FSEM Courses

THIS COURSE HAS CURRENTLY FILLED FOR FALL 2025. What is Cool? Who decides? This first-year seminar studies the elusive but ever-so-attractive idea of Cool by looking at both historical and contemporary ideas of that quality. From its post-WWII emergenc …

Fairy tales and fantasy novels have their origins in a centuries-old folk traditions that continue to attract twenty-first century readers and cinemagoers. The literary fairy tales that were popular in Italy, France, and Germany centuries ago have found new fans in recent television shows such as Once Upon a Time and films like Shrek, Maleficent, and Frozen.

In this FSEM, we will examine the major directors and films of this movement, as well as the the themes and social issues that animate these works. We will explore how these films revolutionized film production, form, and the portrayal of political and social changes.

In this course, we will explore the life and work of James Farmer, an exemplary leader of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement who taught at Mary Washington during the 1990s. We will investigate the history of the concept of race and its impact on how we perceive ourselves and the world.

This course begins with the question of how we ought to remember the Holocaust. Some see Steven Spielberg’s film Schindler’s List as kitsch, for example, while others praise it as a monument to humanity. Are the monumental concrete steles of the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin an appropriate way to remember the victims? Or do they reduce the victims to an anonymous mass?

Where does evil come from? This FSEM will discuss what evil is and where it comes from, allowing students to study a real-life villain of their choosing.

In this course we will explore ideas about ability and disability and how those ideas relates to artists’ lives and their artmaking as well as to notions about problematic terms such as “normal”, “disabled”, and “disability”. We’ll try to understand the ways in which we are different and differently abled, the ways in which art can help us to see and understand those ideas, and the ways in which those ideas can change how we move in, interact with, and structure our lives and worlds.

This FSEM is an exploration of forbidden texts, defined broadly, through in-depth examination of texts which were banned at some point, somewhere, in some fashion.

Fairy tales are a literary genre that encompasses the world. While often considered to be part of children’s literature, fairy tales reflect the culture of the region they originate from. On the other hand, as Vladimir Propp shows, fairy tales share common structures that transcend national and cultural boundaries. This course has a closer look at the structure, meaning, and function of international fairy tales and their enduring influence on popular culture.

This course is a seminar that explores the historical and current phenomenon of journeys across the United States through the examination of case studies, with particular attention paid to privilege, age, race, and gender.