"Making It: Mahindra Scholars Seminar" is a new course for sophomores, regardless of intended Concentration, who wish to deepen their engagement in the humanities. Each week in the seminar, guided by a distinguished guest, we will focus on a particular creative form – the novel, for example – with the aim of refining our powers of observation, interpretation, and articulation. In this way, we will learn new ways to approach the meaning of poems, speeches, paintings, sculptures, plays, arguments, and songs. The course will not only give us insight into these creative forms; it will also enhance our relationship to the world.

Course Eligibility: Sophomore Students

Instructors: Robin Kelsey and Jennifer L. Roberts

Term: Fall 2021; next offered Fall 2022

Nature changes, nature persists, and in this recurrence of variety and predictability, we humans can find meaning and value for ourselves. This course is your opportunity to think about these natural patterns. We will examine how phenological observations—of recurring environmental phenomena like harvests, frosts, blooming dates, and migratory arrivals—have been recorded, understood, and used. We will generate our own phenological records in and around Harvard in early 2022, and we will collaborate on a projection mapping project to share our knowledge with the larger community. Phenology is now a scientific practice, but phenological observations used to be common among ordinary people, who used those natural occurrences to make practical decisions, as when to plant crops and when to harvest them. Many people have lost that awareness, or they are only regaining it with a sense of helpless alarm, as climate change and loss of biodiversity drastically alter seasonal shifts. Within this crisis, and ability to find “strength in what remains behind” is something that the humanities can help with, perhaps at least as much as the sciences.

Course Eligibility: Sophomore Students

Instructors: Joyce Chaplin and Sarah Dimick

Term: