content
of this course will be carefully tailored to
participants’ interests, needs, abilities, and
chosen repertoire. It will include a combination
of the following: textual criticism and possible
creation of a performance edition; consideration
of performance practices, drawing on historical
documents and recent scholarship; study of
historical instruments (with possible field trips to
the Yale Collection of Musical Instruments);
review of pertinent analytical techniques and
writings; analytical, compositional, and eartraining assignments; readings that explore the
cultural, artistic, and emotional worlds of the
composers studied; in-class performances and
coaching; and discussion of broader philosophical
issues relating to authenticity in performance.
This course is for accomplished and highly
motivated performers who have a theory
background commensurate with completion of at
least the first semester of Advanced Theory:
Advanced Tonal Theory and Composition. It is
especially suitable for instrumentalists and singers
who are preparing for a recital or performances of
major chamber works. Permission of the instructor
is required.
Guitar Class
William Anderson
This course is for beginning guitar students by
recommendation of the faculty.
Guitar Ensemble
William Anderson
This class offers informal performance
opportunities on a weekly basis as a way of
88 Music
exploring guitar solo, duo, and ensemble
repertoire. The course will seek to improve sightreading abilities and foster a thorough knowledge
of the guitar literature. Recommended for
students interested in classical guitar. Permission
of the instructor is required.
Keyboard Lab
Gabriel Shuford
This course is designed to accommodate
beginning piano students who take the Keyboard
Lab as the core of their Music Third or as part of
a music “split” (e.g., a full lesson in voice with a
half-lesson in piano). This instruction takes place
in a group setting, with eight keyboard stations
and one master station. Students will be
introduced to elementary keyboard technique
and simple piano pieces.
Sarah Lawrence Orchestra
Jonathan Yates
The Sarah Lawrence Orchestra is open to all
students, as well as to members of the College
and Westchester communities. The Orchestra
performs at least once each semester. Recent
performances have included Stravinsky’s
L’histoire du Soldat, with dancing and narration;
Satie’s film score Entr’acte, performed live with a
screening of the film; a concert version of
Bernstein’s Candide; Mahler’s Symphony No. 1;
and a concert performance of Humperdinck’s
Hansel and Gretel.
Sarah Lawrence String
Orchestra
Sungrai Sohn
The Sarah Lawrence String Orchestra will meet
one and a half hours once a week and will be
open to Music Third students, as well as to other
students who are interested in playing in a string
orchestra. There will be one performance each
semester; each performance will highlight a
soloist from the orchestra. Auditions will be held
at the beginning of each semester. Audition
required.
Senior Recital
Music Faculty
Spring
This component offers students the opportunity
to share with the larger SLC community the
results of their sustained work in performance
study. During the semester of their recital,
students will receive additional coachings by
their principal teachers. Audition required.
Violin Master Class
Sungrai Sohn
Violin Master Class involves both playing and
discussion. Each student is required to prepare a
solo piece. An accompanist will be present before
and during each class to rehearse and perform
with students. Each master class is organized as a
series of individual lessons that address recurrent
performance problems, including discussions
concerning technical and musical issues (basic
and advanced), as well as performance practices.
All students will receive copies of the works
being performed. This class meets once a week.
Required Concert Attendance/Music Tuesdays
Component
Concert Attendance/Music
Tuesdays Requirement
The Music faculty wants students to have access
to a variety of musical experiences. Therefore, all
Music Thirds are required to attend all Music
Tuesday events and three Music programsponsored concerts on campus per semester,
including concerts (the required number varies
from semester to semester) presented by music
faculty and outside professionals that are part of
the Concert Series.
Music Tuesdays consists of various programs,
including student/faculty town meetings, concert
presentations, guest artist lectures and
performances, master classes, and collaborations
with other departments and performing arts
programs. Meetings, which take place in
Reisinger Concert Hall on selected Tuesdays from
1:30-3:00 p.m., are open to the community. The
schedule will be announced each semester.
Residencies and Workshops
The Cygnus Ensemble:
Artists-in-Residence
William Anderson, Susannah
Chapman, Oren Fader, Robert
Ingliss, Tara Helen O’Connor, Cal
Wiersma
The Cygnus Ensemble is a contemporary music
ensemble in residence at the College. Along with
presenting concerts of new music in the Concert
THE CURRICULUM 89
Series, the members of the ensemble work
individually with instrumental students and
participate in readings of new works by student
composers.
Master Class
Music Faculty, Guest Artists
Master Class includes a series of concerts and
instrumental and vocal seminars, as well as
lecture/demonstration presentations of music
history, world music, improvisation, jazz,
composition, and music technology. Master Class
takes place on Wednesdays from 12:30-1:30 p.m.
in either Reisinger Concert Hall or Marshall
Field House, Room 1. The classes are open to the
College community.
Music Workshop
Jean Wentworth
Approximately twice monthly, music workshops
are held in which a student or student ensemble,
with consent of the individual teacher, may
participate as performer(s). The College
community is welcome to attend. Since the only
limitation is that the composition(s) should be
well-prepared, these workshops serve as
important opportunities for students at all levels
to share their playing, singing, or composing
work with others and to have a significant way to
trace their own development.
Music Courses not offered in 2011-2012
• Idea of a New Style
• Jazz Composition and Arranging
• Keyboard Literature
• The Music of J. S. Bach
• Music of Transcendent Experience
• Orchestration
• Structures of Music, Structures of Power:
Ethnomusicology of Africa, Asia & the
Middle East
• Theoretical Foundations of Electronic Music
Philosophy
At Sarah Lawrence College, the study of
philosophy retains a centrality, helping students
synthesize their educational experience with the
discipline’s many connections to other
humanities and to social science. Through
conference work, students also find numerous
ways to connect the study of philosophy with
their interests in the arts and natural sciences.
Stressing the great tradition of classical and
contemporary philosophy, the College offers
three types of philosophy courses: those organized
around thematic topics, such as Philosophy of
Mind, Theories of Human Nature, and Ethics;
those organized historically, such as Moral
Philosophy from Plato to Nietzsche, The Making
of the Modern Mind, and 20th-Century
Philosophy; and those that study the “systems” of
philosophers such as Kant, Nietzsche, and
Wittgenstein. Philosophy faculty use the latest
technology in their teaching, including Web
boards for posting course material and promoting
discussion. Yearlong courses make extensive
textual work possible, enabling students to
establish in-depth relationships with the thought
of the great philosophers and to “do philosophy”
to some degree—particularly valuable to students
preparing for graduate work in philosophy.
Conference work often consists of students
thinking through and writing on single
philosophic and literary works, ranging from
Greek tragedy, comedy, or epic to Plato,
Aristotle, Aquinas, Machiavelli, Descartes,
Shakespeare, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hume,
Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, or Heidegger.
First-Year Studies:
Philosophy, Friend and Rival
to Religion
Abraham Anderson
FYS
Since its earliest days, philosophy has been
characterized by its rivalry with religion.
Philosophy begins from a desire to comprehend
mysteries, while religion involves an acceptance
of the mysterious. It’s no surprise, then, that
philosophy has often criticized or even mocked
religion, while religion has often been suspicious
of philosophy. It is because their concerns are so
close that philosophy and religion have often
been rivals. Both seek ultimate reasons for acting
and living and ultimate accounts of the nature of
things. Yet the closeness of their concerns, which
has sometimes brought them into conflict, has
sometimes made them close allies. Philosophy
has sought to draw on the energies, questions,
and teachings of religion, and religion has sought
the help of philosophy in explaining and
defending its teachings—particularly when it had
to defend them against philosophy itself. In this
course, we shall study the tensions and alliances
between philosophy and religion in order to gain
a deeper understanding of both. We shall begin
90 Philosophy
with the Theogony (account of the birth of the
gods) of the Greek poet Hesiod. We shall then
read the philosopher Heraclitus, who criticizes
Hesiod, and the philosopher Parmenides, who
seeks to provide an alternative to Hesiod’s
theology. This will be followed by Aristophanes’
Clouds and Plato’s Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and
Phaedo to study both the charges of impiety
against Socrates and Plato’s response to those
charges. Depending on time and the interests of
the class, we may also read Plato’s Phaedrus and
Symposium. In the second semester, we shall
inquire into the relation between the Bible and
philosophy by reading the first 11 chapters of the
Book of Genesis, the Book of Job, and the Books
of Amos and Jonah. We shall study the Epicurean
attack on religion by reading Lucretius’ On the
Nature of Things. We shall then go on to Paul’s
Letter to the Romans in the New Testament,
followed by Augustine’s Confessions—in which
Augustine shows us how Platonism and the
ancient academic skeptics helped lead him to
Christianity. If time permits, we shall read
Averroes’ Decisive Treatise on the Relation Between
Philosophy and Law, in which the medieval Arab
philosopher Averroes argues that philosophy and
religion can be friends that grasp the same truths
at different levels. If we have time, and
depending on the interests of the class, we may
read other works such as Hume’s The Natural
History of Religion and Kant’s humorous defense
of religion in the Dreams of a Spirit Seer.
First-Year Studies: Varieties of
Intellectual Dissent
Marina Vitkin
FYS
In this course, we will explore the question of
what it means “to think differently” as a powerful
approach to understanding the nature of human
thought. To set the stage, we will begin with
Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, a
novel in which religious and political worldviews
clash as the Devil pays a visit to the Moscow of
the 1930s. We will be led to consider the
processes of grafting a framework of religious and
philosophical thought, Christianity in our case,
onto a pre-existing cultural worldview and, in the
aftermath Bulgakov portrays, to tease out the
logical issues of alternative modes of thinking
from the political issues of standing up to power
in the name of personal dignity or moral justice.
For context, we will read relevant selections from
the Old and the New Testaments. We will then
turn to Plato’s Republic and, while aiming to grasp
the text as a whole, will focus especially on the
portrayal of Socrates. As a philosopher, Socrates
both exemplifies and reflects on the fundamental
incommensurability of his thought with those of
his fellow citizens, as illustrated in the dialogue
by the Allegory of the Cave and dramatized by
Socrates’s trial-and-death sentence. Our next
source will be a three-part play, Slings and Arrows,
in which we will pay special attention to the
challenges of bringing three of Shakespeare’s
greatest tragedies to life in a vastly altered
historical context—that of contemporary North
America. In addition to watching the
performance, we will read Hamlet, Macbeth, and
King Lear, as well as Oedipus Rex and several texts
of Freud. Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of
Scientific Revolutions, our next work, argues that
periods of radical intellectual divergence are built
into the very structure of science as a cultural
institution. The book will equip us with further
conceptual tools for thinking about thought and
the complexities of its operation in society. We
will conclude the course with Eva Hoffman’s Lost
in Translation: Life in a New Language, an
autobiography that attends to the issues of
thinking in incompatibly different ways from the
perspective of someone brought up in one culture
and then transplanted to another. When
intellectual universes collide, when individuals
with powerful alternatives to our modes of
thinking appear in our midst, when an earlier
worldview comes alive across historical
discontinuities, when transitions to sweepingly
novel conceptions constitute a normal part of an
intellectual pursuit, when a subject of one
cultural perspective translates herself into
another—five works of different genres will
provide us with rich and multifaceted material for
a philosophical exploration of thinking in
radically diverse ways.
Moral Philosophy from Plato
to Nietzsche
Michael Davis
Our age is suspicious of moral philosophy. We
tend to assume that its central question—“What
is the human good?”—however important, is not
answerable. Yet, in our daily lives, we cannot
help but take for granted that certain things are
good and others are not. Relativists in theory but
not in practice, we are at odds with ourselves.
That we are troubled by this tension between
what we think and what we do—we sense that it
is bad to be divided against ourselves in this
THE CURRICULUM 91
way—is a compelling reason to study the various
answers that have been given to the question of
the human good. We will turn to the books of
some of the seminal thinkers of the tradition of
Western philosophy in order to gain clarity about
the fundamental moral alternatives—to discover
the origins and implications of the underlying
(and frequently hidden) principles of
contemporary morality—with the naïve hope
that we may be able to answer the question of the
human good. Readings will include selections
from Genesis, Sophocles, Plato, Aristotle,
Machiavelli, Shakespeare, Descartes, Locke,
Swift, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Marx, and
Nietzsche.
Philosophical Roots of the
Philosophy of Science
Abraham Anderson
Open—Year
What is the philosophy of science—considered as
a philosophical enterprise? The desire to
understand science philosophically can mean
strikingly different things, depending on the
philosophical perspective from which that desire
arises. Perhaps the three most influential
positions in the philosophy of science over the
last century have been those of the Vienna
Circle, of Thomas Kuhn, and of Paul Feyerabend.
But where were these thinkers “coming from,”
philosophically speaking? The most important
influence on the Vienna Circle is recognized to
be Wittgenstein’s Tractatus, a work of general
philosophy with teachings on ethics, aesthetics,
and the meaning of life, as well as on the status of
science. In order to understand what drives the
Vienna Circle to see the nature of science as it
does, we shall, therefore, read the Tractatus. The
Tractatus, however, is a rather mysterious book
that expresses its larger views partly by refusing to
talk about them. In order to understand the
Tractatus more fully, we shall read it, in turn,
against the background of Schopenhauer’s World
as Will and Idea, which is generally acknowledged
to have been a primary influence on
Wittgenstein when he wrote the Tractatus.
Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions is, in
large part, a criticism of the Vienna Circle.
Behind that criticism lay, among other factors,
Kuhn’s study of Wittgenstein’s late work,
Philosophical Investigations. We shall explore this
connection together and consider how much The
Structure of Scientific Revolutions is a work in the
spirit of Philosophical Investigations. Feyerabend’s
Against Method continues and radicalizes Kuhn’s
criticism of the Vienna Circle, yet with
inflections remarkably unlike Kuhn’s. There are
striking resemblances between Feyerabend’s
skeptical perspectivism and that of Nietzsche in
Beyond Good and Evil. We shall read the two
works together and study the philosophical
relationship between Feyerabend and Nietzsche.
By studying some of the most significant currents
in 20th-century philosophy of science against the
broader matrix of 19th- and 20th-century
philosophy generally, we will hope to gain a fuller
understanding of both philosophy of science and
that broader matrix itself.
Philosophy and Friendship:
Schelling and Hegel
Marina Vitkin
Open—Year
This seminar will be devoted to the intellectual
relationship between Schelling and Hegel, each
of whom produced great works in the context of
one of the most fertile epochs of philosophical
creativity in the Western tradition. For a time,
Schelling and Hegel were close friends and
associates. Their dramatic parting of
philosophical ways, seemingly accompanied by
concealed but unmistakable notes of personal
bitterness, will lead us to reflect on the complex
connections between the vagaries of their
friendship and the principled incompatibility of
their essential philosophical commitments. To
get at the core of the intellectual disagreement
between the two thinkers, we will study Hegel’s
Phenomenology of Spirit in the first semester and
Schelling’s System of Transcendental Idealism and
On Human Freedom in the second. We will also
read texts that specifically address their
conceptual divergence as understood by each
thinker, including selections from Hegel’s
Lectures on the History of Philosophy and from
Schelling’s Berlin Lectures. Both the nature of
friendship and the nature of philosophical truth
will be the guiding themes of the course, and
conference work will provide students with
opportunities to explore these themes across a
wide range of philosophical and literary works.
Wittgenstein on Mind and
Language
Nancy Baker
Would it be possible to know anything if we grew
up isolated from one another on desert islands?
Would we be able to think? Would we have
92 Physics
emotions? Would we be able to invent our own
language? Would we have minds? The answers to
these questions would be “yes” if a basic
assumption of much of Western philosophy were
true, viz. that human consciousness has its origins
in the individual and only later becomes social
and communicable with the learning of language.
Some philosophers, such as Descartes, have gone
so far as to claim that even the learning of
language cannot make consciousness
communicable; for we could never know, for
example, whether we each see the same when we
describe what we see as “red” or “blue,” or
whether we feel the same when we describe
ourselves as “happy” or “sad,” or even whether
other people have minds at all. A major thinker
of the 20th century, Ludwig Wittgenstein, has
seriously undermined these assumptions
concerning the nature of mind and language. His
work has profound implications not only for
philosophy but also for psychology and
anthropology. In dealing with these issues, we
will closely read Philosophical Investigations, a text
unique in the history of philosophy for being
“therapy” instead of “theory.” Mastering
Wittgenstein’s technique of philosophizing will
reveal to us our own conceptual confusions, as
well as those of the Western philosophical
tradition, and will give us the experience of
dismantling or deconstructing what he calls the
“pictures that hold us captive.” Readings will be
from Descartes, Wittgenstein, and other 20thcentury philosophers.
The Music of Philosophy:
Nietzsche’s Birth of Tragedy
Michael Davis
Intermediate—Fall
This course will be devoted to a careful reading of
The Birth of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Music.
Nietzsche claims that tragedy, formed as a unique
combination of Apollinian and Dionysian drives
and in its connection to music, represent a more
fundamental mode of being in the world than the
tradition of rationalism that originates with
Socrates, grows into the tradition of Western
philosophy, and culminates in the optimism of
modern science so powerful in his (and our)
century. Nietzsche means to offer an alternative
to reason understood in this way—a Dionysian
philosophy, the image of which is a “musicmaking Socrates.” We will read this
text—sometimes painfully slowly and
carefully—with a view to understanding what it
means for Nietzsche to seek the truth of tragedy
in a book that, on the surface at least, seems to be
an attack on truth seeking—what it means that
he can speak the words, “This book should have
sung and not spoken.”
Ancient Philosophy (Plato)
Michael Davis
This course will be devoted to a careful reading of
a small number of texts from a major figure in
ancient philosophy. The goal of the course is
twofold. It is first designed to acquaint students
with one of the seminal figures of our tradition in
more than a superficial way. In doing that, it will
force us to slow our usual pace of reading—to
read almost painfully carefully—with a view to
understanding the thinker as he wrote and as he
understood himself and not as a stage in a
historical development. The second part of the
goal of the course is to introduce and encourage
this kind of careful reading. The text will be
Plato’s Alcibiades I.
Physics
Physics—the study of matter and energy, time
and space, and their interactions and
interconnections—is often regarded as the most
fundamental of the natural sciences. An
understanding of physics is essential for an
understanding of many aspects of chemistry,
which in turn provides a foundation for
understanding a variety of biological processes.
Physics also plays an important role in most
branches of engineering, and the field of
astronomy essentially is physics applied on the
largest of scales. As science has progressed over
the last century or so, the boundaries between
the different scientific disciplines have become
blurred, and new interdisciplinary fields such as
chemical physics, biophysics, and engineering
physics have arisen. For these reasons, and
because of the excellent training in critical
thinking and problem solving provided by the
study of physics, this subject represents an
indispensable gateway to the other natural
sciences and a valuable component of a liberal
arts education.
THE CURRICULUM 93
Super Fast, Super Small,
Super Cool
Kanwal Singh
Technological advancements throughout the
20th century and into the 21st have given us
access to realms of nature that are radically
different from the everyday world that we
inhabit. Specifically, we have learned that when
objects approach the speed of light, when they
are on the order of the size of an atom, and when
temperatures are close to absolute zero, some
pretty interesting phenomena arise that are not
present in our slow, large, warm, everyday lives.
Matter and energy behave in ways that blur the
line between them and that challenge our
understanding. In this course, we will lay down
the general physical laws that govern these three
realms. We’ll discuss how they differ from the
laws that govern our everyday experiences and
how the “super” realms connect to our own (if
they do). We'll also use our understanding of the
fundamentals to discuss areas of current research
and new technological developments. These may
include high-temperature superconductivity,
nanotechnology, or other areas that the class
wants to explore.
Astronomy
Scott Calvin
Open—Year
On the first night, we will look up and see the
stars. By the last, we will know what makes them
shine, how they came to be, and their ultimate
fates. In between, we will survey the universe and
humankind’s investigations of it from ancient
navigation to modern cosmology. In addition to
the stars themselves, we will learn about solarsystem objects such as planets, asteroids, moons,
and comets; the comparative astronomy of
different eras and cultures; the properties,
lifetimes, and deaths of galaxies, quasars, and
black holes; and theories and evidence
concerning the origin, evolution, and fate of the
universe. In addition to readings and
examination of multimedia material, students
will conduct astronomical observation and
experiments—at first with an astrolabe, then
with a simple telescope, and finally with the most
powerful telescopes on and around the Earth.
Emphasis will be placed on modes of scientific
communication so that each student will keep a
notebook, participate in debates, present posters,
write papers, give oral presentations, and
participate in the peer review process. In
addition, students will experience famous
astronomical debates through role-play.
Conference projects may be dedicated to
critically examining some topic in astronomy,
conducting astronomical observation, or
investigating the relationships between
astronomy and other aspects of society and
culture.
Introduction to Mechanics
(General Physics Without
Calculus)
Scott Calvin
Open—Fall
This course covers introductory classical
mechanics, including dynamics, kinematics,
momentum, energy, and gravity. Students
considering careers in architecture or the health
sciences, as well as those interested in physics for
physics’ sake, should take either this course or
Classical Mechanics (offered in alternate years).
Emphasis will be placed on scientific skills,
including problem solving, development of
physical intuition, computational skills, scientific
communication, use of technology, and
development and execution of experiments.
Seminars will incorporate discussion, exploratory,
and problem-solving activities. In addition, the
class will meet weekly to conduct laboratory
work. Calculus is not required. This course or
equivalent is required to take Introduction to
Electromagnetism, Light, and Modern Physics
(General Physics Without Calculus) in the
spring. An optional course-within-a-course,
preparing students for the MCAT, will be
available for premed students and will count as
part of their conference work.
Playing With Light
Kanwal Singh
Open—Fall
This course is an entirely laboratory-based
exploration in optics. Students will be using
mirrors, lenses, gratings, filters, and other optical
equipment to explore the behavior of light. We
will begin by investigating some simple rules that
govern how light behaves at interfaces, such as
reflective and refractive surfaces (i.e., mirrors and
lenses), and then use this knowledge to build
simple optical systems. We will also examine
what happens when light is forced to travel
through very tiny openings, exploiting its
94 Politics
physical properties on a much smaller scale.
Students will work in groups to explore a variety
of phenomena and to build optical systems.
Science Education: From
Congress to the Classroom
Kanwal Singh
This course tackles a variety of topics in science
education. We’ll begin with a discussion of the
history of science education in the United States,
changes that were proposed and that actually
took place following the 1983 publication of “A
Nation At Risk,” and a comparison of science
education requirements in the United States and
in other industrialized countries. From this broad
overview, we’ll move to discussions of policies
that were put in place to improve US science
education. Some questions that we will explore:
What exactly were these policies meant to
achieve? Whose education did they improve?
How were they conceived? What incentives were
put in place? Is it sensible or possible to have
national policies, given the decentralized nature
of our school system? Finally, we’ll talk about
what actually happens in the classroom,
especially in the early grades. We’ll discuss
philosophical and practical reasons why science
isn’t usually introduced until late elementary or
even middle school. Again, some questions for
students to explore are: How much science does
one need to teach? What does science mean for
very young students? What habits of mind do
scientists employ? How do you teach these habits
of mind? Is there specific content that everyone
“should” know? Who decides what it is? How
does policy make its way into the classroom?
Students must have previously taken at least one
science course at SLC.
Introduction to
Electromagnetism, Light, and
Modern Physics (General
Physics Without Calculus)
Scott Calvin
This course covers topics from electromagnetism,
optics, and special relativity to quantum
mechanics. Emphasis will be placed on scientific
skills, including problem solving, development of
physical intuition, computational skills, scientific
communication, use of technology, and
development and execution of experiments.
Seminars will incorporate discussion, exploratory,
and problem-solving activities. In addition, the
class will meet weekly to conduct laboratory
work. Calculus is not a requirement for this
course. An optional course-within-a-course,
preparing students for the MCAT, will be
available for premed students and will count as
part of their conference work. Permission of the
instructor is required. Students should have had at
least one semester of physics (mechanics).
Information and the Arrow
of Time
Michael Siff, Kanwal Singh
What is information? What is entropy? How can
the utterly reliable and predictable behavior of
computers as we know them arise from subatomic
particles governed by the wholly
nondeterministic rules of quantum mechanics?
Are quantum computers exponentially superior
to their classical counterparts? Do the limits of
classical computation apply to these machines?
What are the philosophical implications of
quantum computers; and, in particular, might
they lend support to the many-worlds hypothesis?
Will a practical quantum computer be built in
the near future? If so, is it possible that these
devices will demolish electronic privacy as we
know it? This course will cover topics at the
intersection of quantum physics and computer
science, with an aim toward exploring how the
fundamental laws of quantum mechanics impact
the representation and manipulation of
information on computers. Topics will include
bits and qubits; the Nyquist limit; the basics of
Shannon information theory; quantum
computers and quantum cryptography; energy,
entropy, and reversibility; the EPR paradox; and
spooky action at a distance. This is a jointly taught
seminar. Half the class will have conferences with
Mr. Singh; half with Mr. Siff. Intermediate: Open to
sophomores and above.
Politics
The study of politics at Sarah Lawrence College
encompasses past and present thinking, political
and interdisciplinary influences, and theoretical
and hands-on learning. The goal: a deep
understanding of the political forces that shape
society. Questions such as “How is power
structured and exercised?” “What can be
accomplished through well-ordered institutions?”
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and “How do conditions that produce freedom
compare with those that contribute to tyranny?”
serve as springboards for stimulating inquiry.
Rather than limit ourselves to the main
subdisciplines of political science, we create
seminars around today’s issues—such as
feminism, international justice, immigration, and
poverty—and analyze these issues through the
lens of past philosophies and events. We don’t
stop at artificial boundaries. Our courses often
draw from other disciplines or texts, especially
when looking at complex situations. Because we
see an important connection between political
thought and political action, we encourage
students to participate in service learning. This
engagement helps them apply and augment their
studies and leads many toward politically active
roles in the United States and around the world.
First-Year Studies: The
American Polity
Samuel Abrams
FYS
Political science is the systematic study of politics
and political life, and this can and should be
broadly defined. This course is an introductory
study in American politics, specifically, and
provides an explanation of how the American
political process works. The class examines the
basic principles of American politics, the
problems of collective decision making, the
purposes of government, the formal institutions
of national government—Congress, the Supreme
Court, the Presidency, and the
bureaucracy—congressional and presidential
elections, the role of the media, and the
mobilization of citizens through political parties
and interest groups. Our examination of these
institutions and ideas will be interdisciplinary in
nature and will present a number of the major
general theories underlying the study of
American government. This will thus give
students the knowledge of the structure and
operation of the institutions of the American
political system and how their roles intersect,
compete, and complement each other.
Additionally, students will become familiar with
the actors and the institutions within our federal
government and those institutions affecting our
federal government. From this investigation,
students will gain an awareness of the role of
citizens, interest groups, political parties, and
politicians within the American political system.
Moreover, they will better understand the role of
politics and strategy in the operation and impact
of the government. Taken collectively, the
students will develop the ability to synthesize the
material from the course to develop their own
opinions regarding the proper role of the
government in our society. We will be talking
about politically charged and often divisive
issues, including abortion, immigration, race
relations, and homosexuality. This seminar will
be an open, nonpartisan forum for discussion and
debate. As such, this course will be driven by
data, not dogma. We will use a variety of
approaches based in logic and evidence to find
answers to various puzzles about American policy,
and we will treat this material as social
scientists—not ideologues. Comfort with
numbers and statistics is expected.
The Legitimacy of
Modernity? Basic Texts in
Social Theory
David Peritz
Social theory is a distinctly modern tradition of
discourse, centered on explaining social order in
societies that are too large, fluid, and complex to
rely on tradition or self-conscious political
regulation alone. Instead, a series of theorists
whose works gave rise to the modern social
sciences explore the sources of social order in
structures, many of which work “behind the
backs” or independently from the intention of
those whose interaction they integrate. The
market economy, the legal and administrative
state, the firm and the professions, highly
differentiated political and civil cultures, a
variety of disciplinary techniques inscribed in
diverse mundane practices—one by one, these
theorists labored to unmask the often hidden
sources of social order. Moreover, this
understanding of social order has evolved side-byside with evaluations ranging from those that
view Western modernity as achieving the apex of
human freedom and individuality to those that
see it as insinuating a uniquely thorough and
invidious system of domination. This class will
introduce many of the foundational texts and
authors in the social sciences, including Adam
Smith, Alexis de Tocqueville, Karl Marx, Emile
Durkheim, Max Weber, Sigmund Freud, Michel
Foucault, Jurgen Habermas, and Frantz Fanon. In
this way, it will also cover various schools of
social explanation, including: Marxism,
structuralism, poststructuralism, postcolonial
studies, and feminism. The thread connecting
these disparate authors and approaches will be
96 Politics
the issue of the worth or legitimacy of Western
modernity. Which of the institutions that
structured the process of modernization are worth
defending or reforming? Which should be
rejected outright? Or should we reject them all
and embrace a new, postmodern social epoch? In
answering these questions in class and in group
conferences, we will grapple both with classical
texts and with the implications of different
approaches for contemporary social analysis.
Latin American Politics:
Dynamics of State Formation,
Reform, and Revolution
Dominic Corva
Open—Fall
This course will focus on the dynamics of state
formation and social conflict in Latin America in
global, regional, and local contexts from
colonialism to the present day. Empirically, this
course will emphasize a comparative perspective
of Latin American state formation as the
outcome of endogenous and transnational power
dynamics. This examination of the evidence will
be informed by Latin American contributions to
postcolonial theory, particularly as described by
Argentinean Walter Mignolo. This will allow us
to consider the state as a set of institutions that
reflect and reinforce axes of economic, racial, and
gendered domination in Latin America.
Ethnographic case studies and documentary
histories will be combined with a consideration
of geopolitical intervention to construct a critical
analysis of state formation as a historically
contingent process for consolidating power in
societies rather than, necessarily, a political
technology for modernization and the provision
of security. Major issues to be covered include
endogenous political formation as an ongoing
outcome of colonial and neocolonial economic
processes, liberal and conservative approaches to
indigenous politics, and gendered aspects of
reform and revolution in Latin America. Special
attention will be paid to the Mexican, Bolivian,
and Cuban revolutions; bureaucratic
authoritarianism, particularly in Chile; and the
contemporary “Bolivarian revolution” in the
region.
Looking at Leadership and
Decision Making in the
Political World
Samuel Abrams
Intermediate—Year
The president is the most prominent actor in the
American government, and developing an
understanding of how and why political leaders
make the choices that they do is the goal of this
course. Presidents must make countless decisions
while in office and, as Edwards and Wayne
explain, “Executive officials look to [the
presidency] for direction, coordination, and
general guidance in the implementation of
policy…Congress looks to it for establishing
priorities, exerting influence…the heads of
foreign governments look to it for articulating
positions, conducting diplomacy, and flexing
muscle; the general public looks to it for…solving
problems and exercising symbolic and moral
leadership….” This course will examine and
analyze the development and modern practice of
presidential leadership in the United States by
studying the evolution of the modern presidency,
which includes the process of presidential
selection and the structure of the presidency as
an institution. The course will then reflect on the
ways in which presidents make decisions and seek
to shape foreign, economic, and domestic policy.
This will be based on a variety of literatures,
ranging from social psychology to organizational
behavior. We will look at the psychology and
character of presidents in this section of the
course. Finally, the course will explore the
relationship of the presidency with other major
government institutions, organized interest
groups, the press, and the public in a variety of
forms; and we will examine the many political
resources and constraints influencing the
president’s ability to provide leadership in the US
political system. The course will look at the
behavior and choices made by presidents ranging
from Washington to Obama and will analyze why
some presidents have been more successful than
others. The course will pay close attention to the
actions and choices made by Bush and Obama
over the past decade and take advantage of their
recent personal writings to better understand
their choices. We will try to situate those
behaviors in a larger historical context. Open to
juniors and seniors who have taken a psychology,
sociology, or politics course.
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Democracy and Diversity
David Peritz
Intermediate—Year
Does democracy work only in homogeneous
societies? Only in such societies, it has long been
maintained, can a people be sufficiently similar to
form shared political understanding and projects.
Absent considerable commonality—religious,
linguistic, ethnic, racial—it is feared that
democracy deteriorates into the tyranny of the
majority or a war of all against all. But we are in
the midst of a dramatic shift in which democratic
societies are increasingly diverse and their
citizens less willing to “forget” their many
differences to melt into a dominant national
culture. These developments raise some basic
questions: Is it possible to achieve sufficient
agreement on fundamental political issues in a
diverse society to sustain democracy? Can the
character of political community or the nation be
reconceived and reformed? If not, is democracy
doomed? Or might it be possible to reform
democracy to render it compatible with
conditions of deep diversity? If so, does the
democratic claim to legitimacy also need to be
transformed? This course will explore these
questions in a number of ways. We will study
exemplary historical statements of the ideal of
democracy, drawing on traditional and
contemporary works in political philosophy. We
will also draw on contemporary work in
sociology, anthropology, cultural and legal
studies, and political science to examine the
nature of social and cultural diversity, including
religion, value, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity,
and class. Finally, we will explore works that
bring these themes together by attempting to (re)
articulate the relevance of specific identities to
political engagement and the general ideal of
democracy in light of increased diversity. Specific
themes to be considered include: race and
democracy, the politics of recognition, and the
ethics of identity.
State, Social Movement, and
Latin America’s “Left Turn”:
A Critical Inquiry
Dominic Corva
Intermediate—Fall
Starting with Venezuela in 1998, political parties
described as “left-of-center” have captured a
majority of the state apparatuses in South
America and elsewhere in the region. What
political characteristics do these countries have
in common? How are they distinct from each
other? And, most importantly, how are these
commonalities and differences related to the
emergence of new social movements in the
region, such as the Zapatistas of Mexico, landless
workers such as the MST in Brazil, and
contemporary indigenous and women’s
movements? Should this “move to the left” be
defined in terms of state capture, or is state
capture a response to such movements? And
what does it have to do with economic
globalization and its discontents? Laclau and
Mouffe’s analysis of the relationship between
“politics” and “the political,” in the context of
transnational neoliberal hegemony, will inform
this up-to-the-minute inquiry into one of the
most significant political developments of our
time. Special attention will be focused on
Bolivian social and labor movements; the World
Social Forum; factory expropriation by workers in
Argentina; indigenous/ecological movements in
Ecuador, Peru and Guatemala; and the
petrodollar-financed “Bolivarian Revolution” in
Venezuela and throughout the region. We will
also seek to understand by way of comparison the
lack of “regime change” in Colombia and
Mexico, despite the widespread presence of
similar political-economic circumstances and
social movements. Previous coursework in Latin
American studies is required.
Collective Violence and PostConflict Reconciliation
Elke Zuern
Are violence and violent struggle part of ordinary
politics? The answer to this question has a
profound impact upon the way that we view
protest activity and the actions of states; it affects
the way that we understand struggles for greater
rights, struggles for power, and the resolution of
those struggles. This course challenges the
assumption that violence is simply the end of
politics by investigating the uses of violence as an
integral part of political processes from the
repression of demonstrations to war and
terrorism. We investigate central questions
concerning the role of violence and its shortterm impact upon politics. What leads states to
choose war or organizations to choose violent
means to press their demands? Under what
conditions will nonviolent movement tactics be
most effective? Under what conditions do actors
tend to move toward violence? Are states losing
their relative monopoly on violence? These
98 Psychology
questions are central not only to important
theoretical and philosophical debates but, in the
current political climate, increasingly to pressing
policy discussions and crucial political and
humanitarian choices. How we, both as
individuals and as the United States, view
violence and how we respond to it can have
dramatic consequences for international
relations, for states, and for their citizens around
the world. We will also investigate a range of
theoretical perspectives on the aftermath of
collective violence from truth commissions and
international criminal tribunals, to local courts
and community-based justice mechanisms, and to
the international politics of memory, forgetting,
and apology. Prior coursework in the social sciences
is required.
Psychology
Psychology—one of the largest programs at Sarah
Lawrence College—offers students a broad array
of courses at all levels, covering areas from
experimental to social and developmental
psychology. In small seminars, students read
primary sources and explore issues through
discussion and research, often making important
connections between psychology and other fields.
Using the College’s resources—including a
new Child Study Lab and a computer psychology
laboratory—students design and conduct
experiments, analyze data, and post results. At
the campus Early Childhood Center, students
have the opportunity to explore firsthand the
development of young children by carrying out
fieldwork in classrooms for children ages two
through six and/or by carrying out research in the
Child Study Lab located in the same building.
The lab has a room dedicated to conducting
research, complete with one-way mirror and
video and audio equipment. An adjacent room
provides space and equipment for students to
view and transcribe videotapes, as well as to
analyze the outcome of their research projects.
These facilities provide a range of opportunities
for conference work in psychology.
Fieldwork placements with organizations in
New York City and Westchester County, as well
as in the College’s own Early Childhood Center,
expand the opportunities for students to combine
their theoretical studies with direct experience
beginning in their first year. Sarah Lawrence
College prepares students well for graduate
programs in psychology, education, or social
work; some enter the College’s Art of Teaching
program as undergraduates and receive a BA/
MSEd after only five years of study.
First-Year Studies:
Approaches to Child
Development
Charlotte L. Doyle
FYS
What are the worlds of children like? How can
we come closer to understanding those worlds? In
this class, we will use different modalities to cast
light on them. One set of lenses is provided by
psychological theory. Various psychologists
(Piaget, Vygotsky, Freud, Erikson, Bowlby,
Skinner, Bandura, Chess) have raised particular
questions and suggested conceptual answers. We
will read the theorists closely for their answers
but also for their questions, asking which aspects
of childhood each theory throws into focus. We
will examine systematic studies carried out by
developmental psychologists in areas such as the
development of thinking, social understanding,
language, gender and race awareness, friendship,
and morality. We will take up the development of
the brain and nervous system and consider the
implications for important psychological
questions. An important counterpoint to reading
about children is direct observation. All students
will do field work at the Early Childhood Center
and make notes on what they observe. At times,
we will draw on student observations to support
or critique theoretical concepts. Fieldwork also
will provide the basis for conference work.
Ideally, conference projects will combine the
interests of the student, some library reading, and
some aspect of fieldwork observation. Among the
projects students have designed in the past are
exploring children’s friendships, observing what
children say as they are painting, following a
child as he is learning English as a second
language, and writing a children’s book text. The
world of childhood is magical. This course is for
students who understand that the magic won’t
disappear if we take a close, intellectually
rigorous look.
Realities of Groups
Gina Philogene
FYS
One of the most important aspects of our lives is
the web of group affiliations in which we engage.
Groups are an inescapable aspect of our
THE CURRICULUM 99
existence. From the very beginning of one’s life,
the idea of group pervades most dimensions of
our existence—from family structures to nationstates. Not only is the individual defined on the
basis of his or her group memberships, but he or
she also learns most facets of socialization within
the confinement of groups (e.g., school,
committees, gangs, and work). The groups orient,
guide, and shape individual perceptions,
interpretations, and actions in the social world.
While social psychology has maintained an
individuo-centered approach to the analysis of
groups, several classic studies have demonstrated
that there is no individual who is not essentially
and entirely a product of the various groups to
which he or she belongs. This first-year seminar
explores the defining characteristics of groups
and the extent to which we are indeed shaped by
our groups. We are concerned primarily with
people’s thoughts and behavior as group
members, both from within one’s own group as
well as vis-à-vis other groups. To address this
material, we will focus on three questions in
particular: How and why do individuals come to
form specific groups? What are the dynamics
operating within the group, transforming it into a
cohesive unit that is more than the sum of its
parts? Which processes rule the interactions
between groups, in particular the “us” versus
“them” dimension? The first two questions will
be the objects of discussion during the first
semester. In the course of the second semester, we
shall address the third question while also
highlighting how the realities of groups get
transformed in the cultural context of the
Internet.
The Talking Cure: The
Restoration of Freedom
Marvin Frankel
Over the past century, the concepts of “wisdom”
and “ignorance” have been replaced by “health”
and “illness.” We consult psychologists and
psychiatrists rather than philosophers in the hope
of living “the good life.” Vanity has been replaced
by status anxiety. We become cured rather than
educated. The cure is presumably accomplished
through a series of conversations between patient
and doctor, but these are not ordinary
conversations. Moreover, the relationship
between psychologist and patient is vastly
different from the typical relationship of
physician and patient. Despite more than a
century of practice, there remains little
agreement among these practitioners of “health”
regarding what the content of these
conversations should be or the proper roles of
doctor and patient. Consequently, the patient
who sees a psychoanalyst has a very different kind
of experience from a patient who seeks the help
of a person-centered therapist or a behaviorally
oriented psychotherapist. This course will
examine the rules of conversation that govern
various psychotherapeutic relationships and
compare those rules with those that govern other
kinds of relationships such as those between
friends, teachers and students, and family
members. If you’re phobic of self-criticism, this
course is not for you. If you don’t know whether
you are or aren’t, trust that this course is not for
you. Finally, if you don’t think these last two
sentences are funny, this course is most definitely
not for you.
Beyond the Matrix of Race:
Psychologies of Race and
Ethnicity
Linwood J. Lewis
Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere. It is all
around us....You can see it when you look out
your window or when you turn on your
television....It is the world that has been pulled
over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo....—The
Matrix (1999)
….the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a
veil and gifted with second-sight in this
American world—a world which yields him no
true self-consciousness but only lets him see
himself through the revelation of the other
world.—W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk
(1903)
The construct of race can be adaptive and
healthy but can also lead to human misery
through deception about our (hierarchical)
relationship to each other. Racially organized
hierarchies, such as The Matrix or DuBois’ veil
metaphor, interfere with our ability to clearly
perceive our relationships to each other as racial/
ethnic beings. In this lecture, we will examine
the social construction of the matrix of race,
social class, and ethnicity within a historical
perspective and how these constructs implicitly
and explicitly inform psychological inquiry. We
100 Psychology
will examine the development of racial/ethnic
identity in childhood and adolescence, as well as
gendered and sexual aspects of race/ethnicity. In
the spring, we will move toward a broader
understanding of psychological aspects of
prejudice, ethnic conflict, and immigration and
how these themes are expressed within the
United States and abroad.
Structure and Change in Life
Historical Accounts
Sean Akerman
Open—Year
This course will introduce students to the theory
and practice of narrative psychology by looking
to a number of life historical accounts to consider
questions about structure and change in life
depiction. Through a close reading of
psychoanalytic case studies, existential and
phenomenological case studies, ethnographies
written outside of one’s own culture, and
contemporary study-of-lives work in psychology,
students will inquire into the many ways to
structure the life of another person in text.
Course readings will also focus on
autobiographical accounts, especially those
dealing with major life change such as gender
reassignment, madness, creativity, violence,
illness, and the sublime. At stake are questions of
power and ethics, the relationship between
experience and writing, and the shifting genre of
the life history on the boundary between the
social sciences and the humanities. Beyond
readings and class discussions, students will
practice several forms of narrative writing and
compose a life study, drawing upon the
theoretical and methodological tools discussed in
the course, to create a portrait of an individual of
their choosing.
Child and Adolescent
Development
Carl Barenboim
Open—Year
In this course, we will study the psychological
growth of the child from birth through
adolescence. In the process, we will read about
some of the major theories that have shaped our
thinking concerning children, including
psychoanalytic (Freud and Erikson), behaviorist
(Skinner), social learning (Bandura), and
cognitive developmental (Piaget). A number of
aspects of child development will be considered,
including: the capabilities of the infant; the
growth of language, thinking, and memory;
various themes of parent-child relations,
including attachment, separation, and different
parenting styles; peer relations (friendships, the
“rejected child”); sex role development; some of
the “real world” challenges facing today's
children and adolescents (e.g., “pushing” young
children, divorce, and single-parent/blended
families); and the modern study of childhood
resilience in the face of difficult circumstances.
Direct experience with children will be an
integral part of this course, including fieldwork at
the Early Childhood Center or other venues.
Written observational diaries will be used as a
way of integrating these direct experiences with
seminar topics and conference readings.
Home and Other Figments:
Qualitative Approaches to
Exile and Immigration
Sean Akerman
Open—Fall
This course will introduce students to the major
forms of qualitative research—discourse analysis,
participatory action research, case studies, and
grounded theory, among many others—by
exploring psychological inquiries into the topics
of exile and immigration. The unique experience
of uprootedness provides an opportunity to ask
questions about home, identity, and the
transmission of the past and also provides the
space to reflect upon the psychological methods
used to understand such complexities. We will
inquire into the relationships between
epistemology and method, between language and
experience, and between researchers and
“participants.” Course readings will be drawn
from classic and contemporary qualitative
research on various diasporas, reflecting a critical
eye toward how research may conceptualize,
frame, and liberate exiles and immigrants.
Rainbow Nation: Growing
Up South African in the
Apartheid and PostApartheid Eras
Kim Ferguson
Open—Fall
“It was during those long and lonely years that
my hunger for the freedom of my own people
became a hunger for the freedom of all people,
white and black. I knew as well as I knew
THE CURRICULUM 101
anything that the oppressor must be liberated just
as surely as the oppressed.”—Nelson Mandela,
Long Walk to Freedom (1994)
Poverty in America:
Integrating Theory,
Research, Policy & Practice
“For it is the dawn that has come, as it has come
for a thousand centuries, never failing. But when
that dawn will come, of our emancipation, from
the fear of bondage and the bondage of fear, why,
that is a secret.”—Alan Paton, Cry, the Beloved
Country (1948)
Kim Ferguson
How do the contexts in which we live influence
our development? And how do these contexts
influence the questions we ask about
development and the ways in which we interpret
our observations? In this course, we will answer
these and other key questions about development
through a discussion of human development in
South Africa during and after the apartheid era
from a cultural-ecological perspective. We will
discuss how children’s cognitive, language, social
and emotional development, as well as their
mental and physical health, are influenced by the
environment in which they live—which, during
apartheid, was determined by the governmental
classification of race. Key topics will include fear,
racial stereotyping and discrimination, identity
formation, crime and violence, and forgiveness
and reconciliation. We will also take a broader
view of these topics in discussing what human
development in apartheid and postapartheid
South Africa can tell us about human
development in general. In thinking about
human development in South African contexts,
we will also discuss South African psychological
research during and after apartheid, with a view
toward understanding more broadly how
psychological research can both influence and be
influenced by public policy. How did researchers’
political affiliations, race, ethnicity, and culture
affect the questions they asked, the measures they
used, the ways in which they interpreted their
data, and even whether and where they published
their research findings? Readings will be drawn
from both classic and contemporary research in
psychology, human development, anthropology,
sociology, and public health; memoirs and other
first-hand accounts (including Nelson Mandela’s
autobiography); and classic and contemporary
South African literature. We will also view and
analyze several classic and contemporary films,
including The Power of One, Tsotsi, Catch a Fire,
and Cry, the Beloved Country.
Open—Fall
One-fifth of all American children live in
poverty. Why? And what can be done about it?
In this course, we will take an ecological and
psychobiological approach to poverty in America
and its relationship to public policy, with a focus
on child poverty. We will discuss how physical
and psychosocial environments differ for poor
and nonpoor children and their families in both
rural and urban contexts, specifically rural
Upstate New York and urban Yonkers. We will
explore how these differences affect mental and
physical health and motor, cognitive, language,
and socioemotional development. We will also
discuss individual and environmental protective
factors that buffer some children from the adverse
effects of poverty, as well as the impacts of public
policy on poor children and their
families—including recent welfare, health, and
educational policy reforms in the United States.
