Shared Passages | Kalamazoo College

First-Year Seminars

First-Year Seminars constitute the gateway to the K-Plan and to college life for entering students and serve as the foundation of the Shared Passages Program. Offered in the fall quarter, these Seminars are designed to orient students to college-level learning practices, with particular emphasis on critical thinking, writing, speaking, information literacy, and intercultural engagement.

First-Year Seminar Courses

SEMN 102 FYS: From Playstation 4 to Plato The past does not exist. That is to say, in most cases, the past is not stable, and our ideas about it change. The goal of this class is to examine the modern media that attempt to define and transmit the ancient past and to put them in dialogue with sources from the ancient world itself. Think of any book, film, or video game about the past - does it transmit the authoritative version of what it depicts? Are you sure? Why did this particular version of the past come to be? How is the past made and by whom? Our objective is to investigate how the past is made and remade, particularly the history, culture, and mythology of ancient Greece. We will explore how the Greek world is currently being imagined across a wide variety of media (e.g. video games, film, music) and put these media into dialogue with the ancient sources that generated them. We will focus on concepts that ignited the imaginations of the ancient Greeks as well as those of modern artists, particularly mythology, epic poetry, and the life and times of the philosopher Socrates. We will discover that many of these ancient accounts are also in conflict with one another, and that modern accounts are no closer to "the truth" than their ancient ancestors. Examples of texts to be discussed include: Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, Homer's Iliad, Hades (by Supergiant Games), the musical Hadestown, and a modern role-playing game inspired by the Iliad. Please note that while video games will form a part of the syllabus, you will only be required to play short parts of them. They will be made available to you on one of the computers in the K College Library.

SEMN 104 FYS: Migration, Community, and Self Going to college and immigrating to a new country have much in common. Moving to a new place presents many challenges. Yet, a new environment also offers opportunities for personal growth that force immigrants to reconcile "Old" with "New." Through reading, writing, and discussion, students will seek to relate a specific episode of migration-the mass movement of over 2 million Jews from Eastern Europe to the United States between 1881 and 1914-to their own "immigration" to Kalamazoo. Along the way, the class will explore many of the universal questions raised by relocation. Why does migration occur? What motivates people to pick up their lives and move to a new place, and what happens to them when they arrive? How does the migration experience shape their view of the world they left behind and their view of their new environment? How do immigrants reconstruct communities for themselves where none may have previously existed? Finally, how does moving to a new place shape one's sense of self?

SEMN 107 FYS: Exploring Technology for Accessability Digital technology is an essential part of modern life. Much of the technology today is not designed with the needs of people with disabilities in mind, excluding them from opportunities and limiting their participation in many routine activities. When technology is designed and developed to be accessible it can reduce barriers for people with disabilities, increasing opportunities to work, learn, communicate, and engage in daily life. In this course, we will learn about accessibility in the context of computers, and study the distinction between accessibility, usability, and inclusion. We will explore the range of barriers to computer usage, the use of adaptive technologies, and best-practice guidelines for designing and developing accessible systems and technologies to meet the demands of users of all ages and abilities. Students will discover ways to advocate for changes in policy and practice.

SEMN 108 FYS: Plato to Playdoh: Some Great Ideas In Mathematics The ancient Greeks established some of the foundations of mathematics. In particular, their contributions to the field of geometry are quite well-known - who hasn't heard of the Pythagorean Theorem?! But mathematics didn't stop evolving then (and no, it hasn't stopped evolving yet!). It is a dynamic subject and the great ideas of geometry morphed into a branch of mathematics called topology. Enter playdoh. While protractors and compasses may be the tools of geometry, playdoh is a more appropriate tool for studying topology. Of course, there have been many fascinating developments in mathematics since the ancient Greeks, and we'll be exploring several of them with an eye towards establishing some of the themes that make mathematics universal. Note: In addition to talking about math, we'll be doing math. You don't have to be a math whiz to take this course, but you should like the subject.

SEMN 109 FYS: Cultured: The History and Science Of Fermented Foods What are the microorganisms that turn cabbage into sauerkraut or kimchi, and how do they give fermented foods their funk? Why are you supposed to eat yogurt when taking antibiotics? What can fermented foods and beverages tell us about the societies that made them? Through the lens of common fermented foods, a mixture of scientific and historical readings will be used to explore the process of fermentation and how these foods help define ethnic (and microbial) cultures. Discussions, presentations, and written assignments will be used to develop critical thinking and communication skills. The scientific aspect of this course is intended to be a broad introduction; no background in science is necessary.

SEMN 111 FYS: From Agatha to Zorro: Popular Fiction in the Early Twentieth Century As the twentieth century dawned so, too, did a new form of literature: the pulp fiction magazine. Unlike their more staid predecessors in the realm of popular fiction publishing, the dime novels, these magazines (and their characteristically colorful covers), offered an arena in which newly imaginative and provocative stories thrived. Though they are often dismissed as cheap fodder for mindless pleasure-seekers, this course takes these stories and the influence they had on our world seriously. It investigates the divides between "high", "low", and "middlebrow" culture that consideration of the "popular" provokes, considers the long afterlives of these stories and the heroes like Tarzan, Zorro, Conan the Barbarian, John Carter, Buck Rogers, and Doc Savage that they originated, analyzes the visual dimensions of their often colorful and dramatic illustrations, contemplates the divisions between "pulp" magazines and other forms of popular fiction, and weighs the gendered, sexual, racial, and class considerations that affected the stories' readership and the visions that they cast of the world and the people within it. What can they tell us today?

SEMN 115 FYS: Harry Potter Goes to College The magical world of Harry Potter has become a cultural phenomenon, resonating with readers of all ages around the world. One reason for its wide appeal is its relatable characters and accurate portrayal of human behavior and psychology. In this course, we will apply Psychological principles to understand and analyze the behavior of the characters in the first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Throughout the course, we will draw parallels between Harry's experiences as he enters the magical world of Hogwarts and our own experiences as we enter college. This is a class about Harry Potter for grown-ups-perfect for those who already have familiarity (and better yet, love!) for the Harry Potter series. It is also a class about Psychology that addresses fundamental questions about human nature, how to overcome adversity, how to interact with others despite our differences, and how to be successful in college and beyond. It is expected that students in this course have read all seven books in the Harry Potter series prior to enrolling.

SEMN 116 FYS: Whose Homer? Contemporary Odysses Why have a host of contemporary writers and artists chosen Homer's Odyssey-one of the oldest "European" writings we have-as the basis of novels, plays and art designed to challenge societal injustice and spark social change? The transformation of older artistic forms into new can also spark controversy: what does it mean to take words of the Ancient Greeks and harness them for change? Can it even be done? We'll explore these questions first by reading a new and controversial translation of the Odyssey, and then by looking at a variety of ways that the Odyssey has been transformed by African-American, Asian-American, Latinx and queer artists and writers to highlight the refugee crisis, systemic racism, and sex/gender discrimination. We'll think about the differences between reception, adaptation and appropriation, and whether these acts are ethical. In the process, we'll witness how the power of this story of departure, abandonment and return inspires artists from Beyoncé to Junot Díaz to Romare Bearden to Alison Bechdel and beyond.

SEMN 117 FYS: Romance and Revolutions: The Life And Times of Pablo Neruda Was he a Romantic visionary, or a Marxist populist? Was he a love poet, a surrealist, a diplomat? Did he die of cancer or was he poisoned? Was his name even Pablo Neruda? Questions linger regarding the life, art, and death of this multilingual man who was twice in life exiled, and once in death exhumed. Born in the Chilean backwoods in 1904 as Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto, he began to write poetry at age 13, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971, and in 1973, died just days after a coup d'état that overthrew the government of Salvador Allende, to whom the poet was a close advisor. A humanitarian, Neruda believed in the poet's obligation to the social good, and his name became synonymous with freedom. Who was Pablo Neruda? What can he teach us about our own life and times? We will read a biography and selected poems in translation to try to understand the man, the poet, and the politician who captured the world's imagination and his government's ire. Along the way, we will practice strategies for writing, revising, and researching, to help prepare you for future scholarship.

SEMN 121 FYS: Unraveling the Twisted History of the Double Helix of DNA The discovery of the double-helix and base-pairing of DNA has revolutionized fields from Biology to medicine to genealogy and more. We will examine the tangled history of events which lead to the publication of the seminal paper "A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid". We will learn about the roles played by Rosalind Franklin, Maurice Wilkins, James Watson, Francis Crick and Linus Pauling in the discovery of the structure of DNA. We will read biographies and public interviews and retrace the steps leading to this discovery. We will examine who did receive credit for the double-helix, why and how this happened, and discuss what a modern perspective should include. We will also discuss the scientific tools used in this work, including X-ray diffraction. We will learn how to use diffraction and resolve the structure of the double helix ourselves. We will discuss how gender and power dynamics lead to our modern understanding of these events.

SEMN 123 FYS: Theatre and the Other This course uses works by playwrights from around the world to study issues of race, gender, sexual orientation, social class, and intercultural communication, with a particular emphasis on the voices of the subaltern, those who have been silenced by the power structures they lived (or live) in. We will read works from Amiri Baraka, Cherie Moraga, Marie Clements, Velina Hasu Houston, and Lucienne Guedes Fahrer. While reading these plays, we will discuss ways in which theatre can help bring voices to the voiceless but also talk about how to overcome obstacles we face in the theatre creation process that inhibit our voices and those of others we try to represent.

SEMN 126 FYS: Political Education and Student Activism This course is designed to hone students' analysis of unjust systems of power by introducing them to political concepts and philosophies aimed at freeing human beings from oppression and exploitation. We will also be looking at how to apply these concepts to the worlds in which we live.

SEMN 128 Fys: Reimagining Global Health: From Colonialism to Decolonization to Reconstruction 'Kou khamoul fa mou jogey, do kham fa mou dieum. Those who know not their roots, will not know where they are headed.' This proverb is popular among the Wolof people in Senegal, West Africa. For several cultural traditions, in order to walk a safe path into an uncertain future, it is believed that one needs to reflect on one's past, traditions, and roots. This seminar invites students into a space where they are able to reflect on the historical, social, political, and economic situations of global health as a discipline, critically analyze its historical foundations -namely colonization, and the way we "do public health." They will, finally, apply the critical skills developed, to creatively address contemporary issues of global health relevance. At the end of the course, students will be able to: understand, define, and describe the global health system; describe the role of selected Western thoughts on the development and maintenance of the global health system and the global distribution of health and diseases; describe proposed solutions to reimagine global health; and conceptualize new ways to reimagine global health using contemporary programs and global health problems.

SEMN 131 FYS: Kalamazoo After Dark: How We Remember, Commemorate, Sensationalize, And Forget Our Past In this course, we will learn about public history in the United States and explore questions of identity through historical spaces and places, commemorative elements, and history as a discipline. Narratives, monuments, placemaking, historical revision, "dark tourism" and collective amnesia are common ways for groups to frame past events and imbue them with meaning. We will look at many aspects of the places and spaces of Kalamazoo and Kalamazoo College, asking-and answering-the question: "Why is that there?" The capstone project of this course is a creation of a historic walking tour of K's campus. In the process of creating this project, we will research K's history, architecture, design elements, and the historic and commemorative function of the site.

SEMN 132 FYS: Radical Belonging In this class we will wrestle with what it means to truly belong. Belonging is defined as an emotional need to be an accepted member of a group. However, many factors shape our experience of true belonging. The intrinsic human need to belong is profoundly influenced by our sense of safety which is shaped by our experiences with race, gender, class, neighborhoods, schools, cities, institutions and social policies. To begin, we will explore the evolutionary foundations of group acceptance and the ways our biology is shaped in response to social threat. Next, we will look at the psychological and health science on connection and social inclusion to help us interrogate the impacts impaired belonging on health and learning. In addition, we will investigate the ways in which oppression shapes belongingness, while exploring our own racial identities. Finally, we will explore more local experiences of belonging by working with collected oral histories of the local residents in the HoTop community in Kalamazoo; a community of people experiencing homelessness. This class will utilize reflective prompts and experiential activities to explore the questions of what it takes to radically belong in community with one another.

SEMN 133 FYS: Thinking About Marx The term "Marxism" gets thrown around a lot in public conversations. Ironically, whether they love or hate Marx, a great many people are confused or mistaken about what Marx believed and advocated. This widespread confusion is understandable. Marx changed his mind on key theoretical issues throughout his career and even seems to have endorsed mutually contradictory views at times. Moreover, his thought gave rise to a variety of political movements that he would not have endorsed. This class aims to help students cut through this confusion by providing a solid introductory grounding to Marx's thought. We will study several of his key concepts and theoretical tenants (including but not limited to: the labor theory of value, how capitalism extracts "surplus" labor, the way "ideology" functions to uphold the status quo, historical materialism, and Marx's skepticism about liberalism and human rights). At the end of the class we will also study some more contemporary social movements inspired by Marx. This course will help students understand the foundations of Marxism so that they can make up their own minds about which parts of his theory might or might not apply today.

SEMN 135 FYS: The Hands that Feed Us: Food and Farming Justice in a Time of Pandemic In this time of pandemic, we've had to scrutinize more carefully and critically where our food comes from and who feeds us, whether through heightened awareness of the essentialness of grocery store employees, farmers, farmworkers, and restaurant workers; the necessity of cooking at home; increased visibility of the conditions for workers in meat processing plants; or a growing fascination with home gardening and seed saving. What does this moment teach us about the flaws and dangers of the industrial food system? What does it mean to value the many hands that feed us? We'll start the quarter with a consideration of our own family and community food traditions and how those traditions-shared with us by the hands of our kin-nourish our bodies and spirits. We'll work to understand the industrial food system within the US, learning about how and why farmworkers and food workers lack visibility, power, and protection within the food system. We'll ask in what ways local/decentralized food systems can redress exploitation of workers and the land and promote their health, looking closely at the Kalamazoo food system. We'll learn about food sovereignty-a people's right to healthy and culturally-appropriate food, and to define their own food and agricultural systems-and study the ways Black and Indigenous communities are fighting for food sovereignty as part of their fight against the virus. As we do this work, we will engage with organizations within the Kalamazoo community like Farmworker Legal Services and PFC (People's Food Co-op), who advocate for food and farming justice, completing a project that supports their efforts. Academic service-learning combines classroom study with real world experience, allowing students to apply what they are learning to everyday life in a way that addresses community-identified needs.

SEMN 137 FYS: Co-Authoring Your Life: Writing Your Self in the Context of Others The autonomous, self-made individual is a powerful American myth. But no person is entirely self-made; all of us are embedded in various families and communities and ideologies, and we also find ourselves marked by cultural conditions such as our race, class, religion, gender and sexual orientation, all of which influence who we are in various ways. The clash between the desire for autonomy and the shaping power of these social conditions makes the process of coming up with an identity extremely difficult and complex. How can we maintain a sense of autonomy while acknowledging influences? How can we be ourselves while learning from others? How do we write our own lives when so many other hands seem to hold, or to want to hold, the pen with us? Through novels, stories, autobiographies, essays and films, this course will explore different situations in which people struggle to form identities under intense "co-authoring" pressures. You will write analytical essays about the texts of others and personal essays about yourself.

SEMN 138 Fys: Lol, Lmfao: Laughter in a Time of Covid? Laughter is serious business. While humor is certainly contextual, laughing itself is versatile and universal, and it has often been held up as a balm for discomfort and pain. Why would anyone ever suggest that we "laugh it off"? In this seminar, we will examine funny and, at times, less-funny storytelling in the form of short fiction, graphic memoir, and standup comedy, and we may even try our hand at laughter meditation. Is it true that we never laugh at our own jokes? Why did the laugh track come and go on TV sitcoms? We will consider the cultural and often gendered imbalance in who makes jokes and who laughs at them, as well as how we communicate laughter through our various technologies.

SEMN 141 FYS: Mulan Across Cultures: Gender, Tradition, and Modernity What preparations does Mulan undertake for the battlefield in various renditions of her story? How do the original Mulan folklore and its Hollywood adaptations differ and parallel? What lasting impacts have the tales of Mulan had on history and across cultures? This course explores the textual, performative, and cinematic interpretations of Mulan as the enduring female warrior from Chinese folklore. It examines the impact of Mulan's narratives within China, across East Asia, and in the Western world, spanning literature, film, and historical and cultural discussions. Central themes in this course include gender practices such as cross-dressing, ethnic identities, and the dynamics between tradition and modernity in China and East Asia. The course also covers intercultural communication, among other topics.

SEMN 142 FYS (un)doing It for the 'gram- Social Media, Tech, and Data Social media, algorithms, surveillance technology, and investment capital are reshaping our digital and material world. Dystopian films now look like potential futures, while the ability to craft our own digital reality expands with the power of a smartphone. The consequences of these transformations exert themselves unequally across race, orientation, gender, ability, status, class, and other lines of difference. The goal of this course is to critically analyze our technology, media, and data environments with a focus on how these tools can threaten and endanger but also how we can harness, remix, or nullify them towards agency and liberation. In addition, we will explore how these issues are relevant to education.

SEMN 143 FYS: Design Intelligence Design can make a difference. Imagine Apple without the iPhone, the iPad, or the MacBook. Could IKEA succeed selling Chippendale knock-offs? How does Facebook differ from Instagram? Is suburban life sterile by design? This course will look at the role of design in the world around us. Our emphasis will be on features, feel and function rather than on the aesthetics of design. We will consider why some designs work well and others work poorly. We will think about how and why things are designed in particular ways. Design choices have economic and business implications. We will analyze the impact of design on retailers, marketing, land use, packages, and websites. Observing and understanding design can help us better understand the world.

SEMN 144 FYS: Truth, Lies & Politics Are truth and politics friends or foes? Does your answer differ depending on the kind of truth in question? In political matters, is it always wrong to lie? Political thinkers have been asking such questions for millennia, but in an era of echo chambers, "fake news," and conflicting accounts of what's true, they have presented themselves with renewed urgency. In this course, we will examine the relationship between truth and politics within the political theory tradition as well as in the contemporary context. We will focus in particular on strategies for navigating the bewildering terrain of our so-called "post-fact" context, in which it seems as though politics has become a contest over reality itself.

SEMN 145 FYS: Creativity: Inspiration and Beyond The psychology of creativity is as complex and mysterious as it is intriguing. Whether brushing paint on canvas, composing a poem or piece of music, launching a new advertising campaign, or making a breakthrough at the frontiers of science, some form of creative thinking is required. In this seminar, we examine how creativity is expressed in arts, sciences, inventions, marketing, and many other domains, and also shine a spotlight on inclusive design. The ideas of classic and contemporary theorists and research findings reported by social scientists serve as a foundation for discussions and essays. Students will also apply their own imagination and creative problem-solving skills to a variety of puzzles and projects. This seminar will challenge basic assumptions about the nature of creativity and expand our horizons, to encompass the richness and diversity of creative expression in its many forms.

SEMN 146 FYS: From the Borders to the Lake: A Community Based Approach to Barrio Learning In this seminar, the main goal is to understand how we become part of the Kalamazoo College community through community-based work rooted in social justice and social change. This course is designed for students to gain strong navigational skills in the college. From service learning/civic engagement to peer learning, students move around Kalamazoo and engage in meaningful ways with the community. In collaboration with community partners serving BIPOC youth, hands-on activities, field trips, panel discussions, and guest speakers we will explore the role of non-profit organizations and their impact on local communities. The objective of this seminar is to gain the skills to become successful students at K while we grapple with the challenges of belonging.

SEMN 147 Hello World: Geography, Identity, and The Internet We are living in the era of the "digital native," a phrase meant to describe those who have grown up using and having their lives mediated by digital technologies--technologies like, for instance, the Internet. But what do we really know about the Internet, and the digital world to which we're supposedly "native"? Many have touted the Internet as a place where we can transcend our different real-life circumstances. But is life as a "digital native" really as universal and equalizing as all that? In this course, we'll be taking a different tack as we examine our relationship to the Internet and the digital lives we live. We will explore the ways the Internet is very much a part of "real life" in the material world, by examining the geographies that support and make the Internet as we know it possible, such as the placement and environmental footprint of server farms; the rapidly gentrifying cities of the Silicon Valley; and the factories where high-speed cable filaments are manufactured. We will also consider the ways geography impacts access to the Internet's "universal" space, from the surprising proportion of the United States that exists in Internet deadzones to the ways nations and other borderlands shape what the Internet looks like. In turn, we will consider the ways the Internet has shaped nations and borderlands, such as the role of Twitter in the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. Even within digital space, however, our experience of the Internet is embodied, and it turns out that websites aren't one-size-fits all: We will also learn about the ways even digital experiences are mediated by our bodies and the identities we hold. We will examine what claiming to be "native" to digital space means when access is unequal, and indigenous cultures and activism are often wrongly presumed to be incompatible with digital technology--and indeed, the 21st century writ large. Ultimately, this course seeks to soften the conceptual divide between our "real" and digital lives, and to imagine the Internet as a site of critical social, political, and environmental examination.

SEMN 148 FYS: "I've Heard It Both Ways": Reading Race in the United States You've heard it before: This story is about family, and this one's about revenge. That one's about race. But what does it even mean for a text to be "about" race? Is a story about race if it features racialized characters? If it's focused on defining a racial identity? If it speaks out against racism? Can you tell a story about race without explicitly mentioning race at all? In this class, we'll develop a practice of close reading texts in order to see that no text is about just one thing: What we see in a text has to do with the way we interpret textual clues, and how we connect these clues to our historical and cultural contexts. The texts that we explore will span a variety of time periods, genres, and media, from short stories and novels to documentaries and TV series; the one thing they'll have in common is that each is "about race" in the United States. As we hone our close reading skills and learn how to develop specific arguments about the texts we read, we'll also probe what it means for a story to be "about race," and the multitude of ways race in the United States gets represented, talked about, and sometimes even weaponized. To be "about race" means nothing and everything: The goal of this course is to be able to interpret texts and talk about race in specific terms, highlighting the ways race (and ideas about it) are foundational to the ways the United States structures and understands itself, as well as the way narratives of race also intersect with narratives around class, gender, and sexuality.

SEMN 149 FYS: Contested Spaces in the Urban Environment Somewhere around 2007, an important shift occurred: for the first time ever, more people lived in urban areas than rural areas. After a century of rapid urbanization, living in cities is now the norm for the majority of humans. This radical shift in the way that we as people live has brought with it many points of conflict and contention. This course will examine some of these battles as they occur around such issues as use of space, how cities are lived in and experienced, how cities come to shape identity, and what the city's role in the greater society is.

SEMN 150 FYS: Epic Epics The term "epic," from the Greek epos and the Latin epicus, is often used to describe very long narrative poems about heroic warriors and colossal battles such as the Iliad, the Aeneid, the Ramayana, and Beowulf. But today we also see the term epic being applied to television shows, video games, and feature films. What makes something an epic? It's length? It's content? It's format? In this class, we will explore ten different epics: Raya and the Last Dragon, the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Mahabharata, the Odyssey, the Cilappatikaram, the Sirat al-Amira Dhat al-Himma, the Divine Comedy, Paradise Lost, the Odyssey of Star Wars, and Game of Thrones. Throughout this course, we will engage with the following questions: How have epics changed over time? How have epics traveled across regions? What role does religion play in epics? What can epics tell us about gender, ethnicity, and power now and in the past?

SEMN 153 FYS: Home Is Where the Haunt Is In March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic caused many state leaders to issue emergency stay-at-home measures, we isolated ourselves in our homes, for the overall safety and health of ourselves and our larger community. These stay-at-home decrees invoked a common belief: that our homes are sites of safety, wherein we can seek refuge and protection from a danger that looms outside. Except, what happens when your home is not, in fact, a protective sanctuary, but a place besieged by ghosts, supernatural forces, or otherworldly spirits? In these instances, homes become the very locus of danger, and we, the unwitting occupants, must contend with a threat from which there is no safe refuge. In this seminar, we will consider a wide variety of haunted house narratives in order to explore the degree to which houses become an enduring symbol for larger sociocultural fears, anxieties, and/or trauma. We will study and reflect on the varied ways that haunted houses represent our biggest fears, both societally and individually. Ultimately, our undertaking in this seminar is to analyze the way these narratives make such fears tangible, as well as how they allow us to interrogate, understand, and contend with the things that frighten us.

SEMN 154 FYS: Who Are the Samurai? On a dark, chilly night in the city of Edo, Japan in 1703, 46 men broke into the home of a government official and murdered him. The story of these men, best known as the 47 ronin (and yes, you read the number correctly), has been retold countless times since that night. Outlaws to some and heroes to many, the 47 ronin have often been lauded as exemplars of true samurai. But what exactly is a "true samurai"? When you think of the samurai, what do you imagine? Is the image you have in mind the product of fact or fiction, or perhaps a little of both? Did you know, for instance, that the samurai included both women and children? Since most people are not familiar with the history of Japan's famous warriors, in this seminar we will begin by drawing from a variety of sources to explore how this warrior class-men, women, and children-lived, and how they have been viewed both within and outside Japan. We will combine our historical examinations of the emergence, evolution, demise, and reinvention of the samurai with analyses of representations of "samurai" in literature, film, sports, and business in order to gain a better sense of who the samurai are, how they have been portrayed, and why the samurai--and especially the 47 ronin--have become such an enduring and popular symbol of Japan.

SEMN 155 FYS: The New World Order The seminar will study recent analyses of the New World Order in the context of theories of "globalization," focusing on causes of social strife and debates about what makes for a just society. It will examine the culture of the investment bankers who are the New Order's main architects, the ideology of "neoliberalism" that is its blueprint, the fate of American workers whose jobs are disappearing, and the New World as lived by some of the two billion people in shantytowns, bidonvilles, and favelas. Students will write brief review-style essays and a case study of a city or region.

SEMN 157 FYS: Writings From the Heart: Knowledge Production and Social Justice In this course, we will explore dreams, storytelling, poetry, art activism, memoir, and personal/collective narrative as sources of knowledge and social change. We take a look into cultural writings to examine traditional and non-traditional genres. We will begin the journey through reading from testimonies among Indigenous peoples in Mexico and Central America, moving into choreographic or embodied practices in dance activism in Turkey, and concluding with poetry and art in social movements in Kalamazoo, Michigan. We approach writing by embodying writing practices in daily entries in our journals and poetry through in-class workshops, attending guest speakers in topics related to art activism, interviewing members of our communities to write their testimonials, and producing our artwork as memory devices or "sacred boxes." With these hands-on activities, we will examine how multiple communities around the world produce knowledge. The goal is to understand topics of identity, culture, tradition, and activism.

SEMN 158 FYS: I Love (The Music of) the 90's The 1990s were a period of dramatic change for popular music. Genres like alternative rock, "gangsta" rap, and electronica rose to prominence and still influence the music we hear today. Major label sales and indie success soared until the disruption of mp3 technology and Napster reorganized the music industry. MTV and RollingStone were essential. Today, the music and culture of the decade is mined for "new" styles, products, and nostalgia ("I heart the 90's!"). While thinking seriously about sounds, image, and artistry, this course examines the music of the 1990s in social context with an ear to the events, politics, fashion, controversies, and identities that shaped musical experience.

SEMN 159 FYS: Screening and Writing La Frontera This seminar will explore the ways in which authors and directors have represented the identities, cultures, and "problems" associated with the US-Mexico border-la frontera. The questions guiding our work will be: How do visual and literary constructions of la frontera shape our understanding(s) of borders and bordering rhetoric? What are the social, economic, and political implications of such rhetoric(s)? How do bordering discourses gender, racialize, and ultimately marginalize bodies deemed as "other"? The course introduces students to a body of Latin American literary and visual culture works (films, novels, short stories, essays, music, and poetry) concerned with representing human experiences affected by exclusionary and criminalizing logics of the US-Mexico border. We will analyze how la frontera has inspired artistic experimentation and innovation, centering the discussion on the potential of cultural production to bring awareness regarding cultural differences and ethical responsibility toward others.

SEMN 161 FYS: Nutrition: Societal to Physiological Perspectives This first-year seminar will begin by delving into the societal and environmental aspects (Macro-level) of food and nutrition. These topics could include- mass production, food preservation and waste, food access/insecurity in urban areas as well as other possible themes. The latter half of the course will examine the (micro-level) individual health outcomes (obesity, diabetes, cancer) attributed to nutritional choices and also include content on personalized nutrition for healthy individuals and/or high-performance athletes. Students will become adept to diets of various cultures and make interpretations on the benefits and potential risks with consuming certain foods in habitual fashion.

SEMN 162 FYS: Kissing the Witch: Fairytale and Folklore Derived Contemporary Literature For centuries audiences have been captivated by tales of pure-hearted princesses, brave princes, and of course, wicked witches. Why do we keep returning to these archetypes? What do they tell us about our own identities and relationships? In this course, we will look at how short stories, novels and poetry have interacted with fairytales and folklore in recent years. What ancient themes get disrupted, heightened and complicated through each retelling? How have contemporary authors used fairytale and folklore to navigate current discussions of race, gender, and sexuality? In our discussions and our own creative writing we will engage these questions and, by the end of the course, we will have the tools needed to start our own mythmaking.

SEMN 163 FYS: About Us: Disability Stories, Disability Rights We entertain through story. We teach through story. And, through stories, we can become advocates for ourselves and others. In the disability community, this truth about the power of storytelling has emerged in the slogan or mantra, "Nothing about us without us." In other words, any understanding of disability and any policies related to addressing disability calls for the creativity, insight, and urgency that comes from lived knowledge. For this class, we will engage in the rich source material written and produced by those with physical disabilities, developmental disabilities, and mental health issues. We will explore how individuals within these communities wish to be named and the politics associated with names and media representations. We will read selected pieces from About Us: Essays from the Disability Series of the New York Times as well as other essays and stories on the history of disability rights. In addition to these readings, we will view and discuss Crip Camp (2020), Vision Portraits (2019), and other films. Finally, we will learn from advocates in the Kalamazoo community who work for organizations that serve those with various types of disabilities and mental health issues and who can speak from their own experiences. Ultimately, we will be exploring how a community might develop spaces and places that create a more welcoming, expansive, and inclusive sense of home and belonging.

SEMN 164 FYS: Poetry & Meaning in Life In the study of literature, the words "story" and "poem" usually point to two distinct ways in which a text can communicate meaning. The word "story," along with the synonymous "narrative," is widely used in everyday language as well: we tend to think of our lives as stories and of our opinions as narratives. Can the other-"poetic"? "nonnarrative"?-type of meaning, too, be exported from the strictly literary and into our habits of understanding ourselves and the world? How does one have a meaningful experience that does not have a narrative shape? In this course we will read poetry using the methods of literary analysis, while thinking about it in the context of larger philosophical and psychological questions. Lyric poems originally written in English and translated from German, Japanese, Russian, and other languages, along with a variety of readings on poetry and on narrativity will constitute the core of our discussions. We will also strategically brainstorm how you can practice nonnarrative thinking as a college student.

SEMN 165 FYS: Stalin & the Art of Fear From the 1920s until his death in 1953, Joseph Stalin wielded an extraordinary amount of control over the newly-created Soviet state. He interpreted the proper implementation of Socialist economic policy, he silenced his critics with unimaginable savagery, and he took an especially keen interest in dictating the terms by which art should be made. To whom does art belong? What was it like to create art in an atmosphere of censorship? Could artists -- like poet Anna Akhmatova or composer Dmitri Shostakovich, for example -- navigate these treacherous waters without sacrificing their creativity and artistic integrity? We will examine these and related questions through reading memoir, fiction, and historical accounts of the time; watching films; and closely listening to the music that spoke to and reflected this tumultuous time.

SEMN 166 FYS: Let Freedom Swing! Jazz Music, Social Identity and American The history and development of jazz music in American culture is arguably one of the most revolutionary aspect for African Americans. Many perceive jazz music as central to the construction of democratic practices and principles; namely civic participation, exercise of freedom, finding one's voice, improvisation, and group collaboration. In short it is imperative to preserve black culture and identity. Embedded within jazz music is the blues impulse which is not only a musical device that jazz musicians employ, but it can also be considered a human response of feeling and attitude to an adverse social condition. In this course, we will explore the complexities of the black experience such as race, stereotypes, and injustices as presented by black musicians and singers as they have tried to overcome, resist and call attention to the hypocrisy of democracy in America. We will examine musical compositions, song lyrics, cities, and aesthetic movements through a combination of lively discussions and thoughtful analysis of songs, literature, film, art and other media documentation. We will examine the relationship between race and music and the contribution to the expression of American music by African Americans. This course will provide students will opportunity to discuss, compare, and analyze a range of musical compositions and genres within the history of jazz music. This seminar is intended to help each student's writing improve and to provide all students with the knowledge, tools, and practices that will serve them in college-level writing. By the conclusion of this course, students will develop critical thinking and writing skills by analyzing and critiquing key elements in the history of jazz music. They will also develop an appreciate for, and understanding of the characteristics of jazz music and the ways in which people of African descent have has contributed to the development of American music over time. Open to all music lovers.

SEMN 167 FYS: Global Refugees and Immigrants People often say they are either for or against greater levels of immigration. But immigration is a broad concept. In simply saying "yay" or "nay" we neglect to address a lot of important, nuanced questions. This course examines some of these questions. What is the difference between a so-called "economic" immigrant versus an asylum seeker or refugee? If we can make such a distinction, do we owe different kinds of treatment to individuals in these categories? What happens when someone is attempting to reach another country's territory but is stopped en route (e.g. in international waters)? How do concerns about the internal political equality between current citizens or about the preservation of public political culture impact immigration? Is it permissible for wealthy countries to encourage the immigration of doctors and nurses from poor countries-even though this will lead to a shortfall of skilled healthcare workers in poorer countries? What tensions are created by the conflict between social and global justice as applied to immigration? We will investigate these questions and many more through readings, documentaries and discussion. This class will primarily focus on non-US contexts.

SEMN 168 FYS: Salem Possessed: the Salem Witch Trials and Their Legacies In 1692, the people of Salem, Massachusetts grew terrified when a small group of girls accused an enslaved woman, an impoverished woman, and a scandalous woman of bewitching them. Ultimately, twenty men and women were hung or pressed to death with stones and over a hundred others found themselves imprisoned. Historians have long considered the Salem Witch Trials a pivotal moment in American history. Countless works have offered countless reasons for the strange happenings in Salem, trying to explain why a small community in Colonial America would succumb to witchcraft hysteria long after it had died down in Europe. The Salem Witch Trials have haunted American culture. Starting in the nineteenth century and continuing into the present, writers and artists have grappled with the various meanings of the witch hunts and the persecution of innocent persons, seeing connections between "the furies of fanaticism and paranoia" of 1692 and their own time. Most famously, Arthur Miller in The Crucible used the trials to examine the persecution of alleged Communists in the 1950s. This course will examine and seek to understand the events of 1692 and the subsequent legacies of the trials in American culture through the actual documents from the trials, the writings of historians, and the imaginative works of novelists, playwrights, poets, and film makers.

SEMN 169 FYS: Coping and Caring: A Kaleidoscope Of Grief Grief, a natural response to loss, may occur in many facets of life from a global pandemic to experiences like the loss of a loved one, a relationship, significant life transitions, and systemic oppression, to name a few. Grieving is complex and unique-expressed in diverse ways with a kaleidoscope of emotions. We will examine theories of grief, learn about creative arts therapy-based methods to process loss, view case examples of individuals using art therapy to heal, and investigate personal and cultural approaches to the subject. Students will critically analyze how race, religion, ethnicity, gender and other constructs shape one's response to grief. And discover how loss finds a voice in poetry, art, music, drama and other creative forms. Finally, students will engage in experiential exercises to foster expression and gain an understanding of using creativity as a source for healing.

SEMN 170 FYS: Resilience The concept of resilience has gained popularity in the past decade, especially among educators and mental health professionals who work with young adults. In this seminar, we will examine the concept of resilience, broadly defined as the capacity to adapt successfully to challenges. How is the term defined and used in different contexts? What factors contribute to successful coping in the face of adversity? How do cultural factors influence how we think about resilience? How does an emphasis on resilience as a personal characteristic influence how we think about solutions to social problems? In what ways are cultural institutions and systems nurturing the development of resilience for some groups while creating obstacles to its development for others? In addition to these questions, we will explore strategies we can use to enhance our own personal resilience and to strengthen the resilience of our communities.

SEMN 172 FYS: Life with Two Languages Almost half of the world's population uses two or more languages as they go about their daily lives. In this seminar, we will explore what it means to be a bilingual or multilingual person - how this affects our brains, our ways of communicating, and our perspective on the world. We will also investigate how different societies organize life with two or more languages. Subtopics include bilingual music, bilingual education, hyperpolyglots, bilingualism & politics, language loss, and translation. This course is ideal for multilingual students, students from a bilingual household or students whose first language is not English.

SEMN 174 FYS: The Politics of Death and Dying For some to live and thrive in the US, it is essential that others have to die or be allowed to die. But who decides which lives have meaning and which do not? What is a "good death" and how is it culturally understood and constructed? How do people die in the US? How does this compare to marginalized Americans? How is death more than just a bodily state? When does death become politicized? Our course will attempt to answer these questions as we explore the many dimensions of death and dying in the US from brain death and assisted suicide to life-extending medicine, from our cultural fear of dead bodies to our economic reliance on death-making. Using an intersectional approach, we will cover the inequities of death investigation and documentation, the "CSI effect" on autopsy, our cultural alienation from death and dying, how markers of identity have been used to legitimize the right to kill or justify 'letting die' under US necropolitics, and concepts that allow us to frame social exclusion as a form of death-making. Students will learn about important events in the politicization of death including but not limited to the Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the AIDS crisis, war crimes at Abu Ghraib Prison and the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, the #blacklivesmatter movement, and mass undocumented migrant death across the Sonoran desert and the US-Mexico border.

SEMN 175 FYS: The Complex Legacy of Christopher Columbus This seminar will examine the legacy of Spain's empire in the Americas through the lens of one of its most enduring and controversial figures, Christopher Columbus. We will read a variety of contemporary sources over the course of the term as we explore how the explorer's image has been used to legitimize, vilify, celebrate, and understand the expansion of Western hegemony. How did an Italian explorer sailing under a Spanish flag become a symbol of American exceptionalism? How did Europeans manage to "discover" and lay claim to lands already home to prosperous civilizations and peoples? Why are banks and post offices in the United States closed on some seemingly inexplicable day around the middle of October each year? What is meant by Indigenous Peoples' Day and why do we recognize it on the same day? These are some of the questions we will engage as we consider how the dramatic impact of the rise of European global empires altered societies, ecologies, geopolitics, commerce, food ways, science, people's understanding of the nature of humanity, and more.

SEMN 176 FYS: At Home: Belonging, Identity, and Community What is home? In this course, we will interrogate the nuances of this multifaceted word. Potential questions we will explore are. Is home a place? A feeling? An aspect of our identity? How are our homes tied to race and nationality? Sexuality? How is a "home" different than a "house"? What does it mean to be at home in your own skin? How does another person or animal constitute "home" for many of us? How do we understand spaces that actively house?many of us, but are not our homes, such as nursing homes, hotels, places of incarceration, cars? In essence, how does our relationship to and understanding of this complex word help shape our identity? ??????????? The course will take an intersectional approach by investigating the relationships between race, gender, sex, sexuality, disability, and class through an exploration of a wide range of texts and genres, ranging from traditional poetry with Ben Jonson's "To Penshurst," graphic novels with Richard McGuire's Here, ?and short stories with Daphne du Maurier's "The Birds"

SEMN 177 FYS: Exploring Cultural Diversity Through Storytelling This course is an investigation into storytelling and an analysis of various mediums and texts created by scholars and artists working within an interconnected world. While examining and creating performances of self-discovery, students will explore how we, as part of a global community, embody/perform stories that speak to inequities across marginalized groups. The classroom community will explore what it means to take part in cross-culture encounters, conversations, and stories in a world where the socially constructed boundaries between culture, community, and country are becoming less visible.

SEMN 178 FYS: Controversies in Sports: Where Is the Line? In this course we will examine the world of youth and college sports from a variety of perspectives. Students will improve their analytical, discussion, research and writing skills as they explore topics in ethics, equity and the science of athletic performance. Course readings and viewings are gathered from a variety of disciplines, including biology, chemistry, kinesiology, psychology, the law, journalism and popular culture. Current controversies surrounding the treatment of athletes from marginalized groups, performance enhancement, and hyper-competitiveness in youth and college athletics will also be discussed and debated. Students will be invited to reflect on the role of athletics and competition in their own lives as college students. This course is open to all students and will be of particular interest to student-athletes.

SEMN 179 FYS: It's a beautiful day in the Neighborhood: Innovative Economic Growth In Kalamazoo The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted stark inequalities and deep-rooted inadequacies within our society. Answers to these issues require innovative solutions to achieve widespread prosperity. Fortunately, we are lucky to be in Kalamazoo, an excellent laboratory for exploring strategies for communities to create inclusive and vibrant local economies. This course will provide a problem-focused introduction to issues faced by local communities and Kalamazoo in particular. Together, we will explore the field by examining and debating cases of real-world public problems such as housing, education, and the creation of good jobs. Students will be asked to reflect on important local civic issues, choose one of interest, and conduct an analysis critically evaluating how the resources of our community could best be leveraged to solve the problem. The course readings and lectures will prepare you by examining the current ideological debate around the role of local governments in public life and the tools the public sector uses to tackle issues. Overall, this course will help provide you with a grounding in your local community and how you can become a thoughtful, engaged citizen.

SEMN 180 FYS: Global Social Movements & Speaking Up for Justice In this class we will study how people, communities, and movements resist oppression and build alternatives to repressive systems. You do not need to be an established organizer/activist to take this course - you need only the desire to develop your own passion/path and to hone the communicative skills to make it happen. We will read and discuss primary source social movement writing as well as hear directly from global and local organizers via live presentations in hopes of learning how powerful social movements turn righteous angst into dignified action. We will also study the craft of how movement organizers tap into their full agency to contest and claim power in order to develop our own big voices in our struggles for justice. This course is for people with a passion for justice and a desire to amplify their voice in the face of opposition and/or indifference. Students will develop their skills in public speaking, writing, analysis, and research throughout the term. The instructor for this course is bilingual (English & Spanish) and can give options for reading and presenting in Spanish when possible upon request.

SEMN 182 FYS: Wheels of Change: Environmental And Social Justice by Bike This community-engaged course (SEE IMPORTANT INFORMATION IN ADDITIONAL COMMENTS) explores cycling through the lenses of social and environmental justice. We will study the way bicycles-as vehicles of freedom and mobility--empowered women and people of color during the late 19th century "cycling craze," and we will learn about policies based in racism and sexism that limited who could easily experience the liberating movement cycling offered. Understanding that history, we'll focus on how, today, the bicycle offers hope for sustainable transportation that supports individual, community, and environmental health in ways that redress racism, and gender- and ability-based discrimination. Working closely with community partners, including the City of Kalamazoo, we will explore how communities can build cycling infrastructure using an equity lens, developing a comparative perspective by investigating how urban cycling thrives in communities in the US and around the world. We will work closely with partners on and off campus on projects that will help to provide equitable, sustainable cycling infrastructure for people of all races, genders, income levels, and ages. As we do this, we will come to know our community by bike, riding together regularly. We will also take a field trip or two to learn more about how communities nearby are improving access to safe cycling for their residents.

SEMN 183 Fys: Puritan Afterlives: a Case-Study In Cultural Memory A cultural critic once mused, 'Puritanism-the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy'. From Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter in the 19th century, to Arthur Miller's The Crucible in the 20th, this dour image of Puritan rigidity has become embedded in American popular culture. Witch-crazed, morally-scrupulous, and oppressive, these seventeenth-century people are easily dismissed as irrelevant to modern life. This course will investigate the processes by which this characterization of the Puritans came to be, as well as its relation to the historical evidence. It will deal more generally with the construction of historical narratives, the formation of cultural memory, and the interpretive power of popular culture. Using primary sources, the writings of historians, popular commentary, and key examples from American literature and cinema, this course will wrestle with the ways in which history is memorialized, and how historical evidence is marshalled in modern contexts. It will also question the nature of historical 'truth' and what it is to remember.

SEMN 184 FYS: Slang: A Discussion of Informal English This course is designed for students whose native language is not English. Permission required. Slang is the ever-changing use of informal language that is reflective of culture and society. Though slang is most common in spoken language, modern dictionaries have long embraced slang and recorded its usage. Notable examples include the Oxford English Dictionary new entries of 'vape,' 'selfie,' and 'GIF.' In this class, we will discuss, research, and write about the informal use of slang and its role in social interactions as well as what slang represents in the lives of English speakers. We will identify the purpose of slang in a community of speakers, and how language is used to create relationships. An important distinction will be made regarding the environment of informal and formal language and how English speakers navigate the cultural requirements of spoken and written language in academic settings. Through readings, videos, discussion, and writing, we will explore the fun and function of slang.

SEMN 185 FYS: Unscripted Intimacies There are forms of intimacy for which we have social, historical, and legal scripts. These are codified, culturally sanctioned, and institutionally recognized relationships, e.g. wife/husband, brother/sister, mother/child. These bonds tend to be represented in standardized or predictable ways, and are associated with a set of culturally agreed-upon milestones that mark their "progress" and their "success." With respect to husbands and wives, for instance: our culture maintains a broad conception of what this type of relationship "should" look like, and how it "should" progress-a conception that is profoundly influenced by race, gender, class, age, sexuality, and so forth: First comes love. Then comes marriage. Then comes a baby in a baby carriage. These markers pave a well-trodden pathway through this form of intimacy, which culminates in its legal recognition as a legitimate relational bond. And yet there are many other forms of intimacy that shape our lives for which we have not paved well-trodden paths. These unscripted intimacies include queer forms of romance as well as other categories like friendship, the "girl crush," the "bromance," queer families, roommates, heterosocial friendships, non-romantic life partners, "work wives" and "work husbands," and so forth. The scripts for these relations are less standardized, and sometimes have to be written from scratch. How do we proceed in these cases? What informs the way these relationships grow and progress? How is their "success" measured? What are the hierarchies in which they tend to subsist? Are these unscripted bonds influenced in similar ways by race, gender, class, age, and sexuality? How are these bonds represented in our culture? What is it that maintains them in the absence of institutionalized support and legal recognition?

SEMN 186 Fys: Climate Change- the Challange of a Generation Climate change is a global challenge that confronts your generation. Decisions made by people in the past, present, and future will affect the global community. In this course we will investigate the scientific basis of climate change, the measured effects, the changes we are experiencing, and mitigation strategies. We will dive into reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), consider personal strategies for lowering our own carbon footprints, learn about campus sustainability strategies, and investigate how to get involved. Through this course we will develop our writing and presentation skills through peer feedback and revision. We will also consider the existential dread we may feel as we look to the future on our changed planet.

SEMN 187 FYS: GMOs and Designer Babies: The Ethics of Genome Engineering From bacteria to humans, all living organisms share the same astonishingly simple four-letter DNA code, composed of A, G, C, and T. Genome engineering is the process by which this code is modified to produce different outcomes, including genetically modified organisms (GMOs), malaria-resistant mosquitos, gene therapies, and even "designer babies." However, the ability to "re-write" DNA, especially that which can be inherited by future generations, carries significant ethical implications. Should humans edit the code of life? How could genome engineering benefit society? How could genome engineering be misused? How could genome engineering widen social equity gaps? This course will explore the past, present, and future of genome engineering with an emphasis on the ethical responsibilities associated with editing DNA. Through reading, writing, and discussion, students will develop informed opinions and ideas as they research the role of genome engineering in society. This course is designed for anyone who has an interest in how science intersects with humanity; no background in science is necessary.

SEMN 188 FYS: Imagining Possible Worlds Which story is more likely to occur in the real world: Star Wars or The Lord of the Rings? According to Scottish philosopher David Hume, "nothing we [can] imagine is absolutely impossible." So, since science fiction and fantasy stories seem equally imaginable, maybe they are equally possible. However, the great sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov once said, "science fiction, given its grounding in science, is possible; fantasy, which has no grounding in reality, is not." So, maybe sci-fi stories are more possible than fantasy stories after all. This suggests a deeper, underlying question: "what does it even mean to say that something is possible?" In this course, we will explore that question-"what is possibility?"-from a philosophical point-of-view by using science fiction and fantasy stories as our guide. To do this, we will read such notable contemporary writers as Margaret Atwood, Stephen King, Michael Chabon, Ursula K. Le Guin, and T. C. Boyle. We will also watch three very weird movies and even a few episodes of Star Trek. We will use these experiences as the foundation for our philosophical study of possibility, which will include thinking hard about such topics as science, freedom, knowledge, God, evil, and zombies. YES, that's right! ZOMBIES!!

SEMN 190 FYS: Science and Society This course is designed for those who are curious about the natural world. We aim to engage and enhance that curiosity by exploring science in the world around us. We will observe with wonder, thoughtfully hypothesize, methodically test, and conclude with deeper knowledge and more questions. We will discover roles we can take to contribute to building scientific knowledge. We will work to understand developing science. We will design and carry out experiments, read about scientific discovery, and join others on citizen-science projects. This course is intended for anyone who is excited about understanding the natural world, no science background is needed.

SEMN 191 FYS: It's Only Rock and Roll Mick Jagger said the song "It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like it)" was a response to the pressure he and the band felt to continually exceed their past accomplishments. Who could have imagined how rock and roll (and all of its children) would succeed, exceed and change the world? Who could have imagined what rock and roll has accomplished and what the world has accomplished because of rock and roll? In this seminar we will explore some of the fascinating relationships between current events, social, cultural and political developments, and rock music, as expressed through the music, lyrics, art, philosophy and fashion of rock and roll. Through generous listenings, viewings, readings, discussions, and, most importantly, through our writings, we will gain a well-rounded view of the history of rock music and a deeper appreciation for the complex and evolving part rock and roll and has played and continues to play in the social, cultural, political and, of course, musical evolution of our lives and the world.

SEMN 192 FYS: Why Do We Learn? By the time you start college, you have learned a multitude of different things, and you will continue to learn and grow throughout your college years and the rest of your life. Sometimes we learn seemingly without trying, like when we mindlessly sing along with an advertising jingle. Other times learning seems to take a great deal of effort, like studying for a big test. Understanding what, how, and why humans learn are important questions not just for psychologists and educators, but for people in nearly any field - from politics to healthcare, from music to computer science. In this course we will explore these questions in multiple ways. What motivates us as learners, both in school settings and in our broader lives? Why do we bother learning when we have Google, Wikipedia, and ChatGPT at our fingertips at all times? How does learning bring meaning to our lives as individuals, and empower us to be positive members of a community? And, oh yeah, what does it mean to say that "The end of learning is gracious living"?

