Class Highlights

FROM ANCIENT RECIPES TO ALTERNATIVE SOCIETIES: THE TUFTS SEMINAR

The word “seminar” evokes an image of chairs set in a circle, the ruffle of annotated pages, the clamor of dialogue and debate. Seminars are upper-level courses taught by professors that often delve deeply into a specific subject area. Driven by discussion, the small class sizes foster an intimate sense of community where students can share their unique, diverse perspectives and engage in rich intellectual discovery. It’s all about learning with and from your peers. And everyone knows everyone’s name.

BY RAGA CHILAKAMARRI ’23

HIST 196 Research Seminar, Europe: Recipes in Early Modern Europe

The teachings of chefs like Anthony Bourdain or Ina Garten hold their place on modern kitchen shelves, but have you ever wondered what popular recipes were favored in Europe over 400 years ago? This seminar course examines the diverse uses of recipe books—not only for food but for science, craftsmanship, and religion—as the genre exploded in Europe between 1500 and 1800. Through reading old manuscripts and early prints, students unveil how dynamics of gender, economics, class, colonialism, and expertise played into tradition under the socio-cultural contexts of early-modern Europe.

CH 185 Health and Human Rights

The Community Health Department is one of the oldest multidisciplinary programs at Tufts and spans a variety of interesting subject areas. This seminar explores a rights-based approach to health, honing in on topics of international human rights and humanitarian health law. Students study a range of texts, from government documents to academic articles, and learn to approach problems with a lens of deconstructing-to-reconstruct when considering the intertwined impacts of public health policies. Some examples include conflict resolution of civil liberties against laws during epidemics and addressing the effects of climate change.

ANTH 185 Current Topics in Anthropology: The End of Work in the United States

Here’s an age-old question: Do you work to live? Or do you live to work? This class investigates how anthropologists in the United States imagine life beyond work and contemplate other ways to organize a society that do not revolve around productivity. Tufts academic courses are eye-opening, empowering students to critically evaluate and revisualize how our world operates, grounded in theory with real life implications.

ENG 192 Seminar in English: Poetry and Faith

Word by word, line by line, stanza by stanza, poems often feel like intricate puzzles, each piece revealing a new layer of meaning. This advanced English class looks at poetry from both the religious 17thcentury and increasingly secularized 19th-century to ask how these writers and thinkers conveyed their beliefs in God, gods, myths, the soul, and other mysteries. By contemplating the reality presented in these poems, the class works together to understand how these poems talk about things that exist outside of our knowledge. Each student’s interpretation offers insight to a collective understanding—an important new piece in the puzzle.