Interdisciplinary Studies

Place-Based American Studies (open to juniors, replaces U.S. History and 2 11/12 English courses) examines essential themes in the literature and history of the United States, including place, identity, conflict, and consensus, through a lens that focuses on a fixed, place-based approach. This interdisciplinary, team-taught course also incorporates contributions from archaeology, cultural anthropology, politics, religion, film, and art. Rooted in serious research and off-campus experiences, including required field investigations to regional sites, students deconstruct the national narrative and develop a deeper connection to Sewanee, the Appalachian region, and the South. Projects of civic engagement and service-learning are integral parts of this course. Potential texts include Ely: An Autobiography by Ely Green, The Unvanquished by William Faulkner, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, The Mountaintop by Katori Hall, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams, Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, and A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo as well as works by James Agee. For completion of this double-block, yearlong course, students receive credit in English (equivalent to two one-semester offerings) and History (equivalent to the graduation requirement in U.S. History). Note: Open only to juniors. Students completing Place-Based American Studies will be ineligible to take U.S. History and American Literature as seniors.

This course studies the development of Western art and architecture from the Renaissance through contemporary eras. Students will discuss the formal elements of visual expression–color, line, space, etc– but will also consider the importance of context in the creation of works of art. This course is designed to increase students’ powers of visual analysis and to help build a critical vocabulary for discussing a work of art. The course will help foster a deeper understanding of the cultural context of art - in history and contemporary society - within political, economic, and religious realms. In addition to the focus on art history in the classroom, students will experience a variety of exhibition opportunities outside of the classroom setting, at local galleries and regional museums, such as the University of the South Art Gallery and the Frist Museum in Nashville. Students have the option of taking one or both semesters of this class. One may be a continuation of the other or students can take one without a prerequisite. Potential texts: The Art Assignment by Sarah Urist Green; Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: A Concise Western History, 4th Edition by Fred S. Kleiner

In Special Studies Seminar: Collaborations Across the Disciplines, students experience the challenges and rewards of pursuing their individual intellectual interests at an advanced level. After discussing common readings that address the craft of research in noteworthy ways, students choose one of two tracks: humanities or sciences. Students then gain instruction and practice in research methods, laboratory techniques, or field investigations, and they produce a significant paper, project, or exhibition that brings together theoretical or veritable contributions from two or more disciplines. Finally, students simulate an academic conference and deliver oral presentations on their original work, thereby demonstrating competency in the new basics of collaboration, problem solving, and presentation skills. This team-taught seminar is appropriate for students with sustained interests across the curriculum, including the humanities, arts, and sciences.

Reading two 5th century B.C. Greek historians – Herodotus (the Father of History) and Thucydides – will not only help us to understand the most pivotal events of the most influential Western generation (5th century Greece), but they will also allow us a glimpse into the nature and beginnings of history as a genre. The Persian Wars (made famous in the recent movie 300) and the Peloponnesian War (which pitted former allies Athens and Sparta) encompass so many episodes and stories--many unrelated to warfare--influencing later historians, politicians, and writers that not knowing about them denies us comprehensible access to most subsequent history. Two volumes from a recent series, The Landmark Herodotus and The Landmark Thucydides, will guide our studies.