Topics will include environmental chaos,
cumulative risk and its relationship to chronic
stress, and unequal access to health-care services.
This course will also serve as an introduction to
the methodologies of community-based and
participatory action research within the context
of a service-learning course. Students will be
expected to participate in a community
partnership, addressing issues related to poverty,
as part of their conference work. In addition, we
will discuss the nature of these research and
practice methodologies, and students will develop
a proposal for community-based work in
partnership with their community organization.
A previous course in the social sciences is
recommended.
Language Development
Barbara Schecter
Open—Fall
Learning language is a fundamental aspect of
human experience that is reproduced from
generation to generation all over the world. Yet,
how similar are the processes of language
development among people of different places
and backgrounds? This course will explore the
nature of language and its relation to thinking,
meaning-making, and culture. We will begin with
a look at the phenomena of first-language
acquisition—naming, categorizing, conversation,
102 Psychology
private speech, storytelling, metaphor—and how
they constitute and express children’s
experiences in their worlds. We will then
consider topics such as language and gender, early
literacy, second-language learning in the contexts
of bilingualism, transitions from home to school,
and immigration. Readings will be drawn from
psychological studies, ethnographic accounts, and
memoirs. Students will be encouraged to do
fieldwork in settings where they can observe and
record language, including in our Early
Childhood Center, to investigate and document
the processes that we will be studying or as the
basis for conference projects.
Life and Work: Biography,
Autobiography, and Memoir
in Psychology
Elizabeth Johnston
Open—Spring
Psychology is a vast subject, with levels of
analysis that vary from neural to cultural. This
course is designed as a historical introduction to
the expansive subject matter of the discipline
through consideration of the life and work of a
few famous, and sometimes infamous,
psychologists. Some of the themes of the course
are the nature of autobiographical memory and
the selective representations of self that result,
the enduring intellectual questions that hold
psychologists’ attention, how the wider social and
cultural context impacts on the reception of
psychological work, and what makes
psychological experiments compelling to a wider
audience. The individual psychologists in whose
lives and works we will immerse ourselves include
the foundational pragmatist William James, the
original depth psychologist Sigmund Freud, the
romantic Russian Lev Vygotsky and his
compatriot Alexander Luria, the true believers in
behaviorism B. F. Skinner and John Watson, the
charming Gestalt social psychologist Kurt Lewin,
the efficient engineer of family life Lillian
Gilbreth, the complex investigator of mother
love Harry Harlow, and the progressive child
psychologist Lois Barclay Murphy. Conference
work will focus on the life and work of an
individual psychologist.
The Final Solution:
Psychological Perspectives
on Inhumanity
Marvin Frankel
“I also want to speak very frankly about an
extremely important subject. Among ourselves,
we will discuss it openly; in public, however, we
must never mention it…I mean the evacuation
of Jews, the extermination of the Jewish people.
This is something that is easy to talk about. ‘The
Jewish people will be exterminated’ says every
member of the party, ‘this is clear, this is in our
program: the elimination, the extermination of
the Jews: we will do this.’ And then they come to
you—80 million good Germans—and each one
has his ‘decent’ Jew. Naturally, all the rest are
pigs, but this particular Jew is first-rate. Not one
of those who talk this way has seen the bodies,
not one has been on the spot. Most of you know
what it is to see a pile of 100 or 500 or 1,000
bodies. To have stuck it out and, at the same
time, barring exceptions caused by human
weakness to have remained decent: this is what
has made us tough…This is a glorious page in our
history which never has and never will be
written.”—Speech by SS Reichsführer Heinrich
Himmler to a meeting of SS generals in Posen on
October 4, 1943. What can psychology offer us
by way of a perspective for understanding the
Holocaust in particular and genocide in general?
We will explore the following themes in some
depth: What is the nature of the evolution of an
outlook that required, in the name of moral
goodness, the destruction of a culture and the
violent murder of six million people? How did
victims view their fate in a world that saw their
extinction as a cleansing of humankind? What
thoughts and values guided the few who overtly
and covertly opposed the policy of genocide at
great risk to their own lives? Has evolution
created a “universal neural circuitry” that
disposes human beings to perceive an opposition
between “us and them”? If so, can education
dissolve such oppositions? Under what kinds of
social conditions does hatred yield pleasure? This
course will not provide entirely satisfying
answers.
THE CURRICULUM 103
The Historical Evolution of
Psychological Thought
Gina Philogene
Intermediate—Year
This seminar aims at presenting the historical
evolution of psychology as a distinct discipline,
starting with Wundt in 1879 at Leipzig. Its short
history notwithstanding, psychology has
benefited from a long and rich past—tracing its
roots, for the most part, in philosophy. As early as
the fifth century BCE, Aristotle and other Greek
scholars grappled with some of the same problems
that concern psychologists today; namely,
memory, learning, motivation, perception,
dreams, and abnormal behavior. A discipline
such as psychology does not develop in a vacuum.
It is largely shaped by human personalities,
institutions, and the societal context. Therefore,
our critical analysis will focus on comprehending
the cultural context from which ideas, concepts,
and theories have emerged and evolved. This
approach will provide a unifying framework for a
thorough reexamination of the different systems
of psychology in the United States.
Social Development
Carl Barenboim
Intermediate—Fall
Some of the most interesting and important
pieces of knowledge that a child will ever learn
are not taught in school. So it is with the child’s
social world. Unlike “reading, writing, and
’rithmetic,” there is no “Social Thinking 101.”
Further, by the time children reach school age,
they have already spent years learning the
“lessons of life” and affecting those around them.
This course will explore the social world of the
child from birth through adolescence, focusing
on three main areas: parent-child relations, sexrole development, and moral development.
Within parenting, we will examine such issues as
different parenting “styles,” the long-term
consequences of divorce, and the “hurrying” of
children to achieve major milestones at everearlier ages. Within the topic of sex-role
development, we will read about the role of
powerful socialization forces, including the mass
media, and the socialization pressures that
children place on themselves and on each other.
Within moral development, we will study the
growth of moral emotions such as empathy,
shame, and guilt and the role of gender and
culture in shaping our sense of right and wrong.
Conference work may include field placement at
the Early Childhood Center or other venues, as
interactions with real children will be
encouraged. A prior course in psychology is
required.
Studying Men and
Masculinities
Linwood J. Lewis
Intermediate—Fall
Do men have an innate nature? How have
changing social conditions affected the
phenomenological experience of being a man? In
this intermediate class, we will engage in a
critical study of gender by examining the social
construction of biological sex and the
construction of categories/conceptions of “man”
and “masculinity.” An interdisciplinary approach
will inform our examination. We will read from
anthropology, critical race theory, feminist
theory, masculinity studies, psychology, public
health, queer theory, and sexuality studies to
create a contextualized understanding of men and
masculinity. Major topic areas will include
biological and social perspectives on males and
gender; intersectionality; ethnic identities and
masculinities; sexual orientation/desire and its
relation to gender identity. Students with a
background in psychology or other social sciences
or LBGT studies will be given preference.
Bullies and Their Victims:
Social and Physical
Aggression in Childhood and
Adolescence
Carl Barenboim
It can be the bane of our existence in childhood:
the bully who simply will not leave us alone.
Until fairly recently, the image that came to
mind—in both the popular imagination and the
world of psychological study—was that of a
physically imposing and physically aggressive boy,
someone who found the littlest, most defenseless
boy to pick on. In recent years, however, that
image has begun to change. Now we realize that
the ability to harm a person’s social relationships
and social “standing”—usually through the
manipulation of others—can be every bit as
devastating to the victim. And in this new world
of social aggression, girls’ expertise has come to
the fore. In this course, we will study the nature
of bullies and victims in both the physical and
social sense and the possible long-term
consequences of such bullying for both the
perpetrator and the picked-on. We will explore
104 Psychology
recent evidence that bullying and victimization
begin even in the preschool years, far earlier than
previously thought; and we will examine some
modern approaches used to break this vicious
cycle such as peer programs and interpersonal
problem solving. Conference work may include
field placement at the Early Childhood Center or
other venues, as interactions with real children
will be encouraged. Previous course work in
psychology is required.
Play: Psychological and
Anthropological Perspectives
Robert R. Desjarlais, Barbara
Schecter
“For many years, the conviction has grown upon
me that civilization arises and unfolds in and as
play”—Huizinga, Homo Ludens
Play is central to human experience—but what
does it mean to play, and to what extent is play
intrinsic to the human condition? In this course,
we will consider play to be a central aspect of all
imaginative life. We will look closely at the
amazing complexity of human playworlds, both
adult and child, and at the many aspects of our
experiences through play. We will consider
various domains of cultural life, such as ritual,
theatre, improvisation, and
storytelling—including the developmental
origins in children of these modes of expression.
Other topics will include therapeutic uses of play,
the role of play in learning, play in virtual worlds,
and the lifeworlds of competitive chess players.
Throughout these inquiries, we will adopt an
interdisciplinary perspective—charting the
psychological, cultural, and social underpinnings
of this imaginative realm. Students will be asked
to choose a context in which to observe and/or
participate in play with adults or children (such
as at our Early Childhood Center or in another
setting). Previous course work in psychology or
anthropology is required.
Language Research Seminar
Kim Ferguson
“The baby, assailed by eye, ear, nose, skin, and
entrails at once, feels it all as one great blooming,
buzzing confusion.” —William James (1890)
The acquisition of our first language is “doubtless
the greatest intellectual feat any of us is ever
required to perform” (Bloomfield), yet this feat
was essentially accomplished by the time we were
three years old—and we likely have no memory
of it. Furthermore, human language
fundamentally influences human ecology, culture,
and evolution. Thus, many contemporary
researchers in the interdisciplinary field of
psycholinguistics argue that our language abilities
are a large part of what makes us uniquely
human. Are we in fact the only species with true
language? And how would we begin to answer
this question? In this course, we will attempt to
answer that and other key questions in the broad
field of language development both through our
discussions of current and contemporary research
and theory and through the development of new
research in this field. Current “hot” research
topics include whether bilingual children have
better control over what they pay attention to
than monolingual children (attention and
language), whether language influences thought,
whether language acquisition is biologically
programmed, and why children learn language
better from an adult in-person than from the
same adult on television. Over the course of the
semester, you will have the opportunity to design
an independent research project that investigates
one of these key questions or another question of
interest to you in the broad area of language
development. In doing this, you will learn how to
outline the rationale for a research project,
develop an effective research methodology,
collect data, analyze the data, interpret your
results, and communicate your findings in a
persuasive, yet objective, manner. This course
thus serves as an introduction to research
methods, with a specific focus on research
methods in psycholinguistics, through your own
research. Topics will include experimental
research design, case studies, observational
techniques, survey development, and hypothesis
testing. To help you design and implement your
own research, we will discuss your conference
research projects in class throughout the
semester; you will obtain feedback from your
colleagues on your questions, methods, analyses
of the data, and interpretation of the results. This
project could include fieldwork at the Early
Childhood Center or in another setting with
children. Previous course work in psychology or
permission of the instructor is required.
THE CURRICULUM 105
Art & Visual Perception
Elizabeth Johnston
“Seeing comes before words. The child looks and
recognizes before it can speak.”—John Berger
Psychologists have long been interested in
measuring and explaining the phenomena of
visual perception. In this course, we will study
and reproduce some of the experimental
investigations of seeing and the theoretical
positions that they support. Our journey will
begin with the myriad of visual illusions that
have intrigued psychologists and physiologists
since the late 19th century. We will engage in a
hands-on exploration of these visual illusions and
create our own versions of eye-and-brain tricking
images. We will also identify their use in works of
visual art from a range of periods. The next stop
on our psychological travels will be the apparent
motion effects that captured the attention of
Gestalt psychologists. We will explore the
connections between the distinctive theoretical
approach of Gestalt psychology and the
contemporaneous Bauhaus movement in art,
design, and architecture. We will then move on
to a consideration of the representation of visual
space: In the company of contemporary
psychologist Michael Morgan, we will ask how
the three-dimensional world is represented in
“the space between our ears.” In this section of
the course, we will explore the artistic uses of
three-dimensional stereoscopic and kinetic
images. The spatial exploration section will give
us the opportunity to study the artistic
development and use of perspective in twodimensional images. Throughout our visual
journey, we will seek connections between
perceptual phenomena and what is known about
the brain processing of visual information. This is
a course for people who enjoy reflecting on why
we see things as we do. It should hold particular
interest for students of film and the visual arts
who are curious about scientific explanations of
the phenomena that they explore in their art.
Children’s Health in a
Multicultural Context
Linwood J. Lewis
This course offers, within a cultural context, an
overview of theoretical and research issues in the
psychological study of health and illness in
children. We will examine theoretical
perspectives in the psychology of health, health
cognition, illness prevention, stress, and coping
with illness and highlight research, methods, and
applied issues. This class is appropriate for those
interested in a variety of health careers, including
public health. Conference work can range from
empirical research to bibliographic research in
this area. A background in social sciences or
education is recommended.
Personality Development
Jan Drucker
Advanced—Fall
A century ago, Sigmund Freud postulated a
complex theory of the development of the
person. While some aspects of his theory have
come into question, many of the basic principles
of psychoanalytic theory have become part of our
common culture and worldview. This course will
explore developmental and clinical concepts
about how personality comes to be through
reading and discussion of the work of key
contributors to psychoanalytic developmental
theory since Freud. We will trace the evolution of
what Pine has called the “four psychologies of
psychoanalysis”—drive, ego, object, and selfpsychologies—and consider the issues they raise
about children’s development into individuals
with unique personalities within broad, shared
developmental patterns in a given culture.
Readings will include the work of Anna Freud,
Erik Erikson, Margaret Mahler, Daniel Stern,
Steven Mitchell, Nancy Chodorow, and George
Vaillant. Throughout the semester, we will return
to fundamental themes such as the complex
interaction of nature and nurture, the
unanswered questions about the development of
personal style, and the cultural dimensions of
personality development. Fieldwork at the Early
Childhood Center or other appropriate setting is
required, although conference projects may
center on aspects of that experience or not,
depending on the individual student’s interest.
For graduate students and for seniors with permission
of the instructor.
Theories of Development
Barbara Schecter
Advanced—Fall
There’s nothing so practical as a good theory,”
suggested Kurt Lewin almost 100 years ago. Since
then, the competing theoretical models of Freud,
Skinner, Piaget, Vygotsky, and others have
shaped the field of developmental psychology and
have been used by parents and educators to
determine child-care practice and education. In
106 Public Policy
this course, we will study the classic
theories—psychoanalytic, behaviorist, and
cognitive-developmental—as they were
originally formulated and in light of subsequent
critiques and revisions. We will also consider new
directions in theorizing development, which
respond to recent challenges from gender,
cultural, and poststructuralist criticism. Questions
we will consider include: Are there patterns in
our emotional, thinking, or social lives that can
be seen as universal, or are these always culturespecific? Can life experiences be conceptualized
in a series of stages? How else can we understand
change over time? We will use theoretical
perspectives as lenses through which to view
different aspects of experience—the origins of
wishes and desires, early parent-child
attachments, intersubjectivity in the emergence
of self, symbolic and imaginative thinking,
problem solving. For conference work, students
will be encouraged to do fieldwork at the Early
Childhood Center or in another setting with
children, as one goal of the course is to bridge
theory and practice. Advanced, for graduate
students and seniors with permission of the instructor.
Pathways of Development:
Psychopathology and Other
Challenges to the
Developmental Process
Jan Drucker
Advanced—Spring
This course addresses the multiple factors that
play a role in shaping a child’s development,
particularly as they may result in what we think
of as psychopathology. Starting with a
consideration of what the terms “normality” and
“pathology” may refer to in our culture, we will
read about and discuss a variety of situations that
illustrate different interactions of inborn,
environmental, and experiential influences on
developing lives. For example, we will read
theory and case material addressing congenital
conditions such as deafness and life events such
as acute trauma and abuse, as well as the range of
less clear-cut circumstances and complex
interactions of variables that have an impact on
growth and adaptation in childhood and
adolescence. In discussing readings drawn from
clinical and developmental psychology, memoir,
and research studies, we will examine a number
of the current conversations and controversies
about assessment, diagnosis/labeling, early
intervention, use of psychoactive medications,
and treatment modalities. Students will be
required to engage in fieldwork at the Early
Childhood Center or elsewhere and may choose
whether to focus conference projects on aspects
of that experience. For graduate students and
seniors by permission of the instructor.
Public Policy
Sarah Lawrence College’s Public Policy program
addresses the most pressing public policy issues of
our time, including promoting peace, protecting
the environment, providing education and health
services, and safeguarding human and workers’
rights. Supported by the College’s Office of
Community Partnerships, students partner with
unions, community organizations, and legal
groups in the New York City area as a required
element of their course work, gaining direct
experience that they can relate to theoretical
issues. Students also participate in international
fieldwork, including a labor research exchange in
Cuba, a health-care worker conference in the
Dominican Republic, a community organizing
project to help establish a medical clinic for
residents of the impoverished community of
Lebrón in the Dominican Republic, and a study
trip to the US/Mexico border area of El Paso/
Juarez. This combination of study and direct
experience exposes students to various
approaches to problems and builds an enduring
commitment to activism in many forms.
From the Plantation to the
Prison: Criminal Justice
Policies
Rima Vesely-Flad
Open—Fall
Present-day criminal justice policies function on
multiple levels in American society: as
manifestations of theological and philosophical
perspectives on race and punishment, as methods
to consolidate political power, as engines of
economic development in rural communities,
and as intimidating forces in urban communities
that perpetuate poverty and social isolation. The
interlocking spheres of race, impoverishment,
incarceration, and political representation have
resulted in the largest prison system in the world.
The United States, with less than five percent of
the world’s population, now contains 25 percent
of the world’s prison population. Sociologists,
criminologists, philosophers, and community
activists point to this phenomenon as indicative
THE CURRICULUM 107
of a pervasive system stretching back to slavery
and post-Civil War crime policies. This course
will examine the historical antecedent of the
present-day prison system and the multiple
dimensions in which criminal justice policies
impact particular communities today. The first
half of the semester will focus on philosophies of
punishment, theologies of race, and 19th-century
economies of plantations, jails, and prisons. Over
the second half of the semester, we will examine
present-day patterns of punishment, specifically
addressing the school-to-prison pipeline, juvenile
life without parole, labor exploitation, and
successful activist challenges to the pervasiveness
of exploiting criminalized persons. Readings will
primarily include sociological and politicalscience texts, as well as policy papers and
personal stories. As an alternative to regular
conference papers, students will participate in
service-learning placements in court, jail, or
prison contexts with organizations advocating
with and on behalf of individuals with criminal
convictions.
The Offensive Against Civil
Rights: Crime Policy and
Politics
Rima Vesely-Flad
Open—Spring
More than 2.3 million adults in the United
States fill local jails, state correctional facilities,
and federal prisons; nearly five million more are
either on probation or on parole. The vast
majority of people with felony convictions are
denied the right to participate in the political
process; they are furthermore barred from certain
types of employment, designated housing units,
and educational institutions. In short, despite the
touted successes of the Civil Rights Movement,
large swaths of US-born individuals lack the
opportunity to fully participate in society.
Legislation curtailing civil rights gains began to
be enacted shortly after the passage of civil rights
bills. Beginning in the early 1970s, legislators at
the state and federal levels proposed harsh crime
laws that, although seemingly race-neutral,
disproportionately impacted impoverished
African Americans and Latinos. As a
consequence, policymakers have insidiously
reversed the inclusion fought for by civil rights
activists. This course will examine the period
from the 1950s to the present day through the
lens of crime policy and prison building. The first
part of the course will focus on philosophical and
historical literature on punishment, Jim Crow
segregation, and the political offensive against
civil rights activists, black nationalists, and antiVietnam War demonstrators. We will thereafter
investigate the passage of punitive crime policies
at state and federal levels, with close attention to
political elections and the role of the media, the
war on drugs, “supermax” facilities, zero-tolerance
policing, and capital punishment. We will
conclude with an analysis of barriers to civil
rights in the areas of employment and
disenfranchisement. Readings will primarily
include sociological and political-science texts, as
well as policy papers and personal stories. As an
alternative to regular conference papers, students
will participate in service-learning placements in
court, jail, or prison contexts with organizations
advocating with and on behalf of individuals
with criminal convictions.
Religion
Religious traditions identify themselves with and
draw sustenance from the texts that they hold
sacred. In Sarah Lawrence College religion
courses, these texts command and hold our
attention. Whether studying Buddhism, early
Christianity, or the origins of Islam, as students
explore the sacred text of a particular religion,
they gain insight into the social and historical
context of its creation. Using critical,
hermeneutical, and intellectual historical
approaches, they enter into the writings in such
depth as to touch what might be the foundation
of that religion. In addition, work with
contemporary texts (such as those by religious
activists on the Internet) gives students insight
into what most moves and motivates religious
groups today. The College’s religion courses
provide an important complement to courses in
Asian studies and history.
Buddhist Philosophy of
Emptiness
T. Griffith Foulk
FYS
The concept of a “thing”—a distinct entity that
exists in and of itself whether or not human
beings attach a name to it—is nothing but a
useful fiction. In the final analysis, there are no
such things as “things.” This, in a nutshell, is the
startling proposition advanced by the Buddhist
doctrine of sunyata or “emptiness,” as the
108 Religion
Sanskrit term is usually translated. Often
misconstrued by critics as a form of nihilism
(“nothing exists”), idealism (“it is all in the
mind”), or skepticism (“we cannot know
anything with certainty”), the emptiness doctrine
is better interpreted as a radical critique of the
fundamental conceptual categories that we
habitually use to talk about and make sense of
the world. This course has several specific aims.
The first is to impart a clear, accurate
understanding of the emptiness doctrine, as it
developed in the context of Buddhist intellectual
history and found expression in various genres of
classical Buddhist literature. The second is to
engage in serious criticism and debate concerning
the “truth” of the doctrine: Is it merely an article
of Buddhist faith, or does it also stand up to the
standards of logical consistency and empirical
verification that have been established in
Western traditions of philosophy and science?
The third aim of the course is to explore ways in
which the emptiness doctrine, if taken seriously
as a critique of the mechanisms and inherent
limitations of human knowledge, might impact a
variety of contemporary academic disciplines.
More generally, the course is designed to help
first-year students gain the kind of advanced
analytical, research, and writing skills that will
serve them well in whatever areas of academic
study they may pursue in the future. Both in class
and in conference work, students will be
encouraged to apply the Buddhist doctrine of
emptiness in creative ways to whatever fields in
the humanities, social sciences, or sciences that
interest them.
Islam and the Muslim World
Kristin Zahra Sands
Within the maelstrom of current events,
caricatures and apologetics too often supply
shortcuts for understanding a world largely
unknown to Americans—obscuring rather than
informing people of the richness and variety of
the traditions of Islam and Muslim cultures. This
course will provide an introduction to these rich
traditions by addressing the early history of Islam,
its foundational texts, and the development of
Sunni, Shi‘i and Sufi thought. In addition to
studying the formative and classical periods of
Islam, primarily located in the Middle East, we
will look to the ways in which Islam spread
throughout the world to regions such as subSaharan Africa, Southeast Asia, China, Europe,
and the United States. Muslims in the Middle
East now represent a mere 20% of Muslims
worldwide; from jihadis to mystics to hip-hop
artists, Muslims are not easily categorized. To
address how being a Muslim is understood in
specific contexts, we will study not only religious
texts but also how Islam and Muslim practices are
represented in autobiographies, fiction writing,
films, music, and art.
Buddhist Art and
Architecture
T. Griffith Foulk
Open—Year
From its beginnings as a loose-knit group of
wandering ascetics in ancient India, Buddhism
developed into a monastic religion that
diversified and spread across Asia—producing
great buildings and monuments of wood and
stone and furnishing them with a rich array of
paintings and sculptures. This course focuses on
the Buddhist art and architecture of South,
Central, and East Asia, seeking to understand
and interpret it within the specific social,
institutional, mythical, and ritual contexts in
which it was produced and used. Thus, for
example, when examining the ground plans and
architectural features of Buddhist monasteries in
different parts of Asia, we will also study the
internal organization and operation of those
institutions—reading the rules of individual and
group discipline that regulated them and learning
about the various religious practices and
ceremonial observances that took place in them.
The aim is to explore the complex connections
that exist between architectural forms and social
and religious functions and meanings. By the
same token, when looking at works of Buddhist
art, we will not only concern ourselves with
matters of iconography, style, provenance, and
dating but will also learn about the various iconic
and non-iconic functions that Buddhist art has
had in a wide range of cultic and social settings
and will study the religious doctrines, ideology,
mythology, and folklore that has informed its
production and use at different times and places.
Ancient Israelite Epic
Cameron C. Afzal
Open—Fall
The Hebrew Bible has been called “The Great
Code” of Western culture. At the foundation of
this great work are the Five Books of Moses, the
Torah. Its stories permeate our literature, our
art—indeed, our sense of identity. Its ideas inform
THE CURRICULUM 109
our laws and have given birth to our structure of
state, our social movements, and our revolutions.
The narrative itself embodies a great epic of
liberation. What are these books? Who wrote
them? Who preserved them? In order to answer
these questions, we will closely read Torah itself
and do so in the light of its ancient Near Eastern
context. As such, we will also read the
Babylonian creation story, as well as the Epic of
Gilgamesh.
Readings in Early
Christianity: The Synoptic
Gospels
Cameron C. Afzal
Open—Fall
There is perhaps no one who has not heard the
name of a seemingly obscure carpenter’s son
executed by the Romans around the year 33 CE.
Why? His friends and followers preserved the
memory of his life and teaching—orally at first
and then, after the destruction of the Jewish
Temple in 70 CE, in written records that we have
today in the New Testament. This class will focus
on the Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark, and
Luke. Why were they written, what do they have
to say, and how were they intended to be read?
We will immerse ourselves in the religion of the
Holy Land—that is, the various forms of
Judaism—and the role of the dominant world
empire of Rome. Our study will consist mainly of
primary texts in the New Testament; but we will
also have recourse to some Rabbinic materials, as
well as the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Jewish Life in Eastern Europe
Glenn Dynner
Open—Fall
The Jews of Eastern Europe, constituting more
than two-thirds of the world’s Jewish population
by the end of the 18th century, created a
veritable Jewish renaissance. The extensive
autonomy granted them during the Middle Ages
enabled the development of a flourishing
religious society, with the Torah as its
constitution. And although secularization began
to make inroads by the second half of the 19th
century, it often resulted in a potent synthesis of
traditional and secular culture. This course poses
a challenge to the reduction of Eastern European
Jewry to an insular, persecuted minority
popularized by plays such as Fiddler on the Roof.
After exploring different facets of the vital
rabbinical culture, we follow the rise of
movements that clashed with and, at times,
displaced normative Jewish practice. Such
challenges included the hedonistic messianic
movement of Jacob Frank, the popular mystical
movement known as Hasidism, the secularoriented Jewish enlightenment (Haskalah),
modern political ideologies such as Zionism and
Jewish Socialism, and the emergence of a rich
modern literature in Yiddish and Hebrew. Near
the end of the course, we follow the emigration of
more than two million Eastern European Jews to
America following the pogroms of 1881-2 and
attempt to confront the annihilation of more
than four million Eastern European Jews during
the Holocaust. Throughout, an effort will be
made to appreciate the various ways that Jewish
life was shaped by its non-Jewish Eastern
European environment.
The Holocaust
Glenn Dynner
Open—Spring
The Holocaust raises fundamental questions
about the nature of our civilization. How was it
that a policy of genocide could be initiated and
carried out in one of the most advanced and
sophisticated countries of Europe? To what extent
did residents of the countries in which mass
murder occurred, especially in Eastern Europe,
facilitate or obstruct this ghastly project? And
finally, what were the various reactions of the
various victims of this lethal assault by one of the
great powers of Europe? In this course, we will
attempt to explain how these events unfolded,
beginning with the evolution of anti-Semitic
ideology and violence. At the same time, we will
attempt to go beyond the “mind of the Nazi” and
confront the perspectives of victims and
bystanders. How victims chose to live out their
last years and respond to the impending
catastrophe (through diary writing, poetry,
mysticism, violence, hiding, etc.) is reflected in
memoirs, literature, and sermons. The crucial but
neglected phenomenon of bystanders—non-Jews
who stood by while their neighbors were
methodically annihilated—has been the subject
of several important recent studies. We shall
inevitably be compelled to make moral
judgments, but these will be of value only if they
are informed by a fuller understanding of the
perspectives of various actors in this dark chapter
of European history.
110 Russian
Jewish Mysticism From
Antiquity to the Present
Glenn Dynner
This course traces the history of Jewish mysticism
from late antiquity through modernity. After an
overview of early Jewish mysticism from the
biblical and rabbinic periods, as well as the
mystical-based asceticism of medieval German
pietists, we will concentrate on the medieval
flowering of the erotically charged “Kabbalah” of
Spain and Southern France—covering such
topics as: God, evil, demonology, sin, death,
sexuality, prayer, and magic. We will particularly
focus on the biblical exegesis of The Zohar, the
most central text of Jewish mysticism that,
traditionally, one was forbidden to study until the
age of 40. After tracing the further development
of Kabbalah in 16th-century Safed (Land of
Israel), we will study the mass eruption of the
Kabbalah-based Messianic movement, which
centered around Shabbetai Tzevi. We then begin
our study of Hasidism, the movement of popular
mysticism founded on the teachings the Ba’al
Shem Tov (The Besht) in 18th-century Eastern
Europe, which was forged into a mass movement
by charismatic miracle workers called
“Tzaddikim.” We will consider the vigorous
opposition to Hasidism both by traditionalists
and by proponents of the rationalistic,
Enlightenment-based movement of social reform
known as “maskilim.” We then consider
Hasidism’s war against modernity, its unique
response to the Holocaust, and its continued
flourishing in tight-knit communities from
Brooklyn to Jerusalem. Finally, we examine the
revival of Kabbalah and Hasidism by modern,
secularized Jews (and non-Jews) in search of
spirituality and authenticity. Throughout this
course, we will strive to appreciate the
theoretical, literary, and experiential aspects of
Jewish mysticism within its various historical
contexts.
Muslim Literature, Film, and
Art
Kristin Zahra Sands
Intermediate—Year
In current global circumstances, Islam is all too
frequently represented solely in terms of political
and militant ideologies. For those who wish to
dig deeper, there are the rich and varied
traditions of classical religious scholarship and
jurisprudence. But to look at Islam through these
lenses alone is to miss alternate sensibilities that
are just as important in providing the material
from which many Muslims construct their
identities. In this course, we will be studying
some of the distinctive themes and aesthetic
traditions associated with Muslim cultures. When
the contemporary Syrian poet Adonis speaks of a
“Sufi aesthetic,” what does he mean? What is the
dynamic underlying the text/image art movement
named hurufiyya, after the medieval Islamic study
of the occult properties of letters? In what ways
do the religious elements of controversial novels
such as Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses and
Naguib Mafouz’s Children of the Alley—engage
with long-standing traditions of story-telling?
How is a theme such as the veil addressed in
works that take into account Western responses
as much as other symbolic histories? How is a
medium such as film used to portray the role of
religion in motivating or responding to acts of
violence? Although most of the material that we
will be studying will be from the contemporary
period, premodern works will be used to illustrate
the ways in which Muslim artistic and literary
works have historically adapted themes, genre,
and media from pre-Islamic and other cultures.
Russian
The goal of the Russian language classes at Sarah
Lawrence College is to teach students to speak,
comprehend, read, and write a fascinating
language with a logic very different from that of
English. Oral proficiency is the focus of the firstyear class, culminating in end-of-semester
projects where students write and film skits in
small groups. In the second-year course, reading
is also emphasized—and we include short stories
and poetry, as well as texts paired with films.
Topics, texts, and authors covered in the
advanced class vary widely, and student input is
strongly encouraged; past syllabi have included
works by authors such as Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoy,
Tsvetaeva, Bulgakov, and Pelevin, as well as
films. Student work in class and conference is
also supplemented by weekly meetings with the
language assistant and by a variety of
extracurricular activities, including a weekly
Russian table, Russian opera at the Metropolitan
Opera in New York City, and excursions to
Brighton Beach, Brooklyn’s “Little Odessa.”
Students of Russian are strongly encouraged
to spend a semester or, ideally, a year abroad.
Sarah Lawrence students regularly attend a
THE CURRICULUM 111
variety of programs, including: Middlebury
College’s School in Russia, with sites in Moscow,
Irkutsk, and Yaroslavl; Bard College’s program at
the Smolny Institute in St. Petersburg; the
Moscow Art Theater School Semester through
Connecticut College; ACTR in Moscow, St.
Petersburg, or Vladimir; and CIEE.
The Russian department also offers courses
taught in translation as part of the literature
curriculum. Recent literature courses include:
The Literatures of Russian and African American
Soul: Pushkin and Blackness, Serfs and Slaves,
Black Americans and Red Russia; Dostoevsky
and the West; The 19th-Century Russian Novel;
and Intertextuality in the 20th-Century Russian
Novel. Students of Russian also pursue their
interest in Russia and Eastern Europe more
generally in many other areas of the College.
Conference work always may be directed toward
the student’s field of interest; courses focusing
either entirely or in part on Russia and/or Eastern
Europe are regularly offered in a number of
disciplines, including history, film history, dance
history, and philosophy.
Beginning Russian
Melissa Frazier
Open—Year
At the end of this course, students will know the
fundamentals of Russian grammar and will be
able to use them to read, write, and, most
especially, speak Russian on an elementary level.
Successful language learning involves both
creativity and a certain amount of rote learning;
memorization gives the student the basis to then
extrapolate, improvise, and have fun with the
language. This course will lay equal emphasis on
both. Our four hours of class each week will be
spent actively using what we know in pair and
group activities, dialogues, discussions, etc.
Twice-weekly written homework, serving both to
reinforce old and to introduce new material, will
be required. At the end of each semester, we will
formalize the principle of rigorous but creative
communication that underlies all of our work
through small-group video projects. Students are
required to attend weekly conversation classes
with the Russian assistant; attendance at Russian
table is strongly encouraged.
Intermediate Russian
Melissa Frazier, Natalia Dizenko
Intermediate—Year
At the end of this course, students should feel
that they have a fairly sophisticated grasp of
Russian and the ability to communicate in
Russian in any situation. After the first year of
studying the language, students have learned the
bulk of Russian grammar; this course will
emphasize grammar review, vocabulary
accumulation, and regular oral practice. Class
time will center on the spoken language, and
students will be expected to participate actively
in discussions based on new vocabulary. Regular
written homework will be required, along with
weekly conversation classes with the Russian
assistant; attendance at Russian table is strongly
encouraged. Conference work will focus on the
written language, and students will be asked to
read short texts by the author(s) of their choice
with the aim of appreciating a very different
culture and/or literature while learning to read
independently, accurately, and with as little
recourse to the dictionary as possible. For students
with one year of college Russian or the equivalent.
This course will be taught by Ms. Frazier in the fall
and by Ms. Dizenko in the spring.
Advanced Russian: Ivan
Vasil’evich
Natalia Dizenko
Advanced, Small seminar—Fall
This course is intended for students who are
beyond the second-year level. While we will
continue some work with a textbook, our aim
will be to move away from grammar and into
active reading, writing, watching, and speaking
in Russian. A large part of our course will center
on reading Mikhail Bulgakov’s 1936 play, Ivan
Vasil’evich, and watching the 1973 film
adaptation, Ivan Vasil’evich meniaet professiiu;
both play and film tell the story of a somewhat
hapless scientist who succeeds in inventing a
time machine. Other texts will include historical
accounts, Sergei Eisenstein’s film Ivan the Terrible,
Mikhail Zoshchenko’s short story Krizis, various
films portraying the 1920s and the 1960s/70s, and
a short excerpt from Ivan Voinovich’s Ivankiada.
Over the course of the semester, we will learn a
number of popular and folk songs, along with the
basics of Russian word morphology. Weekly
conversation classes with the Russian assistant
will be required, and attendance at Russian table
is strongly encouraged. For students with two years
of college Russian or the equivalent.
112 Science and Mathematics
Science and Mathematics
Science is a dynamic process by which we seek to
improve our understanding of ourselves and the
world around us. We use the language and
methods of science and mathematics on a daily
basis. Science and mathematics nurture a special
kind of creativity by enhancing our abilities to
ask concise, meaningful questions and to design
strategies to answer those questions. Such
approaches teach us to think and work in new
ways and to uncover and evaluate facts and place
them in the context of modern society and
everyday life. The division of Science and
Mathematics offers classes in a variety of
disciplines, including biology, chemistry,
computer science, mathematics, and physics.
Studies in each of these disciplines are offered at
all levels, ranging from open courses to advanced
seminars and individual laboratory research
projects.
Qualified students have the option of
enrolling in a Science Third Program. In the
Science Third, students register for the seminar
component of two science/ mathematics courses
simultaneously, comprising one-third of their
curriculum. Because Science Third students will
still be able to take two additional nonscience
courses each semester, this option is an
opportunity for well-prepared or advanced
students to study multiple science courses
without limiting their options in other
disciplines. For more details and information,
please contact the faculty group.
Pre-Health Program
Students interested in pursuing further studies in
medicine or other health-related fields may take
advantage of the Pre-Health program, which
prepares students academically for medical school
and assists in meeting the demands of admission
to individual medical or graduate programs.
Students supplement required courses in biology,
chemistry, and physics with additional courses
offered by the division as part of their preparation
for the MCATs and postgraduate education.
Conference work provides students with
additional opportunities to organize original
research projects, pursue independent learning,
and critically examine professional
literature—skills fundamental to future success in
medical and graduate schools. Students in the
program have significant contact with the prehealth adviser, as well as with other faculty
members in the division, through conferences,
course work, and independent research.
Therefore, faculty members with a thorough and
personal knowledge of the individual student
write letters of recommendation. The pre-health
adviser and faculty members also serve as
resources for information regarding application
procedures, research and volunteer opportunities
within the community, structuring of class work,
MCAT preparation, and practice interviews.
See separate entries for specific course
descriptions in Biology, Chemistry, Computer
Science, Mathematics, and Physics.
Science, Technology, and
Society
Science, technology, and society (STS) is a
broad, cross-disciplinary field that aims to
understand and influence how society shapes
science and technology and how, in turn, science
and technology shape society and the
environment. At Sarah Lawrence College, STS
approaches science in the context of the human
experience and aims to focus not only on what
scientists do but on their role in our society and
in the history of our culture. Our students come
from all walks of life—artists, musicians, those
interested in politics and/or the environment,
and pre-health—and our seminars function as
places for the genuine interdisciplinary exchange
of ideas. Whenever possible (especially in
service-learning classes, where students do on-site
placement), seminars focus on real-world
problems that have science components. The
goal of STS is to encourage students to
investigate, analyze, and apply concepts and
processes from the social sciences to enrich and
expand their understanding of science and its
role in the contemporary world—as well as in
their own lives.
Science, Technology, and
Environmental Politics
Astrid Schrader
Open—Spring
This course introduces students to methodologies
and approaches in Science and Technology
Studies as they pertain to the analysis of
environmental problems. How do science,
technology, and society interact to determine
what counts as an environmental problem? How
are possible responses to environmental crises
THE CURRICULUM 113
shaped by technological development and
assumptions about what counts as "nature"? We
will study, for example, debates around climate
change, genetically modified foods, biodiversity,
invasive species, and indoor pollution and look at
responses to environmental disasters such as
Chernobyl, Bhopal, Hurricane Katrina, and the
recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Questions
include: How do regulatory institutions deal with
uncertainties in science? Who is an expert and
who contributes to environmental knowledge
production? How do scientists measure
biodiversity, and what counts as a species? What
assumptions about the relationship between
humans and the rest of nature motivate the
genetic engineering of environmentally friendly
pigs? How is environmental risk regulated in
different countries? What is the relationship
between science and politics in various
approaches to environmental problems? We will
compare debates over environmental issues as
they are depicted in the popular media to how
science studies scholars approach the same issues.
Students will learn how attention to the details
of scientific practices can shift questions about
the meaning of scientific evidence and social
responsibility and how interdisciplinary
approaches to controversies over environmental
problems may complicate the debates.
Social Science
The Social Science program is designed to enrich
and systematize the understanding we have of our
own experiences in relation to broader societal
forces. The social sciences begin from the premise
that no matter how much we might wish to, we
can never detach ourselves entirely from the
social institutions and processes that are the
context for our individual thoughts and actions.
Thus, the purpose of the Social Science
curriculum is to contribute to our empowerment
by helping us understand the many ways in which
people’s lives—values, goals, relationships, and
beliefs—are affected by and have an impact on
the social world. Most important, we can learn to
contextualize our experiences in relation to those
of others whose personal, social, and cultural
circumstances differ from our own. An ability to
think critically about our social environment can
enhance our experience of whatever else we may
choose to study or do.
In relation to the humanities the social
sciences offer empirical and theoretical
perspectives that complement those of history,
philosophy, and religion. In relation to literature
and the creative arts they provide a context for a
fuller understanding of the works we study and
create. In relation to the natural sciences they
help us to analyze the economic, social, and
political implications of modern technological
advances and our complex interaction with the
physical and biological environment. Finally, the
social sciences disciplines give us access to the
information and analytical tools we must have in
order to evaluate and formulate alternative public
policies and actively contribute to intellectual
and public life.
For full descriptions, see Anthropology;
Economics; Environmental Studies; Politics;
Public Policy; Science, Technology, and Society;
and Sociology.
Sociology
Class, power, and inequality; law and society
(including drugs, crime and “deviance”); race,
ethnicity, and gender issues; and ways of
seeing—these are among the topics addressed by
Sarah Lawrence students and professors in
sociology courses. Increasingly, social issues need
to be and are examined in relationship to
developments in global politics and economics.
Students investigate the ways in which social
structures and institutions affect individual
experience and shape competing definitions of
social situations, issues, and identities. Courses
tend to emphasize the relationship between the
qualitative and the quantitative, between
theoretical and applied practice, and the
complexities of social relations rather than
relying on simplistic interpretations, while
encouraging student research in diverse areas.
Through reading, writing, and discussion,
students are encouraged to develop a
multidimensional and nuanced understanding of
social forces. Many students in sociology have
enriched their theoretical and empirical work
through linking it thematically with study in
other disciplines—and through fieldwork.
The Sociological Imagination
Patrisia Macías
Open—Year
C. Wright Mills wrote that the sociological
imagination promises an understanding of “the
interplay of [the individual] and society, of
biography and history, of self and world.” It is a
114 Sociology
way of thinking that enables us to make
connections between our individual experiences
and larger social realities located within
particular periods in history. In this class, you will
learn to develop your sociological imagination
through an exploration of how society works,
paying particular attention to the social,
economic, and political forces that shape who we
are and how we think. We will look closely at
social, political, cultural, and economic
transformations in contemporary US society from
the postwar era to the present. Beginning with
the 1950s, what were the major social forces
operating within each decade? What was it like
for women, workers, immigrants—in other words,
ordinary people—living in their historical period?
How did sociologists interpret such realities? How
was their thinking influenced by the period and
the society in which they lived? We will journey
through the decades, covering major social issues
for each period ranging from gender and family,
race and social movements, labor and work to
globalization and migration. To this end, students
will read texts in sociology, anthropology, and
history. By the end of the course, students should
be able to identify how external social forces
impact individual life chances, to question things
regarded as natural or commonsense, and to draw
connections between intimate experiences and
larger social realities.
Both Public and Private: The
Social Construction of Family
Life
Shahnaz Rouse
Open—Fall
Many of us take for granted the dichotomy
between public and private life. The former is
frequently understood as abstract, distant, and a
key site of power; the latter, as the site of warmth,
intimacy, and emotional sustenance. In this
seminar, we will critically examine the
assumptions underlying such idealized
distinctions between public and private domains.
Through such revisioning, it is hoped that we
will better understand the public and private
dimensions of families, their complexity, and
historical variability. In particular, our analysis
will enable us to critically examine notions that
posit nuclear, heterosexual families as necessarily
“better” and/or as emblematic of progress.
Through a variety of critical readings and familial
narratives, we will look at the myriad ways in
which personal and social reproduction occur,
the relationship between families and shifting
social relations, and gender and sexual relations
as expressed in these familial forms and be
attentive to shifting boundaries between private,
family life and public institutions and practices.
We will examine how relations of domination
and subordination are produced through the
institution of the “family” and how resistance is
generated to such dominant relations and
constructions. The course will conclude with
public struggles to the nature and our
understanding of families and assess their
implications. While the readings in this course
will focus specifically on families in the United
States, students will have the option in their
conference projects to look at families in other
cultures and times.
Latino Crossings
Patrisia Macías
Intermediate—Year
This course examines the economic, political,
cultural, and social linkages between the United
States and Latin America and the migrations
that have emerged from this historical
relationship. The focus will be primarily on the
respective experiences of “Latinos” within the
United States from a comparative historical and
transnational perspective. Latinos (or
“Hispanics”) are not one people defined by a
shared “culture,” nor do they have a singular
historical relationship with the US nation-state,
nor do all Latino groups have a common
experience in the United States. Through
readings and discussions of primary and secondary
texts, this course examines the various histories
of Mexicans/Chicanos, Puerto Ricans, Cubans,
Dominicans, and other Latin American groups
and the transformations of the United States in
relation to them, with a special interest in
exploring the meaningful analogies among these
migrations and examining the intersections of
race and citizenship.
Embodiment and Biological
Knowledge: Public
Engagement in Medicine and
Science
Sarah Wilcox
In this course, we will explore when, why, and
how biological ideas become salient to people’s
identities and to political debates; whether and
how closely popular conceptions of biology and
the physical body match scientific and medical
THE CURRICULUM 115
knowledge; and the variations in the extent to
which biological knowledge is seen as relevant to
particular conceptions of the self or social
controversies over the body. Examples of topics
that we may cover include: Why have
vaccinations become controversial, and what
understandings of the immune system underlie
these controversies? What is the meaning of the
“gay gene” to scientists, politicians, the
public—and to lesbian, gay, or queer people
themselves? How do hormones figure into our
cultural understanding of gender and into
people’s own gendered self-identities, particularly
at times of hormonal change such as puberty,
hysterectomy, or taking hormones as part of
aligning the physical body with gender identity?
How does the subjective nature of pain figure
into controversies over contested illnesses such as
fibromyalgia or repetitive strain syndrome? In
sociology and anthropology, medical and
scientific knowledge has often been described as
alienating, distancing people from their direct
embodied experiences. Yet, to be a body is also
always to be in a social context, so that
perception is simultaneously cultural and
physical. While medical and scientific knowledge
provide us with ideas about our bodies that we
cannot directly experience (e.g., our genes), these
ideas can be deeply embedded and socially
powerful explanatory systems. Thus, scholars
have also argued that, rather than alienating us
from our selves and our bodies, medical
knowledge is constitutive of bodies and selves.
