Spring 2027 Colloquia

DWC 202 C01: M 8:30-10:20 & W 8:30-10:20
Consciousness, Conviction, and Contemplation
Peter Costello, Fr. John Allard, O.P.

This course will explore and analyze religious beliefs and practices found in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. We will consider human religious consciousness as it occurs in artistic, literary, religious, and philosophical frameworks. Our approach takes its cue from the philosophical perspective known as phenomenology, and so we value the importance of noticing and being present to the data of human experience. Thus, readings and class discussions will relate to such religious meanings as transcendence, the awareness of the presence and the absence of God, and the transformational process known as conversion. The course encourages students to participate in conversations attuned to the human person reflecting upon the meaning of her or his own religious experience.

DWC 202 C02: M 10:30-12:20 & W 10:30-12:20
The Story of Human Migration
Terry McGoldrick, Samuel Murray

Beginning with prehistoric hunter gathering societies clashing with farming city states at the dawn of what we call civilization, to the modern displacement of approximately 100 million persons, the story of human migration is as relevant to understanding the development of Western Civilization as ever. This course will survey the history of migration up to its present form with the multiple issues it raises for social justice, the common good, conflict and progress. Portraits of migration at the US-Mexico border as well as from refugee camps in Turkey and Venezuela will seek to give a human face to the drama of displaced people and its impacts. We will read literature and view films to evoke empathy. We will probe the theological idea of the immigrant as Christ figure, the ethical questions of modern migration, and its causes as well as the policy aspects in receiving nations to make comparisons. The course will also incorporate social work ethical principles to consider and understand contemporary contexts of forced migration. We will unpack the question: Why is the US immigration system called a broken
system?

DWC 202 C03: M 1:00-2:50 & W 1:00-2:50
Music, Beauty, and Desire in the Modern Era
Robert Barry, Cathy Gordon

This class will explore the depictions, considerations and critiques of the modern engagement of human desire. We will explore proposals and projects that go beyond modern engagements such as commodification and consumerism, employing especially music as a creative and interpretive lens.

DWC 202 C04: M 8:30-10:20 & W 8:30-10:20
Faith and Doubt
Vance Morgan, Justin Brophy

Anne Lamott writes that “The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty.” In this colloquium, we will explore the relationship of faith and doubt. Although faith and doubt have often been imagined as incompatible opposites, we will engage with texts which suggest that doubt not only can coexist with faith in a coherent worldview, but also is a necessary feature of a vibrant and growing faith. Our considerations will be guided by a wide range of interdisciplinary figures, including but not limited to Job from the Jewish Scriptures, Michel de Montaigne, Blaise Pascal, Søren Kierkegaard, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Simone Weil, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Benjamin Britten,
Vincent van Gogh, Mother Teresa, and Tomas Halik.

DWC 202 C05: W 8:30-10:20 & M 8:30-10:20
A National Artistic Experiment: FDR and the Federal Theatre Project
Sharon Murphy, Erin Schmidt

“A National Artistic Experiment” will study the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt through the lens of his administration’s implementation of The Federal Theatre Project, the largest and most wide-reaching effort mounted by the Federal government to produce theatre in American history. This course will study the period from the pre-depression era to the Federal Theatre Project’s closure at the end of the 1930’s. Students will read a variety of texts that will give context to the political, social and economic complexities of the time, and Roosevelt’s agenda to address them. After laying a historical foundation, we will turn to the Federal Theatre Project to read and analyze some of the important artistic texts that were born out of the FTP and discuss the themes and commentary the plays offer about human nature and society.

DWC 202 C06: W 10:30-12:20 & M 10:30-12:20
Islam and the West: A History Conflict and Coexistence from Muhammad to the War on Terror
Sandra Keating, Vefa Erginbas

This interdisciplinary course examines a particular aspect of the civilization of the West in depth through literature, philosophy, theology, history, and art. The relationship of Islam to Western Civilization has been at the center of heated debates for centuries. In 1978, Edward Said published Orientalism, in which he argued that the western view of Islam and Muslim societies had become critically flawed. In this class, a history of the uneasy relationship between the Muslim societies and cultures and the Western world will be examined beginning with early Islamic expansion, continuing through the period of the Crusades, the age of the Ottoman Empire, and finally through the periods of imperialism, colonialism, and the American century. During the final weeks, Islam in America, the growth of the Nation of Islam and figures such as Malcolm X, war on terror, and anti-Americanism in the Muslim world will be also examined. Utilizing primary sources, artifacts from arts and architecture, movies, and documentaries, this class offers students an eye-opening journey to the relationship of two great civilizations and cultures through the lenses of history, literature, art, and cinema.

