Engaged Liberal Arts and Sciences (ELAS) courses bring theory to practice by linking coursework, critical thinking, and engagement activities. A form of experiential learning, ELAS courses allow students to test ideas in the real world and develop creative approaches to social, cultural, and scientific issues. A significant portion of ELAS learning takes place outside of the classroom: students learn through engagement with different geographies, organizations, and programs in the surrounding communities or in collaboration with partners from Bard's national and international networks. ELAS students and teachers often collaborate with non-profits, community groups, and government agencies whose goal is to serve the public good. More info can be found on our ELAS website here: https://cce.bard.edu/classroom/elas-courses/

 

Course:

ANTH 211  Ancient Peoples before the Bard Lands: Archaeology Methods and Theory

Professor:

Christopher Lindner  

CRN:

90188

Schedule:

   Thurs    3:50 PM - 5:10 PM Rose Laboratories 108

          Fri   2:00 PM - 5:00 PM Rose Laboratories 108

Distributional Area:

LS Laboratory Science

Class cap:

12

Credits:

4

Cross-listed:  American Studies; Environmental & Urban Studies

Excavations at the Forest site, between the Admissions Office and Honey Field at Bard, while unearthing chipped stone knives in abundance, have their focus on discovering evidence of ceremonies for healing and world renewal: pottery with potential ritual usages, exotic chipped stone, pits where sacrificial fires burned, and possibly a shelter for daily life and the visit of pilgrims. Contextual scales range from broadly regional, thru riverine reaches, to the Tivoli embayment and an anonymous rivulet with cascades and meanders, a promontory and its fire pits, to microscopic traces on artifacts & invisible chemical soil compositions. We'll explore far-flung connections to earthworks in Ohio of two millennia ago and Indigenous travel from their celestial observatories there to the central Hudson Valley with its flinty mountains & underwater monsters. Field methods include basic excavation and replicative experimentation. We share our learning experiences with descendants of ancient peoples, the Munsee Mohican nation. Seminars for weekly writing on Thurs 3:50-5:10, field/lab Fridays 2-5. Please speak with the professor before request of enrollment in this Engaged Liberal Arts and Sciences course. An extra way to prepare is the Bard Archaeology Field School this August that likely will encounter ancient artifacts through similar techniques of excavation and contextualization; for info, go to http://www.bard.edu/archaeology.

 

Course:

ANTH 219  Divided Cities

Professor:

Jeffrey Jurgens  

CRN:

90190

Schedule:

 Tue  Thurs    10:20 AM - 11:40 AM Reem Kayden Center 102

Distributional Area:

SA Social Analysis

D+J Difference and Justice

Class cap:

20

Credits:

4

Cross-listed:  Environmental & Urban Studies

This class offers an introduction to modern cities and everyday urban life, with a central focus on cities that are both socially and spatially divided. On the one hand, we will examine how political-economic inequalities and collective differences (organized in relation to race, color, gender, sexuality, class, [dis]ability, and other social categories) are expressed in geographic boundaries and other aspects of the built environment. On the other, we will explore how state agencies, real estate developers, activists, residents, and other social actors make and remake city spaces in ways that reinforce, rework, challenge, and refuse the existing terms of inequality and difference. The class will revolve around case studies of cities around the world (e.g., Berlin, Johannesburg, Kunming, and Rio de Janeiro) as well as cities in the US (e.g., Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City). More broadly, we will trace the history of urban segregation from a perspective that is both transnational and committed to the pursuit of racial justice (as well as other forms of societal transformation). This class builds on assigned reading in anthropology and other disciplines, critical writing and discussion, and focused film viewing. At the same time, it provides students with an opportunity to reflect on urban theorizing through collaborations with community partners in Kingston and other cities. This course is part of the Racial Justice Initiative, an interdisciplinary collaboration among students and faculty to further the understanding of racial inequality and injustice in the United States and beyond.

