What did Great-Grandpa do for a living? How big was his family? Were they rich or poor? What was their religion? Were their physical characteristics consistent with those of the local population? Can you discover genealogy’s “Holy Grail”: Great-Grandma’s hometown somewhere in the world? Constructing a timeline of your ancestors will connect you with the geography, history, and culture in which they lived, bringing together your own family stories with the powerful search engines of the Internet.

We will sample the most popular genealogical websites as well as some unusual ones. This seminar is open to all, from beginners to professionals, and encourages an interactive exploration of your ancestors as well as their lives and times.    

Participants are encouraged to use personal laptops in class, working on their own projects while learning from conversation with others in the group.  

The Charlotte region (Mecklenburg and surrounding counties) is one of the fastest growing areas in the United States. Using the instructor’s personal experience from working directly with regional city, town, and county governments – along with information from the archives of the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute – we’ll explore the history of the region. We will examine Charlotte’s explosive growth and the issues stemming from that growth: jobs, housing, crime, education, and transportation. We’ll also look at historical patterns in the surrounding counties and the way outlying areas connect to Charlotte. Because tourism plays a major role in the region’s economy, we’ll discuss what there is to see and do in the metropolis.

This course will be primarily lecture, but it will include some group participation.

This course will explore the history, concepts, and value of positive psychology in everyday life. It will be based primarily on the work of the psychologist Martin Seligman, whose research examines the nature of true happiness. In the first part of the course, each participant will complete the Values in Action questionnaire. This resource, widely used in clinical psychology as well as industry, athletics, education, and child development, is the most significant current tool for identifying one’s personal character strengths and virtues. In the remaining sessions, we will use experiential activities such as gratitude exercises to explore how calling upon these “signature strengths” frequently in all areas of life can create natural buffers against misfortune and negativity. Ultimately, positive psychology’s goal is to help people achieve new and sustainable levels of authentic happiness, including contentment, gratification, and meaning.

As a French-born American, historian Jacques Barzun once famously observed, “Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball.” Since its creation, baseball has been a mirror of the American experience. With its use of ritual, superstition, and most importantly, myth, the game has also proven to be an instructive reflection and metaphor for the human, not just the American, experience. This course will examine the history of baseball in the context of ethnicity, race, and gender, and how society has historically used the power of myth to establish and perpetuate the values of our society. Using Bernard Malamud’s classic baseball work, The Natural, we will pay particular attention to the “hero’s journey” to explore how this archetypal myth defines the American experience, and, more broadly, the human condition.

The Blues is a distinctively American music form with roots in the music of enslaved people brought from Africa to the South. Formed in part from their field hollers and from call-and-response church music, the Blues is Black music. Although aspects of the Blues can be found in jazz and is foundational for rock and roll, the Blues genre has distinctive musical forms and lyrics that we will discuss as we review Blues artists and listen to their music. Social influences – including gender, economics, exploitation, appropriation, and elements of American society – shaped the Blues’ history, visibility, and popularity.

Remembering is a social as well as cognitive experience.  For example, we reminisce with others, we select which details we share and don’t share based on who those others are, and we rehearse or silence portions of memories – all of which affect what we later remember. Students will explore current theory and research regarding collective memory, primarily from a psychological perspective. We will explore questions raised in the influential book Memory in Mind and Culture (edited by Boyer and Wertsch). For example, how do we build shared collective memories? How does memory shape history?  How does memory shape culture? We will also look at issues such as silencing memories, borrowing others’ memories, and influencing memory through culture.  Our study will be grounded in cognitive psychology but will also draw upon subfields such as social and cross-cultural psychology and related fields such as sociology, cultural studies, and museum studies. Periodically, class members will be invited to serve as an audience for – or to have conversations with – Dr., Multhaup’s Davidson College students in her psychology class,  Collective Memory, which meets Tu/Th from 9:40-10:55 AM.

Socioecology is a field of biology that examines the social behavior of animals as evolutionary adaptations to their environment. The instructor will review concepts of socioecology using an archive of her photographs of some of Africa’s most charismatic mammals. She has been taking Davidson College students to Africa since 2000 and has a rich portfolio of photographs illustrating a variety of species and their social behavior. Using her perspective as both scientist and photographer, the instructor will convey her love for animals and what they can teach us about our own behavior. 