This interdisciplinary course examines a particular aspect of the civilization of the West in depth through literature, philosophy, theology, history, and art. The relationship of Islam to Western Civilization has been at the center of heated debates for centuries. In 1978, Edward Said published Orientalism, in which he argued that the western view of Islam and Muslim societies had become critically flawed. In this class, a history of the uneasy relationship between the Muslim societies and cultures and the Western world will be examined beginning with early Islamic expansion, continuing through the period of the Crusades, the age of the Ottoman Empire, and finally through the periods of imperialism, colonialism, and the American century. During the final weeks, Islam in America, the growth of the Nation of Islam and figures such as Malcolm X, war on terror, and anti-Americanism in the Muslim world will be also examined. Utilizing primary sources, artifacts from arts and architecture, movies, and documentaries, this class offers students an eye-opening journey to the relationship of two great civilizations and cultures through the lenses of history, literature, art, and cinema.

DWC 202 C08: F 8:30-10:20 & W 8:30-10:20 Environmental Health
Rachel Lyons, Peter Rogers

This interdisciplinary course explores the evolving concepts of health and the environment, examining their interconnectedness across time and cultures. Students will engage with perspectives from the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities to understand how definitions of health and environment have developed globally. Topics include the physical, emotional, and holistic dimensions of health; the historical and current impacts of natural and human-made environments; and the complex relationship between climate change, healthcare, and ecological well-being. The course will critically examine frameworks like One Health to explore the interdependence of human and environmental health.

DWC 202 C09: F 10:30-12:20 & W 10:30-12:20
The Global City
Elizabeth Bridgham, Rob Stretter

In “The Global City,” we will explore the ways in which cities function as cosmopolitan spaces, examining them from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including history, politics, literature, drama in performance, cultural geography, the fine arts, museum studies, and more. Our colloquium focuses on two cities as case studies: one far (London) and one right in our midst (Providence). London, one of the world’s first modern global cities, brings together many of the threads that students will have encountered so far in DWC: a Roman imperial outpost that later became the imperial superpower on which the sun never set; the hub of English-language art and culture; the site of superior technological and financial innovation that houses and conceals a substantial underclass; the indomitable and resilient WWII homefront that banded together as one to oppose and withstand the attacks of fascism from without and within; and the culturally diverse and vibrant – though potentially fragmented – national capital that it is today, shaped by immigrants from the far corners of its former Empire.  

Our study of London will help us better understand our own, smaller version of a global city in Providence, RI. This colloquium is unusual in that it emphasizes experiential learning as much as time in the classroom. The city of Providence will be our main class “textbook,” and students will explore it through a series of field trips to various neighborhoods, museums, restaurants, public art installations, performances, and workshops. Active participation is a must! Come see the world in your backyard! 

DWC 202 C10: F 1:00-2:50 & W 1:00-2:50
Civic Engagement in the U.S.A.: Constitutional Principles, History, and Turning Points
Christopher Arroyo, Darra Mulderry

This course will invite students to formulate answers to two questions: 1) What is the nature of the U.S.’s democratic system? 2) How should we, its citizens, act to sustain its best features and remedy its flaws, especially at a time of deep divisions in U.S. society?

By engaging with primary sources that educate students about hotly debated issues in American history from colonial times to our current moment, students will gain civic knowledge of U.S. history and government and civic capacity for collaborative inquiry and action, as well as articulate what they believe are the most constructive norms for constructive civic discourse. Moreover, they shall have opportunity to draw on some of their learning from their first 3 semesters in the DWC program to reflect on these issues in the course, particularly with respect to the ways in which the first three semesters introduced students to key theorists about democracy. NOTE: the core ideas for this course were inspired by a curricular project entitled “Third Way Civics” developed at the Minnesota Humanities Center that aims to nurture civil discourse in this time of relative discord. We are modeling parts of this course on parts the Third Way Civics Project, which was started at Minnesota State University by Trygve Throntveit.