 

Course:

ART 209 BG Print II: Textile Surface

Professor:

Beka Goedde  

CRN:

90451

Schedule:

 Fri      10:10 AM - 1:10 PM UBS Studio

Distributional Area:

PA Practicing Arts

Class cap:

10

Credits:

4

In this course, we will screenprint and stencil print primarily on fabric. We will explore stencil-printed dye resists, chemical and natural dyes, cliche verre and cyanotype, silkscreen watercolor monotypes, and repetitive pattern printing onto fabrics with water-based, fabric-safe silkscreen ink. We will investigate cutting, sewing, folding, assembling techniques. As an ELAS course, we will engage in two community facing projects during the semester: a pop-up printing and sewing event for our campus community, and a collaboration/exchange with a group of local early elementary aged schoolchildren. Recommended for students who have taken Print I, Digital I, or Sculpture I.

 

Course:

EUS 102  Environmental System Science

Professor:

Robyn Smyth  

CRN:

90166

Schedule:

 Tue      2:00 PM – 4:00 PM Hegeman 102

Thurs    2:00 PM - 5:00 PM Rose Laboratories 306

Distributional Area:

LS Laboratory Science

Class cap:

21

Credits:

4

The science needed to understand and address our complex socio-environmental challenges comes from a broad range of disciplines. In this course, we introduce and integrate core concepts and methodologies from physical, biological, and social sciences and practice system modeling to build your capacity to think critically about the causes and solutions to complex environmental problems and sustainability challenges. We will practice the scientific method as we develop mechanistic understanding of the drivers of climate change and the consequences for the hydrological cycle, ecological processes, and people.

 

Course:

EUS 304   EUS Practicum: Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration

Professor:

Robyn Smyth

CRN:

90535

Schedule:

 Tue  10:20 AM - 12:40 PM Hegeman 106 / Rose 306

Thurs    10:20 AM - 11:40 AM Hegeman 106 / Rose 306

Distributional Area:

LS Laboratory Science

Class cap:

10

Credits:

4

With climate change intensifying the hydrologic cycle and exacerbating existing challenges to water management, we face a need to simultaneously restore and adapt aquatic ecosystem to improve water quality and prepare for larger variation and uncertainty in precipitation. Billions of dollars are currently spent on ecological restoration in the U.S. alone. In this course we seek to understand how to maximize these resources to simultaneously restore degraded water quality, enhance resiliency to climate extremes, sequester carbon, and enhance biodiversity. We will use local, national, and international case studies to examine the theory and practice of ecological restoration with an emphasis on climate change projections and the need to mitigate and adapt while restoring. We will hear about challenges and best practice from practitioners engaged in restoration and adaptation in NY and beyond. The majority of the class will be held outside at impaired aquatic field sites where we will design, implement, and/or evaluate restoration/adaptation projects. In addition to hands-on practice in the field, students will write and present a mock proposal for a restoration/adaptation project in response to an actual grant solicitation for the course final.

 

Course:

EUS/AS 309  Environmental Justice: Art, Science, and Radical Cartography

Professor:

Elias Dueker and Krista Caballero

CRN:

90169

Schedule:

 Tue  Thurs    12:10 PM - 1:30 PM New Annandale House

Distributional Area:

SA Social Analysis

Class cap:

15

Credits:

4

Cross-listed:  American Studies; Experimental Humanities; Human Rights

We generally assume maps are objective, accurate representations of data and the world around us when, in fact, they depict the knowledge, experience, and values of the humans who draft them. As a hybrid EUS practicum + colloquium, this course will explore ways in which ecological issues are entangled with colonial histories of racism and supremacy, resource extraction and expansion through mapping. Native American scholarship will ground our exploration as we consider the impact and consequences of mapping as a tool used historically to claim ownership and invite exploitation. We will also investigate the evolution of radical cartography to counter these practices and imagine alternative mapping for more just ecological futures. A series of Indigenous scholars and activists will provide an opportunity for students to learn from experts working at the forefront of their fields to address environmental injustices locally, nationally, and internationally. These guest lectures will be paired with hands-on projects that explore mapping as a tool for environmental advocacy alongside artistic and counter-mapping approaches that experiment with ways we might communicate scientific and humanistic knowledge to a wider audience. In both theory and practice this team-taught course aims to reconsider and transform ways of engaging community science and community action through collaborative inquiry, interdisciplinary experimentation, and meaningful cross-cultural dialogue. This course is part of the Racial Justice Initiative, an interdisciplinary collaboration among students and faculty to further the understanding of racial inequality and injustice in the United States and beyond.