Biological ideas and terms also circulate freely, so
that popular conceptions of biology or physiology
and scientific knowledge may not map neatly
onto each other. We will explore these themes of
bodily association and dissociation, science as
alienating or constitutive, and popularization and
expertise through several domains of biological
knowledge, embodiment, and public debate such
as: contested illnesses and the subjectivity of
pain, hormones and gendered selves, genes and
the politics of sexuality, and the immune system
and anti-vaccination movements.
structures, and the physical environment. In this
seminar, we will examine the material (social,
political, and economic) and metaphorical
(symbolic and representational) dimensions of
spatial configurations in urban settings. In our
analysis, we will address the historical and
shifting connotations of urban space and urban
life. Moving beyond the historical aspects of
urbanization and its transformations, we will turn
our attention to the (re)theorization of the very
notion of spatial relations itself. Here, emphasis
will be placed on representational practices and
processes whereby social “space” is created,
gendered, and revisioned. “Space” will no longer
be seen simply as physical space but also in terms
of the construction of meanings that affect our
use of and relation to both physical and social
settings. While economic factors will continue to
be implicated and invoked in our analysis, we
will move beyond the economic to extraeconomic categories and constructs such as
notions of power, culture, and sexuality. The
focus will also shift, as the semester proceeds,
from macroanalyses to include an examination of
everyday life. Through our exploration of these
issues, we will attempt to gauge the practices and
processes whereby social space is gendered,
privatized, and sexualized and where distinctions
are established between “inside” and “outside”
domains and between public and private realms.
Particular attention will be paid to attempts by
scholars and activists to open up space both
theoretically and concretely. Although the
theoretical/conceptual questions examined lend
themselves to an analysis of any city, our focus in
the course will be largely, although not
exclusively, on New York City. Students should
feel free, however, to extend the analysis to other
places that are of interest to them. This applies
particularly to conference work.
Changing Places: Social and
Spatial Dimensions of
Urbanization
Advanced—Fall
What are the reasons for travel, both historically
and in the modern world? What factors draw
individuals to travel singly and as members of
collectivities? What sites draw the traveler and/or
the tourist? What is the relationship between the
(visited) site and the sight of the visitor? How is
meaning of particular sites produced? How do
these meanings differ, depending on the
positionality of the traveler? What is the
Shahnaz Rouse
The concept of space will provide the thematic
underpinning and serve as the point of departure
for this course. Space can be viewed in relation to
the (human) body, social relations and social
Travel and Tourism:
Economies of Pleasure,
Profit, and Power
Shahnaz Rouse
116 Spanish
relationship between the visitor and the local
inhabitant? Can one be a traveler in one’s own
home (site)? What is the relationship between
travel and tourism and between pleasure and
power in/through travel? How are race, gender,
and class articulated in and through travel? These
and other questions will be addressed in this
course through an examination of commercial
(visual and written) writings on travel and
tourism; diaries, journals, and memoirs by
travelers; and films and scholarly writings on
travel and tourism. Our emphasis in this course
will be an examination of tourism in a historical
context. In particular, we will focus on the
commodification of travel as an acquisition of
social (and economic) currency and as a source/
site of power. Throughout, the relationship
between material and physical bodies will remain
a central focus of the course. Conference
possibilities include analyses of your own travel
experiences, examination of travel writings
pertaining to specific places, and theoretical
perspectives on travel and/or tourism. Other
conference work possibilities include different
forms of tourism such as ecotourism, heritage
tourism, or sex tourism, as well as cyber travel.
And while business, work, and myriad other
forms of travel will not be a central concern in
the seminar readings, students are free to explore
these topics in their conference work.
From Republicanism to
Authoritarianism: ReViewing the Spanish Civil
War
Shahnaz Rouse
Advanced—Spring
The Spanish Civil War, one of the seminal
events in the 20th century that inspired deep
emotions on all sides, has remained until recently
a largely forgotten moment in history. Bracketed
between the First World War and the atrocities
arising from fascism in Germany, its history was
repressed within Spain by the success and
longevity of Franco’s authoritarian state and
insufficiently examined by academics elsewhere.
In this course, we will take a close and deep look
at this crucial event in world history. We will
examine what led to the sweeping changes in
Spain, focusing especially on the agrarian
question and the peasantry; examine the
flourishing of pluralism in the early years of the
republic, the class and political contradictions
and gendered and religious difference(s) that
emerged; and analyze the processes and
factors—local and international—that ultimately
led to the supremacy of the forces of order and
the rise of authoritarianism in Spain. Relying on
analytical materials, literary texts, art, films, oral
histories, and memoirs, we will attempt to
understand how and why this period in Spain’s
history was so inspiring for so many individual
actors from other parts of Europe and even the
United States and the role of grassroots activism
of which many became a part. This study will also
enable us to address issues of representation (both
material and ideational). We will assess the role
of (other) Western state powers in the affairs of
Spain in an effort to think through the extent to
which their actions contributed to the ultimate
defeat of the republic. In conclusion, we will
address the relevance of the Spanish Civil War to
what followed in Europe, as well as its
contemporary significance to our understanding
of social and political movements, class struggles,
and the nature of the state.
Spanish
Sarah Lawrence’s courses in Spanish cover
grammar, literature, film, music and
translation—all with the aim of making students
more capable and confident in thinking, writing
and expressing themselves in Spanish. Each of
the yearlong courses integrates activities such as
panel discussions, lectures and readings with
classroom discussion and conference work to
provide students with stimulating springboards
for research and study.
Beginning Spanish
Maria Negroni
Open—Year
This course is designed to enable students with
no previous exposure to Spanish to achieve
essential communication skills, while providing
the basic grammatical, lexical, and syntactical
structures to do so effectively. From the start, oral
interaction will be stressed in class and reinforced
through pair or small-group activities. Students
are required to meet with the instructor in small
groups for one hour each week (small-group
conference) and to attend a weekly conversation
session with a language assistant. Course
conducted in Spanish. Placement test is not required.
Students should attend the scheduled orientation
meetings during interview and registration week.
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Advanced Beginning
Spanish: From Déjà Vu to
Hablo Como Tú
Mary Barnard
Open—Year
This course is designed for students who have had
some Spanish before but have forgotten most of
it. Grounded in a thorough overview of essential
grammatical, lexical, and syntactical structures,
students will work with short texts, videos, and
songs by a broad array of authors and artists from
both Spain and Latin America—ranging from
Alfonsina Storni, Jorge Luis Borges, and Augusto
Monterroso to Gloria Fuertes, Enrique
Buenaventura, and Elena Garro, among others.
The objective is to expose students to the
diversity of the Spanish-speaking world and, as
much as possible, to “real” rather than “textbook”
language. Much of the work will be done online,
so students should be prepared to use their
laptops; class work will focus on communication,
while grammar exercises will be integrated with
the texts they are reading. Through role-play and
guided group activities, students will gain
increased language proficiency in Spanish.
Weekly one-hour meetings with a language tutor
are required, and students will have to attend
some film screenings. Advanced beginning level.
This course is taught entirely in Spanish. It is strongly
recommended that interested students take the
Spanish placement test in addition to interviewing
with the instructor.
Intermediate Spanish I: The
Fiction of Language
Priscilla Chen
Intermediate—Year
Augusto Monterroso’s microfiction, “Cuando
despertó, el dinosaurio todavía seguía allí,”
exemplifies the complexity of the Spanish
language and grammar through a single sentence
that can generate many interpretations. This
course is designed to revise and emphasize the
fundamental Spanish grammatical structures,
using literary fiction as a frame to understand the
craft of language and its richness. We will also
pay special attention to oral communication, the
use of new vocabulary, and writing formats to
create a dynamic dialogue among grammar,
literature, and culture to contextualize multiple
meanings while increasing fluency in every aspect
of language production. Intermediate I level.
Intermediate Spanish II:
Grammar and Composition
Priscilla Chen
Intermediate—Year
This course is intended for students who have
already mastered the basics of Spanish and wish
to continue a more advanced study of the
grammar and vocabulary and to develop a more
complex level of oral and written discourse,
emphasizing subjective expression. Written and
oral skills will be strengthened by oral
presentations, class participation, and frequent
essays (which include film reviews), based on a
broad array of materials related to contemporary
Latin American and Iberian culture. We will
attempt to cover various sources: short stories,
poems, novels, films, music lyrics, newspaper
articles, etc. For conference, students will have a
chance to explore various aspects and topics of
Hispanic culture and the arts. We will take
advantage of our local resources such as museums,
libraries, and theatre. Weekly conversation with
a language assistant will be required. Intermediate
II level, course conducted entirely in Spanish.
Placement test recommended for students who have
not taken Spanish at SLC.
Intermediate Spanish III:
“Calles y Plaza Antigua”:
From the Country to the City
in Hispanic Literature and
Film
Isabel de Sena
Intermediate—Year
Voracious, boundless, the den of unbridled lust
and greed (La Celestina) or a heaven of
opportunity, sometimes safety from prosecution
and prejudice, the city is a polymorphous reality
onto which we project our fantasies and desires
(Atlantis, Eldorado, Axtlán). Feminized, it can
be a courted or threatened citadel (traditional
romances), the whore of Babylon, enticement
and entrapment. It’s a seductive or frightening
labyrinth (Borges, Sin noticias de Dios), the
lettered city or the urban cauldron where
immigrants sink or swim (El super, Los olvidados).
If small, the imaginary solution to our
contemporary rootlessness (Atame) or a metaphor
for suffocating oppression (Lorca’s plays, Calle
mayor, El espíritu de la colmena, Madeinusa). If
metropolis, the centrifugal host of postmodern
excesses and loss (Generación X, MacOndo), the
tentative locus of postrevolutionary modernism
(Maples Arce). Roads into or out of it and its
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darkened alleyways are the quintessential frame
of noir narrative (Nahum Montt, Muñoz
Molina). Is the country a haven for time-tested
virtues and resistance to forms of coercion
(Fuentovejuna), or a desert where all dreams are
deformed or come crashing down (Ana María
Matute)? Are nature and nurture, culture and
history, at war with each other, and how can we
negotiate our own space between them
(Cortázar)? We will explore these themes—and
others that will surely emerge in this context—in
literature and film from both sides of the
Atlantic, while pursuing a systematic review of
advanced Spanish grammar. Intermediate III level,
course taught in Spanish. If you have not studied
Spanish at SLC prior to this year, It is strongly
recommended that you take the Spanish Placement
Test in addition to the interview with the instructor.
Spanish Language Authors of
the 21st Century
Eduardo Lago
Advanced—Year
Although academia tends to lag behind, Spanish
language authors of today have trascended
notions such as national origin or geographical
location. Dychotomies such as peninsular vs.
Latin American literature stopped being
meaningful many years ago. More than ever, the
only common bond among these writers in the
21st century is the language in which their works
are written: Spanish. In this course, we will study
the literary production of the Spanish-speaking
world—ignoring, as the authors do, artificial
barriers such as nationality. Novelists writing in
Spanish today have more in common with young
authors from the rest of the world than with their
venerable ancestors. Globally, they have joined
ranks with authors who have also uprooted the
notion of tradition. Technology plays a
fundamental role in this revolutionary new
phase. We will explore the literary production of
the Spanish-speaking world as manifest in
fictional works published (and occasionally
unpublished) during the first 11 years of the 21st
century. Advanced level.
Advanced Spanish: Memory
and Fiction: (Re)creating
(Our)selves
Claudia Salazar
Advanced—Year
This course focuses on the creation and
recreation of (our)selves and the construction of
national memories. The course will have two
approaches: On one hand, we will explore how
breaking the boundaries between memory and
fiction allows writers and artists of the Hispanic
world to construct their own image. The second
approach will be devoted to the evaluation and
discussion of the “politics of memory” that shape
the recovering of historical processes in Spain
and Latin America. We will study a selection of
journals, theatre, short fiction, poetry, interviews,
autobiographies, autofiction, paintings,
photography, testimonials, and films—paying
close attention to the processes of selfrepresentation and the cultural tasks of memory.
We will emphasize, through literary and cultural
analysis, several aspects of the texts in relation to
their social and historical contexts, while
improving oral communication, lexical,
grammatical, and written skills. Evaluation will
be based on active participation in class
discussions, preparedness to class, short response
papers, brief presentations, interviews with New
York-based writers and artists, and individual
projects elaborated with the instructor during
conferences. Students are welcome to explore
their own memories and to participate in the
process of writing themselves. Weekly meetings
with the language assistant are a requirement.
Advanced level. This course will be taught entirely in
Spanish. It is strongly recommended that students
take the Spanish placement test in addition to
interviewing with the instructor.
Another course offered this year in Spanish is
Theatre
The Sarah Lawrence College Theatre program
embraces the collaborative nature of theatre. Our
objective is to create theatre artists who are
skilled in many disciplines: Actors who write;
directors who act; theatre makers who create
their own projects; sound, set and lighting
designers who are well versed in new media and
puppetry. Students have the advantage of
choosing from a multidisciplinary curriculum
taught by working theatre professionals that also
draws on the resources of the College’s Theatre,
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Music, and Dance programs. At the heart of this
curriculum are focused programs in acting,
directing, playwriting, and design, with
supplementary offerings in production and
technical work.
Theatre students are encouraged to cross
disciplines as they investigate all areas of theatre.
The faculty is committed to active theatre
training—students learn by doing—and have put
together a vocabulary that stresses relationships
among classical, modern, and original texts. The
program uses a variety of approaches to build
technique, while nurturing individual artistic
directions.
The Theatre program examines not just
contemporary American performance but also
diverse cultural influences and the major
historical periods that precede our own. Courses
include Alexander Technique, acting, comedic
and dramatic improvisation, creation of original
work, design, directing, movement, musical
theatre, playwriting, puppetry, speech, solo
performance, voice, and the art of bringing
theatre into the local community.
Curriculum
Beginning students are required to enroll in a
Theatre Techniques program, supplemented by at
least one component of their own choice.
Continuing students create an individualized
Theatre Third with the guidance of their don and
the theatre faculty. Components are chosen to
extend skills and interests and to develop
performing and practical experience. There are
open auditions for faculty-, student-, and guestdirected productions; there is a proposal system
for student-directed, -written, and -devised work
within the season production schedule.
Practicum
The theatre faculty is committed to the
philosophy that students learn by doing. Classes
provide a rigorous intellectual and practical
framework, and students are continually engaged
in the process of making theatre. The program
helps students build a solid technique based on
established methodologies, while also being
encouraged to discover and develop their
individual artistic selves.
Wide-ranging opportunities are available for
students to learn by doing. Students may
participate in internships or fieldwork in New
York City theatres and theatre organizations. The
College’s Theatre Outreach program is a training
program that uses music, writing, theatre
techniques, and the visual arts to address social
and community issues. The outreach course has
been a vibrant component in the curriculum for
more than two decades, encouraging
development of original material with a special
emphasis on cross-cultural experiences. Many
theatre components include an open-class
showing or performance. In addition, there are
multiple performance and production
opportunities in acting, singing, dance, design,
directing, ensemble creation, playwriting, and
technical work available to students throughout
the academic year.
The College’s performance venues include
productions and readings sponsored by the
department in the Suzanne Werner Wright
Theatre, a modified thrust stage, and the Frances
Ann Cannon Workshop Theatre, as well as
student-produced work in the student-run blackbox DownStage Theatre. Workshops, readings,
and productions are also mounted in the blackbox Open Space Theatre and in various
performance spaces throughout the campus.
Theatre Colloquium
Required of all students taking a Theatre Third
(including First-Year Studies with Dave McRee
and Stuart Spencer) and Theatre Graduate
students, the Theatre Colloquium will meet six
times during the academic year to explore current
topics in the theatre and meet leading
professionals in the field.
First-Year Studies in Theatre:
Directing in the
Contemporary Theatre
William D. McRee
FYS
This course will explore the job of the theatre
director as both artist and artistic collaborator.
Dramatic script analysis, rehearsal preparation
and process, actor/director and writer/director
relationships, and the director’s artistic
expression will be covered in discussion and in
class exercises. Students will be exposed to a
variety of directing style and techniques through
frequent trips to New York City theatrical
productions and venues. For this course, a strong
interest in the work of theatre directing is highly
recommended. Students enrolled in First-Year
Studies in Theatre may take an additional
Theatre component as part of their Theatre
120 Theatre
Third. They are also required to attend scheduled
Theatre Colloquiums and complete a set amount
of technical support hours for the department.
Students do not have to take First-Year Studies in
Theatre to take Theatre classes as a first-year
student. First-Year Studies courses are an intense
exploration of one area of theatre, and students
should have a strong interest in that area before
signing up for the course.
First-Year Studies in Theatre:
The Playwright’s Perspective
Stuart Spencer
FYS
In this class, we will spend roughly half of our
time reading great plays and the other half
writing them. Over the course of the year, we will
read plays that represent the major epochs in the
last 2,500 years of Western theatre. We will
discuss their historical context—the politics,
economics, architecture, and other factors that
shaped both their dramaturgy and their
substance. Through a combination of lecture,
discussion, and essays, the student should emerge
with access to the major idioms of dramatic
writing. Meanwhile, every student will also be
studying the craft of playwriting. We will begin
with small, tentative explorations: short scenes
that explore issues of structure or creative
process. The goal is to develop a sense of craft
and technique that is individual yet based on
traditional dramaturgical ideas. By the second
term, students will be writing their own extended
play based on a historical subject or short story of
their own choice. Students enrolled in First-Year
Studies in Theatre may take an additional
Theatre component as part of their Theatre
Third. They are also required to attend scheduled
Theatre Colloquiums and complete a set amount
of technical support hours for the department.
Students do not have to take First-Year Studies in
Theatre to take Theatre classes as a first-year
student. First-Year Studies courses are an intense
exploration of one area of theatre, and students
should have a strong interest in that area before
signing up for the course.
Theatre Techniques
Students taking theatre at Sarah Lawrence for
the first time are enrolled in Theatre Techniques:
Technology and are encouraged to enroll in
Theatre Techniques: History and Histrionics and
Theatre Techniques: Design Components—three
courses that introduce them to the history of
theatre and to a wide range of technical theatre
skills. Students who are interested in
performance have priority enrollment in Theatre
Techniques: The Actor’s Workshop. Students are
also required to complete 25 hours of technical
work each semester.
Theatre Techniques: Actor’s
Workshop
Ernest H. Abuba, Doug MacHugh,
Fanchon Miller Scheier, Erica
Newhouse
Open—Year
This workshop will translate the actor’s
imagination into stage action by building one’s
performance vocabulary. The class engages
students’ essential self by expanding their craft
through a wide-ranging set of training
techniques. This class meets twice a week.
Design Elements I
Year
This course is for students with little or no design
or technical experience who are curious about
design and want exposure to multiple design
areas. It is also a useful tool for directors,
playwrights, and actors who want to increase
their understanding of the design and technical
aspects of theatre to enhance their abilities as
theatrical artists. This is a very hands-on class, in
which students will learn the basics needed to
execute set, costume, lighting, and sound designs.
We will use a short scene or play as the focus of
our discussions of the collaborative design
process. Class format will include both classes
with the full design faculty and classes focused on
specific design areas.
Design Elements II
Spring
This course is for students who have design or
technical experience or have taken Design
Elements I and want to explore design and
technical theatre in greater depth. This course is
also useful for students who are studying one area
of design and want an introduction to other
areas. Students will explore two of the four design
areas (set, costume, lighting, and sound design)
in greater depth, building their technical skills,
design basics, and collaborative communication
skills. Class format involves classes with the full
design faculty and six weeks of classes in each of
two design areas with individual design teachers.
The goal of this semester is to have students
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develop the ability to create a simple design in
their chosen areas. Open to students who have
taken Design Elements I or with faculty permission.
Brief Chronicle: A Short
History of the Theatre
Stuart Spencer
This course is a shorter, one-semester version of
History and Histrionics. Like History and
Histrionics, it is designed to give students an
overview of major periods in world theatre but in
a more concise format. Students will explore
theatre as both a product of its time and place
and of the vision of individual playwrights.
Through a combination of lecture and discussion,
students should emerge with access to the major
idioms of dramatic writing. This class meets once a
week.
Theatre Techniques: History
and Histrionics
Stuart Spencer
Open—Year
This course is designed to give students an
overview of major periods in world theatre. We
will explore theatre as both a product of its time
and place and of the vision of individual
playwrights. Through a combination of lecture
and discussion, students should emerge with
access to the major idioms of dramatic writing.
This class meets once a week.
Theatre Techniques:
Technology
Rebecca Sealander
Open—Fall
This course is an introduction to the Sarah
Lawrence College performance spaces and their
technical capabilities. Required of all students new
to the Theatre program.
The following classes have required auditions
during registration week: Advanced Puppet
Theatre/Performance, Contemporary I for
Dance & Theatre, New Musical Theatre Lab,
Singing Workshop, SLC Lampoon.
New Musical Theatre Lab
Shirley Kaplan, Thomas Mandel
Open—Year
Exploring forms, styles, and collaborative
techniques needed to create musicals, the
students will develop book and lyrics based on
original material. Students will research the
history of musicals from the emergence of
European cabaret and performance, with a
particular focus on the influence of
interdisciplinary needs of contemporary musicals.
The process of adaptation, auditioning, casting,
rewriting, rehearsals, and performance will also
be presented. Open to actors, singers, composers,
lyricists, and musicians. Audition required
Acting Poetic Realism
Michael Early
Open—Year
The plays of Anton Chekov, Tennessee Williams,
and August Wilson will serve as the point of
departure in our exploration of the craft of
acting. In this class, students will be challenged
to expand their range of expression and build
their confidence to make bold and imaginative
acting choices. Particular attention will be paid
to learning to analyze the text in ways that lead
to defining clear, specific, and playable actions
and objectives.
Acting Shakespeare
Michael Early
Intermediate—Year
Those actors rooted in the tradition of playing
Shakespeare find themselves equipped with a
skill set that enables them to successfully work on
a wide range of texts and within an array of
performance modalities. The objectives of this
class are to learn to identify, personalize, and
embody the structural elements of Shakespeare’s
language as the primary means of bringing his
characters to life. Students will study a
representative arc of Shakespeare’s plays, as well
as the sonnets, with the goal of bringing his
characters to life. Class time will be divided
between physical, vocal, and text work.
Breaking the Code
Kevin Confoy
Advanced—Year
A specific, text-driven approach to performance,
based upon identifying, analyzing, and exploiting
particular attributes common to characters in all
plays, this class provides a foundation and a
context for the most vital and decisive
characterizations. Students will read, discuss, and
act scenes from contemporary plays and
adaptations. This class meets twice a week.
122 Theatre
Close Up and Personal
Doug MacHugh
Advanced—Year
Using the foundations learned during their first
years in the Theatre program, students will apply
their theatrical training to the camera. The
students will learn how to maintain an organic
experience in spite of the rigid technical
restrictions and requirements. The second half of
each semester will be dedicated to putting a scene
on its feet and shooting it. We will use a monitor
playback system for reviewing work to help
identify specific problems. Limited enrollment. This
class meets twice a week.
Comedy Workshop
Christine Farrell
Intermediate—Year
Comedy Workshop is an exploration of the
classic structures of comedy and the unique
comic mind. It begins with a strong focus on
improvisation and ensemble work. The athletics
of this creative comedic mind is the primary
objective of the first semester exercises. Status
play, narrative storytelling, and the Harold
exercise are used to develop the artist’s freedom
and confidence. The ensemble learns to trust the
spontaneous response and their own comic
madness. Second semester educates the theatre
artist in the theories of comedy. It is designed to
introduce students to Commedia dell arte,
vaudeville, parody, satire, and standup comedy.
At the end of the final semester, each student
will write five minutes of standup material that
will be performed one night at a comedy club in
New York City and then on the SLC campus on
Comedy Night.
Creating a Role
Ernest H. Abuba
Open—Year
It is a sanctum of discovery, enabling the actor to
explore non-Western movement: centering
energy, concentration, the voice, and the
“mythos” of a character to discover one’s own
truth in relation to the text, contemporary as
well as the classics. Traditional, as well as
alternative, approaches to acting techniques are
applied. Fall semester concentrates on working
on roles such as Hamlet, Leontes, Caliban,
Othello, Lear, Macbeth, Hecuba, Medea,
Antigone, and Lady Macbeth; spring semester,
applied to scene study from such works by
Arrabal, Beckett, Ionesco, Maria Irene Fornes,
Sam Shepard, Albert Camus, and Jean Genet.
This class meets twice a week.
Improvisation Laboratory
Fanchon Miller Scheier
Advanced—Year
Using experimental exercises and improvisation,
we will explore the character’s connections to his
or her environment, relationships, needs, and
wants. In the second semester, we will
concentrate on fashioning a workable technique,
as well as on using improvisation to illuminate
scene work from the great dramatic playwrights:
Lorca, Chekhov, Strindberg, O’Neill, Shaw, etc.
This course is available to students who are
willing to approach material experimentally in a
laboratory setting. This class meets twice a week.
Singing Workshop
Shirley Kaplan, Thomas Mandel
Open—Year
We will explore an actor’s performance with
songs and various styles of popular music, music
for theatre, cabaret, and original
work—emphasizing communication with the
audience and material selection. Dynamics of
vocal interpretation and style will also be
examined. This class requires enrollment in a
weekly voice lesson and an Alexander Technique
class. Audition required. This class meets once a
week.
SLC Lampoon
Christine Farrell
Advanced—Year
SLC Lampoon is a comedy ensemble of actors,
directors, and writers. The techniques of Second
City and Theatersports will be used to create an
improvisational troupe that will perform
throughout the campus. The ensemble will craft
comic characters and write sketches, parodies,
and political satire. This work will culminate in a
final SLC Lampoon Mainstage performance in
the style of Second City or Saturday Night Live.
Audition required.
Theatre 360: The Big Picture
Kevin Confoy
Open—Year
This course examines how theatre reflects and
defines its times. By studying the artists, theatre
companies, and some of the most provocative
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plays and musicals written in and around recent
events (from the social and political upheaval of
the 1960s to the AIDS crisis of the mid-1980s to
9/11), we will come to see how theatre shapes a
point of view on the world. Students will study a
large selection of plays and documentaries and
participate in discussions that will range from the
history of the time periods studied to why
different plays on the same subject (Larry
Kramer’s The Normal Heart, Tony Kushner’s
Angels in America) differ so greatly in form, style,
and purpose. A wide range of topical issues and
various aspects of theatre production will be
discussed. Students will make presentations, show
scene work, and/or write on topics that reflect
their own particular points of view.
The Acting Process
Christine Farrell
Open—Year
This course will ask theatre artists (directors,
actors, playwrights, designers) to explore their
own understanding of the acting process through
physical action and scene study techniques. Each
student will work on four scenes over the course
of the year. The scenes will be chosen to develop
emotional range, to create comic character, to
experience extreme physical movement, and to
discover an individual approach to diversity.
The Webisodics Project/Web
Series Asylum
Doug MacHugh, Frederick Michael
Strype
Advanced—Year
During the fall semester, we will
develop—through theatrical exercises,
improvisations, character development, and
“hands-on” collaboration with the screenwriting
team—an ensemble cast. As the webisodics are
developed, workshopped, and revised, the
filmmakers will be shooting and editing the
weekly staged readings as performed by the
actors. The actors will further explore,
investigate, and create three-dimensional
complex characters. We will review and discuss
revisions and complexity of plot in class. Camera
blocking and comprehension of camera
movements will be taught. When principal
photography is wrapped, the actors will further
develop their craft by working with the
screenwriters doing table reads and staged
readings of original material. These workshop
pieces will be shot, edited, and discussed in class
to enhance the revision process. The outcome of
this past year’s course is the Web series, “Socially
Active,” which can be viewed online at:
http://vimeo.com/channels/sociallyactive. This
class will be team-taught by Theatre instructor
Douglas Mac Hugh and Filmmaking instructor Fred
Strype. Enrollment is limited. Permission of the
instructors is required. This class meets once a week
for four hours.
World Theatre
David Diamond, Mia Yoo
Open—Fall
The historic La MaMa Experimental Theatre
Club in New York's East Village hosts this survey
of contemporary and historic international
theatre. Students will have the opportunity to
meet and experience artists from around the
world who are presenting performances at La
MaMa ETC. In addition to learning the history
of international theatre in New York through the
La MaMa archives, students will have workshops
with visiting artists and see examples of their
work. Coordinators of the La MaMa
International Symposium for Directors, David
Diamond and Mia Yoo, will host students in New
York where, each week, they will exchange ideas
with visiting and local artists.
Alexander Technique
June Ekman
Open—Year
The Alexander Technique is a neuromuscular
system that enables the student to identify and
change poor and inefficient habits that may be
causing stress and fatigue. With gentle hands-on
guidance and verbal instruction, the student
learns to replace faulty habits with improved
coordination by locating and releasing undue
muscular tensions. This includes easing of the
breath and the effect of coordinated breathing on
the voice. It is an invaluable technique that
connects the actor to his or her resources for
dramatic intent. This class meets once a week.
Breathing Coordination for
the Performer
Sterling Swann
Open—Year
Students will improve their vocal power and ease
of speech through an understanding of basic
breathing mechanics and principles of speech.
Utilizing recent discoveries of breathing
coordination, performers can achieve their true
124 Theatre
potential by freeing their voices, reducing
tension, and increasing concentration and
stamina. Students will consolidate their progress
by performing pieces in their field (theatre,
dance, music, etc.) in a supportive atmosphere.
Building a Vocal Technique
Sterling Swann
Intermediate—Year
A continuation of Breathing Coordination for
the Performer, which is suggested as a
prerequisite, students may work on scenes that
they currently are rehearsing and also bring in
pieces of their own choosing. Emphasis will be on
physical ease and the use of breathing
coordination to increase vocal range and power.
Contemporary I for Dance
and Theatre
Peter Kyle
Open—Year
Successful performances in dance and theatre rely
on training that prepares performers in mind,
body, and spirit to enter the realm of aesthetic
exploration and expression. In this class, we will
work toward acquiring skills that facilitate the
investigation of previously unimagined ways of
moving. Through traditional and experimental
practices, students will develop a sense of form,
energy use, strength and control, and awareness
of time and rhythm. Improvisation is an
important aspect of this study. Audition required.
Introduction to Stage Combat
Sterling Swann
Open—Year
Students will learn the basics of armed and
unarmed stage fighting, with an emphasis on
safety. Actors will be taught to create effective
stage violence, from hair pulling and choking to
sword fighting, with a minimum of risk. Basic
techniques will be incorporated into short scenes
to give students experience performing fights in
both classic and modern contexts. This class meets
once a week.
Advanced Stage Combat
Sterling Swann
Intermediate—Year
This course is a continuation of Introduction to
Stage Combat and offers additional training in
more complex weapons forms, such as rapier and
dagger, single sword, and small sword. Students
receive training as fight captains and have the
opportunity to take additional skills proficiency
tests, leading to actor/combatant status in the
Society of American Fight Directors. This course
meets once a week.
Movement for Performance
David Neumann
Open—Year
This is a movement class for anyone interested in
performance; no movement experience is
necessary. All that is required is an open, curious
mind when approaching the work. Daily
warmups and improvisation lead to moving in
larger ranges and creating original movement.
Later in the semester, we will explore the
integration of text and movement composition
for the theatre. As a requirement of the class,
there will be unique opportunities to observe
rehearsals and/or performances of Mr. Neumann’s
professional engagements in New York City. This
class meets twice a week.
Stage Management
Greta Minsky, Rebecca Sealander
Open—Year
This course will focus on the art and practice of
stage management. Students will be assigned
productions and will be mentored through the
process from auditions through tech week and
strike. This class meets once a week. Greta Minsky
will teach during the fall semester; Rebecca
Sealander, during the spring semester.
Actor and Director Lab:
PROOF
Kevin Confoy
Advanced—Year
This course creates a working process for the
presentation of plays. Student actors and
directors will work together on chosen scripts as a
way of determining and shaping a common and
shared approach to the text that will provide a
foundation for the most vivid, physical, and
distinctly realized expressions of a play. Students
will be expected to both act and direct in scenes
and short plays that will be presented as part of
the Theatre program season.
THE CURRICULUM 125
Directing the 20th Century:
From Chekhov to Churchill
Will Frears
Intermediate—Year
This class will focus on directing plays in the
20th-century canon, covering a range of styles
and content. It will cover the whole journey of
directing a play, with a strong emphasis on
practical work. Students will be required to bring
in design research for plays and to direct scenes
from the plays, both of which they will present to
the class for critique. The class will focus on how
to use the text to inform the choices made by the
director. Plays on the syllabus include The Three
Sisters, Our Town, Top Girls, The Glass Menagerie,
and Angels in America: Millennium Approaches.
This class meets twice a week.
Directing, Devising, and
Performance
David Neumann
Intermediate—Fall
This class is a laboratory, where students will
explore (on their feet) a range of methodologies,
philosophies, and approaches to creating
performance and theatre. How do you direct a
theatre piece without starting with a play?
Alongside a broad survey of artists and art
movements of the 20th century that continue to
influence theatre artists today, students will
practice a variety of ways of staging with and
without text, always in relation to being a “live
event." Following a trajectory from the Dadaists
to Fluxus, from the surrealists to John Cage (and
beyond), we will wrangle with these “postdramatic” artists and explore how their ideas can
lead us in finding our own unique theatrical
voice. Class will culminate in performances
assembled from work made in class. Students will
be given reading and creative assignments outside
of class and will be expected to work
collaboratively throughout the term. This class
meets once a week.
DownStage
Kevin Confoy
DownStage is an intensive, hands-on conference
in theatrical production. DownStage student
producers administrate and run their own theatre
company. They are responsible for all aspects of
production, including determining the budget
and marketing an entire season of events and
productions. Student producers are expected to
fill a variety of positions, both technical and
artistic, and to sit as members of the board of
directors of a functioning theatre organization. In
addition to their obligations to class and
designated productions, DownStage producers are
expected to hold regular office hours. Prior
producing experience is not required. This class
meets twice a week.
Internship Conference
Ruth Moe
Intermediate—Year
For students who wish to pursue a professional
internship as part of their program, all areas of
producing and administration are possible:
production, marketing, advertising, casting,
development, etc. Students must have at least
one day each week to devote to the internship.
Through individual meetings, we will best
determine each student’s placement to meet
individual academic and artistic goals.
Production Workshop
Robert Lyons
Open—Year
The creative director of the Theatre program will
lead a discussion group for all the directors,
assistant directors, and playwrights participating
in the fall theatre season (including readings,
workshops, and productions). This is an
opportunity for students to discuss with their
peers the process, problems, and pleasures of
making theatre at Sarah Lawrence College (and
beyond). This workshop is part problem solving,
part support group—with the emphasis on
problem solving. This course is required for students
who accept a position in the fall season.
Tools of the Trade
Rebecca Sealander, Technical Staff
Open—Spring
This course focuses on the nuts and bolts of lightboard operation, sound-board operation, and
projection technology, as well as the use of Final
Cut Pro® and Pro Tools® editing programs and
basic stage carpentry. Students who take this
course will be eligible for additional paid work as
technical assistants in the Theatre program. This
class meets once a week.
126 Theatre
Advanced Puppet Theatre/
Performance
Design Techniques in Media
and Puppetry
Dan Hurlin
Robin Starbuck
Intermediate—Year
Students will spend all year constructing,
developing, and rehearsing a single puppet
production. This year’s production, Double Aspect
by acclaimed experimental playwright Erik Ehn,
is part of a cycle of 17 plays that “…look at
America through the lens of its genocides.” Each
of the 17 plays will be produced at various venues
across the country during the 2011/2012 season,
with all productions converging on La Mama, in
New York City, in the fall of 2012. During the
2011/2012 academic year, students will be
involved in all facets of Double Aspect, from
researching the conflicts in El Salvador and
Guatemala (the setting of the play) to the
fabrication of puppets, choreography of
puppeteers, and the final performance. Double
Aspect will be given full production at Sarah
Lawrence College in the spring of 2012 and will
tour to La Mama the following fall. Audition
required. Classes will meet for three hours per week.
Collaborative Contemporary
Theater: Grad Projects I
David Neumann
Advanced—Year
This course will provide a critical and supportive
forum for the development of new works of
original performance, focusing primarily on
where current dance and theatre combinations
find inspiration. In the first semester, students
will explore contemporary theatre-building
techniques and methodologies from Dada to
Judson Church and beyond. The majority of time
will be devoted to lab work, where students will
create their own short performance pieces
through a multidisciplinary approach. Students
will be asked to devise original theatre pieces that
utilize such methods as solo forms, viewpoints,
chance operations, and creations from
nontheatrical sources. In addition to the
laboratory aspect of the class, a number of plays,
essays, and artists’ manifestos will be discussed. In
the second semester, students will collaborate on
a single evening-length work, utilizing theatrical
and nontheatrical sources in an attempt to speak
to our cultural moment. There will also be
opportunities to visit rehearsals and performances
of professional theatre and dance in New York
City. Open to first-year graduates. This class meets
once a week.
Open—Year
This course allows students to explore design
possibilities in projection, animation, scenic
design, and puppetry through a series of
exploratory projects and group work. Visual
sequences will be created using overhead
projectors, stop-motion animation techniques,
shadow puppetry, and video animation. The
course will introduce basic digital-image
manipulation in Photoshop®, simple video
animation in AfterEffects®, and the live
manipulation of video using Isadora® media
interface software. Individual projects in the
second semester will challenge students to
integrate these techniques into performance.
Basic knowledge of Photoshop and the MAC
operating system is highly recommended. This
class meets once a week.
Grad Lab
Dan Hurlin, Shirley Kaplan, David
Neumann
Year
Taught by a rotating series of SLC faculty and
guest artists, this course focuses on developing
the skills needed for a wide variety of techniques
for the creation and development of new work in
theatre. Ensemble acting, movement, design and
fabrication, playwriting, devised work, and music
performance are all explored. The class is a forum
for workshops, master classes, and open
rehearsals, with a focus on the development of
critical skills. In addition, students in Grad Lab
are expected to generate a new piece of theatre,
to be performed for the SLC community, every
month. These performances will include graduate
and undergraduate students alike. Open to
graduate students only.
Making New Work
Shirley Kaplan
Open—Year
This is a performance lab open to actors, dancers,
visual artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, and
directors. The class will form an ensemble where
creative process, media crossovers, and global
forms and styles are presented within an active
media lab. The group, using shared performance
techniques, will explore the development of
personal devised work. Methods of vocal and
physical work will add to interdisciplinary
THE CURRICULUM 127
collaborations in order to explore sources of
inspiration for new work. Investigating both
traditional and contemporary performance, we
will acknowledge new connections that are
happening between videogames and text, science
and technology. Crossing cultural and media
traditions, the group will create and present
weekly projects, as well as a final performance.
Projects
Dan Hurlin
Year
This course will provide a critical and supportive
forum for the development of new works of
original theatre with a focus on conducting
research in a variety of ways, including historical
and artistic research, workshops, improvisations,
experiments, and conversation. Each student
focuses on creating one original
project—typically, but not limited to, a solo,
duet, or trio—over the course of the full year.
During the class, students will show works in
progress. During conference, students and faculty
will meet to discuss these showings and any
relevant artistic and practical problems that may
arise. Open to second-year graduate students only.
Puppet Theatre
Dan Hurlin
Open—Year
This course will introduce students to the
uniquely interdisciplinary performing medium of
puppetry. Students will research and study a
global range of ancient and modern puppet styles
and forms: Western models such as toy theater
and string puppets, as well as Eastern practices
such as Indonesian shadow and Japanese
Bunraku, among others. After conducting
research, interviewing contemporary puppet
artists, and visiting puppet fabrication studios in
New York City, students will have hands-on
experiences with each form, developing short
original puppet works focusing on manipulation
skills, contemporary construction methods, and
creative problem solving. This class meets once a
week for two hours.
Costume Design I
Carol Ann Pelletier
Open—Year
This course is an introduction to the many
aspects of costuming for students with little or no
experience in the field. Among the topics
covered are: basics of design, color, and style;
presentation of costume design from preliminary
concept sketches to final renderings; researching
period styles; costume bookkeeping from
preliminary character lists to wardrobe
maintenance charts; and the costume shop from
threading a needle to identifying fabric. The
major class project will have each student
research, bookkeep, and present costume
sketches for a play. Some student projects will
incorporate production work. This class meets once
a week.
Costume Design II
Carol Ann Pelletier
Intermediate—Year
This is a more advanced course in costume design
for students who have completed Costume
Design I or who have the instructor’s permission
to enter. Topics covered in Costume Design I will
be examined at greater depth, with the focus on
students designing actual productions. An
emphasis will be placed on the students
developing sketching techniques and beginning
and maintaining their portfolios. This class meets
once a week.
Advanced Costume
Conference
Carol Ann Pelletier
Advanced—Year
This is an advanced conference in costume
design.
Lighting Design I
Greg MacPherson
Open—Year
Lighting Design I will introduce the student to
the basic elements of stage lighting, including
tools and equipment, color theory, reading scripts
for design elements, operation of lighting
consoles and construction of lighting cues, and
basic elements of lighting drawings and
schedules. Students will be offered hands-on
experience in hanging and focusing lighting
instruments and will be invited to attend
technical rehearsals. They will have
opportunities to design productions and to assist
other designers as a way of developing greater
understanding of the design process. This class
meets once a week.
128 Theatre
Lighting Design II
Greg MacPherson
Intermediate—Year
Lighting Design II will build on the basics
introduced in Lighting Design I to help develop
the students’ abilities in designing complex
productions. The course will focus primarily on
CAD and other computer programs related to
lighting design, script analysis, advanced console
operation, and communication with directors and
other designers. Students will be expected to
design actual productions and in-class projects for
evaluation and discussion and will be offered the
opportunity to increase their experience in design
by assisting Mr. MacPherson and others, when
possible.
Scenic Design I
Open—Year
This course introduces basic elements of scenic
design, including developing a design concept,
drafting, and practical techniques for creating
theatrical space. Students will develop tools to
communicate their visual ideas through research,
sketches, and models. The class will discuss
examples of design from theatre, dance, and
puppetry. Student projects will include both
conceptual designs and production work in the
department. This class meets once a week. There is
a $50 course fee. Faculty: TBA
Scenic Design II
Intermediate—Year
This class will further develop the student’s skill
set as a scenic designer through work on
department productions and individual projects.
Students will be introduced to CAD drawing and
computer modeling through Vectorworks® and
develop their ability to communicate with
directors, fellow designers, and the technical
crew. In addition, students will continue to have
hands-on exposure to practical scenic
construction, rigging, and painting techniques.
Students in this course are required to design a
department production. Faculty: TBA
Sound Design I & II
Jill Du Boff
Open—Year
This course will cover sound design from the
beginning of the design process through
expectations when meeting with a director, how
to collaborate with the rest of the design team,
and ultimately creating a full sound design for
performance. The course will explain how to edit
sound, as well as many of the programs
commonly used in a professional atmosphere.
Throughout the course, we will create sound
effects and sound collages and cover the many
ways that sound is used in the theatre. Skills
learned in this class will prepare students to
design sound in many different venues and on
different types of systems. The class will focus on
the creative side of sound design, while covering
the basics of system design, sound equipment,
and software. This class will meet once a week.
Developing the Dramatic
Idea
Cassandra Medley
Open—Year
You have an idea, or vision, for a play that you
would like to write. You have no particular idea
for a play, yet you feel eager to explore and learn
how to write in the dramatic form—which
involves live characters interacting in threedimensional space before a live audience. Either
way, this course involves learning craft
techniques, as well as advanced methods for
dramatizing your ideas from initial scenes to
completed rough first drafts. We incorporate
freewriting and brainstorming techniques, acting
improvisation, and audio and video recordings
from your in-process work. Class texts will be
selected from the white-ethnic, and AfricanAmerican theatre canon. This class meets twice a
week.
Experiments in Language and
Form
Cassandra Medley
Open—Year
In this class, we will focus on writing
“experimental theatre”—that is, we will
experiment with theatrical forms that extend
beyond traditional portrayals of time, threedimensional space, language, character, and
dramatic structure—and discover the impact that
different types of onstage presentations might
have on audiences. We are not interested in
imitating the style of experimental playwrights
but, rather, using their texts as influence,
stimulus, and encouragement as we attempt our
own experiments. We will also style experimental
texts to ascertain the types of
environments—political, spiritual, mental,
social—that influenced such texts to be
THE CURRICULUM 129
generated; that is, created. Our aim, first and
foremost, is to investigate and explore ways to
genuinely give theatrical expression to our
personal-political-spiritual interior lives, values,
observations, and beliefs. We will then strive to
examine the most effective manner of
communicating our theatrical experiments to an
audience. Our experimental writing may include
a multimedia presentation as part of the scripted,
onstage play or performance. This class meets once
a week.
Face the Blank Page
Lucy Thurber
Intermediate—Year
This class is open to anyone with a full to almostcompleted first draft of a play. Plays are not
literature. Plays are meant to be heard out loud,
rehearsed, and workshopped on their feet. Plays
go through a development process before
becoming a rehearsal-ready draft. Once in
rehearsal, the work on the script continues into
previews. Students will learn how to rewrite in
the rehearsal room and how to work with actors
and directors on new, unfinished work. This class
meets once a week.
REWRITE
Lucy Thurber, Will Frears
Intermediate—Year
Over the course of a semester (or year), this class
will focus on the relationship between playwright
and director during the development of a new
play. Playwrights must bring in a full-length play
that is ready to be worked on. Over the course of
the semester, we will work through
notes—directing readings, staging, rewriting in
collaboration, rewriting in rehearsal, cutting,
learning when not to rewrite and how
playwrights talk about staging—all in the
building of an effective artistic collaboration.
This class will meet for four hours once a week.
Spencer Workshop
Stuart Spencer
Advanced—Year
This course is designed for playwriting students
who have a basic knowledge of dramatic structure
and an understanding of their own creative
process. Students will be free to work on plays of
any length and with themes, subjects, and styles
of their choice. They may also work on more
than one project at a time. Work will be read
aloud and discussed in the class each week. The
course requires that students be self-motivated
and enter with an idea of which play or plays
they plan to work on. This class meets once a week.
Writers Gym
Cassandra Medley
Open—Year
“You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go
after it with a club.”—Jack London
Writers Gym is a first-year creative writing
“gymnasium.” Our focus is on weekly writing
exercises that develop characters and
stories—whether for the stage, screenplay, or
fiction/memoir prose narration. In addition, we
study theories about the nature of creativity and
explore strategies for improving writing discipline
and for working writing blocks. Our goals are as
follows: to study writing methods that help to
inspire, nurture, encourage, and sustain our urge/
need to write; to concentrate on building the
inner lives of our characters through in-depth
character work, in order to create stronger stories;
to explore—that is to say, investigate—and gain
access into our spontaneous ideas; to articulate
and gain a more conscious relationship to the
“inner territory” from which we draw ideas; to
confront issues that block the writing process;
and to gain greater confidence in revision, as we
pursue clarification of the work. Our yearlong
class procedure will include weekly writing
exercises, writing and revising multiple short
pieces that the students generate—plays, prose
fiction and nonfiction, or short screenplay.
Students will be assigned selected readings from
the aforementioned genres plus a variety of essay
excerpts concerning the creative process. In
addition, one class a week will focus on the
history of theatre.
