Global Arc

How reliable is science news? We'll examine this question from the perspective of both science and of journalism to understand the compromises science writers are forced to make as they turn technical information into engaging, readable informative pieces the public will readily engage with--without "dumbing down" the science until it's misleading or inaccurate. These perspectives will be supplemented with visits from scientists and science writers. We'll also look at the deeper problems of deliberate misinformation and disinformation, which have complicated the picture in recent years.

What can we learn about a place by focusing on people who never intended to be there? This course uses a case of displacement--when 1.3 million refugees came to Greece in 1922--to explore widely and pressingly relevant issues: the construction of ethnic identity, the intertwining of politics and class, infrastructural responses to humanitarian crisis, and debates over cultural authenticity. We also explore how the Greek case set a precedent for later receptions of migrants there and forced migrations elsewhere. Throughout the course we reflect on identity and community, our goals and commitments, and the real-world stakes of academic work.

What is totalitarianism, and how did it emerge? In this course we will explore these questions, not only as matters of historical concern, but as questions that remain important for each of us today. We will do this with the help of several philosophers, writers, and poets who experienced it firsthand. Despite their divergent backgrounds and outlooks, many of them came to see totalitarianism as a systematic distortion of the human person's connection to reality, which led them to some remarkably similar reflections on how that connection might be reestablished.

This seminar examines the science of resilience and well-being through a central premise: the goal of life is not to avoid stress or pursue happiness at all costs, but to build the capacity to use challenge in the service of meaning and growth.

In the 2025 National Security Strategy, the Trump Administration asserted the "Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine," referencing a 200-year-old claim that the United States has a right to block any external interference in the Western Hemisphere. What is this so-called 'Donroe Doctrine'? Where did it come from? Will Latin American countries give in to US pressure and reject China? This course will address these questions by studying the 'Donroe Doctrine' from a historical lens, drawing on US and Latin American primary sources, then by examining contemporary Latin America-China relations from political, economic, and social perspectives.

The course will interrogate the way cinema produces, engages with, and represents ideas about childhood and youth across eras and cultures. Students' own (recent) experiences will provide points of comparison and discussion. This approach would require both a close reading of each film and a comparative analysis, in class discussion as well as in students' writing.

English has a notoriously irregular spelling system, which has baffled and frustrated both first and second language learners. This course explores how English spelling came about, revealing the motivations behind its apparent irrationality. You will explore the linguistic analysis of English speech sounds, historical changes in pronunciation, the diversity of modern dialects, the theory and evolution of writing, and the benefits and drawbacks of a standardized orthography. The course will culminate in students proposing their own novel spelling systems for English, justifying them with reference to the concepts learned throughout the course.

This course will examine Anglo-American sci-fi in dialogue with the Russian and Eastern European tradition. We'll follow the evolutionary trajectory of the genre: from time-travel to dystopias, alien invasions, interplanetary encounters, robots and human-machine hybrids, questions of gender and ethnicity. We'll discuss foundational literary texts and films with particular attention to the historical milieu and cross-media adaptations. We'll analyze the hopes and anxieties these narratives articulate and the imagery they employ. We'll investigate how questions of authorship and agency, time and space, & the definitions of the human are framed.

From the "elevator pitch" to the written proposal, one has little time to persuade one's audience. This FRS investigates how rhetorical approaches and appeals pervade the business landscape. We begin with an analysis of the management style of Sir Alex Ferguson. Next, we examine the television program Shark Tank, exploring how the program presents business pitches to the viewer. We will then transition into a comparative study of a series of four pairings of HBS and MIT Sloan case studies which will provide the backbone of the course. Finally, by the end of the term, students will write their own case study on a topic of their choosing.

The Roman poet Horace famously wrote "ut pictura poesis" (as in painting, so is poetry), establishing an analogy between the arts. Yet words and visual art are vastly different mediums, with distinct capacities for communication and expression. To write about art is to work within, against, and through this generative difference. In this class, we will write about art in a variety of genres and formats, including the detective's reveal, the critic's polemic, the artist's love letter, the musician's riff, and the philosopher's set piece. Students will write regularly within and outside of class, using the museum as our weekly laboratory.