Buxton School - Williamstown, Massachusetts

(one semester)
This course will investigate what it means to have and to recognize cultural identities around race, class, and gender, especially focusing on what aspects are socially constructed or imposed and what aspects are innate. We will investigate the importance of RCG in politics and power relationships, associated stigmas that lead to prejudice and discrimination, and issues of representation in culture and the public sphere. Specific topics will likely relate to U.S. – Mexico border issues during the winter term leading up to the All-School Trip to El Paso, Texas. There will be frequent in-class writing exercises, and both group and individual projects. This class is open to freshmen and sophomores.

(one semester)
In this course we will explore various Native American cultures, with the primary focus being on North American tribes. We will begin in the Southwest, looking into groups such as the Hopi, Navajo, Zuni, and particularly the Pueblo tribe, whose reservation is located in El Paso, Texas. Further, we will examine other “culture areas” such as the Northwest Coast and the Northeast, discussing cultural histories and facets such as economics, spirituality, social structures, and art. The class will be considering both traditional American Indian cultures, as well as more recent cultural histories. This class is open to freshmen and sophomores.

(one semester)
This course intends to explore the history of Latin America through a literary lens. Beginning with a glimpse of pre-Columbian cultures and ending with a reflection on the contemporary issues faced by this region, the class will gain an in-depth understanding of the struggles and conflicts that have shaped the twenty countries that comprise Latin America today. The primary mechanism by which we will forage into this complicated subject will be excerpts from novels, memoirs, poems, and essays. We will consider how literature serves to interpret, reflect, and sometimes even create history. The first half of the course will be primarily a survey of the Colonial Period, looking at texts written by those who experienced firsthand this tumultuous time. The majority of the spring term will be spent studying more contemporary writing, considering the voices of the men and women who fought in the revolutions, as well as modern-day poets, essayists, and novelists. This is an elective for juniors and seniors.

(one semester)
This course introduces students to fundamental elements of the art and theory (i.e. the vocabulary for analysis) of cinema. We will be watching one full-length film outside of class per week. Reading assignments will include film criticism and theory, as well as statements by film artists. Writing and other creative assignments will involve research and close analysis of films on the syllabus and by students’ choice. For the term leading up to the All-School Trip, we will focus on Mexican filmmakers Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro González Iñárittu, and Guillermo del Toro (Three Amigos), who shoot (or have shot) Spanish-language films in Mexico and also who have “crossed the border” into Hollywood to make big-budget studio films. Serious class participation is required, either/both by genuine contribution to class discussion or/and thoughtful responses to writing exercises in class. This elective is open to juniors and seniors. It is, in a way, a continuation of last term’s Film History, but having taken that class is not a requirement.

(one semester)
In this class we will work to identify various forms of media, i.e. art, literature, film, news, and advertising (among others, perhaps). Students will develop vocabulary and methods for critically engaging with these genres and the intentions of their authors. Consideration of genre and technology, capitalism and globalization, propaganda and truth, highbrow and lowbrow will happen through close analysis of:

• Advertisements and news stories from print, television, and the Internet
• Art, music and film, particularly pieces that reflect and comment on the nature of mediation
• Technology used to present stories and ideas, especially the Internet and the devices used for access
• Our own influence and influences as consumers of media

The goal for the student of this class will be to begin to understand the nature of media, and to look at the process by which information and ideas are communicated between humans with an intentional and useful attentiveness. Serious participation is expected; given the multi-faceted subject matter, that participation can take many forms. This class is open to freshman and sophomores.

(one semester)
In this introduction to cultural anthropology, the primary focus will be to address the question: “What is culture?” We will explore this through various facets of culture including kinship and descent, language, marriage, gender, religion, food production, and arts. Students will learn about cultures around the world through a comparative approach in order to recognize patterns of cultural similarities and differences. The class will examine the field of cultural anthropology and its relevance and application in our daily lives. The course will largely consist of in-depth class discussion, but will also include a series of short essays and a final ethnography project. This course is open to freshman and sophomores.

(one semester)
This full-year course for juniors and seniors will introduce students to fundamental elements of the art, history, and theory (i.e. the vocabulary for analysis) of cinema. As a class we will:

• Identify, discuss, and infer meaning from the essential elements of film: How individual shots are designed (mis-en-scene and framing) and put together in sequence (editing), how such a sequence tells a story (narrative), and of course how sound is used within and across shots.
• Discuss who, among writers, directors, actors, designers, editors, and audience members is responsible for making meaning and how.
• Discuss what qualifies a particular film to be of a certain genre and how it is possible to place a particular film in history and culture.
• Further use these elements and analysis of genres to make sense of references and influences through history and across cultures and within technologies.

One example of a genre to be potentially explored in detail is the apocalyptic zombie movie: How and why has the symbol of the zombie changed through time, and what does it tell us about cinema in general? What specific influence has George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968), the film considered to have spawned the zombie genre, had on horror cinema, as well as other genres of the last thirty-two years? What influences from the previous seventy (approximately) years of cinema, not to mention the previous thousands of years of human expression, may have acted upon Romero’s film? What are the specific essential differences in style and signification between this film and a more recent work that can be called part of the same genre, such as 28 Days Later (2002)? What accounts for such differences and why might it be important to look at them? Furthermore, the very first zombie film is actually considered to be an independent film from 1932 called White Zombie, starring Béla Lugosi as a voodoo master and creator of zombie slaves. Compare this to the unidentified cause of the zombie invasion in Night of the Living Dead and the accidentally released virus in 28 Days Later. What exactly holds these three films together in one genre?

