The Elson Family Arts Initiative

Thanks to the generous contribution of the Elson family, as well as the support of President Drew Faust and the Office of the Dean of Arts and Humanities, additional funding has been provided to the courses listed in this booklet to enable them to incorporate significant art‐making activities and assignments.

This initiative is one of many activities created in response to the recommendations of the Harvard Task Force on the Arts. Their report (http://media.www.harvard.edu/content/arts_report.pdf) affirmed the importance of art making, saying:

To allow innovation and imagination to thrive on our campus, to educate and empower creative minds across all disciplines, to help shape the twenty-first century, Harvard must make the arts an integral part of the cognitive life of the university: for along with the sciences and the humanities, the arts—as they are both experienced and practiced—are irreplaceable instruments of knowledge… Harvard should include art- making in its curriculum for the same reason it includes so many other forms of learning: to enable its students to become citizens of the world, prepared to apprehend what may at first seem only strange and to participate in a human creativity that is not hemmed in by fear and suspicion or tightly bounded in space and time.

So turn the page; take a course; join an orchestra; dance; sing; paint; make a film; write a play… be a Harvard Art Maker!

For additional inspiration, visit the web sites for Harvard Arts and the Office for the Arts at Harvard:

http://arts.harvard.edu/ http://ofa.fas.harvard.edu/

Art-Making Courses in the Elson Family Arts Initiative

Fall 2014

Aesthetic and Interpretive Understanding 11: Poetry Without Borders

Stephanie Sandler (Slavic Languages & Literatures) Tu., Th., 2-3:30, and a weekly section to be arranged

Studies contemporary poetry as a cultural practice that requires and perversely challenges visual, linguistic, geographic, and aesthetic borders. Main topics are translation (poems crossing borders), emigration/exile (poets crossing borders), and poetry and other arts (poems with music, film, photography). Texts by Charles Bernstein, Allen Ginsberg, Bei Dao, Joseph Brodsky, Paul Celan, Barbara Guest, Susan Howe, Yang Lian, Valzhyna Mort, Henry Parland, Vladimir Nabokov, W. G. Sebald, César Vallejo, Zafer Şenocak, and C. D. Wright, alongside sound recordings, photographs, films, and poetry performances.

Art Integration: Poetry workshop led by C.D. Wright. Translation workshop with Peter Waterhouse who will be in residence through the Woodberry Poetry Room for two weeks.

English 40: Arrivals

Daniel G. Donoghue (English) Tu., Th., 11:30-1

An introduction to major works in English literature from Beowulf through the seventeenth century, the course will explore various ways that new literatures are created in response to cultural forces that shape poets, genres, and group identity. We will hone close reading skills, introduce rhetorical tropes, and develop techniques of critical writing.

Art Integration: Students will gain first-hand experience of the art of calligraphy that produced medieval manuscripts.

French Ab: Beginning French II: Exploring Parisian Life and Identity

Nicole Mills and members of the Dept. (Romance Languages & Literatures) Fall: M. through Th., sections at 10 or 12. Spring: M. through Th., sections at 9, 10, 11, 12, or 1.

In the second course in the Elementary French sequence, students will engage in an online simulation of life in Paris while exploring diverse facets of Parisian identity. Through the interpretation and analysis of Parisian texts, film, paintings, and photography, students will actively engage in oral and written communication in the past, present, and future. Students will learn to make suggestions, express emotions and opinions, extend invitations, and convey hypothetical situations.

Prerequisite: Completion of French Aa, or a score no lower than 301 and no higher than 450 on the SAT II test or the Harvard Placement test.

Art Integration: A.R.T. Institute faculty and graduate students will lead workshops for Beginning French II students in the fundamentals of stage acting and improvisation to equip students with some of the tools used by professional actors to communicate their stories, as well as to demonstrate how these same tools will aid French learners in speaking with confidence and clarity.

French 127: Talking About Food

Janet Beizer (Romance Languages & Literatures) Tu., 1-3 and W., 12-1

In the 19th century, food became an object of aesthetic discourse, a focus of gustatory enjoyment and verbal pleasure. Readings include 19th-century food writers and novelists, and contemporary historians, commentators, and theorists.

Note: Excellent reading knowledge of French required; class discussions in English or French, to be decided.

Art Integration: The class will be focused on the rise of gastronomy as an art form, and the students' work will be most centrally focused on a term project defined by their own creative/performative response to one of the art forms gastronomy was/is involved with: writing, cinema, other visual arts, cooking, table arts, map-making, etc.

Freshman Seminar 33j: Temples and Museums: Politics of Display and the Arts of

South and Southeast Asia

Jinah Kim (History of Art & Architecture) M., 1-3

How different is an image in a museum from a religious image installed in a temple? This seminar will explore the politics of display and the history of appropriation and reappropriation of the arts of South and Southeast Asia with select historical examples and contemporary cases, including the Hollywood films such as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001). Local museums displaying the arts of South and Southeast Asia and diasporic community temples, such as the Thai Temple in Raynham, MA, and Shri Lakshmi Temple in Ashland, MA, will provide a laboratory to experience and analyze the politics of display going beyond a binary interpretation.