SEMN 193 FYS Banned: Censorship & Art Politics Art is a ubiquitous part of our society, but how exactly do we define the word "art" and what do we expect from it? Some might say art is solely for aesthetic enjoyment and to make us feel good, but what happens when art becomes part of the culture wars? What social conditions drive controversy around art? This course will explore art's seemingly unparalleled ability to outrage and offend. We will discuss and dissect a wide variety of historical cases where art has been deemed dangerous and/or objectionable. Through a variety of readings and discussions we will explore such topics as: Is censorship ever okay? What can controversies surrounding art tell us about those who are offended? And, what does being offended mean in a democratic society? In this course we will learn how to unpack the context of controversial art and self-examine our personal values and what it means to have those values challenged.

SEMN 194 FYS: Why College Now? This seminar will include a broad exploration of U.S. higher education and the experience of college students. We will explore and discuss ideas around the varied and evolving aims, goals, and purposes of higher education. We will also discuss the impact higher education has on students, factors that influence college student success, and habits which enhance student learning. The course will include readings from a range of resources and viewpoints, individual reflection and writing opportunities, group discussion, and student led assignments. Students will be challenged to consider their own learning goals and college journey within the broader context of higher education.

SEMN 196 FYS: Memories, Secrets & Lies Why do we love to read "confessions," watch makeover shows, read blogs, and take selfies? How do we shape the stories we tell about ourselves, and the image of self we present to the world? Is there such a thing as a "true" or "authentic" self? In this seminar you will work with memoirs, letters, a TV series, a graphic novel, diaries, and scrapbooks to explore how individuals present themselves and how they tell their life stories. We start with the genre of confessions, looking at how writers draw in their audiences by claiming to tell secrets, and "nothing but the truth." We will discuss memory, its failures, and the ways we retrieve "lost time" in narrative. Other topics include performance and identity, censorship and autobiographical scandals surrounding authors who "broke the rules" of memoir. One week we visit the Kalamazoo College Archives and work with diaries, letters, and scrapbooks from college students 100 years ago-examining how their experiences may parallel or differ from your own. We will also visit the Kalamazoo Institute of Art to view works of self-portraiture.

Sophomore Seminars

The sophomore seminar is the second component of the Shared Passages and comes at a critical moment of challenge and opportunity in students’ journeys through the K Plan. They provide a vital link between students’ entry to the K experience and their other landmark K experiences – advanced work in the major, study abroad, and a SIP.

Sophomore Seminar Courses

SEMN 201 Beauty Across Cultures In this course, we will examine how the rhetoric of beauty is shaped by cultural values, and how the powerful concepts of "beauty" in turn shape our personal lives. Through a wide selection of texts across different cultures in different genres (investigative journalism, art, multimedia sources), we will delve into the problem of how the rhetoric of beauty reflects social norms and values, and how it commands social members to assume certain gender, racial, and cultural roles. We will also investigate how the conceptions of beauty play into scientific fields such as biology and quantum physics. Sophomores only may register.

SEMN 202 Developing Sage Advice: a Sophomore Seminar on Plants & Human Health Plants have pep! This course explores the essential role that plants play in human health. We will look through time and across continents to unfold the importance and variable usage of plants as medicine. Why do some plants have medicinal super powers? Can you safely navigate the local herbal supplement aisle? Should you? We spend most of our time writing and discussing how plants affect our health from a personal and global perspective. Plants highlighted in the course play a significant role in history and the future of the human health pathway. Importantly, you can choose to dive into the plant or ailment that is important to you!

SEMN 206 Ceramics: World Pottery World Pottery is a hands-on studio course with significant research and reflection components. Class time will be used to introduce students to a variety of clay bodies and clay-forming techniques from historical and regional perspectives (wheel-throwing will not be taught). Creative assignments ask students to consider and critique the role of cultural exchange and image appropriation within historical ceramics and in their own creative work. Projects will also investigate the roles of different types of pottery within contemporary American society, as a point of reference and departure. Each student will propose, execute, and present a research project. Lectures, critiques, and discussions will focus on individual and societal assumptions about pottery. This course is a Shared Passages Sophomore Seminar. Sophomores Only

SEMN 207 Infection: Global Health & Social Justice This course is first and foremost a Shared Passage Seminar. As a sophomore level writing class,it will build upon the First-Year Seminar goals. Through readings and discussions, the class will explore the world of infectious agents and the use of antibiotics as they affect global health. By studying current and historical cases of infections, we will try to address the spread, containment and eradication of select infectious agents. With each of the cases we study, we will discuss race, genes, and human history, through the lens of social justice. Sophomores Only

SEMN 208 Food and Travel Writing Through reading, writing, and studying various media in the realm of journalism and creative nonfiction, we will explore identity, history, and culture-our own, and that of others- through food and place, and artfully write and workshop nonfiction writing about lived experience. This Shared Passages Sophomore Seminar includes faculty-led travel to Costa Rica the first week of winter break, wherein we will actively apply theory through hands-on experience. A passport and additional fees for travel will be required, though need-based financial assistance will be available to make the trip accessible for all students.

SEMN 209 Philosophy of Science A philosophical examination of scientific methods and reasoning. Topics may include the analysis of explanation, the nature of scientific truth, instrumentalist and realist interpretations of science, confirmation and falsification, observational and theoretical terms, inter-theoretic reduction, the relation among various sciences, scientific revolutions, and the possibility of scientific progress. Recommended for science majors. Sophomore standing required.

SEMN 210 Listening Across Cultures What does it mean to be a knowledgeable music listener? An expert listener? A native listener? Hip hop has its "heads," French opera had claqueurs, and Syrian tarab has the sammi'a (expert listeners), but is the act of listening the same across cultures, or is there something to the local perception of music that goes beyond style and genre? Questioning the adage that "Music is the universal language," this course will examine how people assign meaning and power to music. Analyzing music from around the world, we will attune our ears to the ways in which people across cultural borders conceptualize music, sound and the act of listening. No music reading or basic theory knowledge is required. Sophomores only

SEMN 211 Seed Stories, Sovereignty, & Stewardship The story of agriculture is, in large part, a story about seeds. Or rather, many stories about seeds and the people who developed co-evolutionary partnerships with plants through the practice of seed stewardship. In this Sophomore Seminar, we'll listen to the stories of seedkeepers and learn how their relationships with seeds embody their cultural values and cosmogeneaologies. We'll examine the role that seeds have played in campaigns of colonization, investigate how the global seed industry has shaped contemporary agricultural systems, and learn how activists and traditional seedkeepers are working to address social and environmental injustices by practicing seed sovereignty.

SEMN 212 Ancient Humans & Other Animals Humans tend either to think of themselves as separate from animals or as the top of the animal heap. We tell ourselves that we are different, and this affects how we treat and interact with animals, which might be different if we treated them as "same" In this class we will look at how ancient Greeks and Romans thought about, used, treated and interacted with animals. In this way, every day we will step into another, lost world where people held different beliefs about the animal kingdom. At the same time, we will also use their ideas and experiences to interrogate our own beliefs and practices concerning other animals Sophomores only.

SEMN 213 Christianity & the Family This course critically addresses contemporary debates about the centrality of the family in Christian teaching through a historical and cross-cultural survey. What is the relationship between Christianity and the various approaches to kinship and family in different cultures in different historical contexts? Where did our contemporary ideas about the family come from and what are Christians saying about new forms of kinship? From the Bible to present day debates about divorce, sex, and same sex marriage, Christians have never embraced a single understanding of the family, but rather have been influenced by broader cultural shifts in how kinship is done Sophomores Only

SEMN 214 Framing Difference This course will combine research and studio components, split more or less evenly. The research topic, broadly painted, will be fine art documentary practices, grounded with an entry-level hands-on studio component (using digital photography). There are two motivations for this course: to give students creative control of photographic tools (technical, formal, conceptual) prior to their leaving for study away, but also to explore the issues and ethics of documentary photography practice. While the broad research topic is this documentary practice (theory/tradition), this course will place particular emphasis on the ethics of photographing outside of one's own group. This course is a Shared Passages Sophomore Seminar. Sophomores Only

SEMN 217 World Indigenous Literatures: The People and the Land A selective study of the literary traditions and contemporary texts of indigenous peoples around the world, focusing on indigenous communities in regions where Kalamazoo College students study and with a particular emphasis on texts that explore the complex relationships between indigenous communities and the land they claim as their own. This course is a Shared Passages Sophomore Seminar. Sophomores Only

SEMN 219 Magical Realism Magical realism is a genre that combines elements of the fantastic with realism often in order to imagine utopias or resist restrictive aspects of society. This course will examine the genre, interrogate its relationship to other genres of fantasy, and consider the relationship between the aesthetic patterns of the genre and its potential for social advocacy. This course is a Shared Passages Sophomore Seminar. Sophomores Only

SEMN 220 Bad Religion In this course, we explore communities and practices that have been considered "loud," "superstitious," "weird," "unorthodox," and purportedly "satanic." To outsiders, bad religion is religion that seems to straddle the lines of magic and witchcraft, and religion that does not stay in its sphere but seems to embroil itself in public space, business, and politics. This class does not argue that there is such a thing as "bad religion" but explores contestations over what constitutes "appropriate" religious practice, community, authority, and belief in 20th century and contemporary America. From Scientologists to Satanists, this course will explore groups that have drawn the ire of neighbors, established churches, media, and governmental authorities and examine how understandings of immigration, race, gender, and sexuality structured these communities and shaped the controversies that surrounded them. Sophomores only.

SEMN 221 Social Justice Through the Arts From Hamilton to Woodstock, how have the arts stimulated and informed social transformation in America over the last 100 years? This interdisciplinary course will involve readings, listening sessions, discussion, and research as the basis for an original social practice creation incorporating at least TWO mediums (e.g. spoken word, song, dance, visual art, theatre) to express the students' view on a given social issue. Designed to accommodate students who enjoy creative activity in a variety of disciplines. Only Sophomores may register.

SEMN 223 The Inward Journey: the Science, Practice, and History of Meditation This seminar will explore the meditative experience from historical, experiential, and biological perspectives. Meditation-the cultivation of a state of thoughtless awareness that can generate profound peace and inner transformation-has deep historical roots and plays a role in many cultures and religions. Modern neuroscience has made great strides in understanding the meditative experience and documenting the physical and neurochemical changes that result from meditation. Students in this course will undertake a personal journey of active practice of meditation, primarily from Buddhist perspectives. This experience will be underpinned with study of the neuroscience and practical health benefits of meditation. Finally students will delve into the historical, cultural, and religious dimensions of meditation. Sophomores Only.

