Fall Quarter Description

In the fall quarter of this year long program, students and faculty explored how personal identities and everyday lives of a people have come together over time to shape social, economic, and political conditions in the United States. We explored what institutions have framed and enforced these conditions over time, as well as how such structural conditions, in turn, have shaped the range of personal agency individuals historically have found in their lives.

The content of the program juxtaposed social and legal histories of the United States, from settlement to the end of Reconstruction, with a cultural study of the outlaw as a trope in American popular culture. Classes included discussion seminars, writing workshops, lectures, and occasional film screenings. Assignments included readings in social history and constitutional law, short reading response and content integration papers, student classroom presentations, an academic research and writing project, and digital imaging in support of our cultural studies. Program assignments were designed to build skills for contemplative reading, clear communication, and well-supported argumentation.

Fall Syllabus
Fall Assignments
Fall Readings