Writing for Solo Performance
Pamela Snead
Intermediate—Year
This class is for actors who want to write and act
in their own work. The work may be
autobiographical or nonautobiographical. The
genre may extend itself to music and spoken
word. We will work heavily with text and really
delve into the characters to make them fully
realized in reference to the story that is being
told. We will use Jungian and some Greco/
Roman myth to get inside the characters and
make them understood and universal. The
atmosphere is such that students may try
anything and experiment.
130 Theatre
Methods of Theatre
Outreach
Allen Lang
Open—Year
Developing original, issue-oriented dramatic
material using music and theatre media, this
course will present the structures needed for
community extension of the theatre.
Performance and teaching groups will work with
small theatres, schools, senior-citizen groups,
museums, centers, and shelters. Productions and
class plans will be made in consultation with the
organizations and our touring groups. We will
work with children’s theatre, audience
participation, and educational theatre. Teaching
and performance techniques will focus on past
and present uses of oral histories and crosscultural material. Sociological and psychological
dynamics will be studied as part of an exploration
of the role of theatre and its connections to
learning. Each student will have a servicelearning team placement. Special projects and
guest topics will include the use of theatre in
developing new kinds of after-school programs,
styles and forms of community on-site
performances, media techniques for artists who
teach, and work with the Sarah Lawrence
College Human Genetics program. This class
meets once a week.
The Performing Arts for
Social Change
Paul Griffin
Intermediate—Year
In today’s world, theatre is increasingly defined as
a commercial enterprise. This course will
examine the use of theatre for social change,
examining its practice, theory, role, and
production. Discussions will include approaches
to using theatre for creating personal and social
change and the key elements of successful
projects from creative process to performance to
organization to impact. Interactive class sessions
will include participation in a creative process
involving community building, team building,
conflict resolution, social analysis, and scene
creation. Each student will be expected to
develop a coherent theory of change, construct a
viable performing arts-based project “blueprint,”
and participate in a community event created
from the creative process. Students will also visit
one Saturday rehearsal of the City at Peace
project in New York City, a nonprofit
organization using the performing arts to
empower teenagers to transform their lives and
communities. This class meets once a week.
Far-Off, Off-Off, Off-, and
On-Broadway: Experiencing
the 2011-2012 Theatre
Season
William D. McRee
Open—Year
Weekly class meetings in which productions are
analyzed and discussed will be supplemented by
regular visits to many of the theatrical
productions of the current season. The class will
travel within the tristate area, attending theatre
in as many diverse venues, forms, and styles as
possible. Published plays will be studied in
advance of attending performances; new or
unscripted works will be preceded by
examinations of previous work by the author or
company. Students will be given access to all
available group discounts in purchasing tickets.
London Theatre Tour
William D. McRee
Open—Intersession
The purpose of the course is to experience and
examine present-day British theatre: its practices,
playwrights, traditions, theatres, and artists. This
is a two-credit academic course, and any student
enrolled at Sarah Lawrence College is eligible to
take the class. During two weeks in London,
students will attend a minimum of 12
productions, tour various London theatres, meet
with British theatre artists, attend regularly
scheduled morning seminars, and make an oral
presentation on one of the plays that the group is
attending. Plays will be assigned prior to the end
of the fall semester, and preparation and research
for the presentation should be completed before
arriving in London. Productions attended will
include as wide a variety of venues, styles, and
periods of theatre as possible. Seminars will
analyze and critique the work seen, as well as
discover themes, trends, and movements in the
contemporary theatre of the country. Free time is
scheduled for students to explore London and
surrounding areas at their leisure.
Theatre students may be invited to participate
in outside programs, including:
THE CURRICULUM 131
The London Theatre
Program (BADA)
Intersession
Sponsored by Sarah Lawrence College and the
British American Drama Academy (BADA), the
London Theatre Program offers undergraduates
from Sarah Lawrence an opportunity to work and
study with leading actors and directors from the
world of British theatre. The program offers
acting classes with leading artists from the British
stage. These are complemented by individual
tutorials, where students will work one-on-one
with their teachers. A faculty selected from
Britain’s foremost drama schools teaches
technical classes in voice, movement, and stage
fighting. This intense conservatory training is
accompanied by courses in theatre history and
theatre criticism, tickets to productions, and the
experience of performing in a professional
theatre. In addition, master classes and
workshops feature more of Britain’s fine actors
and directors. Designed for dedicated students
who wish to study acting in London, the program
offers enrollment in either the fall or spring
semester for single-semester study. Those wishing
to pursue their training more intensely are
strongly encouraged to begin their training in the
fall and continue with the Advanced London
Theatre Program in the spring semester.
Acceptance is by audition only.
La MaMa E.T.C.
Intersession
La MaMa E.T.C. sponsors two summer events in
Umbria, Italy, in conjunction with Sarah
Lawrence College: International Symposium for
Directors, a three-week training program for
professional directors, choreographers, and actors
in which internationally renowned theatre artists
conduct workshops and lecture/demonstrations;
and Playwright Retreat, a one-week program
where participants have ample time to work on
new or existing material. Each day, master
playwright Lisa Kron will meet with the
playwrights to facilitate discussions, workshops,
and exercises designed to help the writers with
whatever challenges they are facing. More
information is available at http://lamama.org/
programs/la-mama-umbria-international.
Creativity Workshop
Edwin Sherin
Spring
This is an experimental workshop. Among its
objectives are exploring the participants’
impulsive response to texts (plays for theatre and
screen and some poetry), as well as examining
the power of intuition to more deeply understand
these texts. The key elements require exercises in
various forms of “active” meditation. The work is
often strenuous and requires physical skill and
agility and a passion for adventure. Our
overarching objective is to enhance the
participants’ ability to act, write, or direct for
theatre.
Another course offered this year in Theatre is
The Webisodics Project/Web Series
Asylum (p. 137), Frederick Michael Strype
Visual Arts, Doug MacHugh Theatre
Visual Arts
Students enrolled in a visual arts course at Sarah
Lawrence College work in a new environment
created to support the College’s unique arts
pedagogy: a philosophy of teaching that not only
encourages an individual investigation into the
nature of the creative process but also provides a
setting to foster the exchange of ideas across
artistic disciplines.
While courses are taught in the traditional
seminar/conference format, the Monika A. and
Charles A. Heimbold, Jr. Visual Arts Center is
specifically designed to break down barriers
among visual arts media. It features ateliers that
give each student an individual work area for the
year—while its open classrooms and movable
walls encourage students to see and experience
the work of their peers in painting, sculpture,
photography, filmmaking, printmaking, drawing,
visual fundamentals, and digital imagery.
Students can enhance their work in a chosen
discipline by enrolling in a workshop—a minicourse—selected from 10 offerings annually. In
some visual arts courses, a particular workshop
will be required. This recently developed program
expands students’ technical skills and enables
them to utilize different media in the
development of their work. Workshops are open
to students of any visual arts medium, promoting
132 Visual Arts
even more interaction and understanding across
disciplinary boundaries, and furthering the
College’s overall emphasis on interdisciplinary
work
The Heimbold Center, a high-performance
“green” building, embodies an environmentally
friendly approach that features safe alternatives
to toxic materials, special venting systems, and
an abundance of natural light. In addition to
well-equipped, open-space studios, individual
ateliers, and digital technology in every studio
and classroom, the building also includes space
for welding, woodworking, clay and moldmaking; a common darkroom, a digital imaging
lab, and critique rooms; a sound studio, a
screening room, and a large exhibition area. The
Center’s doors open onto a mini-quad, allowing
students from throughout the College both access
to and inspiration from their peers’ works-inprogress.
The visual arts curriculum is reflected
in—but not confined to—the Heimbold Center’s
visual arts facilities. The building also houses
courses in visual culture, increasing the
integration of the creative arts and the
humanities. The College’s proximity to New York
City brings recognized artists to campus to lecture
and also gives the students the opportunity to
visit hundreds of galleries and some of the world’s
major museums.
Faculty members are working artists who
believe in the intrinsic value—for all
students—of creative work in the visual arts, the
inseparable connection of the creative arts and
the liberal arts, and the necessity of art in life. All
visual arts faculty and their students have access
to technicians, based in the Heimbold Center,
who will provide technical support in most areas.
In 2011-12, various workshops in the visual
arts disciplines will be offered that serve to
broaden students’ vocabulary and technical skills.
In the past, workshops in Metalworking,
Letterpress, Web Design, Drawing, Water Color,
Woodworking, Artist Books, Final Cut, Sculpture
Methods, and Photoshop have been offered.
First-Year Studies in Visual
Art
Gary Burnley
FYS
This course will explore and consider ways of
thinking about the world around us, both the
nature and the aim of visual art. Working from a
range of subject matter and with a variety of
media, we will examine the process of converting
raw materials and ideas into understandable form.
Developing critical and analytical awareness will
be stressed, along with habits of discipline
necessary to support all creative endeavors.
Nurturing and sustaining a unique point of view,
personal experimentation, interpretation, and
innovation will also be encouraged. Readings and
discussion of art and cultural history will be an
important part of the weekly course work.
Photograph Now
Joel Sternfeld
FYS
For its first 100 years, photography was blackand-white—an abstraction of human sightedness.
Newly born photography shook (and was shaken
by) painting, as it pushed into the world as an
engine of modern consciousness. When color
photography came along, it didn’t hesitate to
present new pleasures and new problems to
thoughtful practitioners and adherents of the
medium. The recent arrival of digital
photography has created an image culture that is
changing by the day—and changing the world by
the day. Through black-and-white, color, and
digital darkroom work and a broad range of
readings, students will grow familiar with
photographic practices and theories as they
respond to the pull of their individual aesthetic.
First-Year Studies: Outside
Cinema: Contemporary
Approaches to Video Art
Production
Robin Starbuck
FYS
This First-Year Studies seminar explores, in
depth, the rich world of film/videomaking as
artistic expression. Students will participate in a
series of assignments, both practical hands-on
and through lecture, discussion, and screenings
(artist interviews, documentaries, and artist
work). We will focus on the “voice” of the
individual in the fall semester and the self as it
relates to our natural environment in the spring
semester. Through a series of short video
production projects, we will explore movingimage forms and style that blur the boundaries
among narrative, documentary, and abstract
filmmaking. There is, by definition, no formula
for this kind of work. Rather, this course
introduces the language and techniques of film
production alongside strategies for the use of film
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and audio design as creative expression. Fall
semester projects will focus on the making of
video diaries and first-person works that examine
identity and alterity. During the spring semester,
we will redirect these concerns to an exploration
of our relationship to the natural
environment—its aesthetics, politics, and
science. For example, if you complete a film
based on an avatar’s experience in the fall
semester, you might recreate this idea in the
spring semester to integrate a particular landscape
or to speak to an environmental concern that you
have. Over the course of the year, we will look at
and analyze the pioneering work of many
experimental film/video artists, including Gilliam
Wearing, Doug Aiken, Pipolotti Rist, Seoungho
Cho, Shaun Gladwell, Corey Archangel, and
others. Readings will include selections from
several texts, including: Berger’s Ways of Seeing,
A.L. Rees’s A History of Experimental Film and
Video, Bell Hooks's, Yearning: Race, Gender, and
Cultural Politics, and M.M. Yvette’s Figuring the
Landscape: Experimental Film and the Ecological
Movement. The class will also include field trips
to several New York City galleries and museums.
Drawing: Translating an
Invisible World
John O'Connor
Open—Fall
Drawing is an endlessly exciting art form that
encourages experimentation and embraces
mistakes. It naturally exploits the relationship
between seeing and thinking. This course will
challenge what you think of as drawing. You will
learn about the tools of traditional drawing
(paper, graphite, ink, charcoal, conte, etc.) and
will learn how to translate what you see onto
paper. Simultaneously, you will begin to learn
how to express yourself individually through
drawing—how will your drawings be different
from everyone else’s? We will begin with the
fundamentals of drawing through observation
(line, value, space), move into more complex
subjects and combinations of materials, even
touching on collage and abstraction, and finish
with a large-scale, independent project. Each
week, we will work in new ways, continuing to
build on what came before and often approaching
similar subject matter in different ways. We will
not keep our subjects at a distance but will try to
connect with them, move around and through
them, deconstruct them—really understand what
we are drawing. Ultimately, what can your
drawings reveal beyond what we all plainly see?
While we may all be looking at and drawing the
same thing, you will be asked to find your own
solutions to problems, take your drawings in new
and unexpected directions, and extrapolate from
what you know and learn. This course will ask
you to look at your world with intensity and
render the invisible on paper. This course is
suitable for all levels. Independent work outside
of class is required. Studio practice will be
reinforced through discussion, occasional written
work, readings, slides, and gallery/museum visits.
A studio visit with an artist in New York City
will also be scheduled.
Drawing: A Big Evolution
John O'Connor
Open—Spring
Drawings demand to be changed over time
through process—they are always evolving. This
evolution will serve as the foundation for this
highly creative drawing course. In class, you will
work on observational and idea-based drawings
over extended periods of time. You’ll work on
each project in class for approximately two weeks
and will bring it to a state of finish outside of
class. Through varied, in-depth projects, you will
gain a greater understanding of the techniques of
drawing and will learn to combine ideas and
mediums in personal, thought-provoking ways.
Your choice of medium will be flexible and varied
and will include charcoal, graphite, ink, pastel,
conte, colored pencil, etc. Additionally, you will
be asked to directly address the scale of your
drawings—from very small, intricate works to
large-scale, exuberant pieces. The subjects of our
drawings will vary widely, as well—from detailed
drawings of the human figure to abstract,
conceptual drawings in color. Some additional
subjects may include: space, memory, time,
narrative, installation, collage, imagination,
collaboration, movement and time, color, and
humor. Permeating all of this will be our
investigation into ways of introducing content
into your work—what will your drawings be
about? This course is suitable for all levels.
Independent work outside of class is required.
Studio practice will be reinforced through
discussion, occasional written work, readings,
slides, and gallery/museum visits. A studio visit
with an artist in New York City will also be
scheduled.
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Concepts in Game Design
Angela Ferraiolo
Open, Small seminar—Fall
This course surveys the historical basis of and
current practices in game design, which is phase
one of game development. Just as a study of
rhetoric and persuasive argument lays the
foundation for effective written communication,
the study of game design lays the foundation for
an equally effective digital communication.
While the structure of games may seem like a
small fraction of interactive design, the concepts
related in this class should prove fundamental to
your ability to design any interactive experience
from a simple website to a MMORPG. The class
is divided into three sections. Part I looks at
games structures, rules, and mechanics from paper
to physical to digital games and examines the
relationship between play styles, game engines,
and level design. We will cover the rise of the
experimental game mechanic, its importance
both artistically and commercially, and the
evolution of game play from the playground to
the first-person shooter to the large-data
simulator. Part II covers strategies of interaction,
including pattern languages, flow, progression,
and emergence. We will also read a bit about
early theories of play and the strategies behind art
games of the Surrealist, Dadaist, Fluxus, and
Situationist movements in art. Part III examines
ethical issues of design and looks at societal and
cultural values that may be encoded in games,
the rise of serious games, the benefits and dangers
of games as educational tools, the games for
change movement, social media, mobile gaming,
and the opportunity that games offer as a means
of activist design. Behind the facade of toy, games
are templates for many types of interaction. Some
offer new potential for action and collaboration.
In other cases, games are a means of
enculturation that transmit social values, race
and gender roles, and personal and community
identities. A game can be a language, an
environment, or a system. Many believe a game
can be about anything. Above all, a game is an
experience—and it’s the experience that we're
trying to understand.
Let’s Get Physical: Building
an Interactive World
Brian Jones
Open—Spring
Through individual and group projects, students
will be introduced to the world of creating
interactions using sensors. Instead of keyboard
and mouse inputs, sensors allow the real world of
heat, sound, motion, moisture, pressure, and
more to become inputs for computation. From
interactive sculptures to plants that tweet when
they need to be watered, the possibilities are
endless.
Creative Code
Angela Ferraiolo
Open, Small seminar—Spring
This course is an introduction to graphics and
interactive programming for visual artists and
writers. Programmers are welcome, though the
class assumes no programming background. The
course is divided into two sections: first, a focus
on basic skills—especially the fundamentals of
computational form, including the concepts of
drawing, color, procedural animation, loops,
transformations, recursion, arrays, noise, and
behavior; second, students will build on these
skills to work with live inputs, gesture, and
human interaction and pursue more advanced
concepts such as generative code, flocking, or
simulation. Conference projects may include
visualizations, video experiments, installations,
and games. This course is taught in Processing 1.0
and Max/MSP/Jitter and may make use of input
devices such as Web cams and the Kinect sensor.
Digital Documentary
Storytelling: Development
and Process
Rico Speight
Open—Year
This yearlong course explores the art of
documentary storytelling. Synthesizing theory
and practice, the course introduces the palette of
documentary production styles and approaches
illustrated in the works of the Maysles brothers,
Newsreel Collective, Barbara Kopple, Spike Lee,
Sam Pollard, Errol Morris, Werner Herzog, and
Jennifer Fox, as well as in big box-office
documentaries by Michael Moore, Charles
Ferguson (Inside Job), and Lauren Lazin (Tupac
Resurrection). Students are encouraged to
experience theory as a means of empowering
their own production practices. The course is
designed to work both as seminar and practicum.
In weekly sessions, students consider ideological,
ethical, and political implications of
documentary production and examine the
relationship between documentary films and
social change. Over the full year, students will
develop, research, write treatments for, pitch,
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produce, direct, and edit short 10-minute
documentaries. Technical labs in shooting and
editing are scheduled throughout both fall and
spring terms to strengthen technical production
and editing skills. Production and editing
exercises, as well as conceptual writing
assignments, will prepare students for the tasks of
putting together treatments and pitching samples
and trailers for their productions. Ultimately,
students are encouraged to explore the aesthetics
and practices of documentary filmmaking as an
avenue of self-expression: They are given the
opportunity to create the short documentary
they’ve always imagined.
Frame By Frame I
Damani Baker
Open—Fall
This course is for students who wish to “think
cinematically.” It will be an intensive, hands-on
introduction to filmmaking. Students will work
individually and in groups to produce a series of
fiction films. In addition to the required class
work, students will attend mandatory craft
courses in directing actors, cinematography, and
editing. The craft course takes place one evening
a week outside of class. The first film assignment,
entitled “The 2 Minute,” is a video project to be
edited in camera. Students will not be allowed to
review their material until it is presented in class.
The second assignment, “On Location,” will
introduce students to 16mm cameras and
production. Six-to-eight classes during the fall
semester will be dedicated to the second
assignment, in which students will practice skills
learned in cinematography, acting, and general
set coordination. The final requirement is the
conference project. Students will produce and
direct a five-minute film, working with assigned
crews. This will incorporate all of the technical
aspects of film production that were discussed in
lectures, screenings, and demonstrations:
preproduction planning, budgeting, shotlist,
storyboards, and script breakdown. In this course,
students will explore the structure and aesthetics
of films from around the world, while gaining
practical experience transforming their own ideas
into action.
Writing Movies I
Rona Naomi Mark
Open—Fall
During the course of this seminar/workshop,
students will learn how to write narrative
screenplays with an eye toward completing a
feature-length work. The course will cover basics
of format and style, and there will be weekly
assignments aimed at developing students’
screenwriting muscles. Students will “pitch”
ideas, rigorously outline stories, and write and
revise pages of their blueprint for a feature-length
film. The class is designed to help the beginning
screenwriter find his or her voice as a film artist,
using the written language of visual storytelling.
Animation Sketchbooks
Robin Starbuck
Open—Fall
This course provides a theoretical framework,
covering the principles of 2D animation and its
use in creating movement through successive
drawings. Regardless of your drawing skill level,
in this class you will have the opportunity to turn
any drawings, no matter how rudimentary, into
short animated films. A variety of techniques are
explored for creating metamorphosis, movement,
holds, squash and stretch, depth, and resistance.
Students first use the stop-motion stand to
capture and view handcrafted work and then
move on to shooting live action in video and
translating this into animation through
rotoscoping. Projects are designed to give
students production knowledge covering stop
motion, Adobe Photoshop®, Flash and After
Effects®. In this one-semester class, students
complete a series of film exercises, encouraging a
full range of 2D animation skills and a final
project. Emphasis will be upon principles that
support concept development and animations
that demonstrate a poetic understanding of
rhythm and motion. Films illustrating drawnanimation techniques are screened regularly.
Discussion and readings provide context for idea
development and visual invention. Upon
completion of this course, students will have a
working definition of animation systems and
techniques that they can later apply to any digital
media: gaming, film, or art production.
Animation for Short Films
Robin Starbuck
Open—Spring
In this class, students will refine their animation
and storytelling skills by focusing on the process
of creating a single animated short, including
story development, visualization, character
development, shot-by-shot storyboards,
keyframing, continuity, and animatics. All of the
production steps required to complete a short
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animated film will be demonstrated and applied
through exercises aimed at the production of a
final one- or two-minute film by each student or
team of students. Participants will develop and
refine their personal style through exercises in
story design and assignments directed at
translating these into moving images. Live
action, digitized hand-drawn images, and
photographs will be assembled in sync to sound.
Compositing exercises will cover a wide range of
features. Green screen, keyframing, timeline
effects, 2D and 3D space, layering, and lighting
are some of the motion graphics techniques that
we will use. Methods of digitizing traditional
animation will also be included. Exercises will
enable students with a working knowledge of
Adobe Photoshop, Flash, and After Effects. 4D
Cinema is available for those already comfortable
working in 3D platforms. Students with more
advanced skills wishing to work independently
are welcome to join the class.
Frame By Frame II
Damani Baker
This course is for intermediate and advanced
students who wish to “think cinematically.” It
will be an intensive, hands-on course in
filmmaking. Students will work individually and
in groups to produce a series of short films. In
addition to the required class work, students will
attend mandatory craft courses in directing
actors, cinematography, and editing. The craft
course takes place one evening a week outside of
class. The first film assignment, entitled “The 2
Minute,” is a video project to be edited in
camera. Students will not be allowed to review
their material until it is presented in class. The
second assignment, “On Location,” will
introduce students to 16mm cameras and
production. Six-to-eight classes will be dedicated
to the second assignment, in which students will
practice skills learned in cinematography, acting,
and general set coordination. The final
requirement is the conference project. During the
semester, students will produce and direct a fiveminute film, working in crews; advanced students
are able to choose between fiction and nonfiction
for their conference work. This will incorporate
all of the technical aspects of film production
that were discussed in lectures, screenings, and
demonstrations: preproduction planning,
budgeting, shotlist, storyboards, and script
breakdown. In this course, students will explore
the structure and aesthetics of films from around
the world, while gaining practical experience
transforming their own ideas into action.
Making the Genre Film:
Horror, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Rona Naomi Mark
Working within a genre can greatly assist the
fledgling filmmaker by suggesting content and
stylistic elements, thereby freeing the artist to
focus on self-expression. This is a hands-on
production course, with a focus on producing
genre films. Our class discussions and video
exercises will explore various ideas present in the
so-called “lesser genres” of horror, sci-fi and
fantasy: the idea of the “monster,” man/woman
vs. society suspense, fear, sexual politics, and
repression, as well as the smart use of special
effects and other strategies for the independent
filmmaker working in the genre. In addition to
class exercises, students will each produce and
direct a short video project for their conference
work.
Script to Screen I
Rona Naomi Mark
Open—Fall
This hands-on production course will introduce
students to the entire process of narrative
filmmaking from concept through exhibition.
Fundamentals of screenwriting, directing,
producing, and editing will be explored through a
series of targeted exercises. Students will develop
and produce a short film throughout the course,
putting their visual storytelling skills into
practice.
Filmmaking Structural
Analysis: Film Writing
Frederick Michael Strype
Open—Fall
This course explores narrative storytelling forms
in contemporary cinema and screenwriting.
Geared toward the perspective of the aspiring/
emerging screenwriter, filmmaker, and/or media
artist, the seminar includes screenings of films
and the concurrent reading of source materials
and their respective screenplays. Cinema
language, dramatic theory, and cinematic story
structures will be explored, including sequencing,
episodic, three-act, four-act, seven-act, teleplay,
and the so-called character-driven forms.
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Selected texts will also be read, and weekly
structural analyses will be written. Students will
also explore screenwriting exercises throughout
the course and investigate the connection
between oral storytelling and the nature of
narration through the screenplay. Conference
projects often focus on the development of a
long-form screenplay/teleplay, analytical research
paper, or other film-related endeavors. A
foundation course for narrative screenwriting,
filmmaking, and new media projects, as well as
dramatic analysis, the course develops skills that
can be applied to other forms of dramatic writing
and storytelling. No prior experience is necessary.
Writing Movies II
Rona Naomi Mark
This course will focus on completing scripts
begun in the first semester or in other classes.
Once the first drafts are finished, students will
work on editing and revising their screenplays. By
trimming excess dialogue, rewriting dramatic
beats, restructuring narrative elements, and
excising scenes or sequences in their entirety,
students will learn the art of rigorous revision and
emerge at semester’s end with a well-crafted,
polished, feature-length screenplay.
Writing the Film
Frederick Michael Strype
This course is for the emerging screenwriter,
including those initiating a new screenplay/
project, adapting original material into the
screenplay form, rewriting a screenplay, or
finishing a screenplay-in-progress. A review of
screenwriting fundamentals during the first few
weeks, as well as a discussion of the state of each
project, will be followed by an intense
screenwriting workshop experience. Students are
expected to enter the course with an existent
screenplay, a strong idea, an outline or narrative
roadmap of their project, and the capability of
“talking out” the story. The expectation is for
students to finish a first-draft, long-form project.
Published screenplays, several useful texts, and
clips of films will form a body of examples to help
concretize aspects of the art and craft.
The Webisodics Project/Web
Series Asylum
Frederick Michael Strype, Doug
MacHugh
Intermediate, Advanced—Year
“The Web Series Asylum” is a unique
interdisciplinary, collaborative, yearlong course
between filmmaking and theatre that collides
screenwriters, actors, and filmmakers to develop,
craft, and deliver an original online Web series.
This class will be team-taught by filmmaking/
screenwriting instructor Fred Strype and Theatre
instructor Douglas MacHugh. In the fall semester,
from the varied disciplines involved in writing,
acting, and filmmaking, the Web series team will
explore characters, story threads, performance,
and working within a film-production
environment. As the screenplays are developed,
workshopped, and rewritten, the filmmakers will
be shooting and editing the weekly staged
readings, as performed by the actors. The class
will analyze writing, filmmaking, and
performance; adjustments and revisions will be
made throughout the process, as the episodes
begin to emerge. In the spring, the Web series
screenplay will be finalized, rehearsed, and the
series shot. Students will then be involved in
analyzing the editing process. The posting of the
edited episodes will begin after spring break, with
the aim of the series being fully online by Senior
Week. In the latter weeks of the spring semester,
the writers and actors will workshop table reads
and staged readings of original material
developed and revised in conference by the
screenwriters. The actors will gain further
experience working with the filmmakers, as these
workshops will be shot and edited, as well. The
outcome from this past year’s course is the Web
series, “Socially Active,” and can be viewed
online at: http://vimeo.com/channels/
sociallyactive or http://www.youtube.com/user/
sociallyactiveweb. Enrollment is limited. Permission
of the instructors is required.
Contemporary Painting
Practices/Traditional
Techniques
Angela Dufresne
Open—Year
This course is an investigation of technical
practice, as well as conceptual and critical skills,
common to the expanded field of contemporary
painting. A series of explorative assigned
problems for the first section of the course will
138 Visual Arts
challenge the students to resolve problems of
composition and narrative based on research,
reference, and material concerns. Assignments
will prompt students to generate paintings from
various tactical approaches: observation, print
and digital media, imagination, etc. After
evaluating these projects, the students will be
encouraged to develop their own problems
dealing with personal, investigative painting. We
will use traditional materials and techniques to
explore traditional problems in painting—color,
scale, abstraction, light, and so on—based on
individual concerns. Students will learn to
develop their own projects based on their
sensibilities revealed in the first section of
assignments as a means to develop a language and
context for creative ideas. Through assignments,
drawing, experimentation, risk taking, writing,
research, presentations, and critiques, students
will challenge and personalize their relationship
to painting as a medium in contemporary society.
Students will make use of a sketchbook/image
archive throughout the course They will be
encouraged to tie in current media interests—i.e.,
film, the Internet, -zines, television, literature,
news media, etc.—with a painting practice. This
is a studio-oriented class, though students will be
expected to work outside of class on projects
related to the studio explorations. We will also
investigate ideas via readings, artist lectures,
videos, field trips, workshops, and other material.
Open to students who have had painting courses at a
college or advanced high-school level.
Beginning Painting: Value,
Color, and Composition
Angela Dufresne
Open—Fall
This course will be an extensive introduction to
painting in oils and a vigorous investigation into
the composition, design, and execution of
paintings with traditional painting materials.
Through drawing, still life, life models, and an
array of reference material, we will execute a
series of paintings that will involve the
investigation of color theory, as well as spatial
constructs, including traditional perspective but
also contemporary problems of photography and
collage. For conference, each student will be
asked to study one specific artist over the course
of the semester and make works that directly
respond to that artist’s work. Each student will
also write an essay that will be presented to the
class, which will take the form of a letter written
to the artist in question and take on the attitude
of the student’s semester-long relationship with
that artist. The focus of the course is the practice
of painting and the development of a personal
relationship with that history. There will be
regular critiques, presentations, class trips, and
one exhibition.
Basic Painting: Color and
Form
Ursula Schneider
Open—Spring
The goal of this course is to develop an
individual visual vocabulary and to work with the
paints in an accomplished manner. We will begin
with drawing and painting from observation,
using still lifes and the figure. Each project will
have three levels of complexity, allowing for
individual and creative solutions. Color theory
will be the basis for abstract paintings on paper.
The history of abstract painting will be discussed
in the form of slide presentations. Oil and acrylic
paints will be used to explore a variety of
painting styles; e.g., as creating direct marks,
texture, and layers. Assignments will enable each
student to practice and to understand her or his
own preference in working with the brushes and
paints. There will be regular class discussions
about the work in progress and historical and
contemporary art issues. For conference, the
student will select readings about the making of
art, art history, and artists. The student will be
required to make weekly drawings and writings,
which will serve as a journal about observations
and information presented in class and as a tool
to develop ideas for painting. The class and
conference work will require the student to work
independently in the studio, in addition to class
periods.
Advanced Painting
Ursula Schneider, John O'Connor
Advanced, Small seminar—Year
Acrylics, together with pure pigments, will be the
painting media used in this course. This will give
the student who has worked in oil paints the
opportunity to develop new painting skills. Mr.
O’Connor will begin the class by introducing the
following concepts: color, space, the figure, and
collage. Students will develop their individual
working process and create unique solutions in
response to the questions posed in the
assignments. Experimentation with images will
be encouraged by drawing and painting from life,
using photography and working digitally on the
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computer. In the spring, Ms. Schneider will work
with individual students to continue developing
their ideas and painting methods. The class will
begin by painting from the model to practice
color and gesture. Then, we will experiment with
painting on nontraditional surfaces, combining
images and objects. The structure of this course is
divided between class projects and conference
work. In conference, students will be expected to
complete three-to-six paintings a semester.
Throughout the course, there will be class
readings and individual research on
contemporary art and artists, as well as visits to
New York City galleries. The goal of this course is
to take risks and to make soundly constructed
paintings. J The course is open to students with
previous college-level painting and drawing
experience. The course will be taught by Mr.
O'Connor in the fall and Ms. Schneider in the
spring.
Basic Analog Black-andWhite Photography
Michael Spano
Open—Year
This is an analog, film-based course that
introduces the fundamentals of black-and-white
photography: acquisition of photographic
technique, development of personal vision and
artistic expression, and discussion of
photographic history and contemporary practice.
Reviews are designed to strengthen the
understanding of the creative process, while
assignments will stress photographic aesthetics
and formal concerns. Conference work entails
research into historical movements and
individual artists’ working methods through slide
presentations. Throughout the year, students are
encouraged to make frequent visits to gallery and
museum exhibitions and share their impressions
with the class. The relationship of photography
to liberal arts also will be emphasized. Students
will develop and complete their own bodies of
work as the culmination of their study. This is
not a digital photography course. Students need
to have at least a 35mm film camera and be able
to purchase film and gelatin silver paper
throughout the year.
Digital Photography
Michael Vahrenwald
Open—Year
This course will provide students with an
overview of the digital darkroom. The class will
use digital media as an extension of traditional
photographic practice and discuss both the
advantages and the limits of digital technology.
Students will learn basic image manipulation in
Photoshop®, ink-jet printing, the use of digital
cameras, and scanning film. The focus of the class
will be based upon the development of
photographic projects, along with readings on the
history of both traditional and digital
photography.
Intermediate Photography
Justine Kurland
Intermediate—Year
This wildly explorative class investigates the
potentials of black-and-white photography, color
photography, and the assimilation of the two.
The history of the photographic medium will be
explored. Editing, sequencing, and output size
will be introduced to students through
bibliomaniac explorations and gallery/museum
visits. Students are welcome to use either analog
or digital. The development of a personal vision,
based upon a personal set of interests and/or
beliefs, will be at the core of this experience.
Advanced Photography
Joel Sternfeld
Advanced—Year
This is a rigorous studio course, in which students
will produce a body of work while studying the
relevant artistic and photographic precedents. A
working knowledge of photographic history and
contemporary practice is a prerequisite, as is
previous art or photographic work that indicates
readiness for the advanced questions presented by
this course.
Printmaking I, II
Kris Philipps
Open, Small seminar—Year
This course introduces the student to the basic
fundamentals and concepts of printmaking in an
environment that practices newly developed,
nontoxic printmaking methodologies.
Participants will learn how to develop an image
on a particular surface (either hand-drawn or
computer-generated), how to transfer the image
to paper, edition printing, and presentation.
Students will utilize the tools, materials, and
equipment required to produce a print in a
variety of media, including intaglio, silkscreen,
and relief prints. The techniques involved in
each of these processes are numerous and
140 Visual Arts
complex. Emphasis is placed on finding those
techniques best-suited to the development of
each class member’s aesthetic concerns.
Artist Books
Kris Philipps
Intermediate, Small seminar—Year
In the past, the book was used solely as a
container for the written word. In the past 30
years, however, the book has emerged as a
popular format for visual expression. Students
will begin this class by learning to make historical
book forms from various cultures (coptic, codex,
accordion, and Japanese-bound) so that they will
be able to see the book with which we are
familiar in a new and wider context. From here,
students will apply newly learned techniques to
the production of nontraditional artist books.
The class will also cover all aspects of letterpress
printing, including setting type, using the press,
and making and printing with polymer plates.
Whether text, images, or the combination of the
two are employed, emphasis will be placed on the
creation of books as visual objects.
Advanced Printmaking
Kris Philipps
Advanced, Small seminar—Year
This course offers an opportunity for an in-depth
study of advanced printmaking techniques.
Students will be encouraged to master traditional
skills and techniques so that familiarity with
process will lead to the development of a personal
and meaningful body of work. Edition printing
and exploration in multicolor prints, assigned
reading, and an individual project will be
required.
Concepts in Sculpture
Rico Gatson
Open—Year
What is sculpture? How do we make it? How do
we talk about it? What does it mean? This is a
yearlong course that invites students to
investigate fundamental-to-advanced concepts in
sculpture. Students will gain a greater
understanding of technique, materials, and
process with a specific emphasis on the
integration of larger social, political, and
aesthetic concerns and how to address them in
the work. As the course progresses, students will
have the opportunity to work in digital and
experimental media. The course will cover the
period from the late 20th century to the present.
There will be regular presentations, assigned
projects, and trips to galleries and museums. At
the completion of each project, there will be a
group critique where feedback is offered and
process explored. Experimentation and personal
expression are highly encouraged. Experience
working three-dimentionally is welcome but not
required. Please bring examples of previous work to
the interview.
Architecture Studio:
Designing Built Form
Tishan Hsu
This course will introduce the student to
architectural design. We will learn the basic
language of drawing architectural space and the
process of designing within that language. We
will learn techniques for model building.
Students will read and discuss a range of
approaches to: (1) designing habitable space, and
(2) how the process of design is applied to a range
of interventions in urban and environmental
design practices. This will include looking at and
thinking about how architecture is an art—and
one that expresses the values of a culture. We will
explore how environmental sustainability is
influencing the design of human environments
and how to incorporate sustainability into design.
The course will be project-based and include
drawing, model building, designing with 3-D
software, and graphics. Experience in drawing is
helpful.
Things and Beyond
Tishan Hsu
Intermediate—Fall
This course will explore the possibilities for
creative production in an expanded practice of
what is loosely defined as sculpture. We will
consider different ways of thinking about art and
different ways of thinking about ourselves, what
we encounter in the world, and what we can
imagine doing as a result of an encounter. We
will explore concepts in critical theory that
question the role of art, how it is produced, and
in what kinds of spaces/sites cultural production
can take place. Experimentation with the
integration of digital media into sculptural
practice will be supported. The course will
include readings in which we will explore how
texts can enable different kinds of (art)work to
emerge. In doing so, students will be asked to
suspend (but not give up) their ideas about what
THE CURRICULUM 141
art is and how it should be made. Students will
have access to a range of materials such as
cardboard, wood, metal, plaster, digital media,
and mechanical systems, with technical support
provided in the handling of these media.
Experience in the visual, performative, industrial,
and/or digital arts is helpful. For the interview,
students are encouraged to bring images of work done
in any medium.
another form, and the like. No experience is
necessary beyond a passion to write for the
screen.
Interdisciplinary Studio/
Seminar
Producers are credited on every film, television,
and media project made. They are crucial—even
seminal—to each and every production, no
matter how big or small. Yet, even as a pivotal
position in the creative and practical process of
making a film, TV show, or media project, the
title “Producer” is perhaps the least understood of
all the collaborators involved. What is a
producer? This course answers that question,
examining what a producer actually does in the
creation of screen-based media and the many
hats that one, or a small army of producers, may
wear at any given time. Students will explore the
role of the producer in the filmmaking,
television, and video process from the moment of
creative inspiration through project development
to financing, physical production (indeed, down
to the nuts-and-bolts aspects of budgeting,
scheduling, and delivering a film, TV, or video
project), marketing, navigating the film-festival
gauntlet, as well as drilling down into the
distribution process and strategies. A practical
course in the ways and means of producing, the
class will consider the history and current state of
producing through case studies of projects, as well
as through visiting producers, directors, and
artisans from the film, television, and mediamaking community. Students will also gain
hands-on experience in developing projects,
breaking them down into production elements, as
well as crafting schedules and budgets.
Conference projects may include the producing
of a film or media project by a student in another
filmmaking production class at the College, a
case study of several films from the producer’s
perspective, the development and preproduction
of a proposed future “virtual” film or video
project, and the like. The course provides a
practical skill set for students seeking work in the
filmmaking and media-making world after Sarah
Lawrence College. The course also provides
filmmakers and screenwriters with a window on
the importance of and mechanics pertaining to
the producing discipline.
Gary Burnley
Advanced—Year
A dialogue with peers working in a variety of
disciplines, this course is designed for
experienced visual-arts students. It is a forum to
share and discuss critical, creative, intellectual
strategies and processes while building, nurturing,
and sustaining an independent point of view.
Each participant will be expected to focus on
growing the values, commitments, and attitudes
embedded in his or her own body of work and
ideas. Experimentation, innovation, and
uniqueness of vision will be encouraged, along
with habits of discipline necessary to support all
creative endeavors. Readings and discussion of
art and cultural history are an important part of
the weekly course work. Open to juniors and
seniors with prior visual-arts experience.
Writing for the Screen
Ramin Serry
This course will focus on the fundamentals of
writing for the screen, with a particular focus on
the short-form screenplay. The course, which will
explore the nature of screenwriting, is structured
as a rigorous workshop. Students will begin
writing the first week and continue every week.
They will read peer work, with the entire process
supported by in-class analysis and critiques
thereof. We will migrate from initial idea through
research techniques, character development,
story generation, outlining, the rough draft, and
rewrites to a series of finished short-form
screenplays. Fundamentals of character, story,
universe and setting, dramatic action, tension,
conflict, structure, and style will be explored. In
conference, students may research and develop
long-form screenplays or teleplays, craft a series of
short screenplays for production courses or
independent production, rewrite a previously
written script, adapt original material from
Producing Independent Film,
TV, and Video—A RealWorld Guide
Heather Winters
142 Women’s Studies
Women’s Studies
Writing
The Women’s Studies curriculum comprises
courses in various disciplines and focuses on new
scholarship on women, sex, and gender. Subjects
include women’s history; feminist theory; the
psychology and politics of sexuality; gender
constructs in literature, visual arts, and popular
culture; and the ways in which gender, race, class,
and sexual identities intersect for both women
and men. This curriculum is designed to help all
students think critically and globally about sexgender systems and to encourage women in
particular to think in new ways about themselves
and their work. Undergraduates may explore
women’s studies in lectures, seminars, and
conference courses. Advanced students may also
apply for early admission to the College’s
graduate program in Women’s History and, if
admitted, may begin work toward the Master of
Arts degree during their senior year. The MA
program provides rigorous training in historical
research and interpretation. It is designed for
students pursuing careers in academe, advocacy,
policymaking, and related fields.
In Sarah Lawrence College’s nationally
recognized Writing program, students work in
close collaboration with faculty members who are
active, successful writers. The program focuses on
the art and craft of writing. Courses in poetry,
fiction, and creative nonfiction are offered.
In workshops, students practice their writing
and critique each other’s work. The program
encourages students to explore an array of
distinctive perspectives and techniques that will
extend their own writing ability—whatever their
preferred genre. Conferences provide students
with close, continual mentoring and guidance
and with opportunities to encounter personally
their teachers’ professional experiences. Teachers
critique their students’ writing and select readings
specifically to augment or challenge each
student’s work. In conferences, student and
teacher chart a course of study that best allows
individual students to pursue subjects and issues
that interest them, to develop their own voice, to
hone their techniques, and to grow more
sophisticated as readers and critics.
The College offers a vibrant community of
writers and probably the largest writing faculty
available to undergraduates anywhere in the
country. Visits from guest writers who give public
readings and lectures are an important
component of the curriculum throughout the
year.
Sarah Lawrence College also takes full
advantage of its proximity to the New York City
literary scene, with its readings, literary agencies,
publishing houses, and bookstores—as well as its
wealth of arts and culture. The city provides
fertile ground for internships in which students
can use their writing training in educational
programs, schools, publishing houses, small
presses, journal productions, magazines, and
nonprofit arts agencies.
Courses offered this year in Women’s Studies are
Advanced French: The Quill and the Dress:
French Women Writers in Early Modern
France (p. 39), Eric Leveau French
Tudor England: Politics, Gender, and
Religion. An Introductory Workshop in
Doing History (p. 51), David Bernstein
History
First-Year Studies: Gender and the Culture
of War in US History,
1775-1975 (p. 45), Lyde Cullen Sizer
History
Queer Theory: A History (p. 61), Julie
Abraham Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and
Transgender Studies
Embodiment and Biological Knowledge:
Public Engagement in Medicine and
Science (p. 114), Sarah Wilcox Sociology
First-Year Studies: Exploring
Subject Matter in Fiction
Carolyn Ferrell
FYS
How do we, as writers, take our lived experiences
and transform them into fiction? The novelist
Janet Frame observed, “Putting it all down as it
happens is not fiction; there must be the journey
by oneself, the changing of the light focused
upon the material, the willingness of the author
herself to live within that light, that city of
reflections governed by different laws, materials,
THE CURRICULUM 143
currency.” Through weekly writing assignments
and exercises, we will begin the journey into this
softly lit territory of subject matter, asking
questions along the way that will hopefully
expand our grasp of the craft of fiction: What
makes a story a story? What is the difference
between showing and telling? Do we write what
we know or what we don’t know? Class will be
divided between the discussion of student stories
and of published authors such as Nikolai Gogol,
Flannery O’Connor, Cornelius Eady, George
Saunders, Edward P. Jones, Alison Bechdel, and
Alice Munro. Students will explore an author in
depth for conference work and will be required to
attend at least two campus readings per semester.
This workshop will also focus on developing the
art of the critique—which, developed over time
and in a supportive and open-minded
atmosphere, will ultimately help us better
understand the workings of our own creative
writing.
First-Year Studies: World
Literature and Writing
Myra Goldberg
FYS
One stream of this first-year studies class is an
introduction to aspects of world literature: The
Arabian Nights, ancient Indian and Middle
Eastern love poetry, a graphic novel from Iran
and one from Malaysia, a contemporary novel
from Zimbabwe, two story collections from the
Caribbean, and so on. We will use these readings
as inspiration for our writing, a source of
knowledge and wisdom about story form and life,
and a source of assignments. The other stream
will be a continuous journal of the student’s own
life and work, discussed in small groups in the
second class meeting and kept for the year, with
assignments as the year goes on increasingly
given by members of the group.
First-Year Studies in Fiction
April Reynolds Mosolino
FYS
All great stories are built with good sentences. In
this workshop, students will create short stories or
continue works-in-progress that will be read and
discussed by their peers. Class sessions will focus
on constructive criticism of the writer’s work, and
students will be encouraged to ask the questions
with which all writers grapple: What makes a
good story? Have I developed my characters fully?
And does my language convey the ideas that I
want? We will talk about the writer’s craft in this
class—how people tell stories to each other, how
to find a plot, and how to make a sentence come
to life. This workshop should be seen as a place
where students can share their thoughts and ideas
in order to then return to their pages and create a
completed imaginary work. There will also be
some short stories and essays on the art of writing
that will set the tone and provide literary fodder
for the class.
First-Year Studies in Fiction
Joan Silber
FYS
This class is designed to help students travel far
in fiction writing by trying a wide range of
approaches. We’ll spend time each week
discussing stories by a range of authors, and
regular writing assignments will be linked to
these models. We’ll look at the elements of
fiction—setting, character, time, plot, point of
view—as well as less usual categories. As students
begin to present their own work in class, we’ll see
how forms emerge and how beginnings can
develop into shaped pieces. In conference, we’ll
talk about which assignments have triggered the
strongest possibilities, and students will begin to
write longer, more complicated pieces and to
grow their own notions of story.
First-Year Studies: Exploring
Voice, Image, and Form in
Poetry
Cathy Park Hong
FYS
What makes a line? What makes an image? How
do you mold a poetic form that best captures the
self? Part poetry workshop and part intensive
reading discussion class, we will first explore
poetry's traditional foundations of line, image,
form, and voice and then learn how to
adventurously expand upon the fundamentals. In
the first semester, we will explore voice and its
many masks of alter ego, persona, monologue,
and apostrophe. We will broaden our ideas on the
poetic line by working with a spectrum of forms
from sonnets, ghazals, and sestinas to prose
poems. To help oil our imaginative rig, we will
read William Carlos Williams, Elizabeth Bishop,
John Berryman, Gwendolyn Brooks, Aga Shahid
Ali, and others. In the second semester, we will
expand upon the poetic foundations that we have
learned by reading poets from the avant-garde
tradition such as Gertrude Stein, Charles Olson,
144 Writing
Harryette Mullen, and Lyn Hejinian. We will
write ars poeticas (poems that are
about what poems should be or do), collage
sound poems, serialized poems, and homophonic
translations. In addition, we will develop our
critical poetic vocabulary through a series of
workshops, reading discussions, and critical
assignments. Expect to write a poem a week
generated from writing assignments, as well as
reading a book a week. At the end of the year, we
will revise and gather the poems that we have
written and compile our own chapbooks.
