Native American oral traditions, which include storytelling, teachings, family and tribal history, and contemporary Indian literature, lie at the heart of tribal culture. It is mainly through oral tradition that American Indian cultures have been preserved and transmitted through the generations. American Indian stories, teachings, and oral histories are rich in cultural context. They provide great insight into the worldview, values, and lifestyle, which are an integral part of the heritage of American Indians. This course examines the cultural and historical contexts of Native American and Indigenous oral traditions with a focus in North America and other Indigenous traditions.

Elective

Feminist movements have changed the world in profound ways, despite often radical resistance to and backlash against those movements. Primarily through readings and film, this course will consider the ways in which the various strands of feminism have theorized and acted around reproductive justice, environmental justice, and anti-militarism. We will situate contemporary issues within a historical context and examine and critique the methods by which feminist activists and scholars question, challenge, and reshape structures of power. 

Elective

What is phenomenology, and why does it matter for art? This course will serve as an introduction to phenomenology and some of its central methods, themes, and questions. Working within and between philosophy, art, and design, we will explore how phenomenology can enliven and enrich artistic practices, and how artistic practices can broaden and enrich our understandings of perception, sensation, and embodied experience. We will consider a range of philosophical views, from canonical figures in the field (Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty) to key insights from critical phenomenologists (Alia Al-Saji, Mariana Ortega, Lisa Guenther) who question how socially and historically contingent systems of power shape our experiences in and of the world. Students will be required to complete weekly readings and participate in class discussions. The course will also include long and short form writing assignments as well as student presentations.

Elective

Leaders, teachers, writers, artisans, laborers, mothers. While this brief list may look like a small selection of roles available to women today, it also represents positions held by women in the Middle Ages. In taking the broadest possible chronological approach to this time period from the years 500 to 1500, this course will examine the lives of medieval women. From queens to peasants, nuns to wives, and mystics to proprietors, we will explore the wide variety of roles and statuses that these women had. Over the course of the semester, we will investigate whether these figures were marginalized members of society, powerful agents, or a combination of both.

Elective

The course examines the human experience of enslavement and bondage in Latin America.  Students will read about pre-Columbian forms of human bondage, the early modern Latin American enslavement and trafficking of Native and African peoples in various forms, and bondage as it existed after the independence movements in Central and South America and the Caribbean nations.   The course also will address current instances of labor bondage and human trafficking in the region in recent decades. The course will include lecture, discussion, and either group or individual research projects on the course topics.

Elective

-What are some differences between classic Western Philosophy and Native American Philosophy?

-How do we tell the diversity and variety of philosophical concepts amongst Native American tribes and regions?

-What kinds of ideas and stories outline philosophical guidelines for culture and background in certain Indigenous communities?

These are some of the questions and ideas that will be explored in this course. This course will examine American Indian philosophy through introductory and culturally specific contexts using a variety of sources, both historical and contemporary. Sources will range from being recorded texts from archives, books, journals, and other audio/visual materials, as well as online websites, journals, and other repositories of knowledge. It is designed to give people who have very little familiarity with indigenous, philosophical concepts, in a broad overview. Interaction with these ideas in conjunction with other western philosophical concept will by no means be a comprehensive coverage of philosophy, but it will be complementary to western academic fundamental philosophical, and well-known European and American philosophy concepts for deeper conversations for people to examine further in class discussions.

A version of this course was taught previously as an S101: Topics in History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences. If you took this topic as your S101, please do not enroll in this course.

Elective

Is AI-generated art actually art? What does generative AI mean for artists, audiences, workers, or the most marginalized in society? This course is a deep dive into the politics of this technology and the kinds of images it produces. We'll examine AI image generation's actual and imagined functionality, the invisible (racialized, classed, gendered) labors behind it, the impact of its use, and how it relates to our cultural and political present. This context will set us up to ask big questions about the labor and consumption of art, the aesthetics of fascism, and what kinds of social relations are required in order to build the technofutures we want to see. 

Elective

Is AI-generated art actually art? What does generative AI mean for artists, audiences, workers, or the most marginalized in society? This course is a deep dive into the politics of this technology and the kinds of images it produces. We'll examine AI image generation's actual and imagined functionality, the invisible (racialized, classed, gendered) labors behind it, the impact of its use, and how it relates to our cultural and political present. This context will set us up to ask big questions about the labor and consumption of art, the aesthetics of fascism, and what kinds of social relations are required in order to build the technofutures we want to see. 

Elective

This experimental course offers students the opportunity to seriously explore some topic or question in history, philosophy, or one of the social sciences, which has a bearing on their degree project. Students will be guided through the process of formulating a research project, identifying the relevant literature, critically reading that literature, and working out how the HPSS material (content and/or methodology) can deepen and enrich their studio practice. We'll look at some artists and designers who have made these sorts of connections and but spend most of the time in discussion of student work. Coursework will be tailored to the needs of individual participants. To obtain permission to register for the course, send an email to the instructor with the following information: your name, major, year in school (junior, senior, graduate student), and a description of (a) your studio degree project, as you currently conceive of it, and (b) the area, topic, or question in history, philosophy, or the social sciences that you want to explore.