Many feel that the 1950s, often called the Eisenhower years, was a quiescent period; yet, this decade transformed the nation. In this course we will delve into and discuss some of its more significant events: the Cold War; McCarthyism; and civil rights events, including Emmett Till’s murder and the integration of Little Rock’s Central High. We will examine new forms of entertainment through television, including Elvis and rock and roll, and classic movies like High Noon and On the Waterfront. We will look at a nascent sexual revolution and the publication of Peyton Place; the polio epidemic and the development of a vaccine; and the creation of Barbie, Disneyland, and McDonalds. Live or relive through this exciting decade!

Samuel Coleridge wrote that poetry is "the best words in the best order." With his idea in mind, class conversations will focus on selected published poems, material the instructor provides, and students’ own poems, all intended to help participants find “the best words in the best order.” Whether you are an experienced poet or a novice, the class activities will enhance the development of your own writing through the lens of selected poets and class feedback. Poems will be from the work of W. H. Auden, Robert Frost, W. S. Merwin, John Balaban, Eleanor Wilner, Jamal May, Betty Adcock, Marilyn Nelson, Claudia Emerson, and others. Bring your poems to share with fellow poets – a tried-and-true method to find out what is working in your poems and what may need to be re-examined. Fellow writers are often the best and most careful readers.

Twenty-five years before the American Revolution began, barely a third of White Southern women could read; fewer still could write. Yet, by the 1820s, they were starting schools, writing books, and insisting on their right to the life of the mind. What explains such extraordinary changes? This course will address such questions as the following:

• Why was it so important to limit the education of women in the early modern era?

• Why did the South's literacy rates lag behind New England’s rates? 

• What difference did the Revolution make to the expansion of female education?

• How does race help to explain struggles for equity in education – in both the 19th century and today?

This course will be primarily lecture, but it will include some group participation.  

Dive into the fascinating world of Generative AI! This course offers an introduction to AI, focusing on how AI can create (generate) images, text, music, and more. Explore how Gen AI works, its exciting applications, and the potential risks it brings. Whether you’re curious about AI’s creative power or concerned about its impact, this course will help you understand what Gen AI is all about. Students who took the previous version of this course are encouraged to enroll again, as the topics are new.

This class is primarily lecture/presentation, with some student interaction and Q&A at the end of each session. 

In this course we will learn about the ideas and influence of Hannah Arendt, one of the most important thinkers and public intellectuals of the 20th century. We will learn about her critical thinking on totalitarianism, violence, freedom, power, and what she called “the life of the mind” in our shared human condition. We will look closely at her writings on authoritarianism and totalitarianism, the Holocaust, state power, freedom and the role of the individual in a modern society, and polity and community. We will look at Arendt’s Jewish writings. We will read her essay on violence. We will see Arendt as a virtuoso of several genres: letters, op-eds, extended essays, philosophical argument, reportage, history, and even poetry. At the end of our course, I hope we can answer the question: Why read Hannah Arendt now?

This course has quite a substantial reading load. Each meeting, however, will focus on specific sections of the works, which should require approximately 3-5 hours of preparation. We will work on one of the required readings for each session.

This course parallels the instructor’s first-year writing course on Hannah Arendt at Davidson College. At the end of the semester DavidsonLearns students will meet with the college students for a festive soirée to hear them present their best work of the semester on Hannah Arendt.

Explore British society and politics from the 1970s through the 1990s as depicted in five remarkable movies. Topics include espionage, the coal miners’ strike, lesbian and gay activism, the war in the Falklands, the death of Princess Diana, and race relations. Students will stream these movies at home and discuss them in class, along with assigned readings.

What are the Federal Reserve’s policies towards interest rates, and what tools are at its disposal? How does the Fed balance inflation and unemployment in the US economy? Interest rate changes are one of the risks in bond investing, and they will be analyzed along with credit and structure considerations.

