Barnard|Next Program Offerings Fall 2024

About Barnard|Next: Lifelong Learning & Community

How often do you hear about the incredible classes at Barnard? Ever wish you could dive (back) into coursework at Barnard too? Barnard|Next is the College's new way to learn from Barnard’s dynamic faculty while networking with the incredible Barnard community across career fields, class years, and interests.

In Fall 2024, we invite you to join us here on campus (or virtually) for these Barnard faculty-led programs and discussions:

Alumnae Reading Groups

Join fellow alumnae as you draw parallels between today's culture wars and literary works. Class meetings vary, depending on the class from one or two sessions, to classes that meet for eight sessions (October through May) on Zoom.

Enrichers

Start your next learning chapter with Barnard faculty’s expertly crafted curricula offering a diverse range of subjects tailored to lifelong learners. Whether you enrich your knowledge of fashion, movies, or literature through our stimulating classes, you will gain a deeper understanding of topics. Classes meet for four sessions of two hours each.

Explorers

Join a vibrant, supportive network of lifelong learners who share your passion for discovery and engaging discussions. Each course is designed to inspire, challenge, and connect you with new ideas and possibilities. Classes meet twice for an hour and half each.

Please join us!

Barnard families play such an important role in the College community, and we’re looking forward to welcoming you into the conversation this spring for debate, dialogue, and connection. Questions about Barnard|Next can be sent to barnardnext@barnard.edu.

Alumnae Reading Groups

Wednesday, December 11th from 7 - 9 PM Free Event Co-Sponsored with Barnard College's English Department On Zoom Please join us for a discussion of Margaret Vandenburg's new novel, Craze, a Jazz Age portrait of queer New York. Margaret will facilitate the discussion, an opportunity to consider how historical parallels between the 1920s and 2020s reveal what's at stake in current culture wars. What's Past is Prologue Classes meet Online beginning at 7:00 PM (Eastern Time) and will last approximately one hour. Cost: $320 Culture wars have reached a fever pitch, posing "an existential threat to democracy" according to Americans across the political spectrum. If past is prologue, historical fiction might help us diagnose the disease and nurse the nation back to health. Prof. Margaret Vandenburg
10/15 @ 7PM (ET)	Herman Melville, Moby Dick
10/29 @ 7PM (ET)	Herman Melville, Moby Dick
12/10 @ 7PM (ET)	Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
1/14 @ 7PM (ET)	Percival Everett, James
2/18 @ 7PM (ET)	William Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom!
3/25 @ 7PM (ET)	E. L. Doctorow, Book of Daniel
4/22 @ 7PM (ET)	Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony
5/27 @ 7PM (ET)	Ayad Akhtar, Homeland Elegies

Enrichers Series: Expand your knowledge

Dates/Times	Course

4 Mondays 10/28, 11/18, 11/25, 12/02 5:30 - 7:30 PM (ET) Online on Zoom Cost: $500	New York City in Film (taught by Professor Ross Hamilton, English) This course will explore the representation of New York City in film. Each seminar will examine a different topic: Early NYC, Jewish NYC, Gangster NYC, and Film Noir NYC. We will examine the way that film portrays social problems and either creates or responds to “social panics.” We will also examine the way in which film actively creates an idea of “New York” through cinematography, directing, acting and other aspects of filmmaking. Participants will be asked to screen two films beforehand.
4 Wednesdays 10/30, 11/6, 11/13, 11/20 5:30 - 7:30 PM Barnard Campus Cost: $500	10 Crazy Reasons We Get Dressed the Way We Do (taught by Professor Anne Higonnet, Art History) Human beings create second, social, skins for themselves. Everyone designs interfaces between their bodies and the world around them. From prehistoric ornaments to global industry, clothing has always been a crucial feature of people’s survival, desires, and identity. This session studies theories of clothing from the perspectives of anthropology, architecture, art history, craft, economics, labor, law, psychology, semiotics, sociology, and sustainability. Some of the issues for discussion include gender roles, craft traditions, global textile trade, royal sumptuary law, the history of European fashion, dissident or disruptive styles, and the environmental consequences of what we wear today.

Dates/Times

Course

4 Mondays

10/28, 11/18,
11/25, 12/02

5:30 - 7:30 PM (ET)

Online on Zoom

Cost: $500

New York City in Film (taught by Professor Ross Hamilton, English)

This course will explore the representation of New York City in film. Each seminar will examine a different topic: Early NYC, Jewish NYC, Gangster NYC, and Film Noir NYC. We will examine the way that film portrays social problems and either creates or responds to “social panics.” We will also examine the way in which film actively creates an idea of “New York” through cinematography, directing, acting and other aspects of filmmaking. Participants will be asked to screen two films beforehand.