DWC 202 C15: W 10:30-12:20 & M 10:30-12:20
Care for Creation and the Western Tradition
Dana Dillon, William Patenaude

This course draws from theological, historical, literary and philosophical sources to offer an exploration of the evolving and complicated attitudes toward creation throughout the history and theology of Western civilization. We will consider ways that various dynamics such as capitalism and colonialism impacted these attitudes. We will also engage in two games that will allow students to play roles in European negotiations regarding international law concerning acid rain (1980s) and climate change (2009) and reflect on the ways that history and theology impacted (and continue to impact) the collective will (or lack thereof) to make the changes necessary to save our planet.

DWC 202 C16: W 1:00-2:50 & M 1:00-2:50
The Modern Mental Health Crisis
Jordyn Hagar, Leanne Oden

Welcome to DWC 202! This interdisciplinary seminar invites you to become both an analyst of and an activist within the ongoing mental health crisis. In this course, we will examine case studies alongside personal testimonies as we interrogate the social factors that contribute, the socio-cultural construction of illness/health, and, ultimately, the larger implications of a society in need of healing. The course centers a core social work framework—the bio-psycho socialspiritual model—as a foundational lens through which we will ask critical questions about systemic power structures that create and perpetuate the conditions for social injustice related to mental health. Simultaneously, we will explore how psychiatric language and medicalized care
have reduced complex states of human experience to a binary of illness versus health. Whose voices are amplified and prioritized over others? Whose stories are worthy of record? Whose lived experiences are left to fall through the cracks of a larger systemic issue? Through our survey of clinical, philosophical, literary, and autobiographical texts, we will approach the modern mental health crisis as an indicator of psychological and societal pain, understood through the words of those most impacted, and with a limited repertoire for intervention and healing. By the completion of this colloquium, students will have learned not only to critically
read but also recognize and challenge the narratives and policies that shape mental health in social discourse and will create multimodal counternarratives that advocate for underrepresented social groups and, crucially, advocate for systemic reform.

DWC 202 C18: T 10:30-12:20 & R 10:30-12:20
The Literature of War and Peace
Elizabeth Palazzolo, Olga Limnios

War inspired some of the earliest and most famous works of human literature, and warfare and violence continue to draw audiences for movies, television, and books today. This colloquium will look at war as an inspiration for literature from the ancient Mediterranean through the 20th
century, examining varied representations of war that range from glorious and noble to terrifying and evil. We will discuss how writers across time periods and cultures have represented conflict, its causes, and its aftermath, as well as how evolving literary genres have shaped the ways
collective violence is narrated and understood. In looking at the relationship between these literary works and the societies in which they were produced, we will also explore the social role of writing about war and consider how religion and warfare intersect in literature. We will also look at literary representations of peace—texts that depict the ends of conflicts,
imagine reconciliation between enemies, or describe a sustained state of peace in the absence of violence—and consider why it has been the topic of comparatively few works of literature. Do we only imagine peace as a contrast to war? Is peace less interesting for audiences; if so, why?
In particular, we will consider whether representations of war and peace have evolved in response to growing interest in international diplomacy, peacekeeping, pacifism and nonviolence
from the late 19th century through the present.

DWC 202 C19: T 1:00-2:50 & R 1:00-2:50
Philosophy and Poetry in East and West
Chun Ye, Colin King

Before writing, poetic form was the proper vessel for philosophical content. Literacy
created a relativization of oral forms of literature, even where it copied it, as for example in Plato’s dialogues. Unlike writing, metrically bound verse made the content recordable and transmittable in oral form. In this seminar we explore some central philosophical works from both the West (ancient Greek and Latin literature) and the East (ancient Chinese literature) in
poetic form which reflect early forms of writing, and also certain kinds of pre-literary, oral culture. We are looking primarily at a stage of cultural production when poetry was philosophy’s form. It is intriguing that we find this phenomenon in two ancient cultures which produced both great poetry and great philosophy: the Classical tradition of Greek and Latin
literature in the West, and the Chinese tradition in the East. We wish to consider these works in comparative perspective both as philosophical texts and as poetry. Our readings will include: Empedocles, Parmenides, Lucretius, Laozi’s Dao De Jing, Zhuangzi, poetry from the Tang
Dynasty, and selected texts from the Zen Buddhist tradition. We will also compare how philosophy’s history developed in the early stages of each literary culture. The course aims at providing students deepened understanding of ancient Chinese and Greek poetry and philosophy, and to explore the implications of a prospect now remote for most philosophers: the possibility of philosophy as literature.

