What is law? For something that permeates and influences so much of our lives, it can be hard to grasp upon reflection. Is the law whatever a sovereign commands? Or is there a higher moral law or some external standard that limits what a ruler can legislate? And what about the role of judges? Do they… Read more »

This course explores the enigmatic connections between violence and political power. Specifically, we will try to understand how the destructive periods of war turn into productive moments that generate new political spaces. Our guiding questions, in other words, will be: what takes place when violence recedes and political power emerges? Is politics a peaceful resolution… Read more »

Since the foundation of the Christian Church, when men and women first sought to live apart from popular society and devote their lives entirely to religion, monks and nuns have influenced heavily the development of Medieval art and architecture. Early monks and nuns lived as hermits in the mountains, forests and deserts. From the second or third… Read more »

Among the most compelling literatures of our day is that which records and seeks to interpret the Nazi war of genocide against the Jews. This course will introduce students to this literature and encourage them to reflect upon many of the profound questions it raises. Some of these questions will focus on literature’s role in… Read more »

**THIS CLASS IS OPEN *ONLY* TO FRESHMAN WELLS SCHOLARS**

For the class, I have selected materials that present a variety of topics and arguments, including immigration, race, class, and gender. Connections between our course and current and/or historical events outside the classroom will be evident during the class. Those connections require careful thought rather than being immediately obvious, but the ability to understand and… Read more »

What do we mean when we say that an event is “tragic”? Is a death more tragic if it is the result of a murder than if it happened by accident or from natural causes? Do we say it is “tragic” in order to make sense of it or as a way of saying that… Read more »

We had no such thing as printed newspapers in those days to spread rumours and reports of things … [and] things did not spread instantly over the whole nation, as they do now. But it seems that the Government had a true account of it, and several councils were held about ways to prevent its… Read more »

Accidents and catastrophes are dramatic events that challenge individual and collective life. They break the protective shields that ward off the threats surrounding us. Their impact calls upon psychological and cultural coping mechanisms and forces us to reconfigure our lives that will never be the same. How have cultures dealt with the unexpected breakdown of… Read more »

In this course we will travel the world to examine how artists and different artforms came together, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, to shape our understandings of modernity and its relationship with phenomena and ideas such as: consciousness, perception, emancipation, reality, war, and oppression. We will look at art and literature from… Read more »