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Term
Time & Day Offered
Level
Credits
Course Duration

The Plan as Portfolio — PLN2101.02

Fall 2019
Instructor: Noah Coburn and Zeke Bernstein
Credits: 1
This course is a critical look at the use of electronic portfolios (or e-portfolios) in higher education, and the unique opportunity here at Ź to develop an e-portfolio system that will supplement and extend the Plan process. Through readings, discussions, workshops, and a culminating portfolio project, we will look at the history and current use of e-portfolios today;

The Poetics of Love — LIT4268.01

Spring 2016
Instructor: Camille Guthrie
Credits: 4
Magic. Jealousy. Why. Tenderness. Scenes. Night. Waiting. Anxiety. Body. Roland Barthes’s A Lover’s Discourse (1978) examines the structure and language of the fictional and lived experience of love. In his analysis of Goethe’s Sorrows of Young Werther, Barthes observes the received ideas about love in order to demystify them and discover what remains radiant. With Barthes’s
Literature

The Poetics of Movement for Dance Screen — DAN4244.01

Spring 2016
Instructor: Dana Reitz
Credits: 2
A hands-on seminar conducted by Elliot Caplan to teach video as a collaborative tool for exploration of movement in dance. This class is intended for those interested in developing their aesthetic sensibilities and responsiveness toward the moving image rather than learning primarily the technical aspects of filmmaking. Cameras will be used to concentrate on framing and shot
Dance

The Poetics of Protest — LIT4612.01

Fall 2025
Instructor: Franny Choi
Days & Time: MO 1:40pm-5:20pm
Credits: 4

Since the killing of poet Refaat Alareer by Israeli forces in December of 2023, his now-famous poem “If I Must Die” has been read aloud at rallies and teach-ins, shared widely on social media, and written on countless picket signs. What makes a bit of language sticky and alive enough to mobilize people to take political action? What role has poetry played in

Literature

The Poetics of Protest — LIT2541.01) (cancelled 4/23/2024

Fall 2024
Instructor: Franny Choi
Credits: 2
What makes a poem political? Why do some poems, chants, and slogans circulate in political contexts, while others don’t? In this course, we will read poems from the 20th and 21st Century that have gone under the banner of “protest poetry” and examine the tools of craft that socially-engaged poets have utilized to further their work. Beginning with poets writing under Soviet
CAPA Literature

The Political Economy of the American Coast: Past, Present, and Future of a Dynamic Landscape — ENV4111.01

Fall 2021
Instructor: Carly Rudzinski
Credits: 4
How and why has the coast become so central to American cultural and economic life? Who has benefited from the rapid growth of coastal development over the last century, and who has been excluded? What does the future hold for coastal landscapes and communities, and what can be done to address emerging inequalities and vulnerabilities? This course will examine the past, present
Environment Society Culture and Thought

The Political Economy of the Twenty-First Century Refugee Crisis in North Africa and the Middle East — APA2143.01

Fall 2016
Instructor: Mohammad Moeini Feizabadi
Credits: 4
“To be truly radical is to make hope possible, rather than despair convincing.” —Raymond Williams In this course, we will begin by discussing the causes of the numerous wars in the Middle East over the past several decades (the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, recent wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, etc.), addressing their causes as well as their consequences. Then, we
CAPA

The Politics of Bodies in Motion — DAN4128.02

Spring 2018
Instructor: Nicole Daunic
Credits: 2
Scholars within dance studies, such as Randy Martin, André Lepecki, and Susan Manning, have proposed that dance serves as a unique practical and theoretical site through which to think the political--what philosopher Jacques Ranciére defines as the distribution of the sensible. In this course, we will read foundational texts addressing corporeality, biopolitics, aesthetics,
Dance

The Politics of Bodies in Motion — DAN2128.02

Spring 2019
Instructor: Nicole Daunic
Credits: 2
Scholars within dance studies, such as Randy Martin, André Lepecki, and Susan Manning, have proposed that dance serves as a unique practical and theoretical site through which to think, observe, and sense the political--what philosopher Jacques Rancière defines as dissensual modes of intervention in the seeable and the sayable, or the insertion of one world in another. Through
Dance

The Politics of Freedom — POL2104.01

Fall 2015
Instructor: Crina Archer
Days & Time: TBA
Credits: 4
This course examines competing conceptions of freedom in the tradition of Western political thought. Is political freedom about doing what you want, sharing power, or actively participating in political life? Is freedom a quality of individuals or an experience found in collective action? What conditions help to secure freedom and what conditions undermine its possibility? What
Society Culture and Thought

The Politics of Freedom — POL2256.01

Fall 2014
Instructor: crina archer
Days & Time: TBA
Credits: 4
This course examines competing conceptions of freedom in the tradition of Western political thought. Is political freedom about doing what you want, sharing power, or actively participating in political life? Is freedom a quality of individuals or an experience found in collective action? What conditions help to secure freedom and what conditions undermine its possibility? What
Social Science

The Politics of Immigration — POL2259.02

Spring 2026
Instructor: John Hultgren
Days & Time: WE 10:00am-11:50am
Credits: 2

The U.N. estimates that there are 281 international migrants in the world, a number that has grown precipitously over the past half century and shows little sign of dissipating. Over the same time period, anti-immigrant parties and leaders have sprung up across much of the world, with visions of national revitalization contingent upon militarized borders

