This spring, the First-Year Seminar (FYS) Program is offering two sections of FYS "Workshop," a four-credit version of FYS designed for students who feel they would benefit from extra support with critical reading and academic writing skills. FYS Workshop fulfills the FYS requirement and is equally as rigorous as FYS. There are three main differences:
- In addition to regular seminar meetings twice per week, FYS Workshop students participate in six "writing labs" connected to the major writing assignments in the course. Half of the labs are run by the instructor, and the other half by Writing Fellows. (The labs meet on six pre-scheduled Fridays, which are listed in the course descriptions.)
- Every student in FYS Workshop is paired with their own Writing Fellow, giving you an opportunity to get feedback from and discuss your ideas with a trained peer throughout the semester.
- Each section of FYS Workshop is worth 4 credits (instead of 3).
If you think you would benefit from the extra support FYS Workshop offers, please sign up! There is no special sign-up process; you can sign up for FYS Workshop just like you would any other FYS course (course descriptions are below).
If you have any questions about the FYS Workshop Program, feel free to email Professor Lie-Spahn at
clie@barnard.edu.
Spring, 2021 Course Descriptions
FYSB-BC1739: DEAD AND UNDEAD (4 credits)
Professor Penelope Usher
TR 1:10-2:25pm + required writing labs*
What does it mean to be dead? Why the fascination—across time and culture—with conceiving of ways in which the dead can become un-dead? And how is being undead different than being alive? To investigate and trouble the boundaries between life and death (and un-death), we will analyze works across genres—among them horror, comedy, myth, folklore, and medicine—discussing near-death experiences, beating-heart cadavers, and a range of figures including zombies, ghosts, and other revenants. Readings will likely include texts and excerpts from Montaigne, Shakespeare, Zora Neale Hurston, Ovid, Toni Morrison, Carmen Maria Machado, Edgar Allen Poe, Nalo Hopkinson, and Mary Shelley, along with Japanese death poems, the Netflix series Russian Doll, and Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie. NOTE: Several of the readings for this class involve references to or representations of violence, sometimes explicit.
*This 4-credit version of First-Year Seminar (FYS)—FYS “Workshop”—is specially designed for students who believe they would benefit from extra support with their critical reading and academic writing skills. In addition to regular seminar meetings twice per week, students are also required to participate in six Friday “writing labs” over the course of the semester. The writing labs for this section will take place on the following Fridays, 1:10-2:25pm: 1/15, 1/22, 1/29, 2/5, 2/12, 4/2.
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FYSB-BC1107: RACE, SCIENCE, AND REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE (4 credits)
Professor Cecelia Lie-Spahn
MW 11:40am-12:55pm + required writing labs*
This course is about reproduction—a biological and social process that is often the target of deep-seated ideas about nation, culture, conflict, and definitions of life. With an emphasis on the reproductive justice movement in the United States, which centers the experiences and leadership of BIPOC women and LGBTQ people, we will explore a variety of literary works, films, journalism, public health studies, and policy/legal texts, all of which differently narrate, debate, script, and theorize about reproduction. Questions we will explore include: what is reproduction—scientifically, culturally, politically, and rhetorically? What is reproductive justice, and how is it distinct from reproductive rights and health? How have recent innovations in medicine and reproductive technologies both empowered and harmed reproductive experiences? And what kind of world does the reproductive justice movement urge us to imagine and create? Please note that the material for this class discusses obstetric violence; this material is important for understanding the relationships between race, science, and reproductive justice. Throughout the semester, we will discuss as a class how to work through this difficult material in respectful and inclusive ways.
*This 4-credit version of First-Year Seminar (FYS)—FYS “Workshop”—is specially designed for students who believe they would benefit from extra support with their critical reading and academic writing skills. In addition to regular seminar meetings twice per week, students are also required to participate in six Friday “writing labs” over the course of the semester. The writing labs for this section will take place on the following Fridays, 11:40am-12:55pm: 1/15, 1/22, 1/29, 2/5, 2/12, and 3/26.