 

Course:

EUS 321  GIS for Environmental Justice

Professor:

Susan Winchell-Sweeney  

CRN:

90170

Schedule:

  Mon Wed   10:20 AM - 12:40 AM Henderson Comp. Center 101A

Distributional Area:

SA Social Analysis

D+J Difference and Justice

Class cap

12

Credits:

4

Cross-listed:  Historical Studies; Human Rights

Using ESRI GIS software and associated apps, students will receive formal instruction in the fundamentals of using spatial information, conducting spatial analysis, and producing high-quality cartographic products. Students will learn how GIS may be used as a tool for identifying and assessing environmental justice (EJ) issues at the local, regional and global scale. Students will apply these GIS skills and knowledge base to a team-based research project focused on an environmental justice problem. The course culminates in a presentation session, where students show their analysis and results to their peers, professors and the greater Bard community. This course is part of the Racial Justice Initiative, an interdisciplinary collaboration among students and faculty to further the understanding of racial inequality and injustice in the United States and beyond.

 

Course:

HUM T200  Exploring Human Connection through Argentine Tango

Professor:

Supervised by Leon Botstein  (practitioner: Chungin Goodstein)

CRN:

90626

Schedule:

  Tue Thurs  - 2:00 PM - 3:20 PM Campus Center MPR

Distributional Area:

Class cap

15

Credits:

2

Tango has a rich history and a distinct culture emerging from the socioeconomic conditions experienced by African, Caribbean and European immigrants in late 19th century Argentina and Uruguay. The culture evolved as tango both migrated to Europe and flourished in Argentina during the “Golden Age” (1935-1955). Tango then largely disappeared as a result of suppression under Argentina’s military regime. Tango’s global revival began in the 1980’s. Today it is danced in all major cities, and at colleges and universities, around the world. This ELAS group tutorial explores the profound human connections that Argentine Tango music and dance engender. It includes discussions of the historical and cultural context of the music and dance, and the gender politics that surround it. In a workshop setting, the group will focus with practitioner Chungin Goodstein primarily on learning the fundamentals of the dance.  Work for the tutorial will be split between experiential learning through actual practice and readings/videos on issues relating to this dance form. Students will also attend at least one “milonga” or community dance event either locally, or in NYC.

 

Course:

LIT 131  Women in Leadership

Professor:

Dierdre d’Albertis, Erin Cannan, Malia Du Mont, and Michelle Murray

CRN:

90990

Schedule:

 Fri    10:00 AM - 12:00 PM Chapel

Distributional Area:

D+J Difference and Justice

Class cap:

20

Credits:

2

It is 2021. Why aren't there more women in leadership positions? According to a 2014 Pew Research Center report, the majority of American men and women acknowledge the capacity of women to lead. Yet in certain domains--most notably politics and business--women continue to be under-represented at the top.  Recent elections have galvanized the electorate around constructions of gender in particularly dramatic ways.  If we are living in a post-feminist society (as some claim), why do these questions and conflicts continue to arise? Identity is an urgent conversation in 21st-century politics and everyday life, and this includes awareness of how intersectionality shapes gendered experiences. What are the stories that we tell ourselves and each other about equality, representation, privilege, freedom, authority, and success? How do these inflect real-world outcomes for individuals and societies?  In this two-credit course we will explore some of the stories that circulate in our culture around women and power, both from an academic and from a practical, real-world perspective. What does it mean to lead? How do we use a language of empowerment? Why has the United States embraced certain narratives of gender equity and success as opposed to those being created in other countries and cultures? We will focus on learning from women who are committed to making a difference in the world through their personal and professional choices, hearing their stories, and reading texts that have been particularly important to them in their lives and work. So too, we will engage with stories from the past (archival research),  from across disciplines (the military, higher education, STEM, the arts, tech, media) and from a wide range of perspectives.  As an Engaged Liberal Arts and Sciences course, this seminar will provide students with the unique opportunity to bring theory and practice together in a very immediate sense: by the end of the term you will have identified a story only you can tell, whether it is based in political activism, community engagement, or work experience. Drawing on the rich resources here in Annandale as well as through Bard's other campuses we will reach out to groups and organizations with a shared focus on gender. Network building is something we will explicitly address and we will convene for a Summit late in the semester.  This course is open to all first-year students. Upper College students may also participate if selected to serve as course fellows.