DWC 202 C21: R 8:30-10:20 & T 8:30-10:20
Divided: Class, Culture and Modern Identity
Amy Foley, Osama Siddiqui

Class is one of the most enduring forms of social difference in the modern world. Categories like “middle class” or “working class,” for example, not only define a structural relation to the economy, but also describe various forms of political and cultural identification. In this way, our understanding of our class position shapes how we live, what we consume, and how we see ourselves. In this colloquium, we will explore how different writers, historians, philosophers, and 1 theologians have studied and depicted class and its impact on individual identity and self-fashioning. In particular, we will think about how class, economy, and culture inform one another and direct our ability to imagine ourselves and our futures.

DWC 202 C22: R 10:30-12:20 & T 10:30-12:20
Being Human: Heidegger and the Meaning of Everyday Life
Christopher Sauder, Mark Pedretti

What is it like to be a human being? What makes us the kind of beings that we are? This course attempts to shed light on these questions by examining Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time on the occasion of its100th anniversary, focusing on its account of the human way of being, and its wide-ranging influence beyond philosophy. Through close readings of key sections of the text, students will explore concepts such as being-in-the-world, everydayness, mood, temporality, anxiety, and authenticity. These ideas will be placed in dialogue with film, literature, visual art, and contemporary media to trace the cultural legacy of Heidegger’s thought. The course is designed for students without prior training in philosophy and emphasizes phenomenological description, interpretation, and application to everyday experience. By the end of the semester, students will be able to recognize what a “Heideggerian” perspective looks like and assess why Being and Time continues to influence modern understandings of self, time, and meaning.

DWC 202 C23: R 1:00-2:50 & T 1:00-2:50
The Problem of Evil from Antiquity to Auschwitz
Jacqueline Satlow, Christopher Sauder

Evil: What is it, how do we understand its place in the universe, and how should righteous human beings respond to it? Does it come about by accident or by the arbitrary actions of a few malign individuals? Do all examples of evil have a common root? Do deadly diseases, natural disasters, war, conquest, slavery and genocide all meet the definition of evil? If God is omnipotent and omniscient, why does God allow evil to exist in the universe? These questions were first posed in the ancient world and have lost none of their relevance for us. As the capstone of the DWC sequence this colloquium will look at the shadow side of Western Civ: the existence of evil and suffering in the universe. We will begin with the time of the ancient Greeks and Hebrews and continue through the Holocaust of the European Jews (and others) in the 20th century. We will frame our class by zooming in on the beginnings of Western Civilization in Athens and Jerusalem and the downfall of that civilization in the second World War.

DWC 202 C24: R 3:00-4:50 & T 3:00-4:50
The Problem of Evil from Antiquity to Auschwitz
Jacqueline Satlow, Christopher Sauder

Evil: What is it, how do we understand its place in the universe, and how should righteous human beings respond to it? Does it come about by accident or by the arbitrary actions of a few malign individuals? Do all examples of evil have a common root? Do deadly diseases, natural disasters, war, conquest, slavery and genocide all meet the definition of evil? If God is omnipotent and omniscient, why does God allow evil to exist in the universe? These questions were first posed in the ancient world and have lost none of their relevance for us. As the capstone of the DWC sequence this colloquium will look at the shadow side of Western Civ: the existence of evil and suffering in the universe. We will begin with the time of the ancient Greeks and Hebrews and continue through the Holocaust of the European Jews (and others) in the 20th century. We will frame our class by zooming in on the beginnings of Western Civilization in Athens and Jerusalem and the downfall of that civilization in the second World War.

DWC 202 C25: R 8:30-10:20 & T 8:30-10:20
Race and Identity in Contemporary America
Iain Bernhoft, Jiyoon Im

Americans are obsessed with identity. We define ourselves and our politics in terms of race, sexual orientation, chosen pronouns . . . down to the things we buy and the “lifestyle” choices we make. But we also recognize that certain identities are marginalized or endangered, so we frame fundamental questions of freedom, justice, and representation in terms of “identity.” This course asks you to question the way we talk about identity (specifically race and gender) in America today. You will consider how free people are to choose their own identity, what unspoken assumptions we hold concerning identity, what role nature plays, and how Catholicism responds to the moral claims of identity. Our readings will include contemporary American and British fiction, essays, and films, as we seek to better understand what’s surprising and strange about the identity categories we take for granted.

