Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies           Selected Course Descriptions

Digital Culture

Catalog says

"The aim of this course is to introduce students to the theory and practice of digital communication and new media technology. Lectures, discussions, and readings address topics in the history of media and the impact of digital technology on work, contemporary culture, knowledge creation and acquisition, and the creative process. Students also receive training in on-line communication, internet navigation, information retrieval, multi-user interactive environments, and hypertext and hypermedia authorship. Assignments are designed to extend students' practical understanding of these technologies while providing critical tools for evaluating the social, political, and aesthetic decisions involved in the use of digital media."

Students say

"We are living in a digital culture. From text messaging to wi-fi access at the local Starbucks, we are more connected everyday with our friends, family and colleagues than ever imagined. Studying the process and effects of our digital society gave us the opportunity to create our own online community targeted to a specific demographic. In order to build a community though, we needed to find out what a community was, and ultimately, create one amongst our classmates. We studied things like Disney's ‘Celebration' and the underground drag queen scene in New York City. Our professors interest in the class and far reaching knowledge on the topic was immense. We still keep in touch often, four years later."
– Michael Ribar

Topics: American Dream/Global Nightmare

Catalog says

"For the last half century American society has organized itself around the desires and obsessions of the American consumer. Cars, gadgets, chemicals, and cosmetics have been mass-produced to meet the seemingly insatiable demand for bigger, better 'stuff.' Though some aspects of the American Dream are seen as attractive in the rest of the world, it is becoming widely understood that the pursuit of this dream creates economic, social, and ecological problems on a global scale that the world cannot afford… Can Americans wake from this consumer-driven dream in time to avoid the consequence of this global nightmare?"

Students say

"As a new student on Emerson's campus, I was in awe of my entire collegiate experience. The transition from small-town Texas to downtown Boston was huge for me, so I spent my first few weeks at Emerson just going with the flow. When I arrived at my first American Dream, Global Nightmare course, I had no clue what to expect. The course title sounded captivating, indeed, but what was it all about? For the duration of the semester, the truth unrolled. I learned from my professor, who I now consider to be one of the most intriguing individuals ever, about the impact that my lifestyle choices make on the world. I learned how to take things out of the American context — we were encouraged to think about things from a new point of view. We spent an entire class period analyzing how Middle East citizens perceive the 9/11 attacks. I learned about the environment, water shortages, bird epidemics, and the plight of late American presidents. I learned, overall, how to be a consciously-sound citizen."
– Gray Malin

The Evolution of Queer Identity: History, Literature, Theory

Catalog says

"This course provides an in-depth exploration of the evolution of queer (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) identity and culture. Through the lens of historical, literary (fiction, poetry, drama, autobiography), and theoretical readings, as well as a variety of films and other audio/visual media, students will be introduced to the relationship between these fields, and how they intertwine around the complex questions of queer identity and cultural representation. Is homosexuality, as stated by theorists such as Butler and Foucault, primarily a social construct, or is it something more essentialistic, as Dyer and Fuss suggest? Additionally, we will consider the role that the arts in general have served in the queer liberation movement worldwide."

Students say

"Queer Identity is one of the most enjoyable as well as most enlightening classes I have had the pleasure of taking at Emerson. The long-standing professor and creator of the course, Jason Roush, enthusiastically approaches the subject of Queer from a variety of different media including film, poetry, novels, and music, as well as theoretical, historical and biological texts. The most powerful lesson is in recognizing the extensive history Queer has had, shaping cities and ages as its own identity evolved, and is still evolving in the present. Regardless of age, gender, sexuality, or any other 'identifying' characteristics, anyone can take away from this class a greater understanding and appreciation for the existence of Queer in the world, as well as, in the process, learning even more about his or her own identity."
– Samantha McAfee

The Laughing Body

Catalog says

"'The human body,' writes the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, 'is the best picture of the human soul.' But what 'picture' of the soul does laughter give us? In laughter, our faces convulse, eyes tear, bodies buckle. In laughter, we break down, cede mastery over our own body to this body itself-yet generally consider this breakdown to be, not a symptom of bodily sickness, but a distinctively human form of expression. This course will investigate the question of what laughter has to tell us about our relation to both our bodies and the world, a question that has fascinated-attracted and disturbed-philosophers and theologians, anthropologists and zoologists, and physiologists and psychologists across the whole history of Western thought. We will approach laughter from the perspectives first of physiology and evolutionary biology, and then of psychology and anthropology. In taking these approaches, we will also ask the philosophical question of how to bring these different disciplines together, of how to make sense of laughter as a whole, as an object of study as well as an experience we have all had for ourselves."

Students say

"Out of all of my classes, I'd say The Laughing Body was definitely one of most intriguing. In class I learned about and discussed human laughter and the psychology involved with it. It was exciting to study something that is typically left out of many curriculums that really wasn't available at any other institution or learning environment. The class really gave an opportunity to students, including myself, to experience laughter as an important and common event in people's lives, rather than something that one might think is trivial and not worth learning about. So far at Emerson, it is the class I have enjoyed the most. It's the first and probably only time I was ever able to laugh in class without getting in trouble for it!"
– Jason MacFadgen

Staging American Women: The Culture of Burlesque

Catalog says

"From the late nineteenth through the early twentieth century, the American theatre presented images of women never before seen on the legitimate American stage - images which parodied gender roles and relationships, celebrated the highly controlled social and cultural power of the female form and demeanor, and forecasted an entire range of interwoven performative and visual arts designed to elaborate, explore, and exploit American ideologies of sex and gender - from Ziegfield girls, to the pin-up art of Alberto Vargas, to early sexplotation films of Sonney and Freidman. This course will investigate and trace the roles and images of women presented in vaudeville and burlesque of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth centuries. Studying the cultural contexts and performance contents, students will learn how ideas about gender were performed in the burlesque genre and the powerful role they played in shaping dominant ideologies."

Students say

"While burlesque has always interested me, I never thought I'd take a class devoted solely to the culture behind it. In Burlesque we discovered a big part of America's history while also taking a look at the social standings of females at the time. We took a look at the force that women were on the Vaudeville and Burlesque stage, and examined some of the big performer names that made it what it was. Through watching videos and discussing social commentary of the time, we got a true sense of a big part of American history and American pastimes."
– David Sharrocks