First-Year Studies in Poetry
Marie Howe
FYS
This is a class in which we will immerse ourselves
in the reading and writing of poetry. We will look
closely at a published poet’s poems—at syntax,
line, diction, image, music, etc.—and the poet’s
strategies and techniques. We will attend poetry
readings and slams, watch films, view art, and
generally immerse ourselves in the soup of
inspiration. We will spend time generating poems
together, inspired by the poets we experience,
and look closely at one another’s work. Each
writer in our class will meet with another class
member once a week for a “poetry date.” Each
writer will be responsible for reading the assigned
work and for bringing to class one written
offering each week. We will work hard, learn a
great deal about poetry, and have a wonderful
time.
Living Poets
Jeffrey McDaniel
Each week, we will read a published book by a
living writer and discuss that book in detail,
roughly locating it in the context of
contemporary American poetry. Each of the
authors on the syllabus will come to class and
share his or her work publicly with the group.
Each reading will be followed by a discussion
with the author, where students will be able to
ask about influence, creative process, and craft.
Our group conferences will be writing workshops,
where each student will bring in copies of a new
poem for discussion. Over the course of the
semester, students will read 11 books of poetry,
writing one- to two-page critical responses.
Students will revise three of their own poems as a
final creative project. For a final critical project,
students will write a five-page paper, focusing on
one or two of the authors on the syllabus.
Connected Collections
Mary Morris
Open—Year
From Edgar Alan Poe (Fall of the House of Usher)
to Sandra Cisneros and Tim O’Brien, writers
have been engaged in the art of writing stories
that weave and interconnect. Whether through
theme as in Poe or, more recently, Dan Chaon’s
Among the Missing or Joan Silber’s Ideas of
Heaven, through geography as in James Joyce’s
Dubliners or Sandra Cisernos’ House on Mango
Street, or characters as in The Things They Carried
(O’Brien) or Olive Kittridge (Elizabeth Strout), or
finally an incident that links them such as Haruki
Murakami’s After the Quake, Russell Banks’s The
Sweet Hereafter, or Thornton Wilder’s The Bridge
of San Luis Rey, writers have found ways to link
their stories. This workshop will focus on the
writing of stories that are connected in one of
these various ways. We will read extensively from
connected collections. Exercises will be created
in order to help students mine their own material
in order to create small collections of narratives
with similar preoccupations, terrains, or people.
Visible and Invisible Ink:
How Fiction Writing Happens
Lucy Rosenthal
Open—Year
Successful fiction writing is a pleasure that
requires work and an educated patience. Using as
our basic text the stories that students themselves
write, we will seek to show how each story, as it
unfolds, provides clues—in its language, narrative
tendencies, distribution of emphases, etc.—to the
solution of its own creative problems. We will
explore such questions as these: What are the
story's intentions? How close does the writer
come to realizing them? What shifts in approach
might better serve both intentions and materials?
What is—or should be—in any given piece of
work the interplay of theme, language, and form?
We will look at the links between the answers to
these questions and the writer’s evolving voice.
Discussion and analysis of student work will be
supplemented by consideration of published short
stories by writers such as Tim O’Brien, Jhumpa
Lahiri, ZZ Packer, Rick Moody, Junot Diaz,
Katherine Anne Porter, James Thurber, and
Truman Capote. Exercises—which can serve as
springboards for longer works—will be assigned
weekly. Designed to provide opportunities for free
writing and to increase students’ facility with
THE CURRICULUM 145
technique, the exercises will be based on the
readings and on values and issues emerging from
the students’ work.
Fictions of Embodiment
Sayantani DasGupta
Open—Fall
How does fiction tell of the body? More
importantly, how does it emerge from and get
shaped by embodied identities? This workshop
will examine the body and embodiment in the
short story, the novel, and select memoir/
nonfiction. We will incorporate close reading of
text and weekly writing exercises, along with
workshops of student writing. Possible texts
include works by Alice Walker, Lynne Sharon
Shwartz, Lucy Grealy, Nancy Mairs, Richard
McCann, Richard Selzer, Mark Haddon, Laurie
Halsie Anderson, Cortney Davis, Shyam
Salvadurai, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Jose Saramango.
Ultimately, the course will explore the
interconnections of voice and body. In the words
of Nancy Mairs, “No body, no voice; no voice, no
body. That’s what I know in my bones.”
Fiction Techniques
William Melvin Kelley
Open—Fall
Art may come from the heart, but craft comes
from the brain. Taking a craft orientation, the
class identifies and isolates essential technical
elements of fiction writing—the merits of various
points of view, the balance of narrative and
dialogue, the smooth integration of flashback
into narrative, the uses of long or short sentences,
tenses—and then rehearses them until the writer
develops facility and confidence in their use. We
accomplish this by daily writing in an assigned
diary. In addition to assigned writing, the writer
must (or attempt to) produce 40 pages of work
each semester. The class reads short fiction or
excerpts from longer works that illustrate the uses
of these numerous techniques and pays special
attention to James Joyce’s Ulysses, a toolbox of a
novel that employs most of the techniques of
fiction developed since its 17th-century
beginnings. Each writer must choose and read a
novel of literary or social value written by a
woman, such as Wuthering Heights, Frankenstein,
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, or Gone with the Wind.
Conducted in a noncompetitive and cooperative
way, the class brainstorms a plot and, with each
writer taking a chapter, composes a class novel.
Finally, the class explores the proper use of a
writer’s secondary tool—the copy machine in the
production of a simple publication, a
’zine—extending the process of fiction writing
beyond the frustrating limbo of the finished
manuscript. Fictional Techniques adopts a
hammer-and-nails approach to writing prose
fiction, going behind the curtain to where the
scenery gets painted and the levers get yanked.
Writing and Reading Fiction
Brian Morton
Open—Fall
In class, we will discuss a group of novels that
have in common qualities of economy, subtlety,
and restaint. Authors to be read include Henry
James, E.M. Forster, Elizabeth Taylor, Penelope
Fitzgerald, and Barbara Pym. In conference, we
will discuss your fiction. Although open to
everyone, this class may be best-suited to students
who have taken at least two prior writing classes.
Memory and Fiction
Victoria Redel
Open—Fall
In this course, we will explore the uses of
childhood and memory as springboards for short
fiction. How do writers move from the kernel of
experience to the making of fiction? How do
writers use their own past to develop stories that
are not the retelling of what happened but an
opportunity to develop a fiction with its own
integrity and truth? We will work from writing
experiments and weekly reading of short fictions
and novels.
Fiction Workshop
Brooke Stevens
Open—Fall
I do not believe that great authors are necessarily
great wordsmiths—take Dostoyevsky or Dreiser,
two of my favorites—nor are they always the
smartest people in the room; but what they do
have is the ability to translate deep feelings,
subtle observations, and ideas into a story. To
foster this, I create a supportive and intelligent
class atmosphere and teach the class a little like a
visual arts class. In addition to reading and
discussing a wide variety of literary short fiction,
we'll look at interviews of filmmakers, painters,
and writers with an emphasis on self-exploration,
broadening our influences, and feeding the
imagination. I also ask students to share with the
class some aspect of their own personal journey
and interests outside of fiction writing. In the
146 Writing
end, everyone will produce their own finished
short stories and, just as importantly, write
constructive, thoughtful, and thorough critiques
of each other's work. This class is open to both
the beginner and the advanced short-story writer.
Voice and Form
Carolyn Ferrell
Open—Spring
It’s something we talk about in workshop and
admire in the literature we read, but how does
one discover one’s voice in fiction? How is voice
related to subject matter, form, and point of view?
How does one go about creating a memorable
voice on the page? Through writing exercises and
weekly reading assignments, we’ll explore these
and other questions. Readings will include
several genres, including young adult novels,
graphic memoirs, short stories, poetry, and
creative nonfiction. Authors we’ll read include
George Saunders, Barry Yourgrau, Sherman
Alexie, Aimee Bender, and Jacqueline Woodson.
Students will get a chance to workshop stories at
least twice during the semester; for conference
there will be additional reading. Come prepared
to work hard, critique the writing of others with
care and insight, and hone the elements of craft
in your own fiction.
Words & Pictures
Myra Goldberg
Open—Spring
This is a course with writing at its center and the
other arts, mainly but not exclusively visual,
around it. It should let you see what you can put
together that has been kept apart. We will read
and look at all kinds of things—children’s books,
mysteries, poetry, short stories, fairy tales, graphic
novels, performance pieces—and think about the
ways in which people have used writing and
other arts to speak to each other. People in these
classes have combined text and pictures in
conference work involving cartoons, quilts, Tshirts, texts with music behind them, and so on.
There will be weekly assignments that specify
what emotional territory you are in but not what
you make of it. This semester course has less
elaborate conference work than the yearlong
course.
Sparks in the Void: A FictionWriting Workshop
David Hollander
Open—Spring
When I began teaching writing at Sarah
Lawrence College, I was of the write-what-youknow school and pushed my students to “mine
their experience in search of hidden truths” (or
something like that). In the 10 intervening years,
I’ve traveled 180 degrees from this position, so
this course will emphasize the value of play and
experimentation in the creation of short fiction.
Our reading list may include a short novel or two
(Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson, The
Collected Works of Billy the Kid by Michael
Ondaatje), as well as numerous short stories by
writers whose works seem—as the late novelist
John Hawkes once phrased it—“plucked from the
void.” These writers may or may not include
Robert Coover, Dawn Raffel, Joy Williams,
Stanley Elkin, Rick Moody, Shelley Jackson,
Donald Barthelme, and Harlan Ellison, along
with an array of others of whom you probably
have not heard. In addition to generating weekly
responses to strange assignments, students will
each “workshop” at least one story and possibly
two. But to be honest, I have grown suspicious of
the peer-critique model. We will be writing all
the time; but rather than using peer critique as an
instructive tool, we will instead use great and
unorthodox published works—with a bit of peer
critique thrown in for good measure. I am looking
for generous individuals who are open to
experimentation and play in fiction or who are
interested in defining (or redefining) their work
in nontraditional terms. That said, the course is
offered (generously) to writers of all levels and
backgrounds.
Fiction Techniques
William Melvin Kelley
Open—Spring
Art may come from the heart, but craft comes
from the brain. Taking a craft orientation, the
class identifies and isolates essential technical
elements of fiction writing—the merits of various
points of view, the balance of narrative and
dialogue, the smooth integration of flashback
into narrative, the uses of long or short sentences,
tenses—and then rehearses them until the writer
develops facility and confidence in their use. We
accomplish this by daily writing in an assigned
diary. In addition to assigned writing, the writer
must (or attempt to) produce 40 pages of work
THE CURRICULUM 147
each semester. The class reads short fiction or
excerpts from longer works that illustrate the uses
of these numerous techniques and pays special
attention to James Joyce’s Ulysses, a toolbox of a
novel that employs most of the techniques of
fiction developed since its 17th-century
beginnings. Each writer must choose and read a
novel of literary or social value written by a
woman, such as Wuthering Heights, Frankenstein,
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, or Gone with the Wind.
Conducted in a noncompetitive and cooperative
way, the class brainstorms a plot and, with each
writer taking a chapter, composes a class novel.
Finally, the class explores the proper use of a
writer’s secondary tool—the copy machine in the
production of a simple publication, a
’zine—extending the process of fiction writing
beyond the frustrating limbo of the finished
manuscript. Fictional Techniques adopts a
hammer-and-nails approach to writing prose
fiction, going behind the curtain to where the
scenery gets painted and the levers get yanked.
Fiction Workshop
Mary LaChapelle
Open—Spring
Nabokov stated that there are three points of
view from which a writer can be considered: as a
storyteller, as a teacher, and as an enchanter. We
will consider all three, but it is with the art of
enchantment that this workshop is most
dedicated. We will walk through the process of
writing a story. Where does the story come from?
How do we know when we are ready to begin?
How do we avoid succumbing to safe and
unoriginal decisions and learn to recognize and
trust our more mysterious and promising
impulses? How do our characters guide the work?
How do we come to know an ending, and how do
we earn that ending? And finally, how do we
create the enchantment necessary to involve,
persuade, and move the reader in the ways that
fiction is most capable. We will investigate craft
through readings and discussion and some
exercises. Our objective for the semester is to
write and revise and to workshop one or two fully
developed stories.
Dialogue in Fiction: Sounds
and Silence
Lucy Rosenthal
Open—Spring
Dialogue is an essential element of craft. This
course will consider how the inflections of speech
and the timing of silences help to bring a work of
fiction alive. Some writers depend heavily on
dialogue; others, not. It gives us choices. With
student writing serving as our basic text, and
drawing also from a varied reading list, we will
talk about what those choices are and how to
make them—how they may or may not serve
your story. Writers ranging from Salinger and
Richard Yates to Jhumpa Lahiri and Katherine
Anne Porter can offer us models. We will also
look at dialogue’s links to other aspects of craft:
Can it, for example, help to flesh a character or
advance a story? How can we translate the
immediacy of our own speech onto the page?
How can we give it to our characters? We will
also talk about the first-person narrator and the
interior monologue, the dialogue with self, and
the “rehearsal” conversation that characters can
have with characters offstage or otherwise not
there. We will consider the importance, too, of
what remains unsaid: how the discrepancy
between what a character says and what she or he
feels or does (e.g., the hidden agenda, the secret,
the lie) can give a story urgency. We will consider
these issues as they relate to each student story.
Finally, we will explore ways to make our own
writing relaxed and conversational for our own
dialogue with the reader—and each other. Short
exercises will be assigned weekly. They will be
based on the readings and on issues emerging
from student work. They can also serve as
springboards for longer stories.
Fiction Workshop
Melvin Jules Bukiet
Advanced—Year
You write. I read. We talk.
Place in Fiction
Lucy Rosenthal
Advanced—Fall
Characters are not disembodied spirits. They
need a place to live. With student stories serving
as our basic text, and also drawing from a varied
reading list, we will explore the multiple uses of
place in fiction and how it can serve to define
characters, advance story, and illuminate theme.
We will consider questions such as why does a
story happen here rather than there—say, in
Richard Yates’s suburbia, ZZ Packer’s Atlanta,
Jose Donoso’s Buenos Aires or Chile, Nadine
Gordimer’s South Africa, Katherine Anne
Porter’s Texas, Junot Diaz’s inner city, or Denis
Johnson’s highways and roads. Each region—its
landscape, its history, its culture—has its own set
148 Writing
of values and associations. Changes of
scene—from country to country and even from
room to room—can also reflect shifts in a
character’s state of mind. What does it mean, for
example, for a character to be—or to feel—“out
of place” or “at home”? What does it mean for a
character to know—or, as is often the case, not
know—his or her place? What, then, does exile
mean? Or homelessness? We will consider these
and other issues as they relate to each student
story. Short exercises will be assigned.
Supplementary readings will include selected
novels, short stories, and essays. Students will be
expected to participate actively in class
discussion. There will also be an opportunity to
raise broader questions about the challenges of
the writing experience and to share insights.
Multimedia Uses of Oral
History
Gerry Albarelli
Open—Fall
This course explores multimedia uses of oral
history, with an emphasis on writing for oral
history-based radio, television, and film
documentaries. Students will learn basic
techniques of oral history interviewing and will
be responsible for conducting two oral history
interviews that will serve as the basis for a major
writing project and for an end-of-semester
multimedia exhibit. Although this is primarily a
writing workshop in which work will be
discussed, we will also go on several field trips in
order to conduct interviews locally. Readings will
include Driss ben Hamed Charhadi, Joseph
Mitchell, Donald A. Ritchie, Doris Lessing,
Clarice Lispector, and Studs Terkel. Screenings
will include Harlan County USA, Common
Threads, Licensed to Kill, A Walk Into the Sea:
Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory, and
Animal Love.
Wrongfully Accused
Marek Fuchs
Open—Fall
Long-form investigative journalism has opened
many doors, perhaps most literally in America's
penal system where journalists have regularly
revealed—and freed—the wrongfully convicted.
This class will set out to expose the innocence
(or confirm the guilt) of a man or woman
convicted of a controversial murder or other
serious felony. Working collectively and using all
tools and traditions of investigative journalism,
the class will attempt to pull out all known and
unknown threads of the story to reveal the truth.
Was our subject wrongfully accused, or are his or
her claims of innocence an attempt to game the
system? The class will interview police,
prosecutors, and witnesses, as well as the friends
and family of the victim and of the accused. The
case file will be examined in depth. A long-form
investigative piece will be produced, complete
with multimedia accompaniment.
Nonfiction Laboratory
Stephen O’Connor
Open—Fall
This course is for students who want to break free
of the conventions of the traditional essay and
memoir and discover the full range of narrative
and stylistic possibilities available to nonfiction
writers. During the first half of the semester,
students will read and discuss examples of
formally innovative nonfiction that will serve as
the inspiration for brief assignments. During the
second half of the semester, students will
workshop longer pieces that they will have
written in consultation with the instructor as a
part of their conference work. Among the texts
that will be discussed in class are Nathalie
Sarraute’s memoir in two voices, Childhood;
Susan Griffin’s double narrative, Red Shoes;
George W. S. Trow’s dazzling exploration of the
effects of television on political culture, Within
the Context of No Context; Natalia Ginzburg’s
disarmingly straightforward portrait of her
marriage, He and I; Oscar Wilde’s brilliantly
ironic (but also earnest) philosophical dialogue,
The Decay of Lying; David Shields’s oddly moving
Life Story, composed entirely of bumper sticker
slogans; and “list essays” by Carole Maso and
Eliot Weinberger.
Writing Our Moment
Marek Fuchs
Open—Spring
It would be safe to say that journalism and
nonfiction writing are currently undergoing a
transformation. Our most storied publications are
in a state of crisis. Big-city newspapers are failing
by the day. Magazines are imperiled. Book
publishers face encroaching competition from
handheld electronic devices and online search
engines that do not recognize copyright laws.
What is an ambitious, intuitive writer to do going
forward? Quite simply: Harness all the strengths
of the storytelling past to a new world of few
THE CURRICULUM 149
space restrictions, more flexible tones, the ready
presence of video, audio, and animation—which
can either enrich or encroach upon text—and
comprehend the role of writer in such a way as to
include and exploit new media. We will examine
the relationship between literary nonfiction,
which has always been cinematic in focus and
flexible in tone, and the once and future practice
of journalism. Masters of 20th-century nonfiction
such as V.S. Naipaul, Truman Capote, Joseph
Mitchell, and Roger Angell—steeped as they are
in the journalistic practice of their time—can
serve as guideposts to our uncertain future. We
will examine, through reading and writing, the
ways in which the formulas of journalism are
transformed into literature. We will emphasize
the importance of factuality and fact-checking
and explore adapting modern storytelling to
video, photography, and sound. As the semester
progresses, literary nonfiction will be both
discovered and reinvented to fit our new world.
the subject that is their lives. But there’s another
kind of memoir that is trying to tell a whole other
kind of truth. These are more personal stories of
dysfunction, addiction, overcoming the odds.
They take us on alcoholic journeys or into
dungeons—into scary families and scarier souls.
In this workshop, we attempt to uncover this
kind of truth; but this isn't a class in
autobiography. What differentiates these stories
from other tales of grief and woe is that they are,
quite simply, well-told. It is one thing to have a
story to tell. It is quite another to know how to
tell it. In this workshop, we will read these
memoirs and attempt to write one of our own.
We’ll read Jonathan Ames, Mary Karr, Kathryn
Harrison, Jeanette Taylor, and Nick Flynn, as
well as others. The emphasis will be on how to
tell our stories. We will work on scenes and scene
development. The goal is for students to begin to
write, or at least to contemplate, a memoir of
their own.
Writing, Radio, and Aurality
A Question of Character:
The Art of the Profile
Ann Heppermann
Open—Spring
In this course, we will explore what it means to
write for radio and other aural contexts. The
course will involve deep listening, critical
analysis, and discussion of narrative texts. We’ll
listen to a variety of works across radio’s
history—from The Futurists to Glenn Gould to
This American Life, particularly taking a close
look at emerging radio projects and sound art
organizations such as free103point9, Third Coast
International Audio Festival, East Village Radio,
and Megapolis. Students also will learn how to
create a broadcast or installation piece that will
be premiered at UnionDocs gallery in Brooklyn.
The technical aspects involved in the course
include microphone techniques, interviewing
skills, digital editing, and podcast creation. Guest
lecturers will include writers, hosts, producers,
and installation artists, who will discuss their
works and show their range of writing and
experiences in the field. An end-of-semester field
trip to WNYC New York Public Radio will be
planned.
Edgy Memoirs
Mary Morris
Open—Spring
There are memoirs that people write when
they’ve had a great acting career or been
president of a large country. We read these for
their historic/cultural value—for our interest in
Alice Truax
Open—Spring
Any writer who tries to capture the likeness of
another—whether in biography, history,
journalism, or art criticism—must face certain
questions. What makes a good profile? What is
the power dynamic between subject and writer?
How does a subject’s place in the world
determine the parameters of what may be written
about him or her? To what extent is any portrait
also a self-portrait? And how can the
complexities of a personality be captured in
several thousand—or even several
hundred—words? In this course, we will tackle
the various challenges of profile writing, such as
choosing a good subject, interviewing, plotting,
obtaining and telescoping biographical
information, and defining the role of place in the
portrait. Students will be expected to share their
own work, identify in other writers’
characterizations what they admire or despise,
and learn to read closely many masters of the
genre: Joseph Mitchell, Tom Wolfe, Daphne
Merkin, Janet Malcolm. We will also turn to
shorter forms of writing—personal sketches,
obituaries, brief reported pieces, fictional
descriptions—to further illuminate what we
mean when we talk about “identity” and
“character.” The goal of this course is less to
teach the art of profile writing than to make us
all more alert to the subtleties of the form.
150 Writing
Poet as World Citizen
Tina Chang
Open—Year
This class is part poetry workshop and part
examination of the social consciousness and
responsibilities of poets in the world. In class, we
will explore our own creative possibilities, write
and workshop extensively, and read the work of
socially and politically engaged international
poets such as Carolyn Forche, Robert Pinksy,
Nazim Hikmet, Mahmoud Darwish, Bei Dao, and
Martin Espada, among others. As an additional
aspect of the course, we will collaborate with the
Community-Word Project (CWP), a New York
City-based arts-in-education organization that
inspires children in underserved communities to
read, interpret, and respond to their world and to
become active citizens. This part of the class will
guide you to transform your creative process into
a teaching tool and wil provide an opportunity to
assist in New York City public schools under the
mentorship of experienced CWP staff teaching
artists. Please note that this yearlong class will
require you to attend three Saturday training
sessions in the fall and six-to-eight community
field days in public schools in the spring. The
class culminates in conference work that will ask
you to reflect on the impact the collaboration has
had on you and the impact you’ve had on your
community.
Less Race Less Race Less
Ness
Thomas Sayers Ellis
Open—Fall
As both black and white poets begin to unlock
the aesthetic doors to new ways of writing race
and racism in America, the challenge to invent
new and bolder forms has produced quite a few
fascinating new books and voices; and much of
this new work is redefining what it means to be
an American poet, as well as providing some very
interesting critiques of American literary history
and rejuvenating the way the aesthetic toolbox is
used. Black writers such as Evie Schockley (The
New Black), Douglas Kearney (The Black
Automaton), and Khadijah Queen (Black Peculiar)
have chosen expressive approaches that have
eliminated “explaining” and “bargaining for
equality” or “proving their humanity,” while
white writers such as Jake Adam York (A
Murmuration of Starlings) and Martha Collins
(Blue Front) explore civil rights and the history of
hate crimes in order to provide rare testimonials
toward America’s long-sought identity repair.
This is a workshop course, a poem a week (about
race or its absence in our lives), some
memorization, judicious and percussive
exchanges, lots of handouts, required reading,
and a final portfolio.
Poetry Workshop: The
Making of the Complete
Lover
Suzanne Gardinier
Open—Fall
“The known universe has one complete lover,
and that is the greatest poet.”—Walt Whitman
This course, a semester-long variation on the
theme of the traditional poetry workshop, will
focus on acquiring the ways and means of
Whitman’s complete lover via the study of great
poetry. En route, we will read aloud, discuss
particular topics (e.g., line breaks, punctuation,
truth), and do various tuning and strengthening
exercises. Conference time will be devoted to
student work. Students will also be asked to
compile an anthology and a chapbook collection
of original poetry for class distribution, to
memorize, and to participate in two class readings
over the course of the term. The only
prerequisites are a curiosity about all poetry, not
just one’s own, and a commitment to undertake
whatever labors are necessary to write better on
the last day of class than on the first.
Poetry Workshop
Rachel Eliza Griffiths
Open—Fall
In this workshop, we will focus on ways of seeing
and on how “sight” works in relation to the
creative process—particularly to poetry and
writing. Students will participate in workshops
that will balance exercises geared to generate
new writing, as well as in in-class group
workshops. Exercises will involve mixed-media
prompts—brief flirtations with film, visual arts,
photography and sound, class-generated dares,
and close readings of life. In vigorous fellowship
with poetry and essays related to the task of
writing itself, we will challenge intuition, craft,
and the imagination. We will focus on
understanding and enriching creative rituals for
ourselves and our writing. Openness is the
utterance. Conference time will focus on further
THE CURRICULUM 151
individual work and revision; each student
should be prepared to lead an engaging class
discussion on some aspect of creativity and the
imagination in relation to poetry. Students will
be expected to create a folio of discovery by the
end of the semester.
Each student will be expected to write one poem
a week, as well as to read and discuss multiple
books of poems.
The Image Factory: A Poetry
Workshop
Kate Knapp Johnson
Jeffrey McDaniel
Open—Fall
In this one-semester class, we will read poets who
push the boundaries of logic and utilize wild,
irrational imagery. Poets to be read include
French and Spanish surrealists of the 1920s-30s;
American poets from the 1950s and ’60s whose
work is fueled by stark, leaping imagery; postWorld War II Eastern Europeans; and a number
of contemporary writers who drive their
imaginations above the proverbial speed limit. In
addition to our weekly workshops, there will be
biweekly screenings, where we will examine
surrealist films, including several by Luis Buñuel,
looking for parallels between the genres. Through
writing exercises and revision, students will be
pushed to explore associative imagery in their
own poetry and to discover for themselves the
various ways that similes and metaphors and
intuitive leaps can be employed to create a threedimensional experience for the reader. Each
week, students will read a book of poetry, type a
short critical response, and turn in a new poem.
The semester will culminate with students
vigorously revising a small manuscript of poems.
Young America
Cynthia Cruz
Open—Spring
In this poetry workshop, we will read and discuss
the work of young American poets. By reading
closely and discussing these works, students will
gain a better understanding of craft (various
techniques such as line, music, fragment, white
space, and metaphor), as well as how to go about
incorporating the various components of one's
life. For example, how does one incorporate the
influence of pop culture, family, illness, war,
poverty, and excess via poetry? The hope is that,
by the end of this one semester course, each
student will find at least one young American
poet whose work inspires her/him and will learn
more about craft and how to structure a poem.
Poetry Workshop: Poetic
Process
Open—Spring
In this reading and writing workshop, we will
undertake three primary tasks: discuss close
readings of poems and texts relevant to poetry
and the creative process; find ways to generate
new work of our own through exercises, models,
and experiments; and, finally, workshop our own
poems for revision purposes. Throughout this
semester, we will explore the theme of poetic
process, asking ourselves: How do we grow as
artists? How can other arts and sciences inform
our work? And what is the role of the
unconscious in creativity and revision work? Inclass readings will include a variety of
contemporary poets (US and multicultural
writers—Whitman, Neruda, Vallejo, Mort, etc.).
This will be a class-community effort; rigorous
and compassionate participation is required.
There will be class readings. Conference work
will be assigned individually, and a minimum of
eight new (and revised) poems will be expected.
Our classroom is reserved for risk taking,
exploring, and mistake making. Please park
preconceptions and egos outside.
Where Words Are Born
Jeffrey McDaniel
Open—Spring
In this class, students will strive to create poems
that are alive on the page: sonically, emotionally,
imaginatively, linguistically. Each week, students
will read a book of poems and occasionally type
short, critical responses. The syllabus, without an
overt thematic link, will function as a
constellation: sparkly, nonlinear, with some
aesthetic dark space between the collections.
Students will bring in a new first draft of a poem
each week. Because the act of writing is a process
and not an event, students will be expected to
revise a selection of poems vigorously to chisel
their breathing. Fifty percent of each class will be
spent discussing the reading; the remaining 50
percent will be devoted to student work. In
addition, there will be biweekly Thursday night
meetings, where we will begin to think about the
ways a poetic text may come to life in a theatrical
setting. The class will culminate in a theatrical
152 Writing
presentation of student work, where students will
embody and give breath to several poems that
they have written.
Poetry Workshop: Poetic
Tone
Martha Rhodes
Open—Spring
This poetry workshop will focus on poetic
tone—what exactly it is and how we establish,
sustain, and modulate tone in our poems. We will
define tone and look, for example, at how other
poets manage tonal shifts in their work. Along
with looking at the poems of workshop
participants, we will take as examples a diverse
group of writers to see how they establish poetic
“attitude” in their work.
Another course offered this year in Writing is
The Nonfiction Essay: Writing the Literature
of Fact, Journalism, and Beyond (p. 71),
Nicolaus Mills Literature
FACULTY 153
Faculty
Current Faculty
Each year, Sarah Lawrence invites distinguished
scholars and artists to teach at the College on a
guest basis. In 2011-2012, approximately 18
percent of our faculty are teaching on a guest
basis.
Colin D. Abernethy Chemistry
Chemistry BSc (Hons), Durham University,
England. PhD, The University of New
Brunswick, Canada. Current research interests
include the synthesis of new early transitionmetal metal nitride compounds and the
development of practical exercises for
undergraduate chemistry teaching laboratories.
Author of publications in the fields of inorganic
and physical chemistry, as well as chemical
education. Recipient of research grants from The
Royal Society, the Nuffield Foundation, Research
Corporation for the Advancement of Science,
and the American Chemical Society. Received
postdoctoral research fellowships at the
University of Texas at Austin and Cardiff
University, Wales. Previously taught at:
Strathclyde University, Scotland; Western
Kentucky University; and Keene State College,
New Hampshire. SLC, 2010–
Julie Abraham Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and
Transgender Studies (on leave spring
semester)
BA (Hons.), University of Adelaide, Australia.
MA, MPhil, PhD, Columbia University. Special
interest in lesbian/gay/queer studies, 20th-century
British and American literature, contemporary
feminisms, and literatures of the city; author of
Are Girls Necessary?: Lesbian Writing and Modern
Histories, Metropolitan Lovers: The Homosexuality
of Cities, and numerous essays; editor of Diana: A
Strange Autobiography; contributor to The Nation
and The Women’s Review of Books. SLC, 2000–
Samuel Abrams Politics
AB, Stanford University. AM, PhD, Harvard
University. Fellow at the Hamilton Center for
Political Economy at New York University;
member of Harvard University’s Kennedy School
of Government Program on Inequality and Social
Policy; research fellow with Harvard’s Canada
Program. Main topics of research include social
policy, inequality, international political
economy, and comparative and American
politics; special interest in network analysis, the
media, Congress, political behavior, urban studies
and cities, public opinion and survey research,
political communication and elections, and the
social nature of political behavior; conducted
fieldwork throughout Europe and North
America. Two substantial projects are presently
in progress: a comparative, historical study to
understand political participation in western
democracies (i.e., Why do some people vote,
while others do not?) and an examination of
American political culture and the nature of
centrism and polarization in the United States.
SLC, 2010–
Ernest H. Abuba Theatre
Recipient of an OBIE Award, five New York
State Council on the Arts fellowships for
playwriting and directing, a Rockefeller
Foundation fellowship, Creative Artist Public
Service Award (CAPS), Best Actor Focus Press
Award, Society of Stage Directors and
Choreographers (SSDC) member. Broadway:
Pacific Overtures, Shimada, Loose Ends, The King
and I, Zoya's Apartment, director Boris Morozov;
Maly Theatre. Regional/ off-Broadway roles: King
Lear, Macbeth, Oberon, King Arthur, Autolycus,
Chebutykin, James Tyrone, Lysander, Mishima,
Caucasian Chalk Circle, director Fritz Bennewitz;
Berlin Ensemble. Author of Kwatz! The Tibetan
Project, Leir Rex, The Dowager Empress of China,
An American Story, Eat a Bowl of Tea, Night
Stalker, opera Cambodia Agonistes, all produced
off-Broadway; national tours to the Cairo
Experimental Theatre and Johannesburg, South
Africa. Performed Butoh with Shigeko Suga in
Spleen, Accade Domani by Dario Fo, and Sotoba
Komachi. Film/TV: 12 Monkeys (director Terry
Gilliam), King of New York, Call Me, New York
Undercover, Kung Fu. Director/ screenwriter:
Mariana Bracetti, Arthur A. Schomburg, Asian
American Railroad Strike, Iroquois Confederacy,
Lilac Chen-Asian American Suffragette, and
Osceola - PBS/CBS. Voice of His Holiness the
Dalai Lama on the audiobook The Art of
Happiness. SLC, 1995Jefferson Adams History (on leave spring
semester)
BA, Stanford University. PhD Harvard
University. Special interest in European political,
diplomatic, and cultural history, with emphasis
on modern Germany; visiting scholar at the
Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and
Peace; author of Historical Dictionary of German
Intelligence; editor and translator of Beyond the
154 Current Faculty
Wall: Memoirs of an East and West German Spy;
senior editor, International Journal of Intelligence
and Counterintelligence; member, American
Council on Germany. SLC 1971–
Cameron C. Afzal Religion (on leave spring
semester)
BA, Grinnell College. MA, McGill University.
MDiv, Yale University. PhD, Columbia
University. Active member of the Society of
Biblical Literature and the American Academy of
Religion, as well as the Catholic Biblical
Association; has written on the Apocalypse of
John and has taught broadly in the fields of New
Testament and Early Christianity, Judaism in the
Second Temple Period, the Hebrew Bible, and
Late Antique Christian Mysticism. SLC, 1992–
Kirsten Agresta Music
Sean Akerman Psychology
BA, Wheaton College. PhD candidate, Graduate
Center, City University of New York. Areas of
specialization include life studies and narrative
inquiry, existential and phenomenological
theories of interpretation, and stories of
transformation (i.e., the sublime, creative
development, physical illness, and trauma).
Current work includes an exploration into
aesthetic experience and its relation to the
practice of self and identity and an inquiry into
the inheritance of exile among Tibetans living in
New York City. SLC 2011—
Gerry Albarelli Writing
BA, Sarah Lawrence College. MA, Brown
University. Author of Teacha! Stories from a
Yeshiva (Glad Day Books, 2001), chronicling his
experience as a non-Jew teaching English as a
second language to Yiddish-speaking Hasidic boys
at a yeshiva in Brooklyn; has published stories in
numerous anthologies and reviews, including The
Penguin Book of Gay Short Stories, Global City
Review, The Breast, and Fairleigh Dickinson
Review; on the faculty of Eugene Lang College;
works for the Columbia University Oral History
Research Office, where he has initiated numerous
documentary projects; conducted hundreds of life
history interviews with gay cops, retired
vaudevillians and showgirls, ironworkers,
immigrants, and, most recently, people affected
by the events of September 11 and veterans
recently returned from the war in Iraq. He
worked as an educator and project designer on
Columbia’s “Telling Lives Oral History Project.”
This project, which was launched in eight
classrooms in two middle schools in New York
City’s Chinatown, culminated in seven books,
two documentary films, and a multimedia
exhibit. He served as editor of three of the books,
producer of the documentaries, and curator of the
exhibit. He is currently working on an oral
history project and multimedia exhibit for the
Bridgeport (Connecticut) Public Library, as well
as an oral history of the war in Iraq. His memoir,
Mary, Queen of Immigrants, will be published in
2006. SLC, 2004—
Glenn Alexander Music
Abraham Anderson Philosophy
AB, Harvard College. PhD, Columbia University.
Fellowships at École Normale Supérieure and the
University of Munich. Interests in philosophy
and history of science, history of modern
philosophy, and the Enlightenment. Author of
The Treatise of the Three Impostors and the Problem
of Enlightenment, as well as of articles on Kant,
Descartes, and other topics. Contributor to the
new Kant-Lexikon. Has taught at the Collège
International de Philosophie, St. John’s College,
Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas, and
elsewhere. SLC, 2007–
William Anderson Music
Emily Katz Anhalt Hyman H. Kleinman
Fellowship in the Humanities —Greek (on
leave spring semester)
AB, Dartmouth College. PhD, Yale University.
Primary interests are Greek epic and lyric poetry,
Greek historiography, Greek tragedy, and Greek
and Roman sexuality. Publications include Solon
the Singer: Politics and Poetics (Lanham, MD,
1993), as well as several articles on the poetics of
metaphor in Homer and on narrative techniques
in Herodotus. SLC, 2004–
Neil Arditi Literature
BA, Yale University. MA, PhD, University of
Virginia. Special interest in British Romantic
poetry, Romantic legacies in modern and
contemporary poetry, and the history of criticism
and theory. Essays published in Raritan,
Parnassus, Keats-Shelley Journal, Philosophy and
Literature, and Jewish-American Dramatists and
Poets. SLC, 2001–
Damani Baker Visual Arts
BA, Sarah Lawrence College. BA, MFA,
University of California-Los Angeles, School of
Film and Television. Writer and director;
nominated for the Rockefeller Artist Award, the
Edie and Lew Wasserman Award, the Motion
FACULTY 155
Picture Association of America Award, a George
Soros/Sundance Institute grant; selected in 2000
by Filmmaker magazine as one of “25 new faces in
independent film”; co-founded Soulfire Films
(2000), a nonprofit production company;
Soulfire’s flagship project, Grenada: A Dream
Deferred, is a documentary that revisits the
events and circumstances of the 1983 U.S.
invasion of Grenada; directed and produced films
for PBS, Bill Moyers, Mel Stuart Productions, the
American Legacy Foundation, and Danny
Glover’s Carrie Productions. SLC, 2003–
Nancy Baker Philosophy
BA, Wellesley College. PhD, Brandeis
University. Special interests in philosophy of
mind, the later work of Wittgenstein, philosophy
of religion, and feminist theory; author of articles
on Wittgenstein and Vygotsky. SLC, 1974–
Carl Barenboim Roy E. Larsen Chair in
Psychology —Psychology
BA, Clark University. PhD, University of
Rochester. Special interest in the child’s
developing ability to reason about the social
world, as well as the relation between children’s
social thinking and social behavior; articles and
chapters on children’s perspective-taking, person
perception, interpersonal problem solving, and
the ability to infer carelessness in others; past
member, Board of Consulting Editors,
Developmental Psychology; principal investigator,
grant from the National Institute of Child Health
and Human Development. SLC, 1988–
Deanna Barenboim Anthropology
BA, Sarah Lawrence College. MA, PhD
candidate, University of Chicago. Special
interests in the cultural construction of
intersubjectivity, personhood, and agency;
transborder and transnational experience; politics
of indigeneity; ethnicity and race; cross-cultural
modes of illness and healing; ethnographic
practice; Mexico and Latin America.
Ethnographic fieldwork in Yucatán, Mexico, and
with Maya migrants in California. Recipient of
grants and fellowships from the National Science
Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education,
and the University of Chicago Center for Latin
American Studies. SLC, 2009—
Mary Barnard Spanish
BA, University of Texas-Arlington. MA,
University of North Texas. PhD (in progress),
Rutgers University. Dissertation in progress on
rural to urban migration in contemporary
Peruvian theatre. General research interests
include the theatre, film, and narrative of Latin
America; comparative approaches to the
epistemologies of the “Global South"; and
performance studies. SLC, 2011—
Jo Ann Beard Writing
BFA, MA, University of Iowa. Essayist and
creative nonfiction writer; author of The Boys of
My Youth, a collection of autobiographical essays,
as well as essays/articles published in magazines,
journals, and anthologies. Recipient of a Whiting
Writers’ Award. SLC, 20002005; 2007– David
Bernstein History BA, Brandeis University. MA,
PhD, Harvard University. Special interest in the
religious, social, and cultural history of Late
Antiquity and the Middle Ages, with an
emphasis on art and architecture; lecturer and
essayist; author, The Mystery of the Bayeux
Tapestry; recipient of grants from the American
Philosophical Society, American Council of
Learned Societies, and the National Endowment
for the Humanities. SLC, 1969–
Igor Begelman Music
Stefania Benzoni Italian
BA, University L. Bocconi, Milan, Italy. Taught
college Italian at all levels, including language
coaching for opera majors in the Music
Conservatory at SUNY-Purchase; organized
cultural and language learning trips to Northern
Italy. SLC, 2001; 2006—
David Bernstein History (on leave fall semester)
BA, Brandeis University. MA, PhD, Harvard
University. Special interest in the religious,
social, and cultural history of Late Antiquity and
the Middle Ages, with an emphasis on art and
architecture; lecturer and essayist; author, The
Mystery of the Bayeux Tapestry; recipient of grants
from the American Philosophical Society,
American Council of Learned Societies, and the
National Endowment for the Humanities. SLC,
1969–
Chester Biscardi Director, Program in
Music—Music (on leave spring semester)
BA, MA, MM, University of Wisconsin. MMA,
DMA, Yale University. Composer; recipient:
Rome Prize from American Academy in Rome,
Academy Award in Music and Charles Ives
Scholarship from American Academy and
Institute of Arts and Letters, Aaron Copland
Award, fellowships from the Bogliasco
Foundation, the Djerassi Foundation, the
Guggenheim Foundation, the Japan Foundation,
the MacDowell Colony, and the Rockefeller
156 Current Faculty
Foundation (Bellagio), as well as grants from the
Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard, the
Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of
Congress, the Martha Baird Rockefeller
Foundation, Meet the Composer, the National
Endowment for the Arts, and the New York
Foundation for the Arts, among others; music
published by C. F. Peters, Merion Music, Inc. of
Theodore Presser Company, and Biscardi Music
Press; recordings appear on the Albany, Bridge,
CRI (New World Records), Intim Musik
(Sweden), Naxos, New Albion, New Ariel,
North/South Recordings, and Sept Jardins
(Canada) labels. Yamaha Artist. SLC, 1977–
Laure-Anne Bosselaar Writing
Author of The Hour Between Dog and Wolf and
Small Gods of Grief, which won the 2001 Isabella
Gardner Prize for Poetry. Her third poetry
collection, A New Hunger, was selected as an
ALA Notable Book in 2008. She is the recipient
of a Pushcart Prize, and her poems have appeared
in The Washington Post, Georgia Review,
Ploughshares, AGNI, Harvard Review, and many
other publications. She is the editor of four
anthologies: Night Out: Poems about Hotels,
Motels, Restaurants and Bars; Outsiders: Poems
about Rebels, Exiles and Renegades; Urban Nature:
Poems about Wildlife in the City; and Never Before:
Poems About First Experiences. With her husband,
poet Kurt Brown, she translated a selection of
poems entitled The Plural of Happiness, by the
Flemish poet, critic, and essayist Herman de
Coninck. She also translates American poetry
into French, and Flemish poetry into English.
SLC, 2001Patti Bradshaw Dance
BM, University of Massachusetts. Certified yoga
union instructor and Kinetic Awareness
instructor. Has taught at the New School,
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian; workshops at
New York University, The Kitchen, hospitals,
and various schools and studios in New York and
Greece. Dancer, choreographer, and maker of
puppet theatre. Work shown at St Ann’s
Warehouse in 2005 and 2006. SLC, 2000–
Roy Brand Philosophy (on leave yearlong)
BA, Tel Aviv University, Israel. MA, PhD, New
School for Social Research. Special interests in
continental philosophy, modern and
contemporary aesthetics, philosophy of film and
new media, and trauma and popular culture.
Author of articles for Culture, Theory and
Critique, Critical Studies in Media Communication,
Diánoia, The Philosophical Forum, Epoché,
Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal, and
International Studies in Philosophy; chapter
contributor to Media Witnessing and Metaphysics
in the Post-Metaphysical Age; editor and translator
of Philosophy in a Time of Terror: Dialogues with
Habermas and Derrida; editor and consultant
curator of Bare Life: Contemporary Art Reflecting
on the State of Emergency; and co-curator of
Melancholy—an international group show.
Recipient of awards and fellowships, including
Lady Davies Fellowship, The American
Philosophical Association Prize, and The
Marshall McLuhan Prize. Taught at Vassar
College, National Autonomous University of
Mexico, Bezalel Academy of Art, and Hebrew
University of Jerusalem. SLC, 2007–
Bella Brodzki The Alice Stone Ilchman Chair in
Comparative and International Studies
—Literature
BA, Sarah Lawrence College. MA, Hebrew
University. PhD, Brown University. Special
interests in critical and cultural theory, gender
studies, postcolonial studies, translation studies,
autobiography, and modern and contemporary
fiction. Selected scholarly publications include
essays in PMLA, MLN, Yale French Studies,
Studies in Twentieth-Century Fiction, Yale Journal of
Criticism, Modern Fiction Studies, Profils
Américains, and in collections such as
Borderwork: Feminist Engagements with
Comparative Literature; Women, Autobiography,
and Fiction: A Reader; Critical Cosmos: Latin
American Approaches to Fiction; Feminism and
Institutions: A Dialogue on Feminist Theory; and
MLA Approaches to Teaching Representations of the
Holocaust. Author of Can These Bones Live?:
Translation, Survival, and Cultural Memory; coeditor of Life/Lines: Theorizing Women’s
Autobiography. Recipient of National Endowment
for the Humanities fellowships, Lucius Littauer
Award, and Hewlett-Mellon grants. Visiting
professor at Université de Montpellier-Paul
Valéry and Université de Versailles-St. Quentin.
SLC, 1984–
Melvin Jules Bukiet Writing
BA, Sarah Lawrence College. MFA, Columbia
University. Author of Sandman’s Dust, Stories of
an Imaginary Childhood, While the Messiah Tarries,
After, Signs and Wonders, Strange Fire, and A
Faker’s Dozen; editor of Neurotica, Nothing Makes
You Free, and Scribblers on the Roof. Works have
been translated into half a dozen languages and
frequently anthologized; winner of the Edward
FACULTY 157
Lewis Wallant Award and other prizes; stories
published in Antaeus, The Paris Review, and other
magazines; essays published in The New York
Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles
Times and other newspapers. SLC, 1993—
Gary Burnley Mary Griggs Burke Chair in Art
and Art History—Visual Arts
BFA, Washington University. MFA, Yale
University. One-person and group exhibitions in
the United States and Europe; works included in
major private, corporate, and museum
collections; awards and fellowships include the
Federal Design Achievement Award, National
Endowment for the Arts, New York State
Council, and CAPS; public commissions include
the MTA and St. Louis Bi-State Development.
