Retro Readings
ABOUT RETRO READINGS/HNRs 301H1
In our Retro Readings courses, students receive a “close reading” experience, the hallmark of a liberal arts education. Faculty experts partner with honors students from all colleges in a 75-minute, seminar-style discussion in which they view classic works through a contemporary lens. Courses may focus on an author, an artist, a composer or even a revolutionary idea.
We share some past Retro Readings courses below. For a full listing and descriptions of past Honors College courses, visit our course archive.
the -ism seminar
In 1943, the University of Arkansas bestowed an honorary degree on FBI Director J.
Edgar Hoover. In turn, Director Hoover praised the state of Arkansas as a “bulwark
of freedom, free of “isms.” This Honors College Retro Reading will unpack the “isms”
Hoover found so distasteful. The term “ism” first appeared in the English language
in the early modern era, morphing into an explosion of words during the Industrial
Revolution. The earliest “isms” are familiar to us now: nationalism, capitalism, socialism,
colonialism, feminism, agnosticism—all products of the Western intelligentsia during
the 19th century. In this seminar, we shall tackle a different “ism” each week by
reading and discussing a classic work related to that way of thinking. In doing so,
we shall set the stage for understanding Hoover’s denunciation of the “ism” in the
1940s as well as the role of the “ism” in contemporary culture wars, where the storied
term has experienced yet another historical metamorphosis.
This course is taught by Lynda Coon.
Learn more on the course page.
THE RHETORIC OF BLACK RADICALISM
This course will focus on the history of African and black resistance to oppression
and injustice from the early republic to the present through different forms of radical
speech acts. The main question(s) that we will explore are as follows: how do radical
speech acts shape and inform our understanding of social and political issues, including
our very conception of the United States as a nation and ourselves as a people? The
eminent figures of African descent featured in this seminar each were known for their
dynamic presence, stirring crowds with their essays and narratives, charming audiences
with their performances, and inspiring congregations with their sermons. People of
African descent, in Britian, the U.S, and the Caribbean, wrote, published, and read
through eras of enslavement and segregation, at times defying legal restrictions,
economic obstacles, and violence. Writers and activists from Toussaint Louverture,
Quobna Ottobah Cugoano, David Walker and Maria Stewart, to contemporary activists
such as Ta-Nehisi Coates and Alicia Garza were notable for developing Afro-Caribbean,
Afro-British, and African American literary cultures, identities, and movements in
print. We will study how these activists' forged communities and identities through
print, and how their radical slogans, such as "Black Lives Matter," became movements.
This course is taught by Jarvis Young.
Learn more on the course page.
Reading machiavelli's prince
Do the ends justify the means? We'll tackle this question and many more as explored in Niccolo Machiavelli's most influential book, The Prince. Written in Italy at the start of the sixteenth century, it discusses what the author sees as the (sinful) truths of human nature and the ways in which individuals can maintain power given that nature. Machiavelli could not have known it, but his little book ended up becoming one of the most controversial ones in the western tradition. While some contemporaries considered it immoral and even demonic, others at the time (grudgingly) saw value in it, especially if you cut out all the (perceived) sinful parts out. In modern times, leaders in politics and industry (and more) have taken the book as counsel for success. While we will try to understand The Prince in its historical context, we'll ask why his book elicits such strong positive and negative reactions, why people still read it for advice, and what that tells us about our own times. We might also ask ourselves: are we moderns destined to be what in Shakespeare’s times would have been called Machiavels?
This course is taught by Freddy Dominguez.