DWC 202 C26: R 10:30-12:20 & T 10:30-12:20
Persuasion, Judgement, and Rhetoric
Iain Bernhoft, Jiyoon Im

Have Americans lost the ability to discuss the issues that divide us? Our country seems increasingly divided and angry, with “cancel culture” and shaming replacing open conversation and efforts to persuade. This colloquium invites you to consider what role persuasion should play (and does play) in liberal democracies. We’ll investigate how humans reason and make moral judgments, how rhetoric works, and in what ways persuasion is particularly necessary in liberal democracies. This study of democratic persuasion will take us from ancient Athens to contemporary America, as we consider readings, speeches, and plays from Thucydides to Shakespeare to Abraham Lincoln. You will also analyze contemporary political speeches and messaging on today’s hot-button issues, and even cultivate the art of persuasion for yourself in short speeches and debates

DWC 202 C27: R 1:00-2:50 & T 1:00-2:50
Time and Time Travel
Mark Pedretti, Alex Moffett

In his Confessions, Augustine asks, “What then is time? If no one asks me, I know; if I want to explain it to a questioner, I do not know.” Indeed, the nature of time — its form and movement, its objective existence and subjective experience — has been a persistent problematic throughout the philosophical history of Western Civilization. In the modern era, it has also been the locus for imaginative exploration in a specific genre of speculative fiction: the time travel story. From Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” to Avengers: Endgame, time travel is a recurring narrative device enabling imaginative possibilities outside of linear chronology. But what do these time travel narratives tell us about the concept of time? Conversely, what notions of time do they rely upon? Where does narrative’s imaginative horizon expand the limits of our conceptual understanding of time?
This colloquium intends to place philosophical and scientific concepts of time into dialogue with a host of time
travel narratives in both literature and film, in order to analyze these questions. You will develop an understanding of different notions of time throughout the history of the West, and will use that conceptual apparatus as a heuristic for interpreting those speculative texts, ultimately working towards a research project in which you select a time travel narrative not covered in class and use the analytical vocabulary you have cultivated as a means for advancing an interpretive argument about it.

DWC 202 C28: R 3:00-4:50 & T 3:00-4:50
Masculinity
Alex Moffett, Eric Bennett

A steady stream of recent news articles, books, and academic papers describes a crisis for American men. Changing norms and declining economic opportunities in the U.S. have left many men feeling adrift and alienated. Marriage rates are down, good jobs are harder to find, and friendships prove elusive. A chorus of voices answers this crisis with opinions and solutions that range from humane and sympathetic to incendiary and pugnacious.
This course explores the question of what it means to be a man in the United States in 2026 and does so against both this backdrop of crisis reporting and a deeper historical context. It draws on works of history, philosophy, and literature and pairs those readings with contemporary models of manhood as they appear (in earnest and in satire) in films, TV shows, podcasts and short online videos. Students will be invited to keep a running account of their opinions on matters fundamental to their happiness and the happiness of those around them; and also to engage with the theme in deeply academic ways.

DWC 202 C29: T 1:00-2:50 & R 1:00-2:50
We Can…But Should We?
Vance Morgan, Robert Camp

“In the space of around a hundred years, successive technological waves took humanity from an era of candles and horse carts to one of power stations and space stations. Something similar is going to occur in the next thirty years. In the coming decades, a new wave of technology will force us to confront the most foundational questions our species has ever face. Do we want to edit our genomes so that some of us can have children with immunity to certain diseases, or with more intelligence, or with the potential to live longer? Are we committed to holding on to our place at the top of the evolutionary pyramid, or will we allow the emergence of AI systems that are smarter and more capable than we can ever be? What are the unintended consequences of exploring questions like these?” Mustafa Suleyman, The Coming Wave (2023) In this colloquium we will explore the ethical implications of cutting edge and emerging technologies. Should there be moral guardrails on such technologies, or should the development of such technologies be free of such limitations? How can the moral implications of technology that has not yet been created be explored?

