HONORS COLLOQUIA

HONS 390 Race and Art

Dr. Jessica Maucione, Associate Professor of English and Women’s & Gender Studies

Dr. Shalon Parker, Professor of Art

“Lack of location is my location.” – African-American artist Glenn Ligon

People of color have historically occupied a precarious and unstable position in the Americas, more specifically a position of marginalization, displacement, and disempowerment. Whether through the forced and violent removal of indigenous Americans from their homelands, the practices of slavery and segregation in the Western Hemisphere, immigration to/migration within the Americas, or colonial occupation, the physical and psychological experience of displacement for people of color in the past and present is often acute. Moreover, this sense of being “out of place” has been instrumental in shaping not only the individual sense of self for many people of color but also the collective identity of various communities that are organized along racial lines.

This team-taught course primarily aims to look at some of those instances in the visual and literary arts when creativity, race, and a sense of displacement converge. In other words, we will get to examine together how the experiences of racial marginalization and displacement are critiqued, interrogated, and at times “resolved” by writers and visual artists in the Americas. We will also explore through juxtaposition the parallels, points of intersection, and perhaps moments of radical difference between visual representations and literary representations of this unique convergence. This course is a counterpart to HONS 290 you may take just one or both courses in any order.

HONS 390 Climate Change

Dr. Jon Isacoff, Professor of Environmental Studies and Sciences

Dr. Hugh Lefcort, Professor of Biology

This course is an in-depth examination of climate change science and politics. It examines the science behind climate models, current and predicted environmental effects of a changing climate, policies, as well as the basic definitions and concepts citizens need to understand climate change and its related political issues. In the course we will examine how scientific and political thinking on climate change has evolved.

Please attempt to register for the HONS numbers of the Honors Designated courses if possible. However, if those course numbers are already full, please register for the parent course number. You will still receive credit for the Honors Designated course, regardless of which course number you use.