We will be watching one or two full-length films per week, as well as shorter clips in and out of class in an attempt to cover as many as possible of the most essential and interesting works through the history of cinema. Reading assignments will include important works in film theory as well as statements by important film artists. Writing and other creative assignments will involve research and close analysis of films on the syllabus as well as by students’ choice.

(one semester)
This course will operate as an introduction to the field of psychology. The course is targeted towards juniors and seniors, and will explore several different divisions of the field of psychology: social psychology, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, and abnormal or clinical psychology. The class will take a lecture/discussion format. Students will be assessed by quizzes, papers, and a group project at the end of the semester.

(one semester)
This junior/senior history elective will address the changing roles of sound and music in the Twentieth Century. Through the lens of the century’s “high” and “low” (art vs. pop) musical lineages, we will explore a number of topics, including sound ecology (the effects of “sound pollution” and its relationship to those within it), production and reproduction (how the ability to disperse music through recording has changed our conception of the form), and shifts in societal conceptions of “noise” and “silence” in both music and the environment. In tackling these topics, we will be shaping definitions of all of these terms so it will be necessary to focus on sound within a broad cultural, artistic, and physical context. The underlying theme of the class will be to better formulate ideas about the differences between music and sound and to consider our own relationships with both of these sonic states.

(one semester)
This freshman and sophomore class examines the dominant movements in artistic expression in the Twentieth Century, with emphasis on how they reflected and influenced major historical events. Source materials will be slides, films, readings, and museum visits. Students will be expected to write a series of two-page papers, do a number of creative projects, and, as a final project, make a well-researched presentation to the class concerning the sociopolitical context of an artist and their work.

(one semester)
This class will examine the law in America. It will begin with a critical examination of who makes laws. A democratic system assumes that laws are made by representatives elected by the majority. But the question of how those representatives are chosen is very complex, and every system has its own built-in advantages and disadvantages. We will then look closely at the Bill of Rights, examining how those rights—freedom of speech, religion, et cetera—are actually defined by the courts. We will look in particular at historical Supreme Court decisions. Then we will examine how the law works in practice—policing, legal representation, criminal trials, civil trials. Finally we will end with consideration of a few particularly controversial legal issues, such as the death penalty and drug decriminalization. The work of the class will be primarily reading, with some short papers and moot court presentations.

(one semester)
This freshman/ sophomore social science elective will necessarily be global in scope and will address the following movements: anti-globalization, environmentalism, anti-racism/immigrant rights, prisoners’ rights (three thousand years plus life), third-wave feminism and LGBTQ rights. We will read texts originating with each of these movements and texts that discuss these movements within the context of history and the social issues from which they have arisen.

(full year)
A. E. S. treats art and architecture as primary documentary material in a survey of western European history. This course for seniors is roughly divided into three segments. The fall begins with a detailed study of Imperial patronage at San Vitale in Ravenna, northern Italy, and concludes with a discussion of Raphael’s frescos for Pope Julius II at the Stanza della Segnatura at the Vatican in Rome. The winter is dedicated to a study of Reformation and Counter Reformation political cultures and their influence on painting. This is then expanded to include a more general survey of Baroque art and architecture in Spain, Holland, France, and Italy. In the spring the focus is on a study of Royal authority, revolution, and romanticism. The course concludes with a brief study of the politics and images of World War I. While there are no exams, a number of research papers are assigned. It is expected that students will become familiar with the Buxton, Williams College, and Clark Art Institute libraries as the year progresses.

(full year)
This course for juniors surveys the American political and cultural experience. The approach of the course confronts history as a system of ideas and values that are not merely to be acknowledged and appreciated in their own right but are to give meaning to contemporary life. This year two texts have been selected for class review. The first, A History of the American People, is generally accepted as a conservative approach, dedicated to “…the people of America—strong, outspoken, intense in their convictions, sometimes wrong-headed but always generous and brave, with a passion for justice no nation has ever matched.” The second, A History of the American People by Howard Zinn, is a self-conscious progressive history that defines the American experience from the viewpoint of Native Americans, immigrant laborers, factory workers, women and the working poor. The intention is to contrast these texts, to create a dialog in a seminar class that seeks to cull truth in the American narrative from very different perspectives. A series of auxiliary readings by Hawthorne, Thoreau, civil war narratives, commentary by Carnegie and Ford on the responsibilities of wealth will be added as the year progresses and a number of short papers, based on local resources in the Williamstown community, will be assigned.

(one semester)
This elective is offered for the fall term. We will study ancient African civilizations, the slave trade, the foundation of African culture, colonial rule, famine and disease, and current events, using our text Africa, A Biography of the Continent. Why is Africa called the “dark continent”? Do internal or external forces cause the difficult issues that Africa continually faces? What would modern Africa be like if the European slave trade never existed? Our text, films, and current events will shape the foundation for many interesting discussions.