DWC 202 C30: T 3:00-4:50 & R 3:00-4:50
The Theory and Practice of Representation
Colin King, Adam Myers

Representation is a fundamental issue in the practice of modern democratic politics.
Ever since Thomas Hobbes first examined the relationship between the representative and the represented, political theorists and philosophers have debated complex questions regarding how a representative system should be set up, who should be represented (and who shouldn’t), what it means to be a “good” representative, and others. In this course we will consider both classics in the theory of representation and contemporary work which applies such theory to systems of representation in modern democracies, with a particular view to the US electoral system. In doing so, we will examine the history of representation in the U.S., including the development of representation based on geographic districts, the “one person, one vote” revolution, the rise of partisan gerrymandering, and the question of racial representation. Part of the course will include planning and participating in a conference with diverse viewpoints from the electoral reform movement on the future of representation after the effective
dismantling of the Voting Rights Act by the US Supreme Court in 2026. The course will be centered on several contested questions regarding modern political representation in the US context: What are the roles of political parties in representing their voters – and even those who do not vote for them? What sort of voting outcome confers the right kind of authority on a representative body (simple plurality, proportional representation, or something else)? Is it legitimate to represent peoples’ interests purely on the basis of geographic fictions, namely voting districts? And what are the reasonable limits of the manipulation of voting districts in favor of one party or another (gerrymandering), if any? What does fair representation through an electoral system require? Finally: what can the represented reasonably expect from their political representatives in a modern democracy?

DWC 202 C31: T 8:30-10:20 & R 8:30-10:20
Dark Psychology and Literature
Greg Charpentier, Olga Limnios

 “Don’t get too close, it’s dark inside; it’s where my demons hide.” This line speaks to all of us. No wonder the song it comes from—“Demons” by Imagine Dragons—was such a huge hit. However, shining a light on the dark corners of human psyche is not an exclusive purview of rock musicians. Centuries before Imagine Dragons, Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, John Milton, Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Shelley, and Nikolai Gogol devoted their art and skill to examining the human condition in all its manifestations, including such problematic human traits as manipulation, coercion, and hubris. After them, came Oscar Wilde, Arthur Miller, Paulo Coehlo, and Chuck Palahniuk (among others) and continued shining the light on the shadowy aspects of our behavior. In turn, Freud, Frankel, Adler, and Jung offered professional psychological insight into these darker manifestations of human nature.

In this class, we will examine both the literary representations of human darkness and attempt to uncover their psychological roots. We will center on the theme of self-deceit and trace it to all the unsavory behaviors exhibited by Othello, Satan, Dr. Frankenstein and numerous other literary personages. In the process, we will also look inside ourselves. In a sense, using the lens of psychology, we want to answer the question “Why do people do what they do?” Attempting to answer this question this will give us more depth and a better framework for understanding of ourselves. Carl Jung told us that “A tree, it is said, cannot grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell.”

Dark Psychology is not a macabre interpretation or a perversion of the science, but instead an opportunity to face things that otherwise would be left unseen or in the shadows, controlling behavior unchecked. When children fear the darkness under their bed and in the closet, how do their parents banish the fear? They simply shine a light on it, exposing it, weakening it, and dispelling its power. If we do not face the darkness, we give it undue power. Along our journey this semester, we will pay special attention to the Roman Catholic tradition in the pieces we read and will make sure to represent all cultures respectfully with sensitivity to the immense diversity within the College community.

DWC 202 C32: W 1:00-2:50 & M 1:00-2:50
The Holy Grail in History, Literature, and Popular Theology
Christopher Berard, Douglass Hamilton

The grail is an object as miraculous as it is mysterious. Modern scholars disagree
regarding its origins. Some trace it back to Jewish food rituals, specifically to a serving platter used in the medieval Passover Seder. Others trace it back to Celtic mythology–a magical cauldron or cornucopia. Still others suggest the influence of the Black Stone, a rock set in the eastern corner of the Kaaba, revered by Muslims as a relic dating back to the time of Adam and Eve. Medieval authors did not agree about the form of the Grail, but they did agree: (1) that it is a holy object, (2) that it is hard to find, and (3) that it brings healing, sustenance, and rejuvenation to those deemed worthy of attaining it. How one orders one’s loves (e.g. family, country, and God) is a critical factor in determining whether one is worthy of partaking of the Grail. The pursuit of a Grail is a metaphor for the pursuit of true happiness and immortality.
2 Our course will explore the contributions of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity to the Grail myth as well as the contributions of pre-Christian Celtic and Indo-European peoples such as antecedents within the Mabinogion. We will be closely reading and analyzing three early and influential grail romances as well as a unique Hebrew Arthurian romance that discusses the grail: King Artus (1279). The nineteenth- and twentieth-century reception of the Grail myth and its deployment in the service of modern political propaganda and popular literature will be treated near the end of the semester. For example, we will be exploring postmodernism and the pursuit of truth in Naiomi Mitchison’s To the Chapel Perilous (1955) Thus we are exploring the enduring appeal in the present of myths, stories and philosophies from the past, the intersection of theism and power, and the reciprocal influence of religion and culture.