Note: Open to freshmen only. The seminar includes required field trips, dates TBD. Transportation and entrance fees are provided free of charge.

Art Integration: We will pursue a reverse designing process of a display space of religious art objects, in which students will draft a 2-D and 3-D plan of a displace space following each field trip.

Freshman Seminar 35n: The Art and Craft of Acting

Remo Francisco Airaldi (Dramatic Arts) M., 4-6

Provides an introduction to acting by combining elements of a discussion seminar with exercises, improvisations and performance activities. Uses improvisation to improve group/ensemble dynamics, minimize habitual behaviors and to develop characters. Explores a range of acting techniques designed to give students greater access to their creativity, imagination and emotional life. In the later part of the term we will work on monologues. Students also attend and critique productions at the Loeb Drama Center and other theaters in the Boston area.

Note: Open to freshmen only. Students will be required to attend theater performances (dates TBD) during the course of the term. There will be no charge to the student.

Art Integration: Students will participate in in-class exercises designed to explore different acting techniques and develop fundamental performance 4 skills. Students will also attend various theatrical productions which they will critique in analytic essays. They will use material from these performances in their own acting presentations. We will arrange for talkback sessions with the directors and/or cast members of these productions to further investigate the acting process.

Latin American Studies 70: Modernity, Culture and Politics in Latin America

Mariano Siskind (Romance Languages & Literatures) M., 3-5

Introduces students to central debates and problems that have shaped Latin American culture. We address questions of cultural identity, gender, race, politics, economics and aesthetics by looking at historical and literary texts, films, visual arts and urban development from an interdisciplinary perspective. We analyze colonial encounters; revolutions; US-Latin American relations; popular cultures from tango and samba to football and carnaval; Latin American cities and slums; and memory, trauma and traces of the region’s dictatorships.

Note: Conducted in Spanish. Readings in Spanish and English.

Art Integration: Students learn the basics of tango dancing and choreograph a Borges’ short story.

Modern Greek 100: Advanced Modern Greek: Introduction to Modern Greek Literature

Vassiliki Rapti (The Classics) W., 1-3, and a one-hour section to be arranged

Special Topic: Introduction to the Poetry of Nobel Laureate George Seferis. Literary, sociocultural, and linguistic analysis of selected readings in prose, poetry, and literary criticism by George Seferis. Emphasis will also be given to the reception of the Nobel laureate Greek poet. Students will achieve linguistic and cultural competency while grasping a complete portrait of the poet and diplomat George Seferis within a broader historic and sociopolitical context of 20th-century Greece.

Prerequisite: Modern Greek B or equivalent and permission of instructor. Note: Conducted in Greek.

Art Integration: Through this project undergraduate students, graduates, visiting artists and faculty along with the staff of Arts@29 Garden, the Media Production Center and the Lamont Language Resource Center, the Derek Bok Center and the Woodberry Poetry Room will synergistically work to re- imagine, connect and engage with the powerful words and metaphors of George Seferis, bringing creative ideas in the visual, verbal, and performative arts to fruition through a process of interdisciplinary interaction, discussion, performance, and implementation.

Music 97c: Music History and Repertory: Music in Cross-Cultural Perspective

Kay Kaufman Shelemay (Music) M., W., F., at 10

An introduction to selected world music repertories (in this case, traditions from Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia), as well as research methods and interpretive issues in the field of ethnomusicology.

Art Integration: Three participatory performance sessions, led by an expert in one of the three world music traditions that are the focus of the class.

Music 153: Jazz Harmony

Daniel Artie Henderson (Music) Tu., Th., 10-11:30

Learn both the theory and the practice of the wonderful world of Jazz Harmony. By closely listening to and analyzing selected compositions from the Jazz tradition (Ellington, Monk, Jobim, Wayne Shorter, etc.) and from outside the Jazz tradition (Ravel, Debussy, Stevie Wonder, etc.), you will learn how Jazz harmony is used to add emotion, meaning, and richness to music. Then, compose your own music! Midterm and final projects are original compositions by you, performed and recorded live in class by professional jazz musicians of the highest caliber.

Note: A working knowledge of basic music theory, including the ability to notate music. Music 2 and/or Music 51 are recommended. Strongly recommended for those planning to take Music 186r.

Art Integration: "Jazz Harmony" students will have their original jazz compositions brought to life by professional jazz musicians, and will receive 6 one-on-one feedback and guidance with one of our visiting artists about their creative projects.

Music 190gew:

Music in Islamic Contexts

Richard K. Wolf (Music) Th., 1-3

This course focuses on the arts of sound practiced by Muslims in India, Pakistan, and Iran, and on procedures of recitation that grow from pre-Islamic roots among Arabic-speaking peoples. The purposes are two-fold: one is to understand from a musically informed perspective a set of interrlated musical practices that cut across South and West Asia. The second is to understand how different ideologies, philosophies and texts - associated with Islam locally, nationally, and internationally - shape local understandings and constructions of sound.