SLC, 1980–
Scott Calvin Physics
BA, University of California-Berkeley. PhD,
Hunter College. Taught at Lowell High School,
University of San Francisco, University of
California-Berkeley, Hayden Planetarium,
Southern Connecticut State University, and
Hunter College. Author of research papers in Xray absorption spectroscopy and physics
education, as well as books intended to prepare
students for the Medical College Admission Test.
Currently working with magnetic nanoparticles
designed for cancer treatment, as well as on a
textbook of X-ray spectroscopy. SLC, 2003–
Lorayne Carbon Director, Early Childhood
Center—Psychology
BA, State University of New York-Buffalo.
MSEd, Bank Street College of Education. Special
areas of interest include social justice issues in the
early childhood classroom and creating aesthetic
learning environments for young children.
Former early childhood teacher, director, Oak
Lane Child Care Center, Chappaqua, N.Y., and
education coordinator of the Virginia Marx
Children’s Center of Westchester Community
College. Adjunct professor, Westchester
Community College; workshop leader at seminars
and conferences on early childhood education.
SLC, 2003–
David Castriota Art History (on leave spring
semester)
BA, New York University. MA, MPhil, PhD,
Columbia University. Special interests in Greek
art of the classical and Hellenistic periods,
Roman art of the late republic and early empire,
and the art of prehistoric Europe; author of Myth,
Ethos, and Actuality: Official Art in Fifth-Century
B.C. Athens, The Ara Pacis Augustae and the
Imagery of Abundance in Later Greek and Early
Roman Imperial Art, and a critical commentary
on Alois Riegl’s Problems of Style: Foundations for
a History of Ornament; editor of Artistic Strategy
and the Rhetoric of Power: Political Uses of Art from
Antiquity to the Present; recipient of fellowships
from the Dumbarton Oaks Center for Early
Christian and Byzantine Art and the Society of
Fellows of Columbia University and of grants
from the National Endowment for the
Humanities and the American Philosophical
Society. SLC, 1992–
William Catanzaro Dance
Composer and multi-instrumentalist; recognition
and funding from NEA, The Samuels S. Feld
Fund, New York State Council on the Arts,
Harkness Foundation, NYU Humanities Council,
NYU Service/Learning Fund; commissions
include choreographers Anna Sokolow, Steve
Paxton, Viola Farber, Milton Myers; work
presented nationally and internationally with the
New Danish Dance Theater, TanzFabrik Berlin,
Amsterdam Theatreschool, Cyprus Festival,
Teatro San Martin, The Alvin Ailey School,
Philadanco, Player’s Project, Dallas Black
Theater, Jacob’s Pillow, DTW, and others. Former
accompanist and teacher of music for dancers at
The Juilliard School, Marymount Manhattan
College, Limón School, Martha Graham School,
New York University; current faculty at The
Alvin Ailey School, Steps on Broadway; Music
Director for the Young Dancemakers Company.
SLC, 2003–
Pat Catterson Dance
BA, Northwestern University. MFA, Goddard
College. A dedicated educator and choreographer
of 103 works, her writing has been published in
Ballet Review, JOPERD, Attitude Magazine, and
Dance Research Journal. She first performed
Yvonne Rainer’s work in 1969 and, since 1999,
has been Rainer's dancer, rehearsal assistant, and
custodian of her early works. Recipient of a 2011
Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fulbright, and
multiple grants from the National Endowment
for the Arts, the CAPS Program, the Harkness
Foundation, and the Ludwig Vogelstein
Foundation. She has been on the faculties at
Sarah Lawrence College, University of
California-Los Angeles, Juilliard School,
Princeton University, Muhlenberg College,
Barnard College, Merce Cunningham Studio,
and Marymount Manhattan College.
158 Current Faculty
Tina Chang Writing
MFA, Columbia University. Poet, Brooklyn poet
laureate, and author of Half-Lit Houses and Of
Gods & Strangers; co-editor of the anthology
Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry
from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond (W.W.
Norton, 2008). Poems have appeared in American
Poet, McSweeney’s, The New York Times,
Ploughshares, Quarterly West, and Sonora Review,
among others. Recipient of awards from the
Academy of American Poets, the Barbara
Deming Memorial Fund, The Ludwig Vogelstein
Foundation, The New York Foundation for the
Arts, Poets & Writers, and The Van Lier
Foundation, among others. SLC, 2005—
Sciences, the first recipient of the President’s
Award for Innovative Pedagogy, and, in 1992, the
recipient of the state-wide SUNY Chancellor’s
Award for Distinguished College Teaching. She
has also taught economics, labor history, and
public policy as a guest faculty member at Sarah
Lawrence College. Dr. Christensen’s research
focuses on the intersection of economics with
public policy issues, with a particular emphasis on
issues of race, gender, class, and labor; e.g., the
experiences of low-income women in the AIDS
crisis, the politics of welfare “reform,” the
“gendered” nature of the current recession, and
the impact of our campaign finance system on
public policy. SLC, 2008—
Susannah Chapman Music
Una Chung Literature
BA, University of California-Berkeley. MA, San
Francisco State University. PhD, Graduate
Center of the City University of New York.
Special interests in Asian American literature
and film, late 20th-century transnational East
and Southeast Asian cultural studies, East Asian
film, postcolonial theory, ethnic studies,
globalization, affect, new media. SLC, 2007–
Persis Charles History
BA, Bryn Mawr College. MA, Brown University.
PhD, Tufts University. Special interest in modern
social and women’s history, with particular
emphasis on British and French history. SLC,
1977–
Priscilla Chen Spanish
BA, State University of New York-Stony Brook.
MA, Queens College. Currently completing a
doctorate in Spanish literature at the Graduate
Center of the City University of New York;
special interests includes Golden Age peninsular
literature, Latin American literature and culture
in general, and fiction. SLC, 2004—
Eileen Ka-May Cheng History
BA, Harvard University. MA, MPhil, PhD, Yale
University. Special interest in Early American
history, with an emphasis on the American
Revolution and the early American republic,
European and American intellectual history, and
historiography. Author of The Plain and Noble
Garb of Truth: Nationalism and Impartiality in
American Historical Writing, 1784-1860; author of
articles and book reviews for History and Theory,
Journal of American History, Reviews in American
History, and Journal of the Early Republic. SLC,
1999–
Kim Christensen Economics
BA, Earlham College (economics and peace/
global studies). PhD, University of
Massachusetts-Amherst (political economy).
Taught economics and women’s/gender studies
(1985-2010) at SUNY-Purchase, where she
received several awards for her teaching: the fourtime recipient of the Students’ Union Award for
Outstanding Teaching in the Letters and
Raymond D. Clarke Biology
BSc, McGill University. MFS, MPhil, PhD, Yale
University. Special interest in ecology of coral
reef fish; visiting researcher at West Indies
Laboratory and Smithsonian Institution; guest
faculty at Queen’s University (Canada) and
University of Massachusetts-Boston; grant
support from American Philosophical Society,
National Geographic Society, National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration, National
Science Foundation, and others; author and
lecturer on issues of marine ecology. SLC, 1972–
Rachel Cohen Writing (On leave yearlong)
AB, Harvard University. Author of A Chance
Meeting (Random House, 2004), a nonfiction
book tracing a chain of 30 American writers and
artists who knew or influenced or met one
another over the period from the Civil War to
the civil rights movement; winner of the 2003
PEN/Jerard Fund Award. Essays in The New
Yorker, The Threepenny Review, McSweeney’s,
DoubleTake, Parnassus, and Modern Painters and
in 2003 Best American Essays and 2003 Pushcart
Prize anthologies. Fellow of the New York
Institute for the Humanities at New York
University. Fellowships from the New York
Foundation for the Arts and the MacDowell
Colony. SLC, 2003–
FACULTY 159
Kevin Confoy Theatre
BA, Rutgers College. Certificate, London
Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).
Graduate, The Conservatory at The Classic
Stage Company (CSC), Playwrights Horizons
Theater School Directing Program. Director and
producer, off-Broadway and regional productions.
Producer/producing artistic director, SLC
Theatre Program (19942008). Executive
producer, Ensemble Studio Theatre, New York;
associate artistic director, Elysium Theatre
Company, New York (19901992); Development
Program director, Circle Repertory Company
(Circle Rep), New York. Recipient of two grants
from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; OBIE
Award, Outstanding Achievement Off and OffOff Broadway (producer). Nomination, Drama
Desk Award, Best Revival of a Play (acting
company. Director, first (original) productions of
11 published plays. SLC, 1984–
Dominic Corva Politics
BS, Economics, University of Houston. BA,
Creative Writing, University of Arizona. MA
and PhD, Geography, University of Washington.
Research interests include the role of social
movements in political formation, the geopolitics
of the “war on drugs” in the Western
Hemisphere, transnational governance and state
repression, biopolitics and hegemonic strategy,
and the political economy of commodity chains.
Substantive regional focus on Latin America.
Recent publications in Political Geography and
ACME. SLC, 2009—
Drew E. Cressman Biology
BA, Swarthmore College. PhD, University of
Pennsylvania. Special interest in the molecular
basis of gene regulation and the control of gene
expression; specifically focused on the control of
antigen-presenting genes of the immune system
and the subcellular localization of the regulatory
protein CIITA; author of papers on mammalian
liver regeneration and CIITA activity; recipient
of grants from the Irvington Institute for
Biomedical Research and the National Science
Foundation. SLC, 2000–
Cynthia Cruz Writing
BA, Mills Colllege. MFA, Sarah Lawrence
College. Poet; author of Ruin (Alice James Books,
2006) and The Glimmering Room (Four Way
Books, 2012); recipient of fellowships from
Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, and a Hodder
Fellowship at Princeton University. Work has
been published in Isn’t it Romantic: 100 Love
Poems by Younger American Poets (Wave Books,
2004) and The Iowa Anthology of New American
Poetries (The University of Iowa Press, 2004).
SLC 2008—
Annelle Curulla French
BA, Connecticut College. MA, Middlebury
College. MPhil, Columbia University.
Pensionnaire étranger at Ecole Normale
Supérieure. Specialist in literature and culture of
the Enlightenment and French Revolution, with
an emphasis on the theory and practice of drama.
Dissertation, “The Convent Plays of the French
Revolution,” studies theatrical representations of
sacred feminine space in relation to republican
gender ideology and the development of
revolutionary drama. Research interests include
women and authorship, literary experiments, and
the interplay of social practices with changing
forms of oral and written communication.
Recipient of the Whiting Fellowship and
Chateaubriand Fellowship. SLC, 2011—
Dance Faculty Dance
Sayantani DasGupta Writing
AB, Brown University. MD, MPH, Johns
Hopkins University. Writer of fiction and
creative nonfiction. Originally trained in
pediatrics and public health, she teaches courses
in illness and disability memoir—as well as
narrative, health, and social justice—at
Columbia University’s Program in Narrative
Medicine and in the Health Advocacy graduate
program at Sarah Lawrence College. Author of a
memoir, a book of folktales, and co-editor of an
award-winning collection of women’s illness
narratives, Stories of Illness and Healing: Women
Write their Bodies. She teaches prose in the
“Writing the Medical Experience” summer
workshop at Sarah Lawrence. SLC, 2001—
Michael Davis Philosophy
BA, Cornell University. MA, PhD, Pennsylvania
State University. Interests in Greek philosophy,
moral and political philosophy, and philosophy
and literature; author of many books, the most
recent of which are The Autobiography of
Philosophy, a translation of Aristotle’s On Poetics,
and Wonderlust: Ruminations on Liberal Education;
member, editorial board, Ancient Philosophy;
lecturer, essayist, and reviewer. SLC, 1977– Isabel
de Sena Spanish MA, University of CaliforniaBerkeley. PhD, University of California-Santa
Barbara. Special interests include medieval
Peninsular literature, Latin American literature
in general and fiction in particular, and Luso-
160 Current Faculty
Brazilian literature and culture; translations
include Virginia Woolf’s Between the Acts. SLC,
1997–
Cultures fellowship at Columbia University’s
Society of Fellows in the Humanities. SLC,
2001–
Isabel de Sena Literature
MA, University of California-Berkeley. PhD,
University of California-Santa Barbara. Special
interests include medieval Peninsular literature,
Latin American literature in general and fiction
in particular, and Luso-Brazilian literature and
culture; translations include Virginia Woolf’s
Between the Acts. SLC, 1997–
Beth Ann Ditkoff Biology
BA, Yale University. MD, The Johns Hopkins
School of Medicine. Former surgical oncologist at
New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia
University Medical Center; Department of
Surgery, College of Physicians & Surgeons,
Columbia University. Author of The Thyroid
Guide (HarperCollins, 2000) and Why Don’t Your
Eyelashes Grow? Curious Questions Kids Ask About
the Human Body (Penguin, 2008). SLC, 2010—
BA, University of Massachusetts-Amherst. MA,
PhD, University of California-Los Angeles.
Special interests in the cultural construction of
experience, subjectivity and inter-subjectivity,
death and mourning, and the political economy
of illness and healing; ethnographic fieldwork in
the Nepal Himalayas, with the residents of a
homeless shelter in Boston, and among
competitive chess players; author of Body and
Emotion: The Aesthetics of Illness and Healing in the
Nepal Himalayas; Shelter Blues: Sanity and Selfhood
Among the Homeless; Sensory Biographies: Lives
and Deaths Among Nepal’s Yolmo Buddhists; and
Counter-play: an Anthropologist at the Chessboard.
Recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship and a
Howard fellowship. NIMH postdoctoral research
fellow at Harvard Medical School. SLC, 1994–
Emily Devine Dance
BA, Connecticut College. Trained with Jose
Limón, Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham,
and Viola Farber; performed with Dan Wagoner
and Dancers, Nancy Lewis, Mirjam Berns, Cork
(Ireland) National Ballet; choreographer, Dance
Alliance of New Haven, Roxanne Dance
Foundation, Swamp Gravy, and independent
productions; recipient of choreography grants
from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts;
teaches dance and movement workshops
throughout the United States and in Canada,
France, Sweden, Australia, and New Zealand.
SLC, 1988–
BA, Stanford University. MA, PhD, University
of California-Los Angeles. Special interests
include history of West Africa, particularly
Ghana and Nigeria; history of intelligence testing
and external examinations in Africa; history of
science in Africa; and gender and education.
Recipient of a Spencer fellowship and Major
Natalia Dizenko Russian
Stephen Dobyns Writing
Author of more than 30 books of poetry, fiction,
and nonfiction, including a recent book of
poems, Pallbearers Envying the One Who Rides. His
book, Cemetery Nights, won the Poetry Society of
America’s 1987 Melville Cane Award. Received
a Guggenheim fellowship and three National
Endowment for the Arts fellowships. Taught at a
dozen colleges and universities, including the
University of Iowa, Boston University, and the
MFA program at Warren Wilson College.
Recently published his first collection of short
stories, Eating Naked: Stories, two stories appeared
in The Best American Short Stories 1995 and 1999;
poetry collection, The Porcupine’s Kisses,
published by Penguin in fall 2002. SLC, 2003—
Jerrilynn Dodds Dean of the College—Art
History
BA, Barnard College, MA, PhD Harvard
University. Work has centered on issues of
artistic interchange—in particular among
Christians, Jews, and Muslims—and how groups
form identities through art and architecture.
Special interest in the arts of Spain and the
history of architecture. Author of Architecture and
Ideology in Early Medieval Spain and NY Masjid:
The Mosques of New York and co-author of Arts of
Intimacy: Christians Jews and Muslims in the
Making of Castilian Culture, among other books
and publications. SLC, 2009–
Roland Dollinger German
BA, University of Augsburg, Germany. MA,
University of Pittsburgh. PhD, Princeton
University. Special interest in 20th-century
German and Austrian literature; author of
Totalität und Totalitarismus: Das Exilwerk Alfred
Döblins and several essays and book reviews on
19th- and 20th-century German literature;
FACULTY 161
coeditor of Unus Mundus: Kosmos and Sympathie,
Naturphilosophie, and Philosophia Naturalis. SLC,
1989–
BA, MA, University of Pavia, Italy. PhD,
University of Milan-Bicocca. Special interests in
linguistic anthropology, political oratory and
ritual speech, vernacular practical philosophies,
ethnopoetics, missionization and the emergence
of colonial discourse genres; ethnographic
fieldwork in Southeast Asia (upland Sulawesi and
East Timor); author of several articles on
language and ethnicity, local theories of action,
power and emotions, verbal art, and language
ideologies. FCT postdoctoral research fellow at
Institute of Theoretical and Computational
Linguistics, Lisbon, and Endangered Languages
Academic Programme (SOAS), London. SLC,
2009–
Charlotte L. Doyle Psychology
BA, Temple University. MA, PhD, University of
Michigan. A generalist in psychology with
special interests in the creative process,
psychological theory, and children’s literature.
Articles written on the creative process in art,
the fiction writing episode, facilitating creativity
in children, and the definition of psychology.
Books include Explorations in Psychology (a
textbook) and seven picture books for children:
Hello Baby, Freddie’s Spaghetti, Where’s Bunny’s
Mommy?, You Can’t Catch Me, Twins!,
Supermarket!, and The Bouncing Dancing Galloping
ABC. SLC, 1966–
Kermit Driscoll Music
Jan Drucker Director, Child Development
Institute's Empowering Teachers
Program—Psychology
BA, Radcliffe College. PhD, New York
University. Clinical and developmental
psychologist with teaching and research interests
in the areas of developmental and educational
theory; child development; parent guidance;
clinical assessment and therapy with children and
adolescents; and the development of imaginative
play and other symbolic processes in early
childhood and their impact on later
development. Professional writings have centered
on various forms of early symbolization in
development and in clinical work with children.
SLC, 1972–
Jill Du Boff Theatre
BA, The New School. Has designed sound on
Broadway, off-Broadway and regionally. Designs
on Broadway include: The Constant Wife, The
Good Body, Bill Maher: Victory…, Three Days of
Rain (assoc.), Inherit The Wind (assoc.), Wit
(national tour). Designed for the following offBroadway: Atlantic, MTC, MCC, Playwrights
Horizons, Public, Vineyard, Second Stage,
NYTW, WP, New Georges, Flea, Cherry Lane,
Signature, Clubbed Thumb, Culture Project,
Actor’s Playhouse, New Group, Promenade,
Urban Stages, Houseman, Fairbanks, Soho Rep,
Adobe . Regionally: Minneapolis Children’s
Theatre, Bay Street, La Jolla Playhouse,
Cincinnati Playhouse, Westport Country
Playhouse, Berkeley Rep, Portland Stage, Long
Wharf, The Alley, Kennedy Center, NYS&F,
South Coast Rep, Humana, Williamstown,
Berkshire Theatre, ATF. Television; Comedy
Central Presents: Slovin & Allen, NBC’s Late
Fridays. Film: We Pedal Uphill. Radio:
contributing producer for PRI’s Studio 360;
contributor to the book Sound and Music For The
Theatre. Two Drama Desk nominations; two
Henry Hewes nominations. Awards: Ruth Morley
Design Award. SLC, 2009—
Angela Dufresne Visual Arts
BFA, Kansas City Art Institute. MFA, Temple
University, Tyler School of Art. Exhibited in
national and international shows. Exhibitions
include CRG Gallery and Monya Rowe Gallery
(New York City), Brooklyn Academy of Music,
P.S. 1 Museum (New York City), The Hammer
Museum (Los Angeles), The Aldrich Museum
(Ridgefield, Connecticut), Kinkead
Contemporary Gallery (Los Angeles), Brandeis
University, Mills College, The University of
Richmond Museum, and Galleria Glance
(Torino, Italy). Fellowships at the Fine Arts
Work Center, Provincetown, Massachusetts, and
the Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito,
California, and a Jerome Foundation Grant. SLC,
2010Rujeko Dumbutshena Dance
Originally from Zimbabwe, she has been teaching
and performing throughout the United States,
Canada, and Australia since 1994. She has
performed at venues that include the Getty
Museum, Lincoln Center, and the Sydney Opera
House. She is co-founder and artistic director of
the Panjea Foundation, a nonprofit organization
dedicated to bringing African and Western
162 Current Faculty
cultures together through cultural exchange
tours, music and dance conferences, and
workshops. SLC, 2005—
Interests include literary representation of
interiority, including madness, surrealism, and
film. SLC, 2010—
Glenn Dynner Religion
BA, Brandeis University. MA, McGill
University. PhD, Brandeis University. Scholar of
East European Jewry with a focus on the social
history of Hasidism and the Haskalah (Jewish
Enlightenment). Author of the book Men of Silk:
The Hasidic Conquest of Polish Jewish Society,
which received a Koret Publication Award and
was a finalist for the National Jewish Book
Awards. Received textual training in several
Israeli yeshivas and the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem. Additional interests include PolishJewish relations, Jewish economic history, and
popular religion. Recipient of the Fulbright
Award. Member (2010-11), Institute for
Advanced Study, Princeton University. SLC,
2004–
Thomas Sayers Ellis Writing
MFA, Brown University. Poet; author of The
Maverick Room; “The Good Junk” (from Take
Three #1); two chapbooks, The Genuine Negro
Hero and Song On; and the forthcoming Quotes
Community: Notes for Black Writers. Co-founder
of the Dark Room Collective and the recipient of
a Mrs. Giles Whiting Writers Award, as well as
fellowships from Yaddo and the MacDowell
Colony. Poems have appeared in American Poetry
Review, Grand Street, Tin House, Ploughshares,
Harvard Review, Callaloo, and The Best American
Poetry, 1997 and 2001. SLC, 2006–
Michael Early Theatre
BFA, New York University Tisch School of the
Arts. MFA, Yale University School of Drama.
Extensive experience off-Broadway and in
regional theatre, television, and commercials;
artist-in-residence, Oberlin College. SLC,
1998—
June Ekman Theatre
BA, Goddard College, University of Illinois.
ACAT-certified Alexander Technique Teacher,
1979. Inventor of an ergonomic chair, the Sit-aRound; taught the Alexander Technique in many
venues: the Santa Fe Opera, Riverside Studios in
London, Utrecht, the Netherlands; dancer,
Judson Dance Theater, Alwin Nikolais, Anna
Halprin, and others; direction and choreography
off-Broadway; appeared in Innovation (PBS); OffOff Broadway Review Award, 1995-1996. SLC,
1987—
Kirsten Ellicson French
BA, Brown University. Maîtrise en lettres
modernes, Université de Versailles. MPhil,
Columbia University. Pensionnaire étranger at
the Ecole normale supérieure Lyon; instructor of
literature humanities in Columbia University’s
core curriculum. Specialist in 19th- and early
20th-century French literature and art, with an
emphasis on the origins of literary modernity.
Dissertation, “Disordered Collecting in French
Literature 1880-1892,” explores the relationships
between art collecting and literary decadence.
Beverly Emmons Dance
BA, Sarah Lawrence College. Designed lighting
for Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theatre,
dance, and opera in the United States and
abroad. Broadway credits include Annie Get Your
Gun, Jekyll & Hyde, The Heiress, Stephen
Sondheim’s Passion, and The Elephant Man. Her
lighting of Amadeus won a Tony award. She has
worked at the John F. Kennedy Center, the
Guthrie, Arena Stage, and the Children’s
Theatre of Minneapolis. Off Broadway, she lit
Vagina Monologues and worked for Joseph
Chaikin and Meredith Monk; for Robert Wilson,
Einstein on the Beach and The Civil Wars, Part V.
Her designs for dance include works by Martha
Graham, Trisha Brown, Alvin Ailey, and Merce
Cunningham. She has been awarded seven Tony
nominations, the 1976 Lumen award, 1984 and
1986 Bessies, a 1980 Obie for Distinguished
Lighting, and several Maharam/American
Theater Wing design awards. SLC, 2011—
Oren Fader Music
Charling C. Fagan Director of Libraries and
Academic Computing—Undergraduate
Catalogue
BA, Ohio Wesleyan University. MLS, Case
Western Reserve University. Chair, New York
State Higher Education Initiative, 2010–;
member, Middle States Evaluation Team, 2003–;
member, Board of Trustees, Metropolitan New
York Library Council; first vice president,
METRO; member, Better Salaries and Pay Equity
Task Force, American Library Association. SLC,
1989–
FACULTY 163
Christine Farrell Theatre
BA, Marquette University. MFA, Columbia
University. One-year Study Abroad, Oxford,
England. Actress, playwright, director. Appeared
for nine seasons as Pam Shrier, the ballistics
detective on Law and Order. Acting credits
include Saturday Night Live, One Life to Live;
films: Ice Storm, Fatal Attraction; stage: Comedy of
Errors, Uncle Vanya, Catholic School Girls,
Division Street, The Dining Room. Two published
plays: Mama Drama and The Once Attractive
Woman. Directed in colleges as well as offBroadway and was the artistic director and cofounder of the New York Team for TheatreSports.
Performed in comedy improvisation throughout
the world. SLC, 1991–
BA, Knox College. MA, PhD, Cornell
University. Special interests include culturalecological approaches to infant and child
development, children at risk (children in
poverty, HIV/AIDS orphans, children in foster
care and institutionalized care), health and
cognitive development, and development in
African contexts. Areas of academic
specialization include infant categorization
development and the influences of the task, the
stimuli used, and infants’ culture, language, and
socioeconomic status on their performance;
infant face processing in African and American
contexts; and relationships between the quality
of southern African orphan care contexts and
child outcomes. SLC, 2007–
Esther Fernández Spanish (on leave yearlong)
BA, Wheaton College. MA, PhD, University of
California-Davis. Areas of specialization: 17thcentury Spanish drama, Spanish drama from all
periods, erotic literature, performance studies,
and Cervantes. Publications: Los corrales de
comedias españoles en el siglo XVII: espacios de
sensualidad clandestina; Jugando con Eros: El
erotismo metadramático en la Llamada de Lauren de
Paloma Pedrero; En busca de un teatro
comprometido: La entretenida de Miguel de
Cervantes bajo el nuevo prisma de la CNTC; El coto
privado de Diana: El perro del hortelano, de un texto
sexual a un sexo visual; Mirar y desear: la
construcción del personaje femenino en El perro del
hortelano de Lope de Vega y de Pilar Miró. Coauthored, with Cristina Martínez-Carazo, La risa
erótica de Sor Juana en Los empeños de una casa.
SLC, 2008–
Angela Ferraiolo Visual Arts
BLS, SUNY-Purchase. MFA, Hunter College.
MFA (forthcoming), Brown University. Shipped
titles: Layoff (Tiltfactor Labs, New York), Earth
and Beyond (MMORPG, Westwood Studios/
Electronic Arts), Aidyn Chronicles (Nintendo 64,
THQ). Her plays have been produced offBroadway at The Brick Playhouse, La Mama
Galleria, and Expanded Arts. Her video work has
been featured in Digital Fringe, Melbourne,
Austrailia, and on die Gesellschafter.de, Bonn,
Germany. Currently the Electronic Writing
Fellow at Brown University, where she is working
on new forms of interactive narrative, she is also
the Internet art and Web cinema reviewer for
Furtherfield.org, an arts collective based in
London. SLC, 2010—
Carolyn Ferrell Writing
BA, Sarah Lawrence College. MA, City College
of New York. Author of the short story collection
Don’t Erase Me, awarded the Art Seidenbaum
Award of The Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the
John C. Zachiris Award given by Ploughshares,
and the Quality Paperback Book Prize for First
Fiction; stories anthologized in The Best American
Short Stories of the Century; Giant Steps: The New
Generation of African American Writers; The Blue
Light Corner: Black Women Writing on Passion,
Sex, and Romantic Love; and Children of the Night:
The Best Short Stories by Black Writers, 1967 to the
Present; recipient of grants from the Fulbright
Association, the German Academic Exchange
(D.A.A.D.), the City University of New York
MAGNET Program, and the National
Endowment for the Arts (Literature fellow for
2004). SLC, 1996–
David Fieni French
BA, University of California-Berkeley. PhD,
UCLA. Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow
in French and History Across the Disciplines,
Cornell University. Special interests in
francophone literature and societies, postcolonial
theory, literature and thought from the Maghreb
in French and Arabic, orientalism, comparative
literature, the relationship between mourning
and literary practice, and global multilingual
graffiti. SLC, 2011—
Barbara Forbes Dance
Royal Academy of Dancing, London. Institute of
Choreology, London. Imperial Society of
Teachers of Dancing, Cecchetti Method.
Previously on faculty of National Ballet School of
Canada, Alvin Ailey School, New York
164 Current Faculty
University, and Finis Jhung Studio. Ballet
mistress and teacher, Joffrey Ballet, New Orleans
Ballet, and Chamber Ballet USA. Currently
Feldenkrais practitioner at Feldenkrais Learning
Center, New York City. SLC, 2000–
Joseph C. Forte Art History
BA, Brooklyn College. MA, MPhil, PhD,
Columbia University. Special interest in art and
architecture of the Italian Renaissance and the
17th century, the history of architecture, and art
and architectural theory; author of articles on
Italian 16th-century drawings, French painting of
the 17th century, and American 19th-century
architecture. SLC, 1978–
BA, Williams College. MA, PhD, University of
Michigan. Trained in Zen monasteries in Japan;
active in Buddhist studies, with research interest
in philosophical, literary, social, and historical
aspects of East Asian Buddhism, especially the
Ch’an/Zen tradition; co-editor in chief, Soto Zen
Text Project (Tokyo); American Academy of
Religion Buddhism Section steering committee,
1987-1994, 2003-; board member, Kuroda
Institute for the Study of Buddhism and Human
Values; recipient of Fulbright, Eiheiji, and Japan
Foundation fellowships and grants from the
American Council of Learned Societies and the
National Endowment for the Humanities. SLC,
1995–
Marvin Frankel Psychology
BA, City College of New York. PhD, University
of Chicago. Clinical internship in client-centered
therapy, Counseling Center of the University of
Chicago; postdoctoral fellowship at Educational
Testing Service, Princeton, New Jersey.
Contributed recent chapters and articles that
deal with the changing nature of the
psychotherapeutic relationship, the anatomy of
an empathic understanding, we-centered
psychotherapeutic relationships, and the clinical
education of nondirective and directive
psychotherapists. SLC, 1972–
Melissa Frazier The Margot C. Bogert
Distinguished Service Chair —Russian
AB, Harvard University. PhD, University of
California-Berkeley. Special interests include the
19th-century novel and literature and the literary
marketplace. Author of articles and books on
topics including Pushkin, Senkovskii, Gogol,
Tolstoy, and Russian Formalism. Awarded the
2007 Jean-Pierre Barricelli Prize for “Best Work
in Romanticism Studies” by the International
Conference of Romanticism for Romantic
Encounters: Writers, Readers, and the “Library for
Reading” (Stanford University Press, 2007). SLC,
1995– Suzanne Gardinier Writing BA, University
of Massachusetts-Amherst. MFA, Columbia
University. Author of the long poems The New
World (1993) and Dialogue with the Archipelago
(2009); Today: 101 Ghazais (2008), Iridium
(2010), seven long elegies, A World That Will
Hold All the People, and essays on poetry and
politics. Fiction published in Fiction International,
The American Voice, and The Paris Review; essays
in The Manhattan Review and The Kenyon Review.
Recipient of The Kenyon Review Award for
Literary Excellence in the Essay and of grants
from the New York Foundation for the Arts and
the Lannan Foundation. SLC, 1994–
Will Frears Theatre
BA, Sarah Lawrence College. MFA, Yale School
of Drama. Film Direction: Coach, All Saints Day
(winner, best narrative short, Savannah Film
Festival) Beloved. Stage Direction, Off Broadway:
Still Life (MCC), Rainbow Kiss (The Play
Company), The Water’s Edge (Second Stage), Pen
(Playwrights Horizons), Terrorism (The New
Group/The Play Company), Omnium Gatherum
(Variety Arts), Where We’re Born and God Hates
the Irish (both at Rattlestick Playwrights
Theatre), Get What You Need (Atlantic 453), and
Kid-Simple (Summer Play Festival). Regional:
Romeo & Juliet, Bus Stop, The Water’s Edge, and A
Servant of Two Masters at the Williamstown
Theatre Festival; The Pillowman at George Street
Playhouse; Hay Fever and The Price at Baltimore
CenterStage; Sleuth at the Bay Street Theatre;
Our Lady of 121st Street (Steppenwolf Theatre);
Omnium Gatherum (Actor’s Theatre of
Louisville). Artistic Director, Yale Cabaret,
1999-2000 season. Recipient of Boris Sagal and
Bill Foeller directing fellowships. 2010—
Donald Friedman Music
Marek Fuchs Writing
BA, Drew University. Wrote The New York Times
“County Lines” column for six years and a book,
A Cold-Blooded Business, based on a murder case
he covered in The New York Times, which Kirkus
Reviews called “riveting.” Produces syndicated
online video column for TheStreet.com, often a
lead feature on Yahoo! Finance. Served as editorin-chief of Fertilemind.net; twice named “Best of
the Web” by Forbes Magazine. Awards include
the Silver Award in 2007 from the League of
American Communications Professionals; named
FACULTY 165
the best journalism critic in the nation by
Talking Biz Web site at the University of North
Carolina School of Journalism and Mass
Communication. When not writing or teaching,
serves as a firefighter in Hastings, New York.
Next book coming out in Spring 2012 on
firefighters. SLC 2010—
Liza Gabaston French
Graduate, École Normale Supérieure (rue
d’Ulm). Agrégation in French Literature,
Doctorate in French Literature, Paris-Sorbonne.
Dissertation on “Body Language in Proust’s À la
recherche du temps perdu” to be published by
Honoré Champion in July, 2011. Beyond Proust
and the narrative representation of the body,
interests include 19th- and early 20th-century
literature, history and theory of the novel, and
relationships between literature and the visual
arts. SLC 2010—
Suzanne Gardinier Writing
BA, University of Massachusetts-Amherst. MFA,
Columbia University. Author of the long poem,
The New World, winner of the Associated
Writing Programs Award Series in poetry; A
World That Will Hold All the People, essays on
poetry and politics; Today: 101 Ghazals (2008);
the long poem, Dialogue with the Archipelago
(2009); and fiction published in The Kenyon
Review, The American Voice, and The Paris Review.
Recipient of The Kenyon Review Award for
Literary Excellence in the Essay and of grants
from the New York Foundation for the Arts and
the Lannan Foundation. SLC, 1994Rico Gatson Visual Arts
BA, Bethel University. MFA, Yale University
School of Art. Working in painting, sculpture,
and video, he employs the tropes of repetition,
accumulation, and wit to shape his social
commentary. Through the appropriation and
compression of multilayered symbols, he
untangles the power of these symbols and
illustrates how they function in various public
spheres. He has co-organized several significant
exhibitions, including: Intelligent Design at
Momenta Art, Brooklyn, NY; Strand at New
York Center for Art and Media Studies; and Pac
Man at Artist Curated Projects in Los Angeles.
He has had numerous solo exhibitions, including
African Fractals and Dark Matter at New York's
Ronald Feldman Gallery, where he is represented.
He has exhibited work in numerous group
exhibitions at major institutions, including The
Studio Museum in Harlem, The Reina Sofia in
Madrid, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, The
Whitney Museum of American Art at Altria,
The Brooklyn Museum of Art, The New Museum
of Contemporary Art, and MIT List Visual Arts
Center. SLC, 2010—
Myra Goldberg Writing
BA, University of California-Berkeley. MA, City
University of New York. Author of Whistling and
Rosalind: A Family Romance; stories published in
journals including The Transatlantic Review,
Ploughshares, Feminist Studies, The Massachusetts
Review, The New England Review, and in the
book anthologies Women in Literature, Powers of
Desire, The World’s Greatest Love Stories, and
elsewhere in the United States and France;
nonfiction published in the Village Voice and
elsewhere; recipient of Lebensberger Foundation
grant. SLC, 1985–
Martin Goldray Marjorie Leff Miller Faculty
Scholar in Music—Music (on leave
yearlong)
BA, Cornell University. MM, University of
Illinois. DMA, Yale University. Fulbright scholar
in Paris; pianist and conductor, with special
interests in 17th- through 20th-century music;
performed extensively and recorded as pianist
soloist, chamber musician, and conductor;
performed with most of the major new music
ensembles such as the New Music Consort and
Speculum Musicae; worked with such composers
as Babbitt, Carter, and numerous younger
composers and premiered new works, including
many written for him; toured internationally as a
member of the Philip Glass Ensemble from
1983-1996; conducted the premieres of several
Glass operas and appears on many recordings of
Glass’s music; has conducted film soundtracks
and worked as producer in recording studios; on
the faculty of the Composers Conference at
Wellesley College. SLC, 1998–
Peggy Gould Dance
BFA, MFA, New York University, Tisch School
of the Arts. Certified teacher of Alexander
Technique; assistant to Irene Dowd; private
movement education practice in New York City.
Other teaching affiliations: Smith College, The
Ailey School/Fordham University, Dance
Ireland/IMDT, 92nd St. Y/Harkness Dance
Center, SUNY Purchase (summer), Jacob’s
Pillow. Performances in works by Patricia
Hoffbauer and George Emilio Sanchez, Sara
Rudner, Joyce S. Lim, David Gordon, Ann
Carlson, Charles Moulton, Neo Labos,
166 Current Faculty
T.W.E.E.D., Tony Kushner, Paula Josa-Jones.
Choreography presented by Dixon Place, The
Field, P.S. 122, BACA Downtown (New York
City); Big Range Dance Festival (Houston);
Phantom Theater (Warren, Vermont); Proctor’s
Theatre (Schenectady, 2008/09 Dangerous Music
Commission). Grants: Meet the Composer,
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Harkness
Dance Center. SLC, 1999–
Paul Griffin Theatre
Founded City at Peace, Inc. in Washington, DC,
in 1994, then founded and now leads City at
Peace-National—a nonprofit that uses the
performing arts to empower teenagers to
transform their lives and communities across the
United States. He has directed the creation and
performance of 10 original musicals written from
the real-life stories of diverse groups of teens and
has overseen the creation of 30 more. City at
Peace now has programs in seven US cities,
several communities in Israel, and in Cape Town,
South Africa. Prior to his work with City at
Peace, he was co-director of the Theater of
Youth, a company member of the No-Neck
Monster Theater Co. in Washington, DC, a
member of Impro-Etc. performing improvised
Shakespeare classics in England and Scotland,
and a student/performer with Ryszard Cieslak
from Jerzy Grotowsky’s Polish Lab Theater.
Honored as one of Tomorrow's Leaders Today by
Public Allies, he also received the Hamilton Fish
Award for Service to Children and Families. He
and City at Peace have appeared in numerous
venues across the country, including the Arena
Stage, The Public Theater, “Nightline” with Ted
Koppel, and HBO in a documentary on the City
at Peace program. SLC 2008—
Rachel Eliza Griffiths Writing
MA English Literature, University of Delaware.
MFA, Sarah Lawrence College. Special interest
in photography, visual art, and mixed media.
Photographer, painter/mixed media artist, poet;
author of Miracle Arrhythmia (Willow Books,
2010), The Requited Distance (Sheep Meadow
Press, 2011), and Mule & Pear (New Issues Poetry
& Prose, forthcoming 2011). Recipient of
fellowships, including Provincetown Fine Arts
Work Center, the Cave Canem Foundation,
Vermont Studio Center, New York State Summer
Writers Institute, and others. SLC 2011—
Hilda Harris Music
BA, North Carolina Central University. Singer
and actress; performer in opera, oratorio, and
orchestral concerts in the United States and
Europe; solo artist with Metropolitan Opera
Affiliate Artist Program; freelance recording
artist, vocal division of the Chautauqua
Institution. SLC, 1992–
Matthea Harvey Writing (On leave spring
semester)
BA, Harvard College. MFA, University of Iowa
Writers’ Workshop. Poet; author of Pity the
Bathtub Its Forced Embrace of the Human Form
(Alice James Books, 2000); Sad Little Breathing
Machine (Graywolf, 2004); Modern Life
(Graywolf, 2007), winner of the Kingsley Tufts
Award, a New York Times Notable Book of 2008,
and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle
Award; and a children’s book, The Little General
and the Giant Snowflake, illustrated by Elizabeth
Zechel (Soft Skull Press, 2007). Contributing
editor for jubilat and BOMB. Has taught at
Warren Wilson, the Pratt Institute, and the
University of Houston. SLC, 2004–
Sarah Hassan Dance
BA, Sarah Lawrence College. A performer and
teacher of Middle Eastern belly dance and tribal
fusion belly dance, she has studied Turkish and
Egyptian cabaret belly dance, American tribal
belly dance, flamenco, ballet, and high-flying and
single-point trapeze. Former member and
choreographer for The Harem Belly Dance
Studio; off-Broadway debut in Randy Weiner and
Alfred Preisser’s “Caligula Maximus” (La MaMa
E.T.C.); featured in numerous showcases,
including the 2009 Festival of the East and 2010
Rakkasah Spring Caravan in the New York City
metro area. Former Peace Corps volunteer
(Mongolia). Special interests include Diaghilev’s
Ballets Russes, orientalism, circus arts, turn-ofthe-century cabaret, and the folk dances of North
Africa, Spain, and India. SLC, 2010—
Mark Helias Music
Joshua Henkin Writing (on leave yearlong)
BA, Harvard College. MFA, University of
Michigan. Author of the novel Swimming Across
the Hudson; short stories in DoubleTake,
Ploughshares, Southern Review, North American
Review, Boulevard, and elsewhere; nonfiction in
The New York Times Book Review, The Los Angeles
Times, The Nation, Mother Jones, and elsewhere;
grants from PEN and Michigan Council of the
Arts. SLC, 2000–
FACULTY 167
Ann Heppermann Writing
A Brooklyn-based, independent, radio/
multimedia documentary producer, transmission
sound artist, and educator, her stories air
nationally and internationally on National
Public Radio, the BBC, and on numerous shows,
including: This American Life, Radio Lab,
Marketplace, Morning Edition, Studio360, and
many others. A Peabody award-winning
producer, she has also received Associated Press,
Edward R. Murrow, and Third Coast
International Audio Festival awards. A
transmission artist with free103point9, her work
has been exhibited at UnionDocs, Chicago
Center for the Arts, and other venues. She has
taught classes and workshops at Duke Center for
Documentary Studies, Smith College, Columbia
University, and the CUNY Graduate School of
Journalism; for years, she was the director of radio
at Brooklyn College. She is a co-creator of
Mapping Main Street, a collaborative media
project documenting the nation’s more than
10,000 Main Streets, which was created through
AIR’s MQ2 initiative along with NPR, the CPB,
and the Berkman Center at Harvard University.
Her work has been funded by the Corporation for
Public Broadcasting, Association of
Independents, the Arizona Humanities Council,
and the Berkman Center for Internet and Society
at Harvard. Currently, she is a Rosalynn Carter
for Mental Journalism Fellow and will be making
a multimedia documentary about preteen
anorexia in partnership with Ms. Magazine and
NPR. SLC, 2010—
Kathleen Hill Writing
BA, Manhattanville College. MA, Columbia
University. PhD, University of Wisconsin.
Author, Still Waters in Niger, nominated for the
International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and
named a Notable Book of the Year by The New
York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Chicago
Tribune; the French translation, Eaux Tranquilles,
was shortlisted for the Prix Femina Etranger. Her
short stories and essays have appeared in The
Hudson Review, The Kenyon Review, and The Yale
Review, among other publications, and have won
a number of literary awards. The Anointed,
published in DoubleTake, was included in Best
American Short Stories, Pushcart Prize XXV, and
The Pushcart Book of Short Stories. An excerpt
from her recently completed novel, Who Occupies
this House, appeared in a recent issue of
Ploughshares. SLC, 1991—1994; 1997—
David Hollander Writing
BA, State University of New York-Purchase.
MFA, Sarah Lawrence College. Author of the
novel, L.I.E.; his short fiction recently appeared
in McSweeney’s, Post Road, Unsaid, The Collagist,
The Black Warrior Review, and elsewhere; his
nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times
Magazine, Poets & Writers, and Gastronomica (and
elsewhere). His work has frequently been
anthologized, most recently in Best American
Fantasy, 2008. SLC, 2002—
Rona Holub Co-Director, Graduate Program in
Women’s History—History
BA, The College of New Jersey. MA, Sarah
Lawrence College. MA, PhD, Columbia
University. Special interest in U.S. women’s,
urban, 19-century social history, with particular
emphasis on New York City, crime and
capitalism, and growth of the bourgeois narrative.
Contributor to Jewish Women in America: An
Historical Encyclopedia and Encyclopedia of Women
in American History. Awarded Gerda Lerner Prize.
SLC, 2007–
Cathy Park Hong Writing
BA, Oberlin College. MFA, University of Iowa
Writers’ Workshop. Poet; author of Translating
Mo’um (Hanging Loose Press, 2002) and Dance
Dance Revolution (W. W. Norton, 2007), which
was chosen for the Barnard New Women’s Poets
Series; recipient of a New York Foundation for
the Arts fellowship, the National Endowment for
the Arts fellowship, and a Fulbright grant for
South Korea; work has been published in Pushcart
Prize anthology and New Asian American
Anthology, The Next Generation, among others;
essays and articles published in the Village Voice,
Guardian, Salon, and Christian Science Monitor.
SLC, 2006–
James Horowitz Literature
BA, New York University. MA, PhD, Yale
University. Special interests include Restoration
and 18th-century literature, the history of the
novel, film and film theory, political history,
Henry James, and gender studies. SLC, 2008—
Marie Howe Writing
BS, University of Windsor. MFA, Columbia
University. Poet; author of The Good Thief,
selected by Margaret Atwood for the National
Poetry Series; editor, with Michael Klein, of In
the Company of My Solitude: American Writing
from the AIDS Pandemic; author of What the
Living Do; recipient of the Peter I. B. Lavan
168 Current Faculty
Younger Poet Prize from the Academy of
American Poets, the Mary Ingram Bunting
fellowship from Radcliffe College, and grants
from the National Endowment for the Arts, the
Massachusetts Artist Foundation, and the
Guggenheim. SLC, 1993–
Tishan Hsu Visual Arts (on leave spring
semester)
BSAD, MArch, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. Sculptor and painter; one-person
and group exhibitions in the United States,
Mexico, and Europe; work included in major
private and museum collections, including the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, High Museum,
Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris), and the
Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo (Mexico
City); honorary member, Board of Directors,
White Columns, New York; recipient of grant
from the National Endowment for the Arts. SLC,
1994–
Iréne Hultman Dance
A native of Sweden and a New York City-based
choreographer, teacher, and dancer, Hultman was
a member of the Trisha Brown Dance Company
from 1983-1988 and also worked as its rehearsal
director 2006-2009. In 1988, she created Iréne
Hultman Dance and received national and
international recognition. Several of her works
premiered at The Joyce Theater and Danspace
Project at St. Mark’s Church. She has also
choreographed seven opera productions, as well
as musicals and cabarets that include South Pacific
and A Touch of Kurt Weill. She is the co-founder
of Järna-Brooklyn, a Swedish-American cultural
entity that encourages artistic experimentation
and exchange. She is the recipient of a
Guggenheim Fellowship in choreography and a
Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts
award, among others. She served on The Bessie
Committee (New York City dance and
performance award) and is serving on Danspace
Project’s Artist Advisory Board. She is also on
the faculty of Movement Research. SLC, 2010—
Dan Hurlin Theatre
BA, Sarah Lawrence College. Performances in
New York at Dance Theater Workshop, PS 122,
La MaMa ETC, Danspace, The Kitchen, St.