 

Course:

SOC/EUS 361  Hudson Valley Cities and Environmental (In)Justice

Professor:

Peter Klein  

CRN:

90534

Schedule:

  Every Other Fri     10:20 AM - 12:40 PM Olin 101

Distributional Area:

SA Social Analysis

D+J Difference and Justice

Class cap:

15

Credits:

2

Cross-listed:  American Studies

How do urban processes of growth, decline, and revitalization affect different groups, particularly along dimensions of race, class, and gender? This place-based research seminar course looks closely at this question by examining the historical, political, and social landscape of Kingston. We will use this nearby city as a case to explore theories on urban transformation and the contemporary challenges that face small urban centers. In particular, the course will use the lens of environmental inequality to examine the effects of historical processes, as well as to investigate how residents and government officials are addressing pressing problems. The course will look specifically at issues of food justice, pollution, access to resources, environmental decision-making processes, and housing security. We will visit Kingston as a class, and students will develop and carry out their own project with a community partner. (This course fulfills the practicum requirement for moderated EUS students.) Admission by permission of the instructor. This course will usually meet every other Friday from 10:20-12:40, but students must be available from 10:00-1:30, in order to allow for off-campus trips. Please note that this is the first semester of a two-semester course. Students who take this first section will be expected to enroll in the second two-credit section in the spring 2022.

 

Course:

HIST 195  Living Black in America:  Major Themes in African American History

Professor:

Myra Armstead  

CRN:

90144

Schedule:

Mon  Wed     10:20 AM - 11:40 AM Olin 201

Distributional Area:

HA Historical Analysis

Class cap:

22

Credits:

4

Cross-listed:  Africana Studies; American Studies

This course is intended to provide a foundation for understanding the African American experience in the past, and contemporary resonances of that past.  Rather than a strictly chronological overview, this survey is thematically organized.  Each theme will be approached  within a periodization that moves forward through the preindustrial, industrial, and postindustrial eras—thus highlighting the way in which the race/class nexus will be a central concern.   Major themes will be: the economics or wages of Blackness, social and cultural constructions of race, violence/surveillance/criminalization, self-constructed identities (racial, national, ethnic, gender), representations of Blackness (in art and literature),Black cosmologies/philosophies/resistance strategies and politics, and memory.  As students of history, we will consider continuities and discontinuities, connections and rupture—when, how, and why these occur.  While the themes can be viewed as discreet subjects, the ways in which they overlap and intersect will be addressed in the course as well. This course is part of the Racial Justice Initiative, an interdisciplinary collaboration among students and faculty to further the understanding of racial inequality and injustice in the United States and beyond.

 

Course:

HR 321 A Advocacy Video Clemency: Production

Professor:

Thomas Keenan and Brent Green

CRN:

90136

Schedule:

  Wed     2:00 PM - 4:20 PM Reem Kayden Center 102

Distributional Area:

PA Practicing Arts

D+J Difference and Justice

Class cap:

15

Credits:

