First Year Writing Seminar
Manhattanville College requires that all first year undergraduate students complete ENC 4010: First Year Writing Seminar by the end of their first year of study (fall or spring semester). This course, the first part of the College’s Writing and Research across the Curriculum requirement, has several sections, divided by different themes. All sections instruct students in essential analytical and writing skills necessary for success in a liberal arts education. Students will write on diverse topics generated from the course content and discussion.
Students who have scored 4 or 5 on BOTH the AP English Literature and Composition exam AND the Language and Composition exam are exempt from the requirement, but are still encouraged to take the course in order to continue the development of their written communication skills.
Course Descriptions Fall 2008
CSCH 4010
Section 01. Magical Realism around the Globe
Allison Amend
This intensive writing course will examine magical realism and its origins and influences from disparate societies. Readings will include such well-known authors as Marquez, Irving, Allende, Calvino and others. In addition to fiction, we will analyze critical essays and work intensively on the basics of writing -- grammar, sentence structure, and organization of the academic paper. Students will learn to close read texts and glean overarching themes, as well as re-imagine and edit their own work.
Section 02. International Studies in Human Rights
Fatima Policarpo
This seminar will introduce students to international human rights as a multidisciplinary field, and will study major themes and events in the contemporary human rights movements. Through various regions around the globe we will explore five themes throughout the semester: economic human rights, health and human rights, women’s human rights, genocide and mass atrocities, and truth commissions. Through writing and discussion the course will examine, contrast and compare various representational strategies such as personal narratives, journalism, fiction, documentary film, feature film and photo reportage.
ENC 4010 Course Descriptions Fall 2008
Sections 01 and 02. Dance, Music & Culture
Wasi Mekuria
In this writing seminar, we will examine a broad range of performance genres (e.g. ritual, theater, dance, popular culture and world music). The main goals of our inquiry will be to (a) understand how and why performances reflect social life and experience, and (b) to develop an awareness of and appreciation for the diversity in artistic forms. Drawing on anthropological approaches to the study of performance, we will also attempt to understand how performances promote various kinds of experiential states such as altered states of consciousness, ecstasy, or catharsis.
Section 03. International Studies in Human Rights
Fatima Policarpo
This seminar will introduce students to international human rights as a multidisciplinary field, and will study major themes and events in the contemporary human rights movements. Through various regions around the globe we will explore five themes throughout the semester: economic human rights, health and human rights, women’s human rights, genocide and mass atrocities, and truth commissions. Through writing and discussion the course will examine, contrast and compare various representational strategies such as personal narratives, journalism, fiction, documentary film, feature film and photo reportage.
Sections 04 and 05. Call and Response: Poems, Poets, Poetry
Karen Steinmetz
In this course, we will read poetry and poets’ critical writing about their art form. Focusing on pieces written in English (with a nod to the ancient Greek, Japanese, and Chinese poets), we will examine questions of form and content. What makes a good poem? How do poets think about their own writing and that of other poets? To what extent are principles of effective writing the same for poetry and prose? Throughout the course, students will hone their creative and critical writing skills, experimenting in the genre of poetry, as well writing essays that draw connections among the poems and theoretical works discussed in class.
Section 06. The Cold War and Films
Professor Bob Ashkinaze
In this course, we will examine the depiction of the Cold War in American and European movies. We will learn strategies for analyzing film and history, and for understanding imaginative narratives in historical context. Among the films we will study are Hiroshima, Mon Amour, Dr. Strangelove, Manchurian Candidate, The Big Lift, Ice Station Zebra, and Goodbye Lenin
Sections 07 and 08. Paths to Justice
Beth Fonfrias
This class will examine legal issues and court rulings through
landmark cases, essays, literature and film. We will analyze legal reasoning and argument while honing our critical thinking and writing skills. As we explore current and historical topics, we will pose the following questions: Is justice blind? How does judicial policy affect our lives? What is the connection between legal decision-making and popular sentiment? What is the best way to construct a reasoned argument?
Section 09. The Literature of Childhood
Kristopher Jansma
This course provides in-depth analysis of classic childhood texts. Students will read several folk and fairy tales, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz. Discussions will be supplemented by a look at relevant literary criticism and biographical information.
Section 10. The Apocalypse
Kristopher Jansma
The Apocalypse will explore texts -- from the bible to contemporary publications -- that deal with the end of the civilized world. Readings might include Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle", and "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy, as well as excerpts from "The Last Man" by Mary Shelley, "The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman, and Stephen King's "The Stand". This literature as well as articles addressing global warming and nuclear war will be accompanied by intensive instruction in the fundamentals of composition, essay construction and persuasion.
Section 11. Caesar and Tacitus
Josh Meissner
This section will examine two great figures of the Roman Republic and Empire: Caesar and Tacitus. As totally invested political careerists, few sources are better qualified to apprehend the nature and workings of imperial ambition. Through consideration of their lives and works, it is our intention to study power, its acquisition, consolidation, operation and abuse. Furthermore, both figures were celebrated as authors noted for their incisive narratives and clear prose, so this course will be an occasion to use translations of their work as early models of good writing.
Section 12. Magical Realism around the Globe
Allison Amend
This intensive writing course will examine magical realism and its origins and influences from disparate societies. Readings will include such well-known authors as Marquez, Irving, Allende, Calvino and others. In addition to fiction, we will analyze critical essays and work intensively on the basics of writing -- grammar, sentence structure, and organization of the academic paper. Students will learn to close read texts and glean overarching themes, as well as re-imagine and edit their own work.
Section 13. Gothic Monsters
Kristopher Jansma
In this course students will analyze Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Shirley Jackson’s fiction.
Section 15. Caesar and Tacitus
Josh Meissner
This section will examine two great figures of the Roman Republic and Empire: Caesar and Tacitus. As totally invested political careerists, few sources are better qualified to apprehend the nature and workings of imperial ambition. Through consideration of their lives and works, it is our intention to study power, its acquisition, consolidation, operation and abuse. Furthermore, both figures were celebrated as authors noted for their incisive narratives and clear prose, so this course will be an occasion to use translations of their work as early models of good writing.
Section 16. Personal Narrative and the Creative Essay
Amanda Parrish
In Joan Didion’s essay “Slouching Toward Bethlehem,” she writes that she has “always had trouble distinguishing between what happened and what merely might have happened, but I remain unconvinced that the distinction, for my purposes, matters.” Certainly questions of authenticity in nonfiction are as relevant today as they were when Didion published her essay. In this class, students will both read a variety of personal narratives and creative essays ranging from Michele de Montaigne’s “On Cannibals” to Carlos Fuentes’s “How I Started to Write” and James Frey’s controversial novel (initially marketed as a memoir) A Million Little Pieces. Writing assignments will include both analytical and creative essays.
Section 17. Dance, Music & Culture
Wasi Mekuria
In this writing seminar, we will examine a broad range of performance genres (e.g. ritual, theater, dance, popular culture and world music). The main goals of our inquiry will be to (a) understand how and why performances reflect social life and experience, and (b) to develop an awareness of and appreciation for the diversity in artistic forms. Drawing on anthropological approaches to the study of performance, we will also attempt to understand how performances promote various kinds of experiential states such as altered states of consciousness, ecstasy, or catharsis.