4 Wednesdays

10/30, 11/6,
11/13, 11/20

5:30 - 7:30 PM

Barnard Campus

Cost: $500

10 Crazy Reasons We Get Dressed the Way We Do (taught by Professor Anne Higonnet, Art History)

Human beings create second, social, skins for themselves. Everyone designs interfaces between their bodies and the world around them. From prehistoric ornaments to global industry, clothing has always been a crucial feature of people’s survival, desires, and identity. This session studies theories of clothing from the perspectives of anthropology, architecture, art history, craft, economics, labor, law, psychology, semiotics, sociology, and sustainability. Some of the issues for discussion include gender roles, craft traditions, global textile trade, royal sumptuary law, the history of European fashion, dissident or disruptive styles, and the environmental consequences of what we wear today.

Explorers Series: Light your intellectual spark

Dates/Time	Courses
2 Thursdays 11/7, 11/14 7 - 8:30 PM (ET) Online on Zoom Cost: $250	Emily Wilson's Iliad Emily Wilson (known for her 2017 translation of the Odyssey) is the first woman to have translated Homer's "war poem" into English. Published in September, 2023, the translation has been praised for its clarity and lack of archaic language. But it also gives us the opportunity to talk about the female voice in this most overtly masculine of poems, as well as more generally about issues of identity and translation. Prof. Kristina Milnor.
2 Sundays 11/10, 11/17 12 Noon - 1:30 PM (ET) Online on Zoom Cost: $250	A History of Abortion: Gender, Religion, Law This mini course will address abortion in the medieval and early modern period, and then in the United States in the 1800's through today. We'll take a close look at the Dobbs decision in light of the history of common law in Britain and the U.S., and through the lens of what we learn about abortion in medieval and early modern Europe. Prof. Wendy Schor-Haim.
2 Mondays 10/21, 10/28 6:00 - 7:30 PM (ET) Online on Zoom Cost: $250	The Twilight of Democracy? A confluence of factors today renders our democracy vulnerable to what has been described as "the lure of authoritarianism." This session examines some of those factors, which include the rise of conspiracy theories, a yearning for an idealized past, the delegitimization of the media amidst cries of "fake news," the death of local news, the devaluing of expertise, the sophistication of "deepfake" technologies, and the discontents associated with what some deem "the myth of meritocracy." Amidst those challenges, this session considers how to sustain and revitalize American democracy. Prof. Paula Franzese.
Free Lecture on Wednesday, 10/23 7PM Barnard Campus Cost: Free	Forecasting Elections Dive into the fascinating world of electoral forecasting. We will compare statistical models and prediction markets that shape our understanding of how elections are predicted. Prof. Rajiv Sethi

Dates/Time

Courses

2 Thursdays

11/7, 11/14

7 - 8:30 PM (ET)

Online on Zoom

Cost: $250

Emily Wilson's Iliad

Emily Wilson (known for her 2017 translation of the Odyssey) is the first woman to have translated Homer's "war poem" into English. Published in September, 2023, the translation has been praised for its clarity and lack of archaic language. But it also gives us the opportunity to talk about the female voice in this most overtly masculine of poems, as well as more generally about issues of identity and translation. Prof. Kristina Milnor.

2 Sundays

11/10, 11/17

12 Noon - 1:30 PM (ET)

Online on Zoom

Cost: $250

A History of Abortion: Gender, Religion, Law

This mini course will address abortion in the medieval and early modern period, and then in the United States in the 1800's through today. We'll take a close look at the Dobbs decision in light of the history of common law in Britain and the U.S., and through the lens of what we learn about abortion in medieval and early modern Europe. Prof. Wendy Schor-Haim.

2 Mondays

10/21, 10/28

6:00 - 7:30 PM (ET)

Online on Zoom

Cost: $250

The Twilight of Democracy?

A confluence of factors today renders our democracy vulnerable to what has been described as "the lure of authoritarianism." This session examines some of those factors, which include the rise of conspiracy theories, a yearning for an idealized past, the delegitimization of the media amidst cries of "fake news," the death of local news, the devaluing of expertise, the sophistication of "deepfake" technologies, and the discontents associated with what some deem "the myth of meritocracy." Amidst those challenges, this session considers how to sustain and revitalize American democracy. Prof. Paula Franzese.

Free Lecture on Wednesday, 10/23

7PM

Barnard Campus

Cost: Free

Forecasting Elections

Dive into the fascinating world of electoral forecasting. We will compare statistical models and prediction markets that shape our understanding of how elections are predicted. Prof. Rajiv Sethi