Program Overview

Program Overview

The university program consists of two paired courses: Shifting Forms: Political Belonging in Song and Film (POLI1033) and Shifting Forms: Sexuality and Belonging in Modern Literature and Film (ENGL1732). These courses fulfill one Social Science and one Literature requirement.

Course Descriptions

The courses investigate how the arts help define the "public" in a republic and how passionate relations to aesthetic objects shape minority communities and affect their place in a larger social world. The program examines artists' uses of inherited forms and how they illuminate the ways individuals band together into groups.

Course Content

The courses will examine representations of:

• Citizenship
• Political participation
• The nation-state
• National identity
• Queer identities
• Sexual expression
• Activism in songs, plays, operas, literature, and other works of art from the late 18th century to the present.

Course Schedule

The course lectures meet at the following times:

• TTh 1:30 2:45 p.m.
• TTh 3:00 4:15 p.m. Reflection will be held four times during the semester on Thursdays from 6:00 7:50 p.m.

Instructors

The courses are taught by:

• Jonathan Laurence, Political Science
• Kevin Ohi, English

Research Areas

The program explores the intersection of art, identity, and belonging, with a focus on:

• Political belonging
• Sexuality and belonging
• Minority communities
• Aesthetic objects and their impact on social worlds