Elective

Have you ever wondered how social situations guide how we think about and act toward others, what determines who we love and who we hate, how we form attitudes about our own and others behavior, what determines whether we will help or hurt others, or how we construct knowledge about the self? If so, social psychology addresses these questions and many more. Social psychology is the science of how others influence the way people think, feel, and act. The aim of this course is to familiarize you with current and classic research and theory in social psychology, help you to develop critical thinking skills about social-psychological phenomena, and stimulate you to think about the implications of social-psychological research for everyday living. For this course, students will complete readings from a textbook and articles. There be will be four quizzes and a final project applying one concept within social psychology to everyday life.

Elective

Millions of people around the world have been forced from their homes by interlinked factors including persecution, armed conflict and war, natural disasters, structural violence, and development projects. The seminar explores the “refugee” and “migrant” status and examines the refugee crisis and forced migration in a global perspective and through an interdisciplinary lens. It provides a historical background of the formation of the “refugee” concept going back to inter-war Europe and placing emphasis both on its construction in international law and on the precarious state that refugees and migrants face today globally through various case studies. The seminar also addresses the politics of humanitarianism, the role of international organizations, especially UNHCR, and the securitization of human rights as well as the ethnic, gendered, and religious identities being reshaped by forced displacement. 

The course is organized both chronologically and thematically, to understand the ways in which global migration and contemporary refugee crises have changed over time, highlighting continuities and ruptures especially in the construction of the refugee and the migrant as the “other.” Lectures and readings provide a global perspective but focus on regional case studies, often using a comparative and transdisciplinary framework. Similarly, writing assignments, lectures, and class materials will draw upon international relations, anthropology, gender studies, sociology, and history, and examine different types of sources, including academic books and journal articles, first-person narratives, and visual resources.

Elective

As the study of behavior and mental processes, psychology allows us to better understand how people think, feel and act. This introductory course provides a broad overview of the major content areas within the field of psychology (e.g., physiological, developmental, social and cognitive psychology) and will introduce you to the psychological theories and research used to understand human behavior. We will cover a wide variety of topics, including how people learn, process and store information, why people possess distinct personalities, how social situations and cultural norms affect our behavior, how we grow and develop throughout our lives, etc. Throughout the course we will critically evaluate the merit of classic psychological theory and research in understanding people's thoughts, feelings and actions in real world situations. This course will provide a broad knowledge base for those interested in taking upper level psychology classes.

Elective

In this course, we will investigate two central questions: how are sounds shaped by place and power, and how are place and power ​​negotiated/reconstituted in and through sound? Building on the works of Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer, this course will explore "soundscapes" as fecund sites of social and political inquiry. Through readings, recordings, and soundwalks, we will question how the soundscape functions both as a sonic place and as a way of making sense of that place. The course will include lectures, discussions, and short writing assignments. For the final project, students will analyze a soundscape of their choosing, paying specific attention to its structural components (keynote sounds, signals, soundmarks, etc.) as well as its social, political, and economic resonances.

Elective

Designers and architects are constantly making objects, systems, services, infrastructures but they are also involved in dream making, desire shaping and negotiating power relations. The aim of this class is to introduce students in an accessible way to the wide-ranging insights that a sociology of design and architecture offers for understanding and evaluating the contours of our current designed economies and possible future designed worlds. We will explore design and architecture as forms of classed, raced and gendered labor and look at the tensions that have long existed between professional designers and publics. We will consider the ways in which the mainstream design industry is shaped by and a shaper of politics and culture and consider how it is embedded within and maintains markets, fossil capitalism, consumer culture and colonialism. We will appraise what sociologists and design theorists have to say about possible future design economies and societies based on digital surveillance, automation/robotics, and bio/geo-engineering. Finally, we will critically examine at a range of critical design social movements: from design justice to decolonial designers, feminist designers to designs for decarbonization and sustainable transitions which argue more just and ecological design worlds are still possible. 

Elective

Designers and architects are constantly making objects, systems, services, infrastructures but they are also involved in dream making, desire shaping and negotiating power relations. The aim of this class is to introduce students in an accessible way to the wide-ranging insights that a sociology of design and architecture offers for understanding and evaluating the contours of our current designed economies and possible future designed worlds. We will explore design and architecture as forms of classed, raced and gendered labor and look at the tensions that have long existed between professional designers and publics. We will consider the ways in which the mainstream design industry is shaped by and a shaper of politics and culture and consider how it is embedded within and maintains markets, fossil capitalism, consumer culture and colonialism. We will appraise what sociologists and design theorists have to say about possible future design economies and societies based on digital surveillance, automation/robotics, and bio/geo-engineering. Finally, we will critically examine at a range of critical design social movements: from design justice to decolonial designers, feminist designers to designs for decarbonization and sustainable transitions which argue more just and ecological design worlds are still possible. 

Elective

Dear Student,

No matter what professional design direction we choose, we will work with people. This studio is about cultivating a people-centric design practice. Public engagement is about listening, and is
an intricate process that informs decisions and approaches towards change.