Ann’s Warehouse, and at alternative presenters
throughout the United States and the United
Kingdom. Recipient of a Village Voice OBIE
Award in 1990 for solo adaptation of Nathanael
West’s A Cool Million and the 2000 New York
Dance and Performance (aka “Bessie”) Award for
Everyday Uses for Sight, Nos. 3 & 7; recipient of
fellowships from the National Endowment for the
Arts, the New Hampshire State Council on the
Arts, and a 2002-2003 Guggenheim fellowship
and of grants from Creative Capital, the
Rockefeller Foundation, the New York State
Council on the Arts, the Mary Cary Flagler
Charitable Trust, and the New England
Foundation for the Arts. Recipient of the Alpert
Award in the Arts for Theatre, 2004. Former
teacher at Bowdoin, Bennington, Barnard, and
Princeton. SLC, 1997Robert Ingliss Music
Tara Elise James Associate Director, Women’s
History Program—Women’s Studies
BA, Temple University. MA, Sarah Lawrence
College. SLC, 2001Kate Knapp Johnson Director, Graduate
Writing Program in Poetry—Writing
BA, Sarah Lawrence College. Columbia School
of the Arts. MFA, Sarah Lawrence College.
NCPsyA, Westchester Institute. Special interests
include Jungian studies and religion; author of
When Orchids Were Flowers, This Perfect Life, and
Wind Somewhere, and Shade, which received the
Gradiva Award; most recently published in
Ploughshares, The Salt Journal, Luna, and The
Sun; recipient of New York Foundation for the
Arts Award. SLC, 1987–
Elizabeth Johnston Psychology (on leave fall
semester)
MA, St. Andrew’s University, Scotland. DPhil,
Oxford University. Special interests in human
perception of three-dimensional shape, binocular
vision, and the perception of depth from motion;
author of articles and book chapters on shape
perception from stereopsis, sensorimotor
integration, and combining depth information
from different sources. SLC, 1992–
BA, Tufts University. MA, PhD, University of
Virginia. Special interests include African
American literature and studies, 18th century to
the present; Caribbean literature and studies,
literatures in English and/or translations; early
American/transatlantic literatures; postcolonial
literatures in English, particularly of the African
diaspora; race, cultural, and postcolonial theory;
black popular culture; performance poetry; and
the intersection of black music and resistance
internationally. SLC, 2008–
FACULTY 169
Brian Jones Visual Arts
BFA, Howard University. Graduate, Interactive
Telecommunications Program (ITP), Tisch
School of the Arts, New York University. A
creative technologist presently designing mobile
experiences and interactive hardware, he is
driven by the new modes of expression emerging
from mobile and wireless technology. A
professional photographer before coming to
Sarah Lawrence College, his clients included
W+K, Nike, ExxonMobil, BBDO, Deutsch,
Walmart, Almay, Frito-Lay, Young & Rubicam,
Chase Manhattan, Apple, Procter & Gamble,
GQ, Cosmopolitan, Newsweek, and Esquire. Over
13 years in the business, he moved from being a
retoucher to shooting still life, beauty,
portraiture, and fashion. SLC 2011—
Daniel Kaiser Literature
BA, Columbia College. MA, Yale University.
Special interest in 19th- and 20th-century
American and European literature, with
particular emphasis on relationships between
politics and literature; recipient of French
government-Fulbright fellowship for study at the
Sorbonne. SLC, 1964-1971; 1974–
Shirley Kaplan Director, Theatre Outreach;
Shirley Kaplan Faculty Scholar in
Theatre—Theatre
Diploma in Sculpture and Painting, Academie de
la Grande Chaumiere, Paris. Playwright, director,
and designer, with productions throughout the
United States and Europe; co-founder, OBIE
Award-winning Paper Bag Players; founder, The
Painters’ Theatre. Directing credits include
Ensemble Studio Theatre, Playwrights Horizons,
UBU Repertory, La MaMa E.T.C., Ensemble
Studio Theatre, Music Theatre Group, New York
Performance Works; guest director/playwright,
St.Archangelo, Italy; directed new works by
Richard Greenberg, David Ives, Leslie Lyles,
Eduardo Machado, Denise Bonal, Keith Reddin,
and Arthur Giron. Writer/lyricist, Rockabye.
Designer, Ben Bagley’s Cole Porter Shows, U.S.
and European tours; created interactive theatre
workshops for The Kitchen and New York City
museums; developed original ensembles on major
arts grants. Winner, Golden Camera Award, U.S.
Industrial Film and Video Festival; finalist for the
Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for her play, The
Connecticut Cowboy; recipient of Westchester
Arts Council Award in Education and Excellence
Award, the Ensemble Studio Theatre. Founder
and codirector, Sarah Lawrence College Theatre
Outreach. SLC, 1975–
Kenneth G. Karol Biology
BSc, University of Wisconsin-Madison. PhD,
University of Maryland-College Park. Research
interest in molecular systematics, classification
and evolution of green algae and land plants, and
interest in organellar genome evolution.
Currently an assistant curator at the New York
Botanical Garden Cullman Molecular
Systematics Program, adjunct faculty member at
City University of New York, international
collector of algae, and author of more than 30
papers and book chapters on algae and land plant
evolution. SLC, 2008—
MA, MPhil, PhD (forthcoming), Columbia
University. Specialization in 20th-century
African art, arts of the African diaspora, Islamic
arts in Africa, and colonial period African art.
Primary research based in Senegal, West Africa.
Articles and reviews published in Critical
Interventions, African Studies Review, and the HNet for African Art. Additional academic
interests include pre-Columbian and Latin
American art. SLC, 2008–
Kuniko Katz Japanese
BA, Antioch College. MFA, Sarah Lawrence
College. Columnist and frequent contributor to
various Japanese newspapers and magazines in
the United States and Japan. Translator of
articles and the book Hide and Seek, by Theresa
Cahn-Tober, into Japanese. SLC, 2006—
William Melvin Kelley Writing
Harvard College. Fiction writer and video-maker;
author of A Different Drummer, Dancers on the
Shore, A Drop of Patience, dem, Dunfords Travels
Everywheres, and stories and nonfiction in The
New Yorker, Esquire, Mademoiselle, and Saturday
Evening Post; awards and grants from the
American Academy of Arts and Letters, the
Rockefeller Foundation, the New York
Foundation for the Arts, and the Wurlitzer
Foundation. SLC, 1989–
Barbara Bray Ketchum Dance
BA, University of Wisconsin-Madison. MA,
MPhil, PhD candidate, Columbia University.
Special interests include sub-Saharan African
history, culture, and politics; colonialism and
postcoloniality; issues of representation and the
production of knowledge; experimental
ethnography; commodities and the anthropology
of consumption; spirit possession, witchcraft, and
170 Current Faculty
spectrality; reckonings of time and the politics of
memory. Carried out ethnographic fieldwork in
Dakar, Senegal; dissertation, “The Impossible
Inheritance: Time, Memory, and Postcolonial
Subjectivity at the Fann Psychiatric Hospital in
Dakar, Senegal,” considers how the recent history
of a well-known psychiatric hospital in Dakar has
come to be recounted through personal narratives
that also reflect discourses of national hope and
hopelessness of the past, in the present, and for
the future. Fellowships include the FulbrightHays (DDRA) Award and a Columbia University
Travel Grant for dissertation research. SLC,
2007—
Daniel King The Sara Yates Exley Chair in
Teaching Excellence —Mathematics
BS, Lafayette College. MS, PhD, University of
Virginia. Special interests in mathematics
education, game theory, history and philosophy
of mathematics, and the outreach of mathematics
to the social sciences and the humanities. Author
of research papers in the areas of nonassociative
algebra, fair division theory, and mathematics
education; chair, Metropolitan New York Section
of the Mathematical Association of America;
member, Board of Editors, The College
Mathematics Journal. SLC, 1997–
Jonathan King Music
BA, Amherst College. MS, University of
Montana. MA, MPhil, PhD candidate, Columbia
University. Special interests include American
vernacular music, African musical traditions,
Western art music, 20th-century popular music,
improvisation, music and language. SLC, 2007—
Ekaterina Korsunskaia Russian
AB, Moscow University, Russia. MA, Institute
for the History of Arts and the Humanities,
Russia. Worked as a correspondent for the
Moscow daily and as a museum curator. Moved to
the United States in 1992 and worked as a New
York correspondent for the Newsweek-Russia
magazine. Taught Russian language at the New
School for Social Research and New York
University. Special interests include Russian
folklore and theatre. SLC, 1998–
Arnold Krupat Literature
BA, New York University. MA, PhD, Columbia
University. Special interest in cultural studies and
Native American literatures. Editor for Native
American literatures, The Norton Anthology of
American Literature. Author of For Those Who
Come After: A Study of Native American
Autobiography; The Voice in the Margin: Native
Literature and the Canon; Ethnocriticism:
Ethnography, History, Literature; The Turn to the
Native: Studies in Criticism and Culture; Red
Matters: Native American Studies; All That
Remains: Varieties of Indigenous Expression; and a
novel, Woodsmen, or Thoreau & the Indians.
Recipient of Fulbright, Woodrow Wilson, and
National Endowment for the Humanities
fellowships; Guggenheim Fellow, 2005-2006;
Sarah Lawrence Excellence in Teaching Award,
2007. SLC, 1968–
Justine Kurland Visual Arts
BFA, School of Visual Arts (New York). MFA,
Yale University. New York-based photographer/
artist with solo exhibitions at numerous galleries
and museums worldwide, including: Frank Elbaz
Gallery, Elizabeth Leah Gallery, Monte Faria
Gallery, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, Monte Clark
Gallery. Works represented in numerous
permanent collections, including: The
International Center of Photography (New
York), Museum of Contemporary Photography
(Chicago), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of
Art (New York), and Whitney Museum of
American Art. Guest lecturer at Columbia
University, Columbia College of Art, University
of California-Los Angeles, and numerous others.
Her photos have been published widely and
featured most notably in Art in Review, The New
York Times, Vogue, The Washington Post, The New
Yorker, and Harper’s Bazaar. Her photography is
featured in numerous books and catalogues,
including: Art Photography Now, Bright, Susan
(Aperture Foundation, 2005), Old Joy, Jonathan
Raymond (Artspace Books, 2004), and Justine
Kurland: Spirit West, John Kelsey (Coromandel,
2002). SLC, 2011—
Peter Kyle Dance
BA, Kenyon College. MFA, University of
Washington. Dancer, choreographer, teacher,
filmmaker, and artistic director of Peter Kyle
Dance; choreographic commissions across the
United States and internationally in Scotland,
Norway, Germany, Cyprus, and China. Peter
Kyle Dance has performed in New York City at
One Arm Red, Abrons Arts Center, Chez
Bushwick, Joyce SoHo, Symphony Space, DNA,
3LD, and the 92nd Street Y, among other venues.
Previously a solist with Nokolais and Murray
Louis Dance and performed in the companies of
Mark Morris, Erick Hawkins, Gina Gibney, Laura
Glenn, and P3/east, among others. Also teaches
at Marymount Manhattan College, HC Studio,
and Nikolais/Louis Summer Dance Intensive and
FACULTY 171
conducts residencies and workshops
internationally. His Tiny Dance Film Series has
been installed internationally since 2006. SLC,
2009—
Mary LaChapelle Writing (on leave fall
semester)
BA, University of Minnesota. MFA, Vermont
College. Author of House of Heroes and Other
Stories; stories published in Nimrod, Northern Lit
Review, Redbook, and First; anthologized in the
United States, Japan, and England; recipient of
awards from PEN/Nelson Algren, Whiting, and
Katherine Anne Porter and of a Bush Foundation
fellowship. SLC, 1992–
Eduardo Lago Spanish
MA, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain.
PhD, Graduate Center of the City University of
New York. Special interests in translation theory,
the aesthetics of the Baroque, and the
connections among contemporary U.S. Latino,
Iberian, Spanish American, and Luso-Brazilian
fiction writers. Author of Ladrón de mapas (Map
Thief), a collection of short stories published in
September 2007; Cuentos disperses (Scattered
Tales, 2000), a collection of short stories; and
Cuaderno de Méjico (Mexican Notebook, 2000), a
memoir of a trip to Chiapas. First novel Llámame
Brooklyn (Call Me Brooklyn, 2006) won Spain’s
Nadal Prize and the City of Barcelona Award for
best novel of the year, the Fundación Lara Award
for the novel with the best critical reception, the
National Critics Award, and best novel of the
year in Spain by El Mundo. Recipient of the 2002
Bartolomé March Award for Excellence in
Literary Criticism. Currently director of Instituto
Cervantes of New York. SLC, 1994–
Kevin Landdeck Merle Rosenblatt Goldman
Chair in Asian Studies—Asian Studies
BA, Valparaiso University. MA, University of
Michigan-Ann Arbor. PhD, University of
California-Berkeley. Recipient of a Chiang
Ching-kuo Foundation dissertation grant for
archival research in Chongqing (China).
Research concerns 20th-century China,
specifically Kuomintang war mobilization and
interior society during the Sino-Japanese War
(1937-45). Dissertation, “Under the Gun:
Nationalist Military Service and Society in
Wartime Sichuan, 1938-1945,” presently being
revised for future publication, examines the statemaking projects embedded within conscription
and voluntary enlistment in Chiang Kai-shek's
army. Translating the confessions and jottings of
a captured KMT spy, who spent 16 years
undergoing self-reform in a communist prison, is
a side project currently in progress. Key areas of
interest include China’s transition from a
dynastic empire to a nation-state; the role of war
in state-making; modes of political mobilization
and their intersection with social organization;
and private life and selfhood, including national,
regional, or local and personal identities. Broadly
teaches on modern (17th-century to present)
East Asian history, with a focus on politics,
society, and urban culture. In addition to a course
on war in 20th-century Asia, a personal
involvement in photography has inspired a
course on photographic images and practice in
China and Japan from the 19th-century through
the present. Member of the American Historical
Association, Association of Asian Studies, and
Historical Society for Twentieth-Century China.
SLC, 2011—
Allen Lang Theatre
BA, Empire State College (SUNY). MFA, Sarah
Lawrence College. Published plays include
Chimera and White Buffalo in the French
Performance Journal Collages and Bricollages.
Recipient of the Lipkin Playwright Award and
Drury College Playwright Award. Plays produced
in New York City at La Mama and other venues;
directed plays in New York and regionally; acted
in New York City and regional theatre, on
television and in the cult films by Michael
DiPaolo. Artistic director of the Water Street
Theatre Company in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.
Conducted theatre and creative writing
workshops for participants of all ages in New
York City, South America, and throughout the
United States. SLC, 2011—
Ann Lauinger Literature
BA, University of Pennsylvania. Oxford
University. MA, PhD, Princeton University.
Special interest in medieval and Renaissance
poetry, particularly English. Author of papers and
articles on Shakespeare and Ben Jonson;
Persuasions of Fall, a book of poems; and poems in
Confrontation, Missouri Review, Parnassus, and
other magazines; recipient of Agha Shahid Ali
Poetry Prize, Ernest J. Poetry Prize, ThouronUniversity of Pennsylvania British-American
Exchange Program scholarship; Woodrow Wilson
fellow. SLC, 1973–
172 Current Faculty
Joseph Lauinger Literature
BA, University of Pennsylvania. MA, Oxford
University. MA, PhD, Princeton University.
Special interest in American literature and film,
the history of drama, and classical literature;
recipient of the New York State Teacher of
Excellence Award and a grant from the National
Endowment for the Humanities; fiction and
poetry published in Epoch, Lost Creek,
Georgetown Review, Confrontation, and Pig Iron;
plays performed throughout the United States
and in the United Kingdom, Australia, and India;
member of the Dramatists Guild. SLC, 1988–
Karen R. Lawrence President—Literature
BA, Yale University. MA, Tufts University. PhD,
Columbia University. Special interest in modern
and postmodern literature, the novel, and travel
writing. Author of The Odyssey of Style in Ulysses,
Penelope Voyages: Women and Travel in the British
Literary Tradition, and numerous essays on
modern literature; editor of Transcultural Joyce
and Decolonizing Tradition: New Views of
Twentieth-Century “British” Literary Canons.
Current work includes the fiction and theory of
Christine Brooke-Rose and collected essays on
Joyce. Recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim
Foundation Fellowship and the Rosenblatt Prize
for Excellence in Research, Teaching, and
Service from the University of Utah. Former
chair of English at the University of Utah and
dean of humanities at the University of
California-Irvine. Former president of the
International James Joyce Foundation and the
Society for the Study of Narrative Literature.
President of Sarah Lawrence College, 2007—
Tom Lee Theatre
BFA, Carnegie Mellon University. Designed sets,
puppets, and video animation for dance, theatre,
and new opera in New York and Europe; resident
artist of La MaMa E.T.C.; worked with
companies in Siberia, Ukraine, Poland, Italy, and
Japan; received a Jim Henson Foundation grant
for his puppet epic, Hoplite Diary, and grants from
the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Meet the
Composer (with Yara Arts Group), and the NEA/
TCG Career Development Program for
Designers. SLC, 2005—
Eric Leveau French
Graudate of École Normale Supérieure
(Fontenay-Saint Cloud, France). Agrégation in
French Literature and Classics. Doctorate in
French literature, Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV).
Special interest in early modern French
literature, with emphasis on theories and poetics
of theatre, comedy and satire, rhetoric, the
evolution of notions of writer and style during
the period. SLC, 2003-2006; 2008–
BA, Manhattanville College. MA, PhD, City
University of New York. MS, Columbia
University. Special interests in the effects of
culture and social context on conceptualization
of health and illness, multicultural aspects of
genetic counseling, the negotiation of HIV
within families, and the development of sexuality
in ethnic minority adolescents and adults.
Recipient of a MacArthur postdoctoral
fellowship and an NIH-NRSA research
fellowship. SLC, 1997–
Robert Lyons Theatre
Doug MacHugh Theatre
BA, New England College. MFA, Sarah
Lawrence College. Actor, writer, director. Taught
for two years at the Universidad Nacional in El
Salvador. Staff writer for Jones Entertainment
and Gates Productions. Has written PSAs,
commercials, industrials, documentaries, and 60
hours of local and regional live television in Los
Angeles. Film acting credits include Clean and
Sober, Alien Nation, Come See the Paradise, and
Weird Science; television acting credits include
Guiding Light, Law and Order, Cheers, Quantum
Leap, LA Law, and Night Court; stage credits
include Holy Ghost, End Game, Up, Down,
Strange, Charmed, Beauty and Truth (director),
Platypus Rex, Mafia on Prozac, North of Providence,
Only You, To Kill A Mockingbird, and The Weir.
SLC, 2000—
Greg MacPherson Theatre
Designed lighting for hundreds of plays and
musicals in New York and around the United
States, as well as in Europe, Australia, Japan, and
the Caribbean. Designs have included original
plays by Edward Allan Baker, Cassandra Medley,
Stewart Spencer, Richard Greenberg, Warren
Leight, Lanford Wilson, Romulus Linney, Arthur
Miller, and David Mamet. Continues to design
the Las Vegas production of Penn & Teller and to
work as resident designer for the 52nd Street
Project. Received an American Theatre Wing
Maharam Award nomination for his lighting
design of EST’s Marathon of One-Act Plays and
has taught lighting design at Sarah Lawrence
College since 1990. SLC, 1990—
FACULTY 173
Patrisia Macías Sociology
BA, Sarah Lawrence College. MA, PhD,
University of California-Berkeley. Research
interests include international migration, border
controls, human smuggling, the penal state, race
relations, ethnographic methods, and social
theory; current project examines the role of
states, smugglers, vigilantes, and NGOs in
regulating clandestine migrations at the United
States-Mexico border; recipient of grants and
fellowships from the National Science
Foundation, Andrew Mellon Program in Latin
American Sociology, Social Science Research
Council, and Center for Latino Policy Research
at the University of California-Berkeley. SLC,
2007–
Rona Naomi Mark Visual Arts
BA, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. MFA,
Columbia University. Award-winning writer,
director, and producer. Festivals and awards
include Best of Fest—Edinburgh International
Film Festival; Filmmaker Magazine—Audience
Choice Award; Scenario Award—Canadian
International Film and Video Festival; second
place, Best Short—Galway Film Fleadh; Best
Comedy/Best of Night—Polo Ralph Lauren New
Works Festival; BBC’s Best Short Film About the
Environment—Tel Aviv International Student
Film Festival; Opening night selection—Three
Rivers Film Festival; Hong Kong International
Jewish Film Festival; Irish Reels Film Festival;
Seattle True Independent Film Festival;
NewFilmmakers Screening Series; Hoboken
International Film Festival; Miami Jewish Film
Festival; Munich International Student Film
Festival; Palm Beach International Jewish Film
Festival; Pittsburgh Israeli Jewish Film Festival;
Toronto Jewish Film Festival; Vancouver Jewish
Film Festival. Finalist in Pipedream Screenplay
Competition; third prize—Acclaim TV Writer
Competition; second place—TalentScout TV
Writing Competition; finalist—People’s Pilot
Television Writing Contest; Milos Forman
Award; finalist—Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences Student Film Awards. Current
feature film projects include screenwriter/
director/producer, Strange Girls—Mdux Pictures,
LLC. Screenwriter/director, Shoelaces. SLC,
2007—
James Marshall Computer Science (on leave
yearlong)
BA, Cornell University. MS, PhD, Indiana
University-Bloomington. Special interests in
robotics, evolutionary computation, artificial
intelligence, and cognitive science. Author of
research papers on developmental robotics,
neural networks, and computational models of
analogy; author of the Metacat computer model
of analogy. SLC, 2006–
Merceditas Mañago-Alexander Dance
BA, Empire State College (SUNY). Dancer with
Doug Varone and Dancers, Pepatian, Elisa Monte
Dance Company, Ballet Hispanico, and
independent choreographers such as Sara Rudner
and Joyce S. Lim. Recipient of the Outstanding
Student Artist Award from the University of the
Philippines Presidents’ Committee on Culture
and the Arts. Taught at Alvin Ailey School;
guest faculty member, 92nd Street Y, Marymount
Manhattan College, Metropolitan Opera Ballet,
New York University Tisch School of the Arts,
Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the
Performing Arts. Participant/teacher, 2004 Bates
Festival-Young Dancers Workshop, solo works:
Free Range Arts, Dixon Place, Brooklyn Arts
Exchange, and Danspace Project/St. Mark’s
Church. SLC, 2002—
Jeffrey McDaniel Writing
BA, Sarah Lawrence College. MFA, George
Mason University. Poet. Author of four books of
poetry: The Endarkenment (University of
Pittsburgh Press, 2008), Alibi School, The
Forgiveness Parade, and The Splinter Factory.
Poems published in many anthologies, including
Best American Poetry, New (American) Poets, and
The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry. Recipient of
fellowships from the National Endowment for the
Arts and the Washington, DC, Commission for
the Arts. SLC, 2001–
Elena McGhee Theatre
BA, University of Massachusetts. Actor, vocal
coach, and designated Linklater voice instructor.
Recent teaching appointments include Fordham,
Tepper Semester/Syracuse, Shakespeare &
Company, ACT, New York University, and CAL/
ARTS. Her private clients appear on Broadway,
film and television. Her acting credits include
Classic Stage Company, Classical Theatre of
Harlem, The Ontological Hysterical, Ensemble
Studio Theatre, Los Angeles Women’s
Shakespeare, The Odyssey/Los Angeles,
Worcester Foothills, The Nora, and The New
Rep/ Boston. SLC, 2007—
William D. McRee Theatre
BA, Jacksonville University. MFA, Sarah
Lawrence College. Co-founder and artistic
director for Jacksonville’s A Company of Players,
174 Current Faculty
Inc.; productions with The Actor’s Outlet,
Playwrights Horizons, Summerfest, and the
Ensemble Studio Theatre. SLC, 1981–
Cassandra Medley Theatre
University of Michigan. Playwright; co-author,
A-My Name is Alice; author, terrain (nominated
for Susan Smith Blackburn Prize), Womenswork/
Ma Rose, Antaeus Plays in One Act, Mildred/13th
Moon, Voices of Color/Rosalie; plays performed
throughout the United States and Europe;
recipient of an Outer Critics Drama Circle Desk
Award, a New York Foundation for the Arts
fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts
grant in playwriting, and a Walt Disney
screenwriting fellowship; staff writer for ABC
Television daytime series; member, Ensemble
Studio Theatre and Writer’s Guild of America,
East. Most recently produced plays include
Relativity, Kuntu Rep of Pittsburgh, Southern Rep
of New Orleans, 2007; the Ensemble Studio
Theatre, May 2006; the St. Louis Black
Repertory Theatre, February 2006; and the Magic
Theatre in San Francisco, June 2004. Relativity
won the 2006 Audelco August Wilson
Playwriting Award and was featured on Science
Friday, National Public Radio. Published by
Broadway Play Publishing. SLC, 1989–
Jeffrey Miller History
BA, Princeton. LLB, Harvard Law School.
Professor of law at Pace Law School and, until
recently, its academic dean for five years. He has
taught constitutional law, torts, and various
courses in environmental law. Prior to teaching,
he was an enforcement official with the
Environmental Protection Agency in Boston and
in Washington, DC for 10 years, finishing his
time there as head of its Office of Enforcement.
He has practiced law as an associate in a Boston
law firm and as a partner in a Washington, DC
law firm. He has authored four books or
monographs and more than two dozen chapters
in books and scholarly articles, primarily on issues
of environmental law. SLC, 2011—
Nicolaus Mills Literature
BA, Harvard University. PhD, Brown University.
Special interest in American studies. Author of
Winning the Peace: The Marshall Plan and
America’s Coming of Age as a Superpower, The
Triumph of Meanness: America’s War Against Its
Better Self, Their Last Battle: The Fight for the
National World War II Memorial, Like a Holy
Crusade: Mississippi 1964, The Crowd in American
Literature, and American and English Fiction in the
Nineteenth Century; editor of Getting Out:
Historical Perspectives on Leaving Iraq, Debating
Affirmative Action, Arguing Immigration, Culture
in an Age of Money, Busing USA, The New
Journalism, and The New Killing Fields;
contributor to The Boston Globe, The New York
Times, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle,
Newsday, The Nation, Yale Review, National Law
Journal, and The Guardian; editorial board member,
Dissent magazine. Recipient of fellowships from
the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, American
Council of Learned Societies, and the
Rockefeller Foundation. SLC, 1972–
Greta Minsky Theatre
BA, University of Kansas. Stage manager of
original productions of works by Tom Stoppard,
Neil Simon, Laurence Fishburne, Doug Wright,
Charles Busch, Larry L. King, Ernest Abuba, and
Lillian Garrett-Groag, among others. Broadway,
Off Broadway, touring, dance, opera, and concert
work includes productions with Manhattan
Theatre Club, Circle Rep, WPA, Pan Asian Rep,
Vineyard Theatre, La MaMa E.T.C., The
Women’s Project, Radio City Music Hall,
Carnegie Hall, and New York City Opera. Cofounder of Modern Times Theater. SLC, 1998—
Nike Mizelle German
BA, Queens College. MA, MPhil, Graduate
Center of the City University of New York.
Special interests in New German Cinema,
German Romanticism, contemporary German
authors, and 20th-century art history. Translator
of articles on German music; contributor to Pro
Helvetia Swiss Lectureship. Monika Maron
Symposium chairperson, Gent. SLC, 1987–
Ruth Moe Theatre
Production manager for the Sarah Lawrence
College Theatre program. Other production
management work includes seven seasons with
the Westport Country Playhouse, also
Shakespeare and Company, Classic Stage
Company, The Working Theatre, The Colorado
Festival of World Theatre, East Coast Arts
Theatre, Berkshire Public Theatre, and The
Jerash Festival in Amman, Jordan. Production
stage management credits include productions
with the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Mabou
Mines, New York Theatre of the Deaf, and Fast
Folk Musical Magazine. Member of AEA. SLC,
1999—
Angela Moger Literature
BA, Bryn Mawr College. MA, University of
Pennsylvania. PhD, Yale University. Special
FACULTY 175
interests include theory of narrative, French
literature of the 19th century, decadence in
painting and literature, and semiotic and
rhetorical approaches to the short story.
Recipient of Yale University’s Mary Cady Tew
Prize and the Dwight and Noyes Clark
fellowship. Scholarly publications include essays
in PMLA, Yale French Studies, Substance, and
Romanic Review; the anthologies NineteenthCentury Literary Criticism and Maupassant
Conteur et Romancier; and the books Hurdles and
Moving Forward, Holding Fast: The Dynamics of
Movement in Nineteenth-Century French Culture.
Visiting professor at the Institut d’E´tudes
Francaises d’Avignon. Dean of studies, Sarah
Lawrence College, 1972-1975. SLC, 1971–
Mary Morris Writing
BA, Tufts College. MPhil, Columbia University.
Novelist, short-story writer, and writer of travel
literature. Author of the novels Crossroads, The
Waiting Room, The Night Sky, House Arrest, Acts
of God, and Revenge; the short-story collections
Vanishing Animals and Other Stories, The Bus of
Dreams, and The Lifeguard Stories; the travel
memoirs Nothing to Declare: Memoirs of a Woman
Traveling Alone and Wall to Wall: From Beijing to
Berlin by Rail; and an anthology of the travel
literature of women, Maiden Voyages, Angels and
Aliens: A Journey West, and The River Queen. A
book about the Mississippi River is forthcoming
(Henry Holt and Company). Recent work in
Antaeus, Boulevard, and Epoch; recipient of the
Rome Prize in Literature and grants from the
Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment
for the Arts, and Creative Artists Public Service
Awards. SLC, 1994–
Bari Mort Music
BFA, State University of New York-Purchase.
MM, The Juilliard School. Pianist, winner of
Artists International Young Musicians Auditions;
New York recital debut at Weill Recital Hall at
Carnegie Hall. Member of New York Chamber
Ensemble; performed with International String
Quartet, Musica de Camera, Da Capo Chamber
Players, Colorado String Quartet, American
Symphony Orchestra, Columbia Artists’
Community Concerts. Broadcasts include PBS
Live from Lincoln Center and NPR in New York
and San Francisco. Recorded for ERM Records
and Albany Records; on the faculty of Bard
College, 1997-2006. SLC, 2008—
Brian Morton Director, Graduate Program in
Fiction—Writing
BA, Sarah Lawrence College. Author of the
novels The Dylanist, Starting Out in the Evening, A
Window Across the River, and Breakable You. SLC,
1998–
April Reynolds Mosolino Writing
BA, Sarah Lawrence College. Taught at the 92nd
Street Y and New York University; her short
story, Alcestis, appeared in The Bluelight Corner:
Black Women Writing on Passion, Sex, and
Romantic Love; her fiction work has also appeared
in the anthology Mending the World with Basic
Books, 110 Stories: New York Writes After
September 11 (New York University Press) and
The Heretics Bible (Free Press). Her first novel,
Knee-Deep in Wonder, won the Zora Neale
Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation Award. Her
second novel, The Book of Charlemagne, is
forthcoming (Free Press/Simon & Schuster).
SLC, 2003—
Jamee K. Moudud Economics
BS, MEng, Cornell University. MA, PhD, The
New School for Social Research. Current
interests include the study of macrodynamics and
fiscal policy, the analysis of competition in the
history of economic thought, Sir Roy Harrod’s
contributions to growth and policy, the role of
the state in the development process, and the
econometric analysis of the effects of public
investment. Author of two academic papers
published during 2008-09 in the International
Journal of Political Economy, one on the
developmental state and the other on the
investigation of expansionary fiscal policies in
Harrod’s growth framework; three papers
presented at the 2009 Eastern Economic
Association Annual Conference; a book in
process, Disequilibrium Dynamics, Stock-Flow
Consistency, and the Role of State, to be published
by Edward Elgar Press. SLC, 2000–
Patrick Muchmore Music
BM, University of Oklahoma. Composer/
performer with performances throughout the
United States; founding member of New York’s
Anti-Social Music; theory and composition
instructor at City College of New York. SLC,
2004—
Joshua Muldavin Geography (on leave spring
semester)
BS, MA, PhD, University of California-Berkeley.
Special interests in China, Japan, and Asia,
176 Current Faculty
policy, rural development, international aid,
agriculture and food, climate change,
environment, political economy, and political
ecology. Current research projects analyze
international environmental policy and impacts
on local resource use and vulnerability in the
Himalayan region; climate change policy;
socialist transition’s environmental and social
impacts in China; sustainable agriculture and
food systems; global resource and development
conflicts via capital flows to Africa, Latin
America, and South/Southeast Asia; and aid to
China since 1978. Twenty-eight years of field
research, primarily in rural China. Recipient of
grants from National Science Foundation, Social
Science Research Council, Ford Foundation,
MacArthur Foundation, and Fulbright. Invited
lecturer at Princeton, Yale, Oxford, Johns
Hopkins, U.S. Congressional Commission,
European Parliament. Executive Director of the
Action 2030 Institute. Contributor to The
Political Geography Handbook, Economic
Geography, Geopolitics, Environment and Planning
A, Geoforum, and Annals of the Association of
American Geographers, International Herald
Tribune, BBC World News, and other media
outlets. SLC, 2002–
Priscilla Murolo Co-Director, Graduate Program
in Women’s History—History
BA, Sarah Lawrence College. MA, PhD, Yale
University. Special interest in U.S. labor,
women’s, and social history; author, The Common
Ground of Womanhood: Class, Gender, and
Working Girls’ Clubs; co-author, From the Folks
Who Brought You the Weekend: A Short, Illustrated
History of Labor in the United States; contributor
to various encyclopedias and anthologies and to
educational projects sponsored by labor and
community organizations; reviewer for Journal of
American History, Journal of Urban History,
International Labor and Working Class History, and
other historical journals; contributor and
editorial associate, Radical History Review;
recipient of Hewlett-Mellon grants. SLC, 1988–
Cheiko Naka Japanese
Maria Negroni Spanish
BA, Universidad de Buenos Aires. MA, PhD
Columbia University. Author of numerous books
of poetry, three books of essays, two novels, and a
book-object, Buenos Aires Tour, in collaboration
with Argentine artist Jorge Macchi; translated
from French and English the works of several
poets, including Louise Labé, Valentine Penrose,
Georges Bataille, H.D., Charles Simic, and
Bernard Noël. Her work has appeared in the
United States in The Paris Review, Circumference,
Lumina and Bomb (New York). Recipient of
Guggenheim (1994), Rockefeller (1998),
Fundación Octavio Paz (2001), The New York
Foundation for the Arts (2005), and the Civitella
Ranieri (2007) fellowships; the PEN Award for
“Best Book of Poetry in Translation” for Islandia;
and, in Mexico City, the Siglo XXI International
Prize for Essay Writing for her book Galería
Fantástica. SLC, 1999–
Ellen Neskar Asian Studies
BSc, University of Toronto. MA, MPhil, PhD,
Columbia University. Special interest in the
social and cultural history of medieval China,
with emphasis on the intersection of politics and
religion; author of the forthcoming Politics and
Prayer: Shrines to Local Worthies in Sung China;
member, Association of Asian Studies; recipient
of an American Council of Learned Societies
grant. SLC, 2001–
David Neumann Theatre
As artistic director of advanced beginner group,
work presented in New York at P.S. 122, Dance
Theater Workshop, Central Park SummerStage
(collaboration with John Giorno), Celebrate
Brooklyn, and Symphony Space (collaboration
with Laurie Anderson). Featured dancer in the
works of Susan Marshall, Jane Comfort, Sally
Silvers, Annie-B Parson & Paul Lazar’s Big
Dance Theater, and club legend Willi Ninja;
previously a member of Doug Varone and
Dancers and an original member and collaborator
for eight years with the Doug Elkins Dance
Company. Over the past 20 years, choreographed
or performed with directors Hal Hartley, Laurie
Anderson, Robert Woodruff, Lee Breuer, Peter
Sellars, JoAnn Akalaitis, Mark Wing-Davey, and
Les Waters; recently appeared in Orestes at
Classic Stage Company, choreographed The
Bacchae at the Public Theater, and performed in a
duet choreographed with Mikhail Baryshnikov.
SLC, 2007– Dennis Nurkse Writing BA, Harvard
College. Published nine books of poetry (as D.
Nurske), including The Border Kingdom, Burnt
Island, The Fall, The Rules of Paradise, Leaving
Xaia, and Voices over Water; poems have
appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic
Monthly, Poetry, The Paris Review, and The Times
Literary Supplement (UK); recipient of a literature
award from the American Academy of Arts and
Letters, a Guggenheim fellowship, a Whiting
Writers’ Award, two National Endowment for the
FACULTY 177
Arts fellowships, two New York Foundation for
the Arts fellowships, and two awards from Poetry.
SLC, 2004–
Erica Newhouse Theatre
Dennis Nurkse Writing (on leave spring
semester)
BA, Harvard. Author of nine books of poetry
(under “D. Nurkse”), including The Border
Kingdom, Burnt Island, The Fall, The Rules of
Paradise, Leaving Xaia, and Voices over Water;
poems have appeared in The New Yorker and
Atlantic Monthly; recipient of a Literature Award
from the American Academy of Arts and Letters,
a Guggenheim fellowship, a Whiting Writers’
Award, two National Endowment for the Arts
fellowships, two New York Foundation for the
Arts fellowships, and two awards from The Poetry
Foundation. SLC, 2004John O'Connor Visual Arts
BA, Westfield (MA) State College. MFA, MS in
Art History, Pratt Institute. Attended the
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and
was a recipient of a New York Foundation for the
Arts grant in painting and the Pollock-Krasner
Foundation grant. He has taught at Princeton
University, Pratt Institute, and New York
University. Recent exhibitions at Pierogi Gallery
in Brooklyn; Martin Asbaek Projects in
Copenhagen, Denmark; Fleisher Ollman Gallery
in Philadelphia; The Lab in Dublin, Ireland. His
is included in the collections of the Museum of
Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art,
Southern Methodist University, and New
Museum of Contemporary Art. SLC 2010—
Stephen O’Connor Writing
BA, Columbia University. MA, University of
California-Berkeley. Author of Rescue, short
fiction and poetry; Will My Name Be Shouted
Out?, memoir and social analysis; Orphan Trains:
The Story of Charles Loring Brace and the Children
He Saved and Failed, history. Fiction and poetry
have appeared in The New Yorker, Conjunctions,
TriQuarterly, The Missouri Review, The Quarterly,
Partisan Review, The Massachusetts Review, Fiction
International, and elsewhere. Essays and
journalism have been published in The New York
Times, DoubleTake, The Nation, AGNI, The
Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, and New
Labor Forum, among others. Recipient of the
Cornell Woolrich Fellowship in Creative Writing
from Columbia University, the Visiting
Fellowship for Historical Research by Artists and
Writers from the American Antiquarian Society,
and the DeWitt Wallace/Reader’s Digest
Fellowship from the MacDowell Colony. SLC,
1997; 2002–
Tara Helen O’Connor Music
Leah Olson Biology (on leave fall semester)
BA, Evergreen State College. PhD, State
University of New York-Albany. Special interest
in the neurobiology of circadian rhythms and in
the neurobiology of learning and memory;
research and papers on circadian rhythms. SLC,
1987–
Dael Orlandersmith Theatre
OBIE Award for Beauty’s Daughter, which she
wrote and starred in at American Place Theatre.
Toured extensively with the Nuyorican Poets
Cafe (Real Live Poetry) throughout the United
States, Europe, and Australia. Her play, Monster,
premiered at New York Theatre Workshop in
November 1996. Attended Sundance Theatre
Festival Lab for four summers developing new
plays. The Gimmick, commissioned by the
McCarter Theatre, premiered on its Second
Stage on Stage and went on to the Long Wharf
Theatre and New York Theatre Workshop.
Yellowman was commissioned by and premiered at
the McCarter in a co-production with the Wilma
Theater and the Long Wharf Theatre. Vintage
Books and Dramatists Play Service published
Yellowman and a collection of earlier work.
Pulitzer Prize award finalist and Drama Desk
award nominee as an actress in Yellowman, which
premiered at Manhattan Theatre Club in 2002.
Susan Smith Blackburn award finalist with The
Gimmick in 1999 and won for Yellowman.
Recipient of an NYFA grant, the Helen Merrill
Emerging Playwrights award, a Guggenheim, and
the 2005 Pen/Laura Pels Foundation Award for a
playwright in mid-career. Won a Lucille Lortel
Playwrights Fellowship in 2006. In 2007,
completed a new commission, called Bones, for
the Mark Taper Forum and premiered a new
work, The Blue Album, in collaboration with
David Cale at Long Wharf. Currently working
on a play called Horsedreams and Dancefloors, as
well as a memoir, Character. SLC, 2008—
Sayuri I. Oyama Japanese (on leave yearlong)
California-Berkeley. Special interests include
modern Japanese literature, narratological and
political approaches to literature, ethnic and
other minorities in Japan. Articles and
presentations on Shimazaki Toson. Recipient of a
178 Current Faculty
Japan Foundation fellowship, University of
California-Berkeley Townsend Center for the
Humanities Fellow. SLC, 2002–
Matthew Parker Computer Science
BA (computer science), Vassar. MA, New York
University (Interactive Telecommunications
Program). A software developer for many years,
he is the founder of Lumalus Inc, a technology
consulting company that develops solutions for a
wide range of projects from mobile applications
and museum and corporate installations to
Kinect Xbox games. As a new media artist and
game designer, his work has been displayed at
venues such as SIGGRAPH Asia, the New York
Hall of Science, Museum of the Moving Image,
FILE Games Rio, and Sony Wonder Technology
Lab. He and his team created the game Lucid,
which was a finalist in Android's Developer
Challenge 2; his game Recurse was a finalist for
Indiecade 2010. He has served as a researcher
and adjunct faculty member at New York
University since 2009. SLC, 2011—
Nicole Pearce Dance
Carol Ann Pelletier Theatre
BA, Brandeis University. Costume designer for
Ping Chong & Company; resident designer for
UBU Repertory Theatre; founding member of
Yara Arts Group; extensive work in off-Broadway
and experimental theatre; venues include La
MaMa E.T.C., Theatre for the New City, UBU
Rep, and Theatre Row, along with festivals in
Kiev, Lviv, and Kharkiv, Ukraine. SLC, 1993–
Gilberto Perez The Noble Foundation Chair in
Art and Cultural History —Film History
BS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. MA,
Princeton University. Author of The Material
Ghost: Films and Their Medium and of numerous
articles for the London Review of Books, Raritan,
The Yale Review, The Nation, The Hudson Review,
Sight and Sound, and other publications; recipient
of a Noble fellowship for Advanced Studies in
the Visual Arts at the Museum of Modern Art, a
Mellon Faculty fellowship at Harvard University,
the Weiner Distinguished Professorship in the
Humanities at the University of Missouri, and
other awards. SLC, 1983–
David Peritz Politics
BA, Occidental College. DPhil, Oxford
University. Special interests in democracy in
conditions of cultural diversity, social complexity
and political dispersal, critical social theory,
social contract theory, radical democratic
thought, and the idea of dispersed but integrated
public spheres that create the social and
institutional space for broad-based, direct
participation in democratic deliberation and
decision-making; recipient of a Marshal
Scholarship; taught at Harvard University, Deep
Springs College, and Dartmouth College; visiting
scholar at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, and
the London School of Economics. SLC, 2000–
Kris Philipps Director, Visual Arts
Program—Visual Arts
BFA, Alfred University. MFA, University of
South Florida. Studied at Royal College of Art,
London, and held Tamarind Master Printer
fellowship; exhibited in many national and
international shows; one-person exhibitions
include the Newark Museum, Staempfli Gallery,
and Condeso/Lawler Gallery, New York. SLC,
1983–
Gina Philogene Psychology
PhD, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences
Sociales, Paris. Interests in social and cultural
psychology, history of psychology, race and social
identity, as well as social representations. Author
of From Black to African American: A New
Representation; The Representations of the Social:
Bridging Theoretical Traditions (with Kay Deaux);
Racial Identity in Context: The Legacy of Kenneth
B. Clark; and the forthcoming How the Right
Made It Wrong: Names in the Shadow of the
Political Correctness. Recipient of several grants,
including the National Science Foundation and
the American Psychological Association.
Published several articles in professional journals
and currently an associate editor of the Journal of
Community and Applied Social Psychology. SLC,
1998–
Eddye Pierce-Young Music
BM, MM, University of Colorado. Additional
study, Graz, Austria. Concert artist (soprano):
national, European, and Asian stages; national
finalist in both the San Francisco Opera and
Metropolitan Opera competitions; recipient of
awards and grants in the fields of vocal
performance and music education. SLC, 1989–
Kevin Pilkington Writing Coordinator—Writing
BA, St. John’s University. MA, Georgetown
University. Teaches a graduate workshop at
Manhattanville College. Author of six
collections: Spare Change was the La Jolla Poets
Press National Book Award winner, and his
chapbook won the Ledge Poetry Prize; Ready to
Eat the Sky, published by River City Publishing as
FACULTY 179
part of its new poetry series, was a finalist for the
2005 Independent Publishers Books Award; In the
Eyes of a Dog was published in September 2009
by New York Quarterly Books. Another
collection, The Unemployed Man Who Became a
Tree, will appear in 2011 from Black Lawrence
Press. Poetry has appeared in many anthologies,
including Birthday Poems: A Celebration, Western
Wind, and Contemporary Poetry of New England.
Nominated for four Pushcarts and has appeared
in Verse Daily. Poems and reviews have appeared
in numerous magazines, including: Poetry,
Ploughshares, Iowa Review, Boston Review, Yankee,
Hayden’s Ferry, Columbia, and North American
Review. SLC, 1991–
Mary A. Porter Associate Dean of the
College—Anthropology
BA, Manchester University. MA, PhD,
University of Washington. Special interests
include gender, class, race, sexuality, colonialism,
education, oral history, and sub-Saharan Africa;
ethnographic fieldwork with Swahili people in
coastal Kenya; co-author of Winds of Change:
Women in Northwest Commercial Fishing and
author of several articles on gender and
education; grants include Fulbright-Hays
Doctoral Research fellowship and Spencer
fellowship; consultant, UNESCO. SLC, 1992–
Marilyn Power Economics
BA, PhD, University of California-Berkeley.
Special interests include economics of gender,
race, and class; feminist economics; political
economics of the environment; the history of
economic thought; and macroeconomics. Author
of articles in Feminist Studies, Review of Radical
Political Economics, Industrial Relations, Feminist
Economics, and others. Co-author of Living
Wages, Equal Wages: Gender and Labor Market
Policies in the United States (Routledge, 2002).
