Through lectures and close readings of secondary and primary sources, this course investigates political power and its relationship to freedom in the creation and development of the United States. In the first third of the class, topics of particular interest are: Indigenous cultures in America; early Spanish, French, and British colonialism; the settlement of British North America; unfree systems of labor; and comparative folkways among different regions. The second examines the American Revolution and the Constitutional debate, territorial expansion, and the spread of democracy, markets, and reform movements. The last features slavery and the sectional crisis, the Civil War and Reconstruction, and imperialism in Cuba and the Philippines.

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

Evil has long been a topic of study for theologians and philosophers, but has only recently been studied by psychologists. Although evil is an inherently subjective topic, we will attempt to take an objective, scientific approach to understanding why people engage in evil behavior. Thus, we will begin by attempting to suspend the notion that we can divide the world into good and evil, and instead understand the situational and psychological factors that could lead anyone to harm others. Specifically, we will focus on classic psychological studies that show how everyday people can be led to act in deplorable ways by manipulating the situational circumstances. We will also discuss how inter-group processes can lead to conflict and large scale acts of violence like war and genocide. Finally, we will study the nature of the psychopathic personality in order to better understand those individuals who feel no guilt or remorse for harming others (e.g., brutal dictators and serial killers). This is a very interactive class and will require you to contribute in discussion and prepare an in-depth presentation on an area of your own interest related to the psychology of evil.HPSS-S101 is a prerequisite for undergraduates.

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

Since 2009, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and the National Park Service (NPS) have worked to develop a collaborative model for teaching and learning centered on witness trees: long-standing trees that have borne witness to the histories of the places where they have stood. The Project arranges for a fallen witness tree to be shipped from a national historic site to RISD, where, in a joint history seminar and design studio, students interpret the history the tree witnessed and make relevant objects from the tree's wood. In addition to classroom study, the Project variously involves field trips, guest lectures, workshops, demonstrations, and exhibitions of students' objects. Students from all disciplines are welcome.

This iteration of the Witness Tree Project will focus on a 19th-century state-champion Norway Spruce from Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in Woodstock, Vermont. The seminar will explore the world of its planter, Frederick Billings (1823-1890), who, as a Gold Rush lawyer, transcontinental railroad president, farmer, and pioneering conservationist, embodied the complex relationships Americans had with nature during a fervent era of expanded settler colonialism and land acquisition. In the studio, students will work with the wood harvested from the Norway Spruce to explore craft and building traditions indicative of this time, such as timber framing and hewing. Students will practice these techniques, and critically make, as a means of understanding and reflecting upon these histories.

This is a co-requisite course. Enrollment includes both FD 2451 and HPSS S732. Students will receive 3 studio/non-major studio elective credits and 3 Liberal Arts elective credits, for a total of 6 credits.

This course is open to junior, senior, fifth-year, and graduate students. Contact the instructor for permission to register.

Elective