Note: This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the General Education requirement for Culture and Belief or Aesthetic and Interpretive Understanding, but not both.

Art Integration: Students will study Persian music with local Iranian musicians and practice on instruments owned by the Music Department. This effort will assist students in recognizing some of the similar musical procedures involved in Quranic recitation and South Asian raga-based singing, while also providing a basis for hearing important distinctions among these genres.

Music 193r: Topics in Music from 1800 to the Present: Proseminar

Carol J. Oja (Music) Tu., 1-3

Blackface Minstrelsy in 19th-century America. A theatrical genre that traded in racist caricature, blackface minstrelsy was one of the most popular entertainments of the 19th-century U.S., with a legacy that has continued into American popular music and culture today. This course explores the historical development and intense paradoxes of blackface performance by drawing upon materials in the Harvard Theatre Collection, which houses one of the largest minstrelsy archives in the world. The class will culminate in curating an exhibit. Core aspects of the course include grappling with complex questions of racial stereotyping and

7 exploring the banjo in sound and image. Guest experts include a banjo virtuoso, a performer in an African American string band, and a minstrelsy scholar.

Note: Ability to read musical notation helpful but not required.

Art Integration: Enabling synergy between performance and analysis through visits by Greg Adams, banjo virtuoso and specialist in minstrelsy. Part of larger effort with the music library and the Theatre Collection to mount exhibit curated by the students.

Spring 2015

East Asian Film and Media Studies 151: Masterworks of East Asian Cinema

Jie Li (East Asian Languages & Civilizations) Tu., 1-3 with an additional weekly section to be arranged

Takes a vicarious journey through modern China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong through celebrated works of cinema that address significant social changes and historical experiences. Apart from watching films by Bong Joon-ho, Itami Juzo, Jiang Wen, Kim Ki-young, Kurosawa Akira, Ang Lee, Ozu Yasujiro, Wong Kar-wai, Edward Yang, Zhang Yimou and others, students are encouraged to collaborate on their own short films inspired by the styles and visions of these directors.

Note: All films subtitled in English. No prior knowledge of East Asian history or film studies necessary.

Art Integration: In addition to critical approaches, students are asked to creatively respond to course materials by creating their own short films in the styles of the films they watch. Student filmmaking will begin with the illustration of film terms (such as tracking shot or cross cutting) in the first two weeks. They will go on to remake scenes from films shot by shot and will be asked to create 1-2 minute scenes of humor, action, tension, and pathos. For their final projects, they will collaborate on short narrative films from 7-10 minutes, and the class will end with the “Golden Monkey Awards”—a class screening of final projects with Oscar-like awards in various categories.

English 90ht: How to Read a Book: Seminar

Leah Price (English) Tu., 1-3

Historical and literary narratives of reading; texts by Cervantes, Richardson, Franklin, Sterne, Flaubert, Ellison, and Bradbury, together with research exercises in Harvard library and museum collections.

Art Integration: Three workshops: papermaking (with papermaker from North Bennet School), printing (with printer from Bow and Arrow Press), book binding (with faculty from Rare Book School and Northeast Document Conservation Center).

Freshman Seminar 34v: Broadway Musicals: History and Performance

Carol J. Oja (Music) M., 1-3

This seminar explores a core group of Broadway musicals, fusing classroom study and hands-on creativity. Historical and musical discussions will be paired with student performances and staging of individual scenes (under the guidance of the A.R.T. Institute). The seminar touches on signal moments in the "Golden Age" of the musical, and it involves a collaboration with A.R.T.’s "Civil War" series, including a new opera by Matt Aucoin (’12).

Note: Open to freshmen only. Student musicians and actors are welcome in the course, as are students who love to watch shows but not necessarily perform in them. Ability to read music is desirable but not required.

Art Integration: Staging segments of shows discussed in class with help from A.R.T. associates and weekly performances of individual numbers from Broadway shows.

Music 157gew: South Indian Music Theory & Practice

Richard K. Wolf (Music) F., 9-11

Analysis of contemporary south Indian classical composition and improvisational forms. Students will learn to sing or play an instrument and may participate in a concert at the end of the semester.

Note: This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the General Education requirement for Culture and Belief and Aesthetic and Interpretive Understanding.

Art Integration: This course explores the dynamic relationship between theory and practice in south Indian classical, or Karnatak, music, and the ways in which forms of music theory have been used to bolster a sense that India’s “classical” traditions can compete with the art music traditions of Europe and America. Students sing in almost every class, and in some cases learn to play the vina (a stringed instrument) and the mridangam drum. In addition to reading and discussion, then, students gain an intimate understanding of what makes Karnatak music “musical.” Students are asked to attempt to reproduce minute details—the elements that differentiate “notes” as a fundamental building block in Western music from the contextually shifting “svaras” of south Indian music.