SLC, 1990–
Victoria Redel Writing
BA, Dartmouth College. MFA, Columbia
University. Author of two books of poetry and
three books of fiction. Latest novel, The Border of
Truth (Counterpoint, 2007), weaves the situation
of refugees and a daughter’s awakening to the
history and secrets of her father’s survival and
loss. Loverboy (Graywolf, 2001/Harcourt, 2002)
was awarded the 2001 S. Mariella Gable Novel
Award and the 2002 Forward Silver Literary
Fiction Prize and was chosen in 2001 as a Los
Angeles Times Best Book. Lover-boy was adapted
for a feature film directed by Kevin Bacon. Most
recent collection of poems, Swoon (University of
Chicago Press, 2003), was a finalist for the James
Laughlin Award. SLC, 1996–
Nelly Reifler Writing
BA, Hampshire College. MFA, Sarah Lawrence
College. Author of short-story collection, See
Through; fiction in magazines and journals,
including Bomb, Post Road, McSweeney’s, Nerve,
and Black Book, as well as in the anthologies 110
Stories: New York Writes After September 11, Lost
Tribe: New Jewish Fiction from the Edge, Found
Magazine’s Requiem for a Paper Bag, and Tell: An
Anthology of Expository Narrative (forthcoming).
Recipient of a Henfield Prize in 1995, a UAS
Explorations Prize in 1997, and a Rotunda
Gallery Emerging Curator grant for work with
fiction and art in 2001. Codirector of Pratt
Institute’s Writers’ Forum, 2005-present; curator
of Barbes reading series, Brooklyn; founder and
president, Dainty Rubbish record company. SLC,
2002—
Hamid Rezai Politics
BA, MA, University of Munich, Germany.
MPhil, PhD candidate, Columbia University.
Special interests include Islamic and Western
political thought, comparative politics of the
Middle East, social movements in the Middle
East, and Iranian studies. Recent awards include
Columbia University Contemporary Civilization
Preceptorship Award (2008-10), Columbia
University Multi-Year Faculty Fellowship
(2003-2010), Graduate School of Arts and
Sciences Summer Teaching Scholars Award
(2008), Margaret Abdel-Ahad Pennar Fellowship
(2006-2007), and the Andrew W. Mellon and
John W. Kluge Endowment for a New
Generation of Faculty Excellence Fellowship
(2006). Courses on the Middle East and political
theory taught at Columbia University, Drew
University, and City University of New
York—Queens College. Defended dissertation in
September 2010 on “State, Dissidents, and
Contention: Iran 1989-2010.” SLC, 2010—
Martha Rhodes Writing
Author of three poetry collections: Mother Quiet,
Perfect Disappearance (winner of the 2000 Green
Rose Prize, New Issues Press), and At the Gate.
Poems have appeared in American Poetry Review,
AGNI, Fence, Ploughshares, TriQuarterly, and
other journals. Anthologized in The Extraordinary
Tide: New Poetry by American Women (Columbia
University Press) and The New American Poets: A
Bread Loaf Anthology (University Press of New
180 Current Faculty
England), among others. Teaches at Sarah
Lawrence College and at the MFA Program for
Writers at Warren Wilson College. Founding
editor and director of Four Way Books, an
independent literary press in New York City.
SLC, 2005—
Sandra Robinson Frieda Wildy Riggs Chair in
Religious Studies—Asian Studies
BA, Wellesley College. PhD, University of
Chicago. Special interest in South Asian
cultures, religions, and literatures. Two Fulbright
Awards for field research in India. Articles,
papers, and poems appear in international
venues. Ethnographic photographs exhibited.
Chair of the South Asia Council and member of
the Board of Directors, Association for Asian
Studies. Administrative board of HarvardRadcliffe College. Senior fellow, Center for the
Humanities, Wesleyan University. Delegate to
Copenhagen U.N. summit on global poverty.
Group leader for the Experiment in International
Living. National selection boards for institutional
Fulbright grants. SLC, 1990–
Judith Rodenbeck Art History
BA, Yale University. BFA, Massachusetts College
of Art. PhD, Columbia University. Teacher of art
since 1945, covering intersections between
modernist literature, philosophy, and visual and
time-based arts. Special interest in art and
technology. Author of Radical Prototypes: Allan
Kaprow and the Invention of Happenings; co-author
of Experiments in the Everyday: Allan Kaprow and
Robert Watts— Events, Objects, Documents;
articles and reviews in Artforum, Grey Room,
Modern Painters, and The Art Book. Editor-inchief ex-officio of Art Journal. Recipient of 2009
Creative Capital/Warhol Foundation Arts
Writers Grant. SLC, 2000–
Patrick Romano Music
BM, MM, West Chester University. Currently
choral director at the Riverdale Country School,
Manhattan School of Music Preparatory
Division. Member of the faculty of the Perlman
Summer Music Program. An established tenor
soloist specializing in the baroque and classical
repertoire; performed with the Waverly Consort,
the American Bach Soloists, the Bethlehem
Bach Choir, and the Rifkin Bach Ensemble; guest
soloist, Marlboro Music Festival, the Pablo Casals
Festival, and the University of Maryland Handel
Festival; recorded the Bach B minor Mass with
the American Bach Soloists, the Mozart Requiem
with the Amor Artis Choir and Orchestra, and
the Bach St. John Passion with the Smithsonian
Chamber Players. SLC, 1999–
Tristana Rorandelli Italian (on leave spring
semester)
BA (magna cum laude), Università degli Studi di
Firenze, Florence, Italy. MA, PhD (with
distinction), New York University. Areas of
specialization: 20th-century Italian women’s
writings; modern Italian culture, history, and
literature; fascism; Western medieval poetry and
thought. Recipient of the Julie and Ruediger Flik
Travel Grant, Sarah Lawrence College, for
summer research, 2008; the Penfield fellowship,
New York University, 2004; and the Henry
Mitchell MacCracken fellowship, New York
University, 1998-2002. Publications: “Nascita e
morte della massaia di Paola Masino e la
questione del corpo materno nel fascismo,”
Forum Italicum (Spring 2003). Translations, “The
Other Place” by Barbara Serdakowski and
“Salvation” by Amor Dekhis in Multicultural
Literature in Contemporary Italy (editors Graziella
Parati and Marie Orton, Fairleigh Dickinson
University Press, 2007). SLC, 2001-2002; 2004;
2005–
Lucy Rosenthal Writing
BA, University of Michigan. MS, Columbia
Graduate School of Journalism. MFA, Yale
School of Drama. Fiction writer, critic, editor,
playwright; author of the novel The Ticket Out
and editor of anthologies Great American Love
Stories, World Treasury of Love Stories, and The
Eloquent Short Story: Varieties of Narration;
reviews and articles published in the Washington
Post, Chicago Tribune Book World, Ms., Saturday
Review, The New York Times Book Review, and
Michigan Quarterly Review; plays produced at
Eugene O’Neill Memorial Theater Center,
Waterford, Connecticut; recipient, Pulitzer
Fellowship in Critical Writing; served on Bookof-the-Month Club’s Editorial Board of judges
and as the Club’s senior editorial adviser. SLC,
1988–
Shahnaz Rouse Sociology
BA, Kinnaird College, Pakistan. MA, Punjab
University, Pakistan. MS, PhD, University of
Wisconsin-Madison. Special student, American
University of Beirut, Lebanon. Academic
specialization in historical sociology, with
emphasis on the mass media, gender, and
political economy. Author of Shifting Body
Politics: Gender/Nation/State, 2004; co-editor,
FACULTY 181
Situating Globalization: Views from Egypt, 2000;
contributor to books and journals on South Asia
and the Middle East. Visiting faculty, University
of Hawaii at Manoa and the American
University in Cairo. Member, Editorial Advisory
Board, Contributions to Indian Sociology, and past
member, Editorial Committee, Middle East
Research and Information Project. Past
consultant to the Middle East and North Africa
Program of the Social Science Research Council,
as well as the Population Council West Asia and
North Africa Office (Cairo). Recipient of grants
from the Fulbright-Hays Foundation, the Social
Science Research Council, the American
Institute of Pakistan Studies, and the Council on
American Overseas Research Centers. SLC,
1987–
Sara Rudner Director, Program in
Dance—Dance
BA, Barnard College. MFA, Bennington College.
Dancer and choreographer; participated in the
development and performance of Twyla Tharp’s
modern dance repertory; founded and directed
the Sara Rudner Performance Ensemble. Recent
choreographic projects include “Dancing-onView,” one of a series of dance marathons, and
“Heartbeat,” a fusion of technology and dance.
Currently a member of “Ersaloly Mameraem,” a
dancers’ consortium. Past collaborations have
included Mikhail Baryshnikov, Dana Reitz, and
Christopher Janney. She has choreographed for
theatre and opera productions at the Public
Theater, the Salzburg Festival, the Santa Fe
Opera, and the Paris Opera. Awards include a
Bessie, a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial
fellowship, a Dance Magazine award, and support
from the National Endowment for the Arts and
the New York State Council on the Arts. SLC,
1999Claudia Salazar Spanish
BA, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos.
PhD, Advanced Certificate in Creative Writing
in Spanish, New York University. Area of
specialization: modern and contemporary Latin
American literature, with a special focus on
South America. Interests in literature and film;
life writing; women, gender, and sexuality studies;
crossings among memory, gender, and political
violence; transatlantic studies; performance and
visual culture. Creator and director of Perufest:
Festival of New Peruvian Cinema. Articles,
essays, and short stories published in several
books and journals. Editor of the anthology, Voces
para Lilith, Literatura contemporánea de temática
lésbica en Sudamérica (Editorial Estruendomudo:
Lima, 2011). SLC, 2011—
Wayne Sanders Music
BM, Roosevelt University. Voice teacher, coach,
and pianist; collaborated and performed with
Kathleen Battle, Jessye Norman, Florence
Quivar, and the late William Warfield;
consultant to the Houston Grand Opera, the
Savonlinna Opera Festival (Finland), and
Munich’s Münchener Biennale; provided musical
direction for presentations ranging from an allstar tribute to Marian Anderson, Aaron Davis
Hall (New York) to Porgy and Bess in Helsinki
and Savonlinna, Moscow, and Tallinn (Estonia);
participated in touring performances of Opera
Ebony’s acclaimed Black Heritage concert series
and served as its conductor over the course of its
international run in Canada, Iceland, and
Switzerland; co-founder of Opera Ebony, a
historic African American opera company based
in New York. SLC, 1996–
BA, New School for Social Research. MA, PhD,
New York University. Special interests include
Sufism, Qur’anic exegesis, religion and media,
and political theology. Author of Sufi
Commentaries on the Qur’an in Classical Islam
(Routledge, 2005). Taught in and directed the
Arabic Language Program at New York
University. SLC, 2003–
Nyoman Saptanyana Music
Barbara Schecter Director, Graduate Program in
Child Development/
Psychology—Psychology
BA, Sarah Lawrence College. MA, PhD,
Teachers College, Columbia University.
Developmental psychologist with special interest
in cultural psychology, developmental theories,
and language and development; author and
researcher on cultural issues in development and
metaphoric thinking in children. SLC, 1985–
Fanchon Miller Scheier Theatre
BA, Adelphi University. MFA, Sarah Lawrence
College. Film, television, and theatre actress;
member, Robert Lewis Acting Company and
Green Gate Theatre; director and actress,
regional and educational theatre; University of
Virginia Artist-in-Residence program; founder, In
Stages theatre company; recipient of two grants
from the New York State Council on the Arts;
co-director of London Theatre Intersession ’88.
182 Current Faculty
SLC, 1985– Carsten Schmidt Music Künstlerische
Abschlussprüfung “mit Auszeichnung,”
Folkwang-Hochschule Essen, Germany. MM,
Artist Diploma, Indiana University. MMA,
DMA, Yale University. Extensive performance
and broadcast activities as soloist, chamber
musician, and soloist with orchestras throughout
Europe, North America, and Japan; numerous
master classes, lectures, and workshops at
educational and research institutions; special
interests include keyboard literature and
performance practices, early keyboard
instruments, the music of Ernst Krenek,
relationship of performance, analysis,
hermeneutics, recent gender studies, interaction
of poetry and music in song repertoire; member,
artistic board, Volte Foundation for Chamber
Music, the Netherlands; artistic director,
International Schubert Festival 1997; research
fellow, Newberry Library; fellow, German
National Scholarship Foundation. SLC, 1998–
Astrid Schrader Science, Technology, and
Society
DiplPhys, Technical University, Berlin. MS,
PhD, University of California-Santa Cruz.
Postdoctoral fellow at Pembroke Center, Brown
University. Special interests include science and
technology studies, feminist epistemology,
environmental ethics and policy,
poststructuralism (esp. Derrida), gender studies,
animal studies, and philosophy of science.
Dissertation, “Dinos & Demons: The Politics of
Temporality and Responsibility in Science”;
forthcoming publication in Social Studies of
Science. Currently working on a project in science
studies entitled, “Species Politics in Harmful
Algal Research.” SLC, 2009—
Carsten Schmidt Music (on leave fall semester)
Künstlerische Abschlussprüfung “mit
Auszeichnung,” Folkwang-Hochschule Essen,
Germany. MM, Artist Diploma, Indiana
University. MMA, DMA, Yale University.
Extensive performance and broadcast activities as
soloist, chamber musician, and soloist with
orchestras throughout Europe, North America,
and Japan; numerous master classes, lectures, and
workshops at educational and research
institutions; special interests include keyboard
literature and performance practices, early
keyboard instruments, the music of Ernst Krenek,
relationship of performance, analysis,
hermeneutics, and recent gender studies,
interaction of poetry and music in song
repertoire; member, artistic board, Volte
Foundation for Chamber Music, the Netherlands;
artistic director, International Schubert Festival
1997; research fellow, Newberry Library; fellow,
German National Scholarship Foundation. SLC,
1998-
Tony Schultz Dance
BA, Sarah Lawrence College. MA, City College
of New York. Currently finishing PhD at the
Graduate Center of the City University of New
York. Scientist, writer, educator, and performer.
Conducting research in computer vision for
applications in human movement analysis; has
worked with culture makers interested in
developing experimental and computationally
based methodologies; collaborated with
musicians Derrick Carlomagno and Damian
Quinones, worked with dancers Christopher
Williams and Kristin Sloan of New York City
Ballet, and consulted for architects Maggie Peng
and Dana Karwas. Studied dance both inside and
outside of the academy, most notably with Luis
Demalsy (aka B-Boy Mach3) and Angele M’Paria
(aka B-Girl Angel). In 2007, participated in the
We-B-Girlz 25th Anniversary Breakin’ event at
Lincoln Center as the manager of London’s
Flowzaic Crew; guest taught dance with Laurel
Dugan at the Dalton School and performed with
Mare Hieronimus in TUNDRA at the CoolNY
dance festival. Currently working on a project
with performance artist Otis Houston (aka Black
Cherokee), a dance blogger, writer, and performer
on thewinger.com. SLC, 2006—
Ursula Schneider Visual Arts (on leave fall
semester)
BA, Kunstgewerbeschule Zurich and Keramisch
Fachschule Bern. MFA, San Francisco Art
Institute. Painter and sculptor; one-person shows
nationwide and in Europe; works represented in
private and museum collections; recipient of
Schweizer Kunststipendium; awards from San
Francisco Art Festival, Oakland Museum, and
the National Endowment for the Arts. SLC,
1986–
Malia Scotch-Marmo Visual Arts
MFA, Columbia University. Writer and associate
producer of Steven Spielberg’s fantasy film, Hook,
and received story credit for Madeline. Her first
produced film was Once Around, directed by Lasse
Hallstrom. Uncredited work in order of the size
of her contribution, as she sees it, includes
Jurassic Park, Other Sister, Only You, Enchanted,
and Polar Express. She has collaborated with
many established directors on both produced and
unproduced material, including Norman Jewison,
FACULTY 183
Alfonso Cuaron, Alfonso Arau, Luis Mandoki,
Sabiha Sumar, Garry Marshall, and Rob Reiner.
Adjunct professor at Columbia Graduate Film
School, an advisor for Sundance Institute, an
instructor (summer, 2010) at la FEMIS in Paris,
and an advisor (summer, 2011) at Maisha Film
Lab, founded by Mira Nair; she will be advising
emerging Rwandan writers in Kigali, Rwanda.
Recently co-wrote a script with Sabiha Sumar, an
award-winning Pakistani director and alumna of
Sarah Lawrence College. The film, Rafina, was
shot in October 2010 in Karachi, Pakistan, and
will be completed in summer, 2011. Winged Boy,
a story she rewrote for Gold Circle, is also in
productiton. SLC, 2009—
Rebecca Sealander Theatre
Samuel B. Seigle Greek
BA, University of Pittsburgh. AM, Harvard
University. Classical philologist; scholar of Greek
dance, Greek and Roman poetic structure,
linguistics, ancient religions and mythology,
political and social conventions of ancient
cultures and their relationship to the
contemporary world; president (1973-1975) and
censor (1977-1993) of New York Classical Club.
SLC, 1964–
Judith P. Serafini-Sauli Italian
BA, Sarah Lawrence College. PhD, Johns
Hopkins University. Author of Boccaccio, Twayne
World Authors Series; translator and editor,
Ameto, by Giovanni Boccaccio, Garland
Medieval Text Series. SLC, 1981– Vijay Seshadri
Director, Graduate Program in Creative
Nonfiction BA, Oberlin College. MFA,
Columbia University. Author of Wild Kingdom
and The Long Meadow (poetry collections);
former editor at The New Yorker; essayist and
book reviewer in The New Yorker, The New York
Times Book Review, The Threepenny Review, The
American Scholar, and various literary quarterlies;
recipient of the James Laughlin Prize of the
Academy of American Poets, MacDowell
Colony’s Fellowship for Distinguished Poetic
Achievement, The Paris Review’s Bernard F.
Conners Long Poem Prize, New York Foundation
for the Arts grant, National Endowment for the
Arts fellowship, John Simon Guggenheim
Memorial fellowship, and area studies fellowships
from Columbia University. SLC, 1998–
Vijay Seshadri Director, Graduate Program in
Creative Non-Fiction, The Michele Tolela
Myers Chair in Writing —Writing
BA, Oberlin College. MFA, Columbia
University. Author of Wild Kingdom and The Long
Meadow (poetry collections); former editor at The
New Yorker; essayist and book reviewer in The
New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review,
The Threepenny Review, The American Scholar,
and various literary quarterlies; recipient of the
James Laughlin Prize of the Aca-demy of
American Poets, MacDowell Colony’s Fellowship
for Distinguished Poetic Achievement, The Paris
Review’s Bernard F. Conners Long Poem Prize,
New York Foundation for the Arts grant,
National Endowment for the Arts fellowship,
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial fellowship
and area studies fellowships from Columbia
University. SLC, 1998Deganit Shemy Barbara Bray Ketchum Artist-inResidence—Dance
Gabriel Shuford Music
William Shullenberger Literature
Massachusetts. Special interests in Milton, 17thcentury English literature, English Romanticism,
African literature, theology and poetics, and
psychoanalytic criticism. Author of Lady in the
Labyrinth: Milton’s ‘Comus’ as Initiation; coauthor with Bonnie Shullenberger of Africa Time:
Two Scholars’ Seasons in Uganda; essays published
in Milton Studies, Renaissance Drama, and other
journals and collections. Senior Fulbright
Lecturer at Makerere University, Uganda,
1992-1994; director of NEH Summer Seminars
on the Classical and the Modern Epic, 1996 and
1999. SLC, 1982–
Mark R. Shulman History
BA, Yale University. MS, Oxford University;
PhD, University of California-Berkeley; JD,
Columbia University. Served as editor-in-chief of
the Journal of Transnational Law and received the
Berger Prize for International Law at Columbia;
assistant dean for Graduate Programs &
International Affairs, Pace Law School; directed
the Worldwide Security Program at the EastWest
Institute; practiced law at Debevoise & Plimpton
until 2003; member of the Association of the Bar
of the City of New York; chairs the Committee
on International Human Rights; serves on the
Council on International Affairs and the Task
Force on National Security and the Rule of Law;
has taught the laws of war and war crimes
184 Current Faculty
tribunals at Columbia Law School and military
history at Yale, the Air War College, and at
Columbia (SIPA); has published widely in the
fields of history, law, and international affairs;
books include: The Laws of War: Constraints on
Warfare in the Western World (1994), Navalism
and the Emergence of American Sea Power (1995),
An Admiral’s Yarn (1999), and The Imperial
Presidency and the Consequences of 9/11 (2007);
articles have appeared in the Columbia Journal of
Transnational Law, Journal of National Security
Law & Policy, Fordham Law Review, Houston
Journal of International Law, Journal of Military
History, and Intelligence and National Security.
SLC, 2009—
Michael Siff Computer Science
BA, BSE., MSE, University of Pennsylvania.
PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Special
interests in programming languages, cryptology,
and software engineering; author of research
papers on interplay between type theory and
software engineering. SLC, 1999–
Joan Silber Writing
BA, Sarah Lawrence College. MA, New York
University. Author of two story collections, Ideas
of Heaven (finalist for the National Book Award
and the Story Prize) and In My Other Life, and
four novels, The Size of the World, Lucky Us, In
the City, and Household Words; winner of the
PEN/Hemingway Award; short stories
anthologized in The Scribner Anthology of
Contemporary Short Fiction, The Story Behind the
Story, The O. Henry Prize Stories (2007 and
2003), and two Pushcart Prize collections.
Recipient of a Literature Award from the
American Academy of Arts and Letters and
grants from National Endowment for the Arts
and New York Foundation for the Arts. SLC,
1985–
Kanwal Singh Physics
BS, University of Maryland-College Park. MS,
PhD, University of California-Berkeley.
Postdoctoral research associate, University of
Oslo, Norway. Special interests in lowtemperature physics, science education and
education policy, and scientific and quantitative
literacy. Author of articles in theoretical
condensed-matter physics (models of superfluid
systems) and physics teaching. Taught at
Middlebury College, Wellesley College, and
Eugene Lang College at The New School
University. SLC, 2003–
Lyde Cullen Sizer History
BA, Yale University. MA, PhD, Brown
University. Special interests include the political
work of literature, especially around questions of
gender and race, U.S. cultural and intellectual
history of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and
the social and cultural history of the U.S. Civil
War. Her book, The Political Work of Northern
Women Writers and the American Civil War,
1850-1872, won the Avery O. Craven Award
from the Organization of American Historians.
The Civil War Era: An Anthology of Sources,
edited with Jim Cullen, was published in 2005;
book chapters are included in Love, Sex, Race:
Crossing Boundaries in North American History;
Divided Houses: Gender and the American Civil
War; and A Search for Equity. SLC, 1994–
Fredric Smoler The Adda Bozeman Chair in
International Relations—Literature
BA, Sarah Lawrence College. MA, MPhil, PhD,
Columbia University. Central interest in
European history and culture, with special
emphasis on intellectual history and literature.
Contributing editor at American Heritage
Magazine; writes regularly for First of the Month;
occasional contributor to The Nation, The
Observer (London), etc.; former editor, Audacity.
SLC, 1987–
Scott Snyder Writing
BA, Brown University. MFA, Columbia
University. Author of the short-story collection,
Voodoo Heart (Dial Press). Stories have appeared
in Zoetrope: All-Story, Epoch, Tin House, and One
Story, among other journals. SLC, 2006—
Sungrai Sohn Music
Michael Spano Visual Arts
BA, Queens College. MFA Yale University. Oneperson and group shows at the Museum of
Modern Art, Fogg Art Museum, Cleveland
Museum of Art, Memphis Brooks Museum of
Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, and National
Portrait Gallery. Works represented in the
permanent collections of the Whitney Museum
of American Art, San Francisco Museum of
Modern Art, St. Louis Art Museum, Baltimore
Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Art in Boston,
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Princeton
Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, and
Museum of Modern Art in New York. Recipient
of grants and fellowships from New York
Foundation for the Arts, Camera Works, CAPS,
FACULTY 185
Art Matters, and the Guggenheim Foundation.
Author of Time Frames: City Pictures and Auto
Portraits. SLC, 1999–
studio work has included an application of
Freudian theory to American culture and
identity. SLC, 2007—
Rico Speight Visual Arts
BA, Boston University. MA, Emerson College
(Boston). Postgraduate studies as a Revson
Fellow at Columbia University School of the
Arts, Graduate Film Division, and the Columbia
University Digital Media Center. His two-part
documentary series on the parallel lives of
African American and black South African
young people in post-apartheid South Africa and
post-9/11 America was broadcast on South
African Broadcasting Corporation TV
(SABC) and PBS and screened at festivals in the
United States, as well as internationally.
Concurrent with his own work, he has taught at
New York University, Pratt Institute, City
College, and Hunter College, all in New York
City. He was awarded artist fellowships in film
and video by the New York Foundation for the
Arts and honored by the Black Filmmaker's Hall
of Fame for his narrative short, Deft
Changes. SLC, 2007—
Joel Sternfeld Visual Arts
BA, Dartmouth College. Photographer/artist
with exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art,
the Art Institute of Chicago, and the San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Recipient of
two Guggenheim fellowships and a Prix de Rome.
Author of American Prospects, On This Site,
Stranger Passing, and four other books. SLC,
1985–
Stuart Spencer Theatre
BA, Lawrence University. Author of numerous
plays performed in New York and around the
country, including Resident Alien (Broadway Play
Publishing). Other plays include In the Western
Garden (Broadway Play Publishing), Blue Stars
(Best American Short Plays of 19931994), and
Sudden Devotion (Broadway Play Publishing). A
playwriting textbook, The Playwright’s Guidebook,
was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in
2002. Recent plays are Alabaster City,
commissioned by South Coast Rep, and Judy
Garland Died for Your Sins. Former literary
manager of Ensemble Studio Theatre; fellow, the
Edward Albee Foundation; member, Dramatist
Guild. SLC, 1991–
Robin Starbuck Visual Arts
BA, Salem College. MFA, School of the Art
Institute of Chicago. Also studied at the
Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago and at
the Georgia Institute of Technology. Currently
completing a certificate in documentary
production and editing from New York
University. Received multiple awards and grants
for her work and exhibits, both nationally and
internationally. Current studio orientation is
video installation with elements of comic image
painting and sculpture. For the past several years,
Brooke Stevens Writing
MA, The Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars. His
first novel, The Circus of the Earth and the Air
(Harcourt), was a “New and Noteworthy
Paperback” for The New York Times, a nominee
for the Barnes and Noble Discover award, a
finalist for the World Fantasy award, and featured
in People Magazine and Vanity Fair. John Barth
called it “a vivid, sustained, and scarifying
dream.” In 2001, The Washington Post Book World
said of his second novel, “Tattoo Girl [St. Martin's
Press] is as much about being sad as it is about
being terrified, and there Stevens has worked a
charm that will keep you in your seat and
reading, even when you’d rather not, even when
you wish for something to break the spell.” The
novel was also published in the United Kingdom,
where it appeared on bestseller lists; it was later
translated into Japanese, French, and German. In
2004, his third book, Kissing Your Ex (Penguin),
was a finalist, along with Jodi Picoult, Elizabeth
Berg, and Ann Tyler, for the Romantic Times Best
Women’s Fiction of 2004. SLC, 2011—
Frederick Michael Strype Visual Arts
BA, Fairfield University. MFA, Columbia
University School of the Arts. Postgraduate
study: American Film Institute, New York
University, Tisch School of the Arts.
Screenwriter, producer, director. Recent awards,
grants, festivals: Grand Prize, Nantucket Film
Festival, Tony Cox Award in Screenwriting;
Nantucket Screenwriters Colony; World Jewish
Film Festival, Askelon, Israel; Tehran
International Film Festival; Berlin Film Festival
Shorts; Uppsala Sweden Film Festival; USA Film
Festival; Washington (DC) Jewish Film Festival;
Los Angeles International Children’s Film
Festival; Temecula Valley International Film
Festival “Best of the Fest”; Portugal Film Festival
Press Award; Fade In Magazine Award/Best Short
Screenplay; Angelus Film Festival Triumph
186 Current Faculty
Award; Austin Film Festival Screenwriting
Award; Heartland Film Festival Crystal Heart
Award; New Line Cinema Filmmaker
Development Award; Hamptons International
Film Festival; Schomburg Cultural Grants.
Raindance Pictures: projects developed for
Columbia/Tristar/Sony, Lifetime, MTM
Productions, Family Channel, FX, Alliance/
Atlantis, Capella Films, Turman-Foster
Productions, James Manos Productions, FX,
Avenue Pictures. SLC, 2003–
Sterling Swann Theatre
BA, Vassar College. Postgraduate training at
London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
(LAMDA), Sonia Moore Studio, and with David
Kaplan (author, Five Approaches to Acting).
President and artistic director, Cygnet
Productions, National Equity Theatre for Young
Audiences company; leading performer, Boston
Shakespeare Company; guest faculty at Storm
King School, Western Connecticut State
University, and Vassar College; advanced actor/
combatant, Society of American Fight Directors
(SAFD); winner of the Society of American
Fight Directors’ 2006 Patrick Craen award;
designated practitioner, Stough Institute of
Breathing Coordination; certified teacher,
Alexander Technique. SLC, 1991—
BA, Wesleyan University. MA, MPhil, PhD,
Columbia University. Previously taught at
Columbia University, Hunter College, Lafayette
College, University of Wisconsin-Madison;
special interest in the religious and intellectual
history of early modern Europe and in the history
of Eastern Europe, particularly Russia and Poland;
author of articles on early 20th-century Russian
philosophy and religious thought; served on the
executive committee of the Mid-Atlantic Slavic
Conference. SLC, 2004–
Rose Anne Thom Joseph Campbell Chair in the
Humanities—Dance
BA, McGill University. Labanotator and
reconstructor; writer, critic for Dance Magazine,
Collier’s Encyclopedia, and Society of Dance History
Scholars; oral historian for the Dance Collection
at the New York Public Library for the
Performing Arts and the School of American
Ballet; consultant, New York State Council on
the Arts Dance Program; guest faculty, Princeton
University, 2003; former teacher at SUNY
Purchase, Southern Methodist University,
American Ballet Theater School. SLC, 1975—
Lucy Thurber Theatre
Author of seven plays: Where We’re Born,
Ashville, Scarcity, Killers and Other Family, Stay,
Bottom of the World, and Monstrosity. The
Atlantic Theater Company opened its 2007-08
season with Scarcity. Rattlestick Playwrights
Theater produced Where We’re Born, Killers and
Other Family, and Stay. Bottom of The World was
commissioned by Women’s Expressive Theater,
Inc. Monstrosity was workshopped by Encore
Theatre Company (San Francisco) and
Williamstown Theatre Festival. Recipient of the
2000-2001 Manhattan Theatre Club Playwriting
Fellowship and was a guest artist at the
Perseverance Theatre. Readings and workshops
held at Manhattan Theatre Club, the New
Group, Primary Stages, MCC Theater, PlayPenn,
New River Dramatists, Tribeca Theater Festival,
Eugene O’Neill, the Public Theater, and Soho
Rep. Playwright-in-residence at the Orchard
Project, summer 2007. Dinner is published in Not
So Sweet, a collection of plays from Soho Rep’s
Summer Camp. Scarcity was published in the
December 2007 issue of American Theatre. A
member of New Dramatists, 13P, MCC
Playwrights Coalition, and Writers Group at
Primary Stages. Published by Dramatists Play
Service. Currently commissioned by Playwrights
Horizons. SLC, 2008—
Frank Tomasulo Film History
MA in Cinema Studies, New York University.
PhD in Film and Television, UCLA. The author
of more than 80 scholarly articles and more than
100 academic papers, “Dr. T” has devoted himself
to film-TV publication as editor-in-chief of both
Journal of Film and Video (1991-96) and Cinema
Journal (1997-2002). His anthology, More than a
Method: Trends and Traditions in Contemporary
Film Performance, was published by Wayne State
University Press in 2004. He teaches film courses
at The City College of New York (CUNY) and
online graduate seminars for National University.
Prior, he was director of the BFA Program at
Florida State University's College of Film and
Television, chair of the Division of CinemaTelevision at Southern Methodist University, and
chair of the Department of Communication at
Georgia State University. He has taught a variety
of film-TV history, theory, and production classes
at UCLA, Ithaca College, Cornell University,
and the University of California-Santa Cruz. He
received the University Film and Video
Association’s Teaching Award (2009) and the
Georgia State University Outstanding Teacher
Award (1998). SLC, 2011—
FACULTY 187
Alice Truax Writing
BA, Vassar College. MA, Middlebury College.
Editor at The New Yorker, 1992-2002. Book
editor, 2001-present. Book reviews have appeared
in The New York Times Book Review, The New
Yorker, Vogue, The New York Review of Books.
Edited books include Random Family by Adrian
Nicole LeBlanc, Mostly True by Molly O’Neill,
Aftermath by Joel Meyerowitz, The Surrender by
Toni Bentley, Send by William Schwalbe and
David Shipley, King’s Gambit by Paul Hoffman,
and Violent Partners by Linda Mills. SLC, 2004—
Malcolm Turvey Film History (on leave
yearlong)
BA, MA, University of Kent. PhD, New York
University. Specialization in film and philosophy,
film theory, European avant-garde film, film and
modernism, classical Hollywood genres, film and
emotion. Editor and writer for October; co-editor
of Wittgenstein, Theory, and the Arts (Routledge,
2001) and Camera Obscura/Camera Lucida:
Essays in Honor of Annette Michelson (University
of Amsterdam Press, 2003). Essays have appeared
in a number of journals and anthologies,
including Framework, Millennium Film Journal,
Film Studies: An International Review, Artforum,
Film Theory and Philosophy (Oxford University
Press, 1997); Freud’s Worst Nightmares
(Cambridge, University Press, 2003), The
Philosophy of Film: Introductory Text and Readings
(Blackwell, 2005), and European Film Theory
(Routledge, 2008). Book Doubting Vision: Film
and the Revelationist Tradition is forthcoming from
Oxford University Press in 2008. Currently
working on a book on European avant-garde film
of the 1920’s, The Filming of Modern Life, for the
October book series. SLC, 2000Michael Vahrenwald Visual Arts
BFA, The Cooper Union. MFA, Yale University.
Group exhibitions at the Whitney Museum, The
Walker Art Center, The Carnegie Museum of
Art, Yale School of Architecture, The Nerman
Museum, and HDLU Croatia. Solo exhibitions at
Galerie Alian Le Gaillard, South First Gallery,
and Andrew Rafacz Gallery. Works represented
in the permanent collection of The Whitney
Museum and The Nerman Museum. SLC,
2010—
Rima Vesely-Flad Public Policy
BA, University of Iowa. MDiv, Union
Theological Seminary. MIA, Columbia
University. Special interest in the
interconnections between reformed theology,
enlightenment philosophy, and racial
identification in the enactment of 19th- and
20th-century public policies, with an emphasis
on criminal justice, employment opportunities,
and urban and rural development. Recipient of a
Fulbright Fellowship and a Union Square award.
SLC, 2011—
Marina Vitkin Philosophy
PhD, University of Toronto. Special interests in
Hegel and his predecessors (modern philosophy)
and successors (19th- and 20th-century
continental philosophy), post-Hegelian Russian
philosophy, and philosophical problems of
intellectual diversity and pluralistic
understanding. SLC, 2004–
Ilja Wachs Ilja Wachs Chair in Outstanding
Teaching and Donning—Literature
BA, Columbia College. Special interest in 19thcentury European and English fiction, with
emphasis on psychological and sociological
relationships as revealed in works of Dickens,
Tolstoy, Dostoevski, Balzac, Stendhal, James,
Flaubert, and others. Dean of the College, 1980
to 1985. SLC, 1965–
Gwen Welliver Dance
BA, Pennsylvania State University. MFA,
Bennington College. Dancer and choreographer;
original work presented at Dance Theater
Workshop, 92nd Y Harkness Dance Festival,
Movement Research at the Judson Church,
Center for Performance Research. Performed
with Doug Varone and Dancers (1990-2000);
recipient of a Bessie Award for Sustained
Achievement (2000); rehearsal director, Trisha
Brown Dance Company(2000-2007); also
performed projects by Douglas Dunn with Rudy
Burckhardt, Helmut Gottschild (ZeroMoving
Dance Company), Ohad Naharin, and Dana
Reitz. Teaches worldwide at ADF, Bates Dance
Festival, Dansens Hus (Denmark), International
Summer School of Dance (Japan), Kalamata
International Dance Festival
(Greece), P.A.R.T.S. (Belgium), Trisha Brown
Studios, and TSEKH Summer School (Russia);
guest teaching venues include Barnard College,
Hampshire College, Hollins University, Hunter
College, Mount Holyoke College, University of
California-Santa Barbara, Virginia
Commonwealth College. Movement Research
(New York City) faculty member, 1997-present;
previously on the faculty of New York
188 Current Faculty
University's Tisch School of the Arts
(1995-2000, 2009-2011) and Bennington
College (2007-2009 Fellow). SLC, 2011—
Kent State University; recent articles in Critical
Studies in Media Communication and the American
Journal of Public Health. SLC, 2005–
Jean Wentworth Music
Diploma, Juilliard School of Music. As part of the
one-piano, four-hand team of Jean and Kenneth
Wentworth, has performed widely in the United
States, Europe, the Middle East, and India and
recorded a wide variety of four-hand repertoire;
contributor to The Music Quarterly, The Piano
Quarterly, and Key Note magazine; past recipient
of Walter W. Naumburg Award; faculty member,
Calcutta School of Music; recipient of Andrew
W. Mellon grant for faculty development and
Hewlett-Mellon grant, 1988. SLC, 1972–
Sara Wilford Director, Art of Teaching Graduate
Program—Psychology
BA, Sarah Lawrence College. MSEd, EdM, Bank
Street College of Education. Former early
childhood and public elementary schoolteacher;
keynote speaker and workshop leader for
seminars and conferences on early childhood
education; member, editorial advisory board,
Child magazine; contributor to Scholastic, Inc.
publications; author of Tough Topics: How to Use
Books in Talking with Children About Life Issues and
Problems, What You Need to Know When Your
Child Is Learning to Read, and Nurturing Young
Children’s Disposition to Learn. Holder of the Roy
E. Larsen Chair in Psychology (2001-2006). SLC,
1982–
Kathy Westwater Dance
BA, College of William and Mary. MFA, Sarah
Lawrence College. Choreographer and dancer;
choreography presented at Dance Theater
Workshop, Brooklyn Museum of Art, and PS
122, among other venues, and archived in the
Franklin Furnace Archive and the Walker Arts
Center Mediatheque Archive. Recipient of
awards from New York Foundation for the Arts
and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program and of
commissions from Dance Theater Workshop,
Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church, and
Summer Stage’s Dance Festival. Previously a
guest teacher at Bennington College, 92nd Street
Y, and Trisha Brown Studio. Published writings
include “Technology and the Body,” an interview
with Merce Cunningham in the Movement
Research Journal Millennial Issue, which she guest
edited. SLC, 2001—
Fiona Wilson Literature
MA, University of Glasgow. MA, PhD, New York
University. Scholar and poet. Special interests in
18th-to 20th-century British literature, poetry
and poetics, and Scottish writing. Recipient of a
Hawthornden fellowship (2008) and current
chair of the Scottish Literature Discussion Group
of the Modern Language Association. Author of
essays published in Romanticism’s Debatable Lands
(Palgrave, 2007), Keats-Shelley Journal, Pequod,
Edinburgh Companion to Contemporary Scottish
Literature (Edinburgh University Press, 2007),
and elsewhere. Poetry published in Best Scottish
Poems (Scottish Poetry Library, 2005), Poetry
Review, The Independent, The Scotsman, Grand
Street, and Literary Review. SLC, 2008—
Cal Wiersma Music
Matthew Wilson Music
Sarah Wilcox Sociology (on leave spring
semester)
BA, Wesleyan University. MA, PhD, University
of Pennsylvania. Areas of expertise include
medical sociology, the sociology of science and
knowledge, gender and sexuality, and the mass
media; special interests in interactions among
experts, laypersons, and social movements;
current project, entitled “Claiming Knowledge:
Gay Communities, Science, and the Meaning of
Genes,” explores how ideas about biology and
sexuality have been produced, circulated,
contested, and negotiated within and outside of
science; recipient of GLAAD Center for the
Study of Media & Society grant for research on
coverage of the politics of sexuality in regional
media; taught at the University of Maine and
Daniel Wohl Music
BA, Bard College. MM, University of Michigan.
Composer. Recipient of ASCAP Morton Gould
Young Composers award, New York Youth
Symphony Competition, Definiens C3
Composers Competition, ASCAP/Bang on a Can
fellowship, among others; grants from Meet the
Composer and the Brooklyn Arts Council. Music
performed by ensembles such as the American
Symphony Orchestra, St. Luke’s Chamber
Ensemble, New York Youth Symphony, the Da
Capo Chamber Players, Lunaire Quartet, and the
University of Michigan Philharmonia. Artistic
director/composer-in-residence: Transit
Ensemble. Freelance film composer. SLC, 2008—
FACULTY 189
Komozi Woodard Esther Raushenbush
Chair—History
BA, Dickinson College. MA, PhD, University of
Pennsylvania. Special interests in African
American history, politics, and culture,
emphasizing the black freedom movement,
women in the Black Revolt, US urban and
ethnic history, public policy and persistent
poverty, oral history, and the experience of anticolonial movements. Author of A Nation Within
a Nation: Amiri Baraka and Black Power Politics
and reviews, chapters, and essays in journals,
anthologies, and encyclopedia. Editor, The Black
Power Movement, Part I: Amiri Baraka, from Black
Arts to Black Radicalism; Freedom North;
Groundwork; Want to Start a Revolution?: Women
in the Black Freedom Struggle. Reviewer for
American Council of Learned Societies; adviser
to the Algebra Project and PBS documentaries
Eyes on the Prize II and America’s War on Poverty;
board of directors, Urban History Association.
SLC, 1989–
Joseph W. Woolfson Mathematics
BS, Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. New York
University. Adelphi University. Investigator,
under grant from Office of Naval Research, in
realm of mathematical group theory; inventor,
with U.S. patents relating to the technology of
pick-resistant magnetic lock cylinders; issued a
patent for an air conditioning muffler device
(November 2003). SLC, 1965–
Miyabi Yamamoto Japanese
BA, Barnard College. MA, PhD candidate,
University of California-Berkeley. Special
interests include Japanese language, literature,
and culture of all periods; modern Korean studies;
minority studies; gender studies; colonial and
postcolonial studies; and the relationship
between memory and narrative. Raised bilingual
in Japan, she is an experienced translator and
interpreter between Japanese and English.
Fellowships received include the Japan
Foundation Fellowship, the Korea Foundation
Fellowship, and the Foreign Language and Area
Studies Fellowships. SLC, 2011—
John A. Yannelli William Schuman Scholar in
Music—Music
BPh, Thomas Jefferson College, University of
Michigan. MFA, Sarah Lawrence College.
Composer, innovator in the fields of electronic
music and music for theatre and dance, composer
of traditional and experimental works for all
media, specialist in improvisational techniques,
director of the Sarah Lawrence Improvisational
Ensemble, toured nationally with the United
Stage theatre company and conceived of and
introduced the use of electronic music for the
productions. Freelance record producer and
engineer; music published by Soundspell
Productions. SLC, 1984—
Jonathan Yates Music
Mali Yin Chemistry
BS, Shaanxi Normal University, China. PhD,
Temple University. Postdoctoral research
associate, Michigan State University. Researcher
and author of articles in areas of inorganic,
organic, and protein chemistry; special interests
in synthesis and structure determination of
inorganic and organometallic compounds by Xray diffraction and various spectroscopic
techniques, protein crystallography,
environmental chemistry, and material science.
SLC, 1996–
Mia Yoo Theatre
Thomas Young Music
Cleveland Music School Settlement. Cleveland
Institute of Music. Singer, actor, and conductor;
founder and conductor, Los Angeles Vocal
Ensemble; principal with San Francisco Opera,
Royal Opera House, Opéra La Monnaie,
Netherlands Opera, Opéra de Lyon, New York
City Opera, and Houston Grand Opera; festivals
in Vienna, Salzburg, Holland, Maggio, and
Munich; two Grammy nominations; two Cleo
nominations; national tours, Broadway, offBroadway, regional theatre, and television. SLC,
1989–
Charles Zerner Barbara B. and Bertram J. Cohn
Professorship in Environmental
Studies—Environmental Studies
BA, Clark University. MArch, University of
Oregon. J.D., Northeastern University. Special
interests in environmental ethnography; political
ecology; environmental justice, law, language,
and culture; environmental security and public
policy. Ethnographic fieldwork with Mandar
fishing communities of Sulawesi, Indonesia, and
reef management in Indonesia’s Maluku Islands;
former program director, the Rainforest Alliance.
Contributor and editor, People, Plants, and Justice:
The Politics of Nature Conservation and Culture
and the Question of Rights: Forests, Coasts, and
Seas in Southeast Asia; and co-editor, Representing
Communities: Politics and Histories of CommunityBased Natural Resource Management. Co-editor,
190 Current Faculty
with Banu Subramaniam and Elizabeth
Hartmann, of Making Threats: Biofears and
Environmental Anxieties (AltaMira Press, 2005).
Residencies at the University of CaliforniaIrvine, Humanities Research Institute, and the
Woodrow Wilson International Center for
Scholars; grants include Fulbright-Hays
fellowship for fieldwork in Indonesia, National
Endowment for the Humanities, and the Social
Science Research Council. SLC, 2000–
Matilde Zimmermann History (on leave fall
semester)
BA, Radcliffe College. MA, University of
Wisconsin-Madison. PhD, University of
Pittsburgh. Special interest in the Nicaraguan
and Cuban revolutions, Che Guevara’s life and
writings, labor and social movements, Atlantic
history and the African diaspora in the
Caribbean and Latin America, history of Latinos/
as in the United States, environmental history.
Author, Sandinista: Carlos Fonseca and the
Nicaraguan Revolution (Duke, 2000); Carlos
Fonseca y la revolución nicaragüense (Managua,
2003); Bajo las banderas de Che y de Sandino
(Havana, 2004); A Revolução Nicaragüense (São
Paulo, 2005); Comandante Carlos: La vida de
Carlos Fonseca Amador (Caracas, 2008). Director,
Sarah Lawrence College Study Abroad program
in Havana, Cuba. SLC, 2002–
Carol Zoref Writing Coordinator—Writing
BA, MFA, Sarah Lawrence College. Fiction
writer and essayist; recipient of fellowships and
grants from the Virginia Center for Creative
Arts, Hall Farm Center for Arts, and In Our Own
Write; winner of I.O.W.W. Emerging Artist
Award; and finalist for the Henfield and
American Fiction Awards and Pushcart Prize.
SLC, 1996–
Elke Zuern Politics (on leave fall semester)
AB, Colgate University. MA, MPhil, PhD,
Columbia University. Research interests include
the role of social movements in new democracies,
institutional and extra-institutional mechanisms
of protest, popular responses to poverty and
inequality, state-civil society alliances, and the
role of violence in processes of democratization.
Regional specialization: sub-Saharan Africa;
extensive fieldwork in South Africa. Recipient of
a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship at Amherst
College and a Lowenstein fellowship; recent
articles in Comparative Politics, Politique Africaine,
African Affairs, South African Labour Bulletin,
Transformation, and African Studies Review. SLC,
2002–
NOTES 191
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SLC Undergraduate Course Catalogue 2011-2012

Transcription

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