Politics

The Politics of Main Street, USA — POL2107.01

Fall 2016
Instructor: Tim Schroeder
Credits: 4
Populism is back, and the small-town, white working class has played a major role in the rise of both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. But what are the political attitudes and ideologies that drive so-called Main Street USA? And why has populism reared its head here at this particular political conjuncture? The course will explore the politics of Main Street through readings in
Society Culture and Thought

The Politics of Pedro Almodóvar — SPA4603.01) (cancelled 6/3/2024

Spring 2025
Instructor: Sarah Harris
Credits: 4
Sometimes called apolitical or ahistorical, many of Pedro Almodóvar’s luscious films have met with consternation, if not distain, by Spanish critics. Yet Almodóvar leads the jury for the 2017 Cannes film festival. In fact, Spanish film scholar Paul Julian Smith notes that while “Pedro Almodóvar is now the most successful Spanish filmmaker of all time, whether that success is

The Politics of Pedro Almodóvar — SPA4603.01

Spring 2018
Instructor: Sarah Harris
Credits: 4
Sometimes called apolitical or ahistorical, many of Pedro Almodóvar’s luscious films have met with consternation, if not distain, by Spanish critics. Yet Almodóvar leads the jury for the 2017 Cannes film festival. In fact, Spanish film scholar Paul Julian Smith notes that while “Pedro Almodóvar is now the most successful Spanish filmmaker of all time, whether that success is
Languages

The Politics of Soul: Music, Emotion, Embodiment — MHI4305.01

Spring 2021
Instructor: Joseph Alpar and Brian Michael Murphy
Credits: 2
How do various musical traditions seek to carry listeners toward a realm of emotional feeling and even to mystical experience?  From soul in American rhythm and blues, to tarab in Arab music, hüzün in Turkish music, saudade in Brazilian music, and duende in Spanish Flamenco, there are numerous concepts that describe
Music Society Culture and Thought

The Politics of Student Movements in the '60s — SCT2141.01

Spring 2020
Instructor: John Hultgren
Credits: 2
To most of you, the 1960’s might seem like ancient history. There wasn’t even social media! You might be surprised to find out that many of the problems confronted by the student movement during that time are the same as problems we see today. Although the student uprisings seemed focused on the Vietnam War, many other issues were part of the struggle: workers strikes,
Society Culture and Thought

The Post-Pandemic House — ARC4402.02

Fall 2020
Instructor: DSherefkin@bennington.edu
Credits: 4
The rapid and profound disruption to life prompted by COVID-19 will have lasting impacts on architecture and the built environment. Houses have become sites for both economic production and the education of children. We will examine alternative forms of domestic architecture from history, and from other cultures where multiple generations and multiple programs have co-existed.
Visual Arts Environment

The Power and Ethics of Photography — APA4172.01) (cancelled 2/5/2025

Spring 2025
Instructor: Carly Rudzinski
Credits: 4
This course delves into the influence and impact of photography by examining the works of iconic and contemporary photographers. Students will explore how photography has shaped visual culture and society, gaining a deeper understanding of its power as an artistic and documentary medium. Ethical considerations are central to the course, as students will analyze the
CAPA

The Power of Art — APA2142.02

Spring 2018
Instructor: Souleymane Badolo
Credits: 2
Art has the power to help people in communities to communicate, to mobilize, to educate and to understand their living situation. Art can help political movements find their voice, and connect people to planning visions for the future. Beginning in 2014, protests in Burkina Faso organized against the current political dictatorship. Life was very difficult for the people.
CAPA

The Power of Art — APA2142.01

Spring 2018
Instructor: Souleymane Badolo
Credits: 2
Art has the power to help people in communities to communicate, to mobilize, to educate and to understand their living situation. Art can help political movements find their voice, and connect people to planning visions for the future. Beginning in 2014, protests in Burkina Faso organized against the current political dictatorship. Life was very difficult for the people.
CAPA

The Power of Art — APA2142.01

Spring 2017
Instructor: Dana Reitz
Credits: 1
Art has the power to help people in communities to communicate, to mobilize, to educate and to understand their living situation.  Art can help political movements find their voice, and connect people to planning visions for the future.  Beginning in 2014, protests in Burkina Faso organized against the current political dictatorship.  Life was very difficult for
CAPA

The Power of Art — APA2142.01

Fall 2016
Instructor: Souleymane Badolo
Credits: 1
Art has the power to help people in communities to communicate, to mobilize, to educate and to understand their living situation.  Art can help political movements find their voice, and connect people to planning visions for the future.   Beginning in 2014, protests in Burkina Faso organized against the current political dictatorship.  Life was very difficult for
CAPA

The Power of Image — SPA4305.01

Fall 2021
Instructor: Sarah Harris
Credits: 4
The Mexican photographers, Manuel Álvarez Bravo and Graciela Iturbide, and the Chilean documentary film director, Patricio Guzmán, have a common call: to document the impossible. In this course, we will explore the different ways in which each of these artists use images to capture and re-frame the complexity of their cultural heritage, as well as the beauty and intricacies of
Cultural Studies and Languages

The Power of Image — SPA4305.01

Fall 2024
Instructor: Lena Retamoso Urbano
Credits: 4
The Mexican photographers, Manuel Álvarez Bravo and Graciela Iturbide, and the Chilean documentary film director, Patricio Guzmán, have a common call: to document the impossible. In this course, we will explore the different ways in which each of these artists use images to capture and re-frame the complexity of their cultural heritage, as well as the beauty and intricacies of
Cultural Studies and Languages