4

State governors (and the President) in the United States possess a strange remnant of royal sovereignty: the power of executive clemency, by which they can pardon offenses or commute the sentences of people convicted of crimes. They can do this to correct injustices, show mercy, or undo disproportionate punishments. Clemency doesn't just happen -- it requires a lot of work on the part of the incarcerated person and his or her advocates. But there are almost no rules governing what a clemency appeal looks like, so there is significant room for creativity in how applicants present their cases. In this practical seminar we will join forces with a team of students at CUNY Law School and the human rights organization WITNESS to prepare short video presentations that will accompany a number of New York State clemency applications this fall. Proficiency with video shooting, editing, and an independent work ethic are important. Meetings with clemency applicants in prison are a central element of the class. This is an opportunity to work collaboratively with law students and faculty, to do hands-on human rights research and advocacy, and to create work that has real-life impact. The class will alternate between video production and the study of clemency and pardons, emotion and human rights, first-person narrative, and persuasion by visual means. Please submit a short statement describing your abilities in shooting and editing video, and your interest in criminal justice, by May 6th. There are no prerequisites, but we seek a class that includes filmmakers, analysts, and activists.  This is an Engaged Liberal Arts and Sciences (ELAS) class.

 

Course:

HR 321 B Advocacy Video Clemency: Literature

Professor:

Thomas Keenan and Brent Green

CRN:

90137

Schedule:

Mon       10:20 AM - 11:40 AM Reem Kayden Center 102

Distributional Area:

SA Social Analysis

D+J Difference and Justice

Class cap:

15

Credits:

2

In this 2-credit class, which is linked to the production-oriented HR 321A, we will explore historical, legal, philosophical, political, journalistic, and activist writing and film on clemency. Students who take HR 321A are very strongly encouraged to sign up for this class as well. Depending on enrollment, it may also be open to students not taking the production class. 

 

Course:

LIT 3152  Jeanne Lee's Total Environment

Professor:

Alex Benson  

CRN:

90275

Schedule:

  Wed     2:00 PM - 4:20 PM Olin 309

Distributional Area:

LA Literary Analysis in English

Class cap:

15

Credits:

4

Cross-listed:  American Studies; Experimental Humanities; Human Rights

This course bridges the study of American literature, campus history, and avant-garde music (especially free jazz) through an extended reflection on the work of vocalist Jeanne Lee (1939-2000). "I look at myself as already an environment," Lee said in a 1979 interview, "and in turn the music is created as a total environment to the audience." What did she mean by this? We may find some answers in our own environment; Lee graduated from Bard in 1961. She then went on to a four-decade career as a singer, poet, writer, and educator. Through that career we'll consider questions of voice, aesthetics, race, and gender, paying special attention to relationships between art and politics, improvisation and community. To this end we will study a number of artists with whom Lee collaborated or from whom she drew inspiration, including writers Ralph Ellison, Ntozake Shange, and Gertrude Stein and musicians Marion Brown, John Cage, and Abbey Lincoln. Archival campus materials will help us understand Lee's time at Bard, with a focus on musical performances, student publications, and curriculum. We'll ask how all of these things intersected with broader currents of US culture at a moment of civil rights activism and other social transformations. In addition to listening, reading, writing, and discussion, coursework will involve collaborative, public-facing projects that may include designing an audio tour or podcast, conducting oral history interviews, and/or curating an educational exhibit. Open to Literature students but also to all others with interests in interdisciplinary arts. Preference in registration to moderated students, but no prerequisites.

 

Course:

MAT ED151  Pedagogy and Practice in Civic Engagement

Professor:

Mary Leonard and Michael Murray  

CRN:

90513

Schedule:

 Tue      5:40 PM - 7:00 PM Olin 305

Distributional Area:

 

Class cap:

15

Credits:

2

This course is designed for Bard undergraduates who are working in one of the               college’s many educational outreach programs and who are committed to the idea of civic engagement. Guided by readings in education, we will consider the inter-personal, cultural, social and ethical issues that arise in the context of civic engagement in schools.  In particular, we will consider:

·         What are our personal and professional aspirations as tutors, mentors and leaders?

·         What systemic or other changes might we like to see in our civic engagement and how might we best go about making or     advocating for them?

·         How can we improve our own communication skills so that we become better and more skillful listeners and responders?

·         What are the potential challenges we may face in supporting someone’s learning?