SEMN 224 Exceptional America? The idea of American exceptionalism has a long and complex history. What does it mean now and what did it mean in the past to describe America as exceptional? Who has used the language of American exceptionalism over time? Who has challenged it? How has the idea of American exceptionalism served to define what and who is and is not American? How has it shaped the ways that Americans, in and out of government, have viewed and interacted with other peoples and governments? To answer these questions, this course will take a historical approach to the idea of American exceptionalism, tracing it from the earliest period of colonial settlement to the recent present. Sophomores only

SEMN 226 Theory in Action: Context, Positionality And Practical Application Theories have been described in different ways across social movements. They have been defined as integral to liberation, as ancestral legacies, as weapons, and/or as inhabiting our bodies and dictating our actions and knowledges. However, prominent ideas remain that describe theory as abstract and disconnected from reality, considering it an elite and privileged process while divorcing it form action. Nevertheless, all social movements are informed by theories that dictate an understanding of a problem and possible solutions. This course, through an examination of praxis, social movements, and intersectional literature, invites students to consider the ways theory served a key role in social justice projects like the Civil Rights Movement, Black Lives Matter, Mothers of East L.A., and tuition equity for undocumented migrants. Students will be exposed to hopeful and flexible theory that foregrounds the possibility of social change. Specifically, they will reflect on their own positionality as an entry point to understanding social problems and endeavor to put theory into practice, or as Aida Hurtado explains, deconstructing while reconstructing. Sophomores only

SEMN 231 The Plague This course explores the bubonic plague caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis during the medieval period. Treating plague pandemics as both human and biological events, this course will explore the diverse cultural reactions to this devastating disease, its effects on labor and economic structures, its impacts on religion and community, its influences on public health policies and medicine, and its connections to modern epidemiology. Only Sophomores may register.

SEMN 239 Cold War Kids This course examines the various shapes and impacts of youth rebellion in the GDR (= East Germany) and looks at how the state reacted to these rebellions with attempts at indoctrination and control. The course examines these topics through readings, film, and music that offer a wide variety of perspectives on the topic and allow the students to develop analytic skill and improve their understanding of cultures beyond their own experience.

SEMN 240 Economics for Global Travelers This Sophomore Seminar examines how economics can contribute to a better understanding of the world and our place in it. We will look at differences, similarities, and linkages among the economics of various nations. We will study flows of money, products, people, technologies, and ideas across national borders. The approach will be non-technical with an emphasis on understanding economic ideas. We will spend more time writing and discussing than on models or equations. Does not count toward economics or business major. Sophomores only. Cross-listed with ECON-240.

SEMN 241 Teaching for a Lifetime This sophomore seminar focuses on education, how teachers work, and how students learn. Students will learn how to prepare effective lessons for any audience, imagining the teacher in a variety of community roles from graduate school lab instructor to a candidate for local office. Participants will divide their time between both student and teacher classroom perspectives. The student perspective will be preparation for active, hands-on classroom teaching experiences off campus. Students will observe and work as novice teachers in Kalamazoo and build connections that highlight the relationship between the classroom and the community.

SEMN 255 You Are What You Eat: Food and Identity In a Global Perspective The goal of this course is to examine the social, symbolic, and political-economic roles of what and how we eat. While eating is essential to our survival, we rarely pay attention to what we eat and why. We will look at the significance of food and eating with particular attention to how people define themselves differently through their foodways. We will also study food's role in maintaining economic and social relations, cultural conceptions of health, and religion. Finally, the class examines the complex economic and political changes in food systems and the persistence of food's role as an expression of identity, social and ethnic markers. This course is a Shared Passages Sophomore Seminar.

SEMN 256 Music and Identity Music serves multiple roles: a force for social transformation, a flag of resistance, a proclamation of cultural identity, a catalyst for expressing emotion, an avenue to experiencing the sacred. Students will look at identity through the lens of contemporary and traditional American music and will consider how race, ethnicity, age, gender, national identity, and other factors express themselves in and are shaped by music. The ability to read music or understand basic music theory is not required; a love of music and an interest in American culture are essential. This course is a Shared Passages Sophomore Seminar. Sophomores Only

SEMN 257 Refugees and Migrants in Modern Europe The course explores the history of migration from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day, focusing on people moving from, within, and to Europe. Sophomores only. Cross-listed with HIST-256

SEMN 264 Global Shakespeares Shakespeare is the most translated, adapted, performed, and published Western Author. Just what this means to Western and non-Western cultures is at the heart of this course. What does it mean to think of Shakespeare as a colonizing force? What additional ways are there to see the influence of his works? Many cultures have written back to Shakespeare, addressing race, sexuality, gender, and religion from their own cultural perspectives. What do exchanges between differently empowered cultures produce and reproduce? We'll tackle such questions as we read works by Shakespeare and literary/film adaptations from around the globe. This course is a Shared Passages Sophomore Seminar. Sophomores Only

SEMN 268 Jews on Film This course examines themes in Jewish history and culture as expressed through the medium of film. Through readings, lectures, and class discussions, students will explore issues such as assimilation and acculturation, anti-Semitism, group cohesion, interfaith relations, Zionism, and the Holocaust. We will consider questions, such as: How are Jewish characters and places portrayed on film? Which elements of these portrayals change over time, and which remain constant? How do these cultural statements speak to the historical contexts that produced them? What choices do filmmakers make regarding the depiction of Jewish life, and how do those choices influence perceptions of Jews in particular, or minorities generally? Sophomores Only Sophomores Only

SEMN 270 In Search of the Supernatural: Myths And Spirits in Chinese Tradition This course explores the supernatural in Chinese mythology, folklore, and literature, examining myths of gods, spirits, and strange beings that blur the line between human and supernatural realms. Students will study cosmogonic myths, supernatural creatures, and ghost stories to understand how these narratives reflect cultural, social, and ethical themes in Chinese history. The course also addresses issues like transformation, justice, and gender dynamics. Modern media adaptations of these myths will be analyzed to explore their continued impact on contemporary identity and morality. Students will engage through readings, discussions, creative projects, and analytical writing to develop skills of literary analysis, critical thinking, and intercultural proficiency.

SEMN 292 Development and Dispossession This course takes a critical approach to the study of development, focusing particular attention on the displacement and dispossession of local populations. Using contemporary case studies, we examine how neoliberal policies and practices play out in various development sectors, including agriculture, infrastructure, and the extractive industry, in both rural and urban spaces in the U.S. and around the world. Sophomores only.

SEMN 295 Live Media, Virtual Performance For the last century, an ongoing argument over the value of live performance has dominated the discourse about the conflict between live theatre and other forms of mediatized performance. In this course, we will talk about these various forms of performances and their differing degrees of liveness, from theatre and film to TV and radio to Twitch and social media. In doing so, we will see the intersections between digital culture and high culture across virtual and real boundaries. Sophomores only

SEMN 295 Marx and the Arts What role does art play in the struggle to combat different forms of social, economic, and racial injustice? From the moment Karl Marx wrote his first reflections on this topic, this question has continued to preoccupy philosophers and artists from different schools of the Marxist tradition. In this course, we will examine the highly contested relation between art and politics within the legacy of Marxist thought. Focusing on key artists and thinkers concerned with the revolutionary potential of art, we will continually seek to explore the relevance of historical and theoretical debates to our current historical moment.

SEMN 295 Island Time: Pacific Lit Islands: Perhaps the word conjures images of white sand, blue water, warm weather. From the perspective of the mainland, the Pacific Islands are often paradoxically imagined as exotic escapes, but also as sacrifice zones to military testing and sea level rise. Though tourism and militarism might seem like opposite sides of the spectrum when it comes to imagining space, how can we trace histories of colonization in the Pacific to understand how these imaginations are intertwined? How do the Indigenous peoples of these islands define and express their own histories, cultures, and futurities? We will explore these questions through novels, short stories, poetry, and film. Sophomores only

SEMN 295 US-Africa Relations Since WW2 Course examines the long history of US involvement with Africa since WW2. We will move beyond stereotypes and mythology to a more complete understanding of the reality and possibilities of US-Africa relations. To do so, we will address question such as: -Under what circumstances have various Americans identified with Africa? -How have Americans sought influence or profits in Africa? To what effects? -Under what circumstances have various African countries identified with the US? Rather than being a study of individual African countries, the course will approach these questions through different topics and within specific countries' contexts, including Zimbabwe.

SEMN 295 The World Through New Orleans As the physical reality of New Orleans has been chaped by topography and climate, settler migration and indigenous displacement, enslavement and commodification, so has its music been shaped by the legal, economic, racial and political regimes that accompanied these changes. Crafting musical tools to navigate local realities, New Orleanians established central elements of African American music-and through it the popular music of the contemporary world. The class begins with New Orleans' constitutive musical cultures-indigenouse, African, Caribbean, and European-befoer moving towards a history of music in New Orleans, and out to hear how it has been heard, consumed, and adapted around the world. Sophomores only

SEMN 295 Bearing Witness: Holocaust Literature & Testimony First-person accounts of the Holocaust testify to persecution and violence, and represent acts of resistance against the Nazis' attempt to destroy all signs of Jewish life and culture. Memoirs, diaries, poetry, oral histories, and literary works of Holocaust victims and survivors continue to be read across the world. In this interdisciplinary seminar, we discuss what it means to bear witness to traumatic events, and how survivors (and subsequent generations) thematize the challenges of memory. Students will learn about the historical events of the Holocaust, and will discuss the role of these powerful literary works in post-Holocaust memorialization. Sophomores only

SEMN 295 Hallyu: Korean Cultural Wave This course explores Hallyu, the global phenomenon of the Korean Cultural Wave. Together we eat Korean cuisine, listen to K-pop, watch K-dramas and K-movies, in order to investigate how Hallyu started and spread across the world. You will play some games featured in "Squid Games," create your own MukBang video, and listen to K-pop from Psy to BTS. By experiencing Korean culture first hand, you will learn about Korea's unique cultural characteristics and how they differ (or not) from your own cultural frame.

SEMN 295 Becoming Kin In a time of climate crisis and pandemic disconnection, how do we reaffirm our relationship to other beings? To the land? To the water? How do we become better relatives? By studying Indigenous epistemologies, especially Anishinaabe epistemologies, we will learn how to become kin. This course will develop the skills we need to build and maintain ethical relations to Indigenous communities, lands, and waters, both in Kalamazoo and abroad. Reading and writing poetry is how we will practice indigenous ways of knowing; it is our language of reflection. No prior poetry background is needed. Poetry novices are welcomed and encouraged!