We will begin by co-creating our studio’s space, and practice intentional methods for
collaboration and critique. Our first projects will be to find the tools and spaces where we already engage with people. We will learn about concepts like the ‘user’, then interrogate and integrate them meaningfully into our work through understanding our positionality, exercising question design, interview protocols and survey best practices.

Larger projects in this studio will include a collaboratively curated experience for our ID
community. We will practice prototyping with smaller sketch models, and at full scale with power tools and found materials. Assignments will be based on creating presentations, short videos, sketches, models and mapping tools. We will learn more about the city of Providence and other communities through case studies, documentaries, field trips, archives, walks and conversations with people. This studio is about finding unconventional connections by studying existing public engagement, learning about its historically complex and problematic contexts and systems, and ethnographic practices, and by designing intentional and inclusive experiences for people.

Sincerely,

Ayako Maruyama
 

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

Windows, Mirrors, and Sliding Glass Doors were first conceptualized as story-based empathy-building devices by Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop, a renowned scholar in the field of sociologically engaged inclusive literature.

Windows represent the possibility of looking into another world, or another person’s experience. Mirrors represent the ways in which we might see ourselves reflected in the content or characters of a story. Sliding glass doors are emblematic of opportunities to not only view, but to step inside and inhabit an experience from a new perspective. In this course, we will delve into critical analysis through content, form, and practice in order to delve into the possibilities of multidisciplinary, multi-sensory storytelling. Through research, experimentation, prototyping, designed objects, facilitated experiences, and immersive environments, students will learn how to tell their own stories, advocate for stories that may be unheard, and imagine stories that we can aspire to.Windows, Mirrors, and Sliding Glass Doors were first conceptualized as story-based empathy-building devices by Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop, a renowned scholar in the field of sociologically engaged inclusive literature. 

Windows represent the possibility of looking into another world, or another person’s experience. Mirrors represent the ways in which we might see ourselves reflected in the content or characters of a story. Sliding glass doors are emblematic of opportunities to not only view, but to step inside and inhabit an experience from a new perspective. In this course, we will delve into critical analysis through content, form, and practice in order to delve into the possibilities of multidisciplinary, multi-sensory storytelling. Through research, experimentation, prototyping, designed objects, facilitated experiences, and immersive environments, students will learn how to tell their own stories, advocate for stories that may be unheard, and imagine stories that we can aspire to.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

Design is often seen as neutral, sleek, and detached—but what happens when we reclaim it as a tool for protest, liberation, and authentic self-expression? In this social design course, we reject the sterile in favor of the deeply personal, exploring how our identities and lived experiences shape the way we create. We break down barriers between art and design, 2D and 3D, institution and student body, working across disciplines to foster a design practice that is engaged, intersectional, and community-driven. Through a three-part exploration—self, personal community, and wider community—students will develop both an individual project and a collaborative project of substance with a local community partner. Discussions with institutional leaders, Rhode Island-based artists, designers, and changemakers will deepen our understanding of how design can be leveraged for social impact.

This SEI-tagged course provides a space to engage with social justice topics such as race, gender, sexuality, class, and human rights in a collaborative and supportive environment. We center historically marginalized voices, welcoming QTPOC and those who have struggled to integrate their lived experiences into their creative work. Here, design is not just a profession—it is a practice of care, resistance, and transformation. Whether you are an artist, activist, or simply someone looking to make meaningful work, you will find a space to explore, create, and connect.
 

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

Mainstream games, such as Monopoly and Settlers of Catan, normalize extractive relations while
creating bitter competition between players. Meanwhile tools used in “community engagement” and “participatory design” in architecture, design, and planning fields create illusions of choice and public approval by gamifying public processes. This studio asks, how can games encourage a different set of relations and be a medium through which folks of all ages can practice care, collaboration, and learning at the grassroots level?

After examining their positionalities and analyzing existing board games, students will work in teams to develop their own semi-cooperative board games. The game development process will be introduced in stages as students critically discuss how design can both help and/or harm people with relevant personal, social, and political perspectives. Deliverables will include concept sketches, worldbuilding stories, rulebooks, zines, physical crafted prototypes and components, and student-organized playtesting sessions. Students must consider how to align their design decisions with their core values and goals, how to source materials ethically and sustainably, and how might their game be played and produced in community - all while ensuring the game is playable and fun!
 

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design

Why did ancient Peruvians use knots to write numbers? How did Persians traditionally make ice without electricity? In this studio, we will examine these and other questions by recreating traditional technologies and examining different forms of knowledge from around the globe, in order to open the door for other viewpoints in our design practice.

We will begin the semester by exploring different cultural understandings of concepts like time and safety. After recreating some of these traditional technologies, we will then respectfully build new objects based on these ancient approaches.

In the second half of the semester, we will examine the specific cultures and subcultures that we each belong to and design new objects and technologies that spring from these different ways of being.

This studio will involve lots of hands-on exploration and thinking through making – please come with a curious and open mind and be ready to have some serious fun!
 

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design