Throughout this course we will emphasize writing as a means of engaging with content, and we will workshop and critique problems that you may experience and encounter in your outreach work. It will include two “days of writing” in local high schools (dates TBD), when course participants will lead writing workshops for high school students. The course is required of all junior-year MAT 4+1 students and is recommended for tutors and mentors in TLS education programs. It will be graded pass/fail and carries two credits (non-distributional).

 

Course:

MUS 185  Introduction to Ethnomusicology

Professor:

Whitney Slaten  

CRN:

90437

Schedule:

 Tue  Thurs    12:10 PM - 1:30 PM Blum Music Center N210

Distributional Area:

SA Social Analysis

D+J Difference and Justice

Class cap:

20

Credits:

4

Cross-listed:  Anthropology

Cross-listed: Anthropology. This course provides an introduction to the discipline of ethnomusicology, the study of music in and around its social and cultural contexts. Through our exploration of the materiality and meaning of music, we will listen to wide-ranging examples of sounds from around the globe. We will consider ways to listen deeply and to write critically about music. We will examine how music has been represented in the past and how it is variously represented today, and will develop ethnographic research and writing skills. We will ask questions about the utility and value of music as a commodity in our everyday lives and in our globalized world. We will debate the ethics of musical appropriations and collaborations. We will examine both the foundational questions of the discipline (addressing debates about musical authenticity, musical origins, universals, comparative frameworks, and the preservationist ethos) as well as recent subjects of ethnomusicological concern. Topics will include: media and technology; post-colonial issues; music and language; hybridity; circulation and consumption; music and labor; music and gender; and the relevance of music to contemporary indigenous politics and human rights.

 

Course:

PS 270  All Politics is Local

Professor:

Jonathan Becker and Erin Cannan  

CRN:

90514

Schedule:

Mon     3:50 PM - 5:10 PM Barringer Global Classroom

+ once a week for an internship session of three to six hours

Distributional Area:

SA Social Analysis

Class cap:

12

Credits:

4

Cross-listed:  American Studies

This course focuses on the study of, and engagement with, local politics and is animated by the question: why does local government matter?  Local government is often overlooked, but plays a critical role in the day-to-day life of citizens. In spite of this, the structure and activities of local government are poorly understood.  The course will seek to answer the following questions: What role does local government (village, town, and county) play in the day-to-day lives of citizens? How do local politics intersect and differ from state and national politics. What experiments in local governance can inform national discourse on democracy? The course is an Engaged Liberal Arts and Sciences Course and is organized around an internship/practicum. Students will commit to a semester-long internship with a government office or agency, that normally meets four hours per week. Students will also participate in a series of seminars and attend meetings with village, local, and county officials, attend sessions of local government bodies, and read primary and secondary sources concerning the issue of local governance. The class will meet twice each week: (a) once for a classroom session of one hour and twenty minutes and (b) once for an internship session of three to six hours. Students in the class may also be asked attend some public meetings, like Town Board meetings. At both locations, we strive to link the classroom to the world. Interested students must email Erin Cannan at civic@bard.edu before registration and complete a brief interest form to help match students to internship sites.

 

Course:

PSY 371  Science and Identity

Professor:

Kristin Lane  

CRN:

90123

Schedule:

 Tue      2:00 PM - 4:20 PM Henderson Comp. Center 101A

Distributional Area:

SA Social Analysis

Class cap:

12

Credits:

4

Cross-listed:  Mind, Brain, Behavior

The creation, interpretation, and use of science have never been purely objective or rational.  This course will examine how individual beliefs and social group memberships affect how we engage with science. We will begin our time together by examining how personal and ideological motivations affect production and use of science. Why, for example, should beliefs about the efficacy of masks in preventing the spread of covid differ by political ideology?  Many science, math, and computing fields are reckoning with their role in perpetuating historical biases and inequities.  A substantial component of the class, then, will examine how factors such as race, ethnicity, gender identity, and socioeconomic status shape participation in, production of, and use of science. Source materials will include empirical research, published personal narratives, and podcasts and films.  Students will engage with the material through discussions, presentations, and completion of an original empirical project.