January @ Brown, 2008 Courses

Workshop in Creative Nonfiction

This course will concentrate primarily on two forms of creative nonfiction: memoir and the personal essay. Students will be writing and critiquing each other's work through workshop sessions as well as reading and responding to exemplary samples of the forms. Through memoir, we will gain an in-depth understanding of the mechanics of narrative by examining character and plot. In personal essays, we will apply what we've learned about narrative to crafting a well reasoned text that places personal experience into a larger context. Students will learn powerful tools for engaging readers and gain mastery over presenting experience in satisfying, artful ways.

This course will meet each day from 10:00-1:00
Instructor: L. Sarat

Chemistry 33T

This course is for students who are completing work for Chemistry 33
Additional $44 per student for required software
Mandatory attendance, partially self-paced w/ scheduled exams

Hours: TBD
Instructor: Sandra Russo-Rodriguez, 2 advanced TA’s

Storied Neighborhoods: Race, Place, and Narrative

Providence is in many ways a city of neighborhoods, each of which is inflected by its economic, cultural, historical and political attributes. The design of these urban neighborhoods shapes the tales that people tell, and these accounts, in turn, influence the design of places; this class examines this reciprocal relationship in the context of story in order to understand how racial and economic differences are written into the stories of our local neighborhoods. We will “read” both the physical narrative of landscape and the more traditional stories found in personal narrative, media stories, television fictional narratives, and literary narratives to better understand how Providence’s storied neighborhoods have been constructed, changed, or maintained. The class will utilize the tools offered by urban studies, literary studies, and theories of race and class to understand the influence that a city’s physical and imaginative landscapes and its inhabitants wield on each other. A short selection of readings will situate our exploration into the “neighborhoods of story” within Providence. Through our engagement with these texts and the public spaces of Providence, we will work toward developing a theory of urban narrativity - constructing our own stories about how different texts and spaces have created, reshaped, and altered the neighborhoods of Providence. Students will produce a final fictional or critical analysis of a particular Providence narrative that will be published in an online journal.

Instructor: Matthew Delmont
This course will meet 10:00-1:00 everyday

Workshop on Studio Art

The fundamental question we will be addressing in this course is, “What is art?” Students will be asked to respond to this question through a variety of visual media, establishing an introductory foundation for studio practice.
This question will be broken down into two constituent questions addressing the how and the why of making art: We will explore the “how” in terms of form and technique, in both two and three dimensions. Drawing, photography, sculpture, and design will be emphasized. Students will be introduced to these disciplines in order to sharpen their sensitivities and attitudes to the world at large and to develop their own personal creative process. Through these media, we will attempt to establish criteria for the critical engagement of works of art, and address the “why” questions of making art in terms of content and context.

Instructor: C. Gonsher
This class will meet from 10:00-1:00 every day

Persuasive Communication

“When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.” –Audre Lorde

This course will introduce you to the rhetorical arts of invention, organization, style, and delivery to help make you a more confident and persuasive public speakers. You will deliver both prepared and extemporaneous speeches to your classmates and receive detailed, personalized feedback from both the instructor and one another. Class lectures and discussions on developing outlines, coping with speaker anxiety, and making effective use of visual aids will help you build your skills in public speaking. Although primarily practical in orientation, this course will also examine the psychology of persuasion, especially as it operates through advertising and political campaigns. By improving your understanding of the communication process, Persuasive Communication will make you both a better public speaker and a more astute critic of public discourse.

Instructor: C. DuComb
This class will meet from 10:00-1:00