SEMN 295 Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light Before and after World War II, many black musicians, artists and writers were dissatisfied with discrimination and segregation in America and moved to Paris as expatriates in search of a better way of life. They were joined by black soldiers who not only fought in the war, but also introduced Jazz to French soldiers. In Paris they were able to create thriving community of artists free from the confines of American racism. We will explore the complexities of the black experience as presented by black musicians, writers, and artists as they have tried to overcome, resist, and call attention to the hypocrisy of democracy in America.

SEMN 295 Don't Stop the Music: Social Dimensions Of Musical Performance and Participation We humans play, perform, and participate in music in countless different ways across diverse cultural contexts. In this course, we consider these modes of performance and participation in order to understand our own, largely unexamined and culturally-produced assumptions about music, broadly defined. In doing so, we aim to see more clearly how our own position in the social world conditions our experiences and interactions, both musically and more generally. We will pay especially close attention to how our ways of consuming, valuing, and performing music are shaped by race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and other dimensions of our social locations.

SEMN 295 On Being Human in Africa The course examines the multiple experiences of Africans (their racialized and gendered existences, their affective relations, their ways of relating to and caring for each other and the land) and explores what it means to think and write about Africa. The course examines representations and discourses including fiction, academic writing, and social media and considers new paradigms and innovative technologies. Sophomores only

Senior Seminars

Senior Seminars are the culmination of the Shared Passages Program. Disciplinary senior seminars integrate students’ experiences inside and outside a particular major, while the interdisciplinary senior seminars listed below provide a liberal arts capstone experience, allowing students from a variety of majors to apply diverse aspects of their Kalamazoo College education to an interesting topic or problem.

Senior Seminar Courses

SEMN 407 The Quest for Happiness: Living the Good and Gracious Life This course will draw on Psychological principles to explore how people can make their lives more fulfilling and meaningful. The course will focus on discussion and development of important life skills, including gratitude, resilience, and optimism, that are important for emotional well-being. Course assignments and discussions will emphasize reflection about one's own experiences at K as well as one's own goals for life post-graduation. Seniors Only

SEMN 408 Slow Farming: Resilient, Just, and Joyful Agriculture In this interdisciplinary Senior Capstone, students will critically examine recent movements in organic, local, and sustainable agriculture and explore how we might engage in transforming our individual, institutional, community, and political relationships with food and farming. This course includes a weekly practicum at Harvest of Joy Farm. Contact Amy Newday for an advance copy of the course syllabus. There are required off-campus components for this course. Seniors Only

SEMN 490 Arts Entrepreneurship Art Entrepreneurship will look at the business of the arts in the 21st Century. Explore themes of entrepreneurship through case studies of successful entrepreneurs and investigate the lessons learned from failed arts organizations. This course will be focused on tangible skills musicians and other artists will need to compete in the creative marketplace. Roles of nonprofit arts organizations and presenters will be investigated. Concepts studied will include but not be limited to: networking, digital media & marketing, non-profit leadership, organizational structure, non-linear career paths, project management, fundraising, budgeting, taxes & copyright, and audience engagement.

SEMN 491 Building the Archive: Baldwin & His Lega Baldwin & His Legacy In November of 1960, James Baldwin delivered an address, "In Search of a Majority," at Stetson Chapel which was later published in his book Nobody Knows My Name. This seminar will approach this visit (and Baldwin's work) as a site of analysis. As an actual event, the occasion left artifacts (publicity, newspaper accounts, published essay). It also can be read within the legacy of other Civil Rights era visitors to the college, including Charles V. Hamilton (co-author of Black Power: The Politics of Liberation). Moreover, as a writer who addressed national and international identity, racial politics (personal and cultural), and sexuality, Baldwin's writings remain relevant. Through close attention to Baldwin and his milieu, this course will invite students to bring their own experiences and disciplinary knowledge to the reading, writing, and archival research. We will consider an archive of oral histories from those in the community who participated in or were influenced by the civil rights movement. This is a Shared Passages Senior Seminar and fulfills the Advanced Literary Study requirement. Seniors Only

SEMN 492 American Indian Literature & Law "American Indian Literature and the Law" is an interdisciplinary examination of the relationship between literary and legal texts that uses Critical Race Theory as a lens. Our goal is to uncover and analyze the complicated relationship between United States law and the creative productions of Indigenous nations of North America. At heart, this senior seminar asks us to reflect deeply on the power of storytelling and the relationship between "the text" and "the world." Our course is thus necessarily interdisciplinary, and we will conduct research on government documents relating to Indigenous peoples in addition to researching literary and cultural criticism on our texts, using these skills to develop final projects that reflect the interests of each student. This is a Shared Passages Senior Seminar and fulfills the Advanced Literary Study requirement.

SEMN 493 Poetics of Love From the romantic, the sacred, the familial, and the platonic, we will examine how the love poem form is used to make sense of self, violence, and death. Specifically, we will look at how poets from marginalized communities are commandeering this form. Jericho Brown writes, "When I say I love you, I mean for you to understand that I exist in relation to you." Through poetry, we will process the relationships we've made at K and prepare for new relationships post- graduation. We will cultivate a place for love in our lives and understand that as anti-fascist work. Poetry novices encouraged!

SEMN 495 Exploring Stigma: Verbal & Visual Narrat Exploring Stigma: Verbal & Visual Narratives Social stigma exists. It may be associated with perceptions toward mental illness, socioeconomic status, race, religion, gender identity, and body image, to name a few. Stories help humanize issues and are invaluable as educational and awareness-raising tools. Reading works of art therapy, psychology, and sociology, and engaging in experiential art processes, students will examine the existence of stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. Together we will explore how narratives and the creative arts can play a role in social justice and in eliminating stigma. Seniors only

SEMN 495 Law and the Legal Profession This course is designed to prepare seniors for entering law school and starting on their path toward a legal career. The class will begin by providing a brief overview of the legal system. We will then transition to discussing the structure of law school and the specific skills needed to succeed in that setting. To practice these skills, the class will spend four weeks simulating a typical law school course unit using torts, one of the standard topics covered in a law student's first year. This simulated unit will culminate in the students using case briefs and outlines they have prepared to take a fact pattern-based midterm exam, like those that they will see in law school. Finally, we will explore the legal profession, covering the many options that exist for both traditional and non-traditional legal careers, with assignments that will help students make decisions about the direction they want to take their legal education and career. Our exploration will include hearing from guest speakers who currently work in some of the most common sectors of the legal profession. Students will conclude this section of the course with an informational interview with a legal professional working in a field that interests them. Throughout the course, students will be writing structured reflections about these professional interactions and about what they have learned about the law more generally. Seniors only.

SEMN 495 Vocational Calling in Healthcare This senior seminar is open to all senior students contemplating careers in healthcare, public health, global justice and humanitarian aid. This course will review the knowledge gained about the mind and body, as well as the traditions/practices of various cultures or religions in the human race. Course discussions will provide applicable scenarios to provider care. Further, a variety of guest speakers to provide unique lens and perspectives to examine current trends in healthcare and community outreach to foster meaningful discussion/solution generation. Finally, each student will craft a vocational discernment narrative which will inform their future approaches to displaying appropriate empathy, exemplifying intercultural competence and avoiding burnout in their chosen field.

SEMN 495 Real World: K-College Kalamazoo College provides students ample opportunities to engage academically, experientially, globally, and intellectually. How do you connect those experiences to your plans for life after K? Through intentional self-assessment and reflection, practical career preparation activities, and projects with local and national employers, this course will help you reinforce your professional presence, enact a viable postgraduation strategy, and strengthen your network.

SEMN 495 Collectivity and Society Art collectives have a long history of setting out to affect social change and to blur the lines between art practice and real life. This class will explore some of these collectives and the issues they engaged with and ask the fundamental question: "can art change the world?" This class is open to all majors, backgrounds, and interests and will feature a high degree of discussion and collaboration.

SEMN 495 Finding a Home in the World: Lessons in Sustainability From the Ancient Mediterranean People have struggled with how to live sustainably and to mitigate environmental damage at least since humans began farming. Since that time, we have existed in a struggle with the world we occupy for resources to sustain us and to fulfill our desires, and yet there have always been those who have found a harmonious balance within it. This class will be an exploration of how to become part of that latter group, examining struggles, practices, and solutions from the ancient Mediterranean and from today, and working on a community-based project. This is a service-learning course.

SEMN 495 Science Communication & Society You know Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jane Goodall and Bill Nye as scientists and, importantly, as science communicators. But why do these folks stand out in the sea of science? In this course, we slingshot into the important role science communication has in society AND why society must be considered in order to communicate science effectively. You will have opportunity to explore topics that are important to you (changing climate, current and historical injustices in SciComm, vaccine hesitancy etc.), and the course builds both theoretical and practical skills. During this course, we will harnesses the power of teamwork, creativity, connections and a wee bit of science to create accessible science-content for the community of Kalamazoo. Scientist students welcome, but NOT required! All majors can succeed and contribute to our cool content creations.

SEMN 495 Generative AI: Concepts, Techniques, & Implications This course will allow students to explore the basics of generative AI, combining foundational concepts with practical applications and discussions on societal, ethical, and interdisciplinary implications. Students will explore key generative models, experiment with their use, and critically analyze the broader impacts of generative AI across various discplines such as art, business, science, and more. Through prompt engineering, students will focus on crafting effective inputs to maximize the utility and accuracy of generative AI systems.

SEMN 499 Special Topic Senior Capstone Senior Shared Passages Capstone special topics course. Topics will vary from course to course. SEMN-499 courses may be added to the curriculum throughout the year. Seniors Only

SEMN 499F Crafting a Life - Fall This course will help students define life goals and a direction based on values, purpose and passion, interests, identities, and a personal philosophy upon which they can build a life. Reflective practice is partnered with core practical life skills such as budgeting, public speaking, and interviewing, among others. This course requires students to begin imagining and preparing for the immediate next stages of life as well as the necessary work of designing a well-considered life plan. Seniors Only

SEMN 499W Crafting a Life - Winter This course will help students define life goals and a direction based on values, purpose and passion, interests, identities, and a personal philosophy upon which they can build a life. Reflective practice is partnered with core practical life skills such as budgeting, public speaking, and interviewing, among others. This course requires students to begin imagining and preparing for the immediate next stages of life as well as the necessary work of designing a well-considered life plan. SEMN-499F and Senior Standing