DWC 202 C33: M 5:30-7:20 & W 5:30-7:20
The Bricks & Mortar of Civilization: The Comparative History of Retail from Ancient Merchants
Guolin Yi, Courtney Bozigian

While we are living through the shift from brick & mortar shopping to e-commerce, we are also witnessing a reimagination of the shopping experience. Students will create plans for modern retail experiences that can co-exist in today’s online world, by learning about and discussing the evolution of retail models within time periods and cultures.

This colloquium not only traces the history of retail from early marketplaces through the rise of department stores and e-commerce, but also compares the retail and commercial models in the West (Netherlands, England, and the U.S.) and the East (China, Japan, and Korea).

We will explore modern global retail brands through multiple lenses including history, economics, sociology, religion, art & architecture, as well as branding & marketing. Questions and topics will include:

What is the role of philosophy in shaping a market structure within civilizations? How is it different between the East and West? How is it the same?

How do retail models emerge and evolve?

How do retail models reflect the societies in which they exist?

Are they a function of wants/needs, political forces, geographical necessity, cultural or religious views? Does it vary between East and West?

What factors impact the development of retail beyond economic or financial models?

What are the possible factors that would contribute to the success/failure of Western retail models and brands in East Asia?

How can we leverage historical retail models to reinvent or reimagine the modern retail experience?

How has the concept of economic opportunity been experienced by different groups through the development of retail models in different civilizations (class, race, gender, etc.)?

DWC 202 C34: M 5:30-7:20 & W 5:30-7:20
Studying the Middle Ages Through Medieval and Modern Games
Christopher Berard, Aaron Colaiacomo

Keeping alive the Middle Ages in popular consciousness is a wide array of digital and physical games. Our course takes the long view of gaming as a tool for learning about medieval European civilization. We will proceed diachronically from medieval board games to tabletop role-playing games to digital gaming.

Our first unit is devoted to chess, an abstract strategy board game played on both sides of the medieval-modern divide. We will study its origins in sixth-century Persia, its transmission across medieval Asia and Europe, and its changing rules and cultural significance. As part of this unit, we will read The Book of Chess (ca. 1275), an extended sermon by the Dominican friar Jacobus de Cessolis (fl. 1288–1322), which uses the history of the game, its players, and their moves as the basis for a moral discourse on life comprised of tales and anecdotes of ancient and medieval literary sources. At the end of this unit, students will assess the benefits and limitations of the game metaphor for medieval society.

Our second unit is devoted to Arthurian role-playing games past and present. We will familiarize ourselves with the main characters, plots, and conflicts of King Arthur’s court, and, after that, study the rules, structures, and cultural functions of Arthurian sports and spectacles. Our exploration will include the medieval martial game known as the Round Table as well as the various elite, courtly, and socially exclusive Courts of King Arthur that sprang up all across Europe in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. With these contexts in mind, we will also be delving deeply into the cooperative storytelling, tabletop, roleplaying game that is Dungeons & Dragons. At the end of this unit, students will construct a character profile for an Arthurian personage of their choice using the latest Dungeons & Dragons character design instructions as a template.

Our third unit is devoted to the agonistic and ludic components of chivalry and violence during the First Phase of the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1360) and also the educational value of battle simulation board games and the Eurogame revolution that lead to the creation of such popular games as Settlers of Catan (1995) and Agricola (2007). We will begin by exploring the rules and disputed questions of chivalry as discussed in Geoffroi de Charny’s Book of Chivalry (1350). Next, we will consider how advances in military technology, including Edward III’s combined arms tactics, impacted the norms of war, military culture, and aristocratic and plebeian society. As part of this unit, students will be using the Men of Iron battle simulation board game to explore the Battle of Crécy (1346) and the Battle of Poitier (1356).