Throughout history, drawings and carvings of knots have served as decorations, as aids to tell stories, and as symbols. They can be found in Celtic designs, sona sand drawings of the Chokwe of Angola and Congo, and decorations on the Alhambra in Grenada, Spain. Knots are also studied in mathematics, but are all artistic knots also mathematical knots? Delving into the mathematical topic of Knot Theory, this course covers basic definitions and theorems, examines types of knots through students drawing many two-dimensional representations (knot diagrams), and makes connections with art involving knots. Spoiler alert: we will learn why mathematicians think that granny knots and square knots are not mathematical knots. 

Class participation and hands-on explorations will enhance learning the mathematics behind knots. This course requires intellectual curiosity and an openness to thinking about familiar things in new ways but no formal mathematics training.

This two-session mini-course will be led by the staff of the Davidson College Archives, Special Collections & Community Department. In the first session, students will learn how to explore and access the department’s notable and unique resources about town and college history, including oral histories, local publications, scrapbooks, and photographs. The second session will be workshop-style, and students will receive training on how to use the provided archival supplies to preserve a selection of their own family records. At the end of the course, students will be able to conduct their own research on local history topics. In addition, they will understand how to protect their own records to share their story with their families and how to contribute to our larger understanding of Davidson’s past, present, and future.

Leonard Cohen embodied a multitude of identities: novelist, poet, lyricist, musician, Jewish mystic, Buddhist monk, Canadian, Montrealer, devoted lover (but never a husband), father, and Jikan Eliezer (a combination of his Zen and Hebrew names). By examining the many facets of his life, we open doors to interpreting the rich legacy he left behind – from “lullabies for suffering” to the broken Hallelujahs and his poetic “manual for living with defeat.” For Cohen, brokenness often yielded moments of transcendence.

Our journey begins with a discussion of three entry points to understand Cohen’s work. We’ll conclude our exploration with Cohen’s final albums, You Want It Darker and the posthumously produced Thanks for the Dance. Between these bookends, we will read, listen, and converse together – guided by the spirit of Cohen’s memorable refrain: “There’s a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”

Ever realize that you have a priceless slice of the past to donate to the future? You do – it’s called the story of your life. In this course, we will tap our memories to chronicle the vivid lessons and life experiences that molded us into who we are. Funny, poignant, heroic, or embarrassing, our lives are a bundle of stories that deserve to be recorded either as a private exercise or as a gift to future family generations. This dynamic workshop will release the not-to-be forgotten tales of your life on earth.

The Merchant of Venice is classified as a comedy, but next to the likes of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Much Ado about Nothing, it hardly seems like one. It lacks the joy of Shakespeare’s “golden comedies.” What’s more, it includes bald, painful anti-Semitism, so much that many contemporary audiences believe it should be banned from the theater. In this class, we’ll analyze the play's portrayal of anti-Semitism, as well as such features as the play’s three female characters who cross-dress and the tussle between justice and mercy. In classes that will involve some lecture, plenty of discussion, and lots of reading aloud, we’ll explore one act per week, with a final sixth week to pull together our thoughts about this play for the current moment.

This lecture course will present four breakthrough areas in medicine that take the field of healthcare in new and exciting directions, leading to previously unimagined strategies to expand and enhance the healthspan. Dr. Linda Austin will present “Reverse Aging: Is It Really Possible?”, discussing what aging is at the cellular level and how new approaches actually make cells younger and humans healthier. Dr. Eugene Wright will present “The New Weight Loss Drugs: Evolving Uses of a Fascinating Class of Medications,” discussing how this new class of drugs has the potential to promote the healthspan of multiple organs. Dr. Jim Horton will present “The Biome: Normal Bacteria in Health and Disease,” explaining how gut and skin bacteria affect health in body and brain. Dr. Jeb Hallett will present “Vascular Health: Your Superhighway System to Total Fitness.”

Students will explore the genre of Traditional Music through instructor lectures, discussions with performing artists, and attendance at Traditional Music concerts at Davidson College. The day before the concerts, there will be a preparatory session in which students will learn more about the artists and their context within the genre. On the day of the concert, the class will meet for 45 minutes with the artists, who will give examples of what to expect in the upcoming performance. Ticket prices are $30 adults, $23 seniors, and $11 students at the Davidson College Student Union. Tickets purchased online may include an additional processing fee.

Students need not have attended Perspectives on Traditional Music, Part I to enjoy Part II.

Skye Consort and Emma Björling 

Background Lecture: Tuesday, February 10, 3:00 PM – 4:15 PM

Concert 1: Wednesday, February 11, 4:00 – 4:45 PM meet-the-artists session and 7:30 PM concert

A mesmerizing Canadian quartet with a Scandinavian lead singer, performing

British Canadian, French Canadian, and Scandinavian folk music, with some fascinating instruments. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr7gzx_Owd4&list=PLMYCHsEgpl8U61RITdgz1VWzlYDqr_8kd&index=191 

John McCutcheon

Background Lecture: Wednesday, March 18, 3:00 – 4:15 PM

Concert 2: Thursday, March 19, 4:00 – 4:45 PM meet-the-artist session and 7:30 PM concert

A national treasure, John McCutcheon has recorded 45 albums. He is a leading voice in the folk music community and a virtuoso on hammer dulcimer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc7fYydkU7s

The New Ballards Branch Bogtrotters

Background Lecture: Friday, April 10, 3:00 – 4:15 PM

Concert 3: Saturday, April 11, 4:00 – 4:45 PM meet-the-artist session and 7:30 PM concert

A wonderful and powerful old-time string band from Galax, VA, the heart of fiddle and guitar country. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s83YSkGiOR0&list=PLMYCHsEgpl8U61RITdgz1VWzlYDqr_8kd&index=195 

Plastic has a remarkable story that includes its invention, immense popularity, environmental and policy challenges, and potential futures. This course traces plastic’s early history as a revolutionary material, examines when and how society became aware of its environmental costs, delves into the global realities of recycling, and considers what the future might hold. Students will gain a deeper understanding of both the promise and peril of plastic and will reflect on what a future with more sustainable plastic could look like.

Poor Pluto, prowling the dim edge of the solar system beyond the regal, titanic planets has proven to be a wee storehouse of the bizarre. It was discovered in one of the most astronomical flukes of the century, hid a relatively huge moon for decades, and was not explored until a low-budget probe whizzed by in 2015 – revealing a dynamic surface so unexpected that scientists are still mulling its wonders. 

Come on a journey, more than a century in the making, to the outer limits of the solar system, our imagination, and (oddly often) cosmic comedy to explore our remote and long-maligned plucky neighbor, Planetoid Pluto.

This introduction to the great playwrights of Spain’s Golden Age of Literature (1550- 1650) will emphasize the great works of this era. We will read two plays from this period: Lope de Vega’s Fuenteovejuna and Tirso de Molina’s El Burlador de Sevilla/The Trickster of Seville. We will then compare the protagonists in these plays with the later romantic Don Juan in Jose Zorilla’s play, Don Juan Tenorio.

Meet the ten greatest spies in the post-World War II era, including Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and others you may never have heard of: turncoat FBI and CIA agents, Soviet officers (one called the "$2 Billion Spy" whose data on Soviet radar saved the US military in research costs), and two beguiling women whose demure manners gave them entrée to a trove of information priceless to their governments. We will share intrepid tales worthy of James Bond, and – alas, more than once – Inspector Clouseau. 

This course will be primarily lecture, but it will include some group participation.

What do such disparate works as Namibian cave paintings, pointillist Georges Seurat, impressionist Claude Monet, and modernist Mark Rothko have in common? Color. How we see color brings our experience of these very different styles of art together, and each artist expresses more than color by taking advantage of how we see. Similarly, surrealist Salvador Dalí and Claude Monet both use spatial frequency to direct the viewer’s experience of their art in different ways. 

This course will highlight these and other aspects of early visual processing, explaining the cognitive science behind famous works of art. Links to specific works of art (2-4 per session) will be available in advance, so students can study them before each class. As students progress through this course, not only will they discover a different way to look at paintings, they also will learn more about the human visual system.

Visual Arts and the Mind will be primarily lecture, but it will include some group participation. Note: this course stands quite separately from the instructor’s other course, Psychology Goes to the Movies; there is no overlap.