Our fourth unit is devoted to medieval-themed digital games and esports tournaments. We will consider critically how the “Digital Turn” (and its accompanying rise of digital games and technologies) has created a new momentum, leading to an entirely different level of innovation and prominence for studying games. In this unit, we will assess the historical authenticity and educational value of specific medieval-themed digital games. Games under consideration include Assassin’s Creed, Dragon Age, and Skyrim. We will also compare modern competitive esports tournaments to medieval tournaments. As their capstone project, students will describe, critically assess, and present on a medieval-themed modern game of their choice.

DWC 202 C35: T 3:00-4:50 & R 3:00-4:50
American Conservative Thought
James Keating, Patrick Macfarlane

American Conservative Thought begins with the current mood of political stalemate in the US that prevails between progressives and conservatives. Following Thomas Sowell, we seek to articulate clearly what Sowell calls this “conflict of visions” in order to better understand the fundamental philosophical differences between progressives and conservatives. The course then traces the development of American Conservatism in its modern form, beginning in the mid-twentieth century, up to the present day. We will situate the origin of American conservative thought in the larger global context of the aftermath of WWII with the subsequent rise of the Soviet Union, global communism, and the Cold War.

Modern conservatism was forged primarily in the anti-communism of the Cold War period, but developed its mature form thanks to the influence of two related strands of thought: classical liberalism in economics, and traditionalism in political philosophy.

Contemporary conservative camps – paleoconservatives, neoconservatives, and libertarians – all share a common heritage despite a difference of emphasis from one group to another. The course finishes by considering current political issues from a conservative perspective.

DWC 202 C37: R 8:30-10:20 & R 8:30-10:20
Democracy in America: Then and Now
Patrick Breen, Raymond Hain

Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America is at once the best book ever written about the United States and the best book ever written about democracy. The purpose of this colloquium, centered on a close reading of Democracy in America, is consequently three-fold: first, to understand Tocqueville’s achievement on its own terms and in its proper historical context, allowing us insight into the birth of modern democracy; second, to recognize a wide variety of serious and significant political questions that confront us today and, often enough (though in different clothes), likewise confronted Tocqueville in the 1800s; and finally, to bring Tocqueville’s claims to bear on our own contemporary situation in order to help us come to a deeper understanding of the nature and demands of successful democratic life.

DWC 202 C38: M 1:00-2:50 & W 1:00-2:50
Race Science and the Western Tradition
Maia Bailey, Jen Illuzzi

Students in our DWC colloquium will think critically about the evolution of racial science from the 18th century to the present.  The course, co-taught by a historian and evolutionary biologist, will address the history and growth of scientific thought on race, and critically examine the impact of this thinking on our contemporary world. We will assess student learning through students reflecting on their own relationship to racial histories, exploring the power of genetic analysis in shaping their own stories of selfhood. Students will be able to analyze how discredited racist thinking is still prevalent in contemporary discourse. Through reading and writing on primary and secondary source texts on the history of race, students will come to synthesize a variety of perspectives and historical understandings of racial science.  

DWC 202 C40: Civ in London
Stephanie Boeninger

For many immigrants who came to America from the 17th century onward, one of the most appealing elements of their new country was a seeming lack of a restrictive social class system. Most of the European countries from which these immigrants traveled retained a vestige of the social stratification that had dominated the West in the medieval period. This was especially the case in Britain, where aristocratic institutions such as the House of Lords retained a certain degree of political and social power well into the 20th century. The United States prided itself on eschewing such anti-democratic institutions; however, it was certainly not a classless society. The racial caste system of the postbellum South was the most apparent manifestation of social class, but many other ethnic and religious groups also experienced discrimination. Today, the markers of class are far more apparent to British people than they are to Americans; however, that doesn’t mean that those markers don’t exist.

In this course, we will be analyzing the concept of social class, in all of its various permutations. One of our primary focal points will be a comparison of the class systems in Britain and America. We’ll be thinking about ways in which the British upper classes defined themselves against the middle and working classes. We’ll also be closely scrutinizing the claim that America is a “classless” society. As we consider these issues, we’ll be charting the rise of the labor movement in both Britain and America in the twentieth centuries. We will explore the intersections between social class and a variety of other topics, including race, language, economics, and what the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu called habitus: the set of practices that constitute people’s response to the social world in which they move. And finally, we will be reading and discussing works of literature that explore these class tensions.

We will be taking advantage of our position in London to visit museums and other sites relevant to our scholarly inquiries. These sites include the Docklands Museum in London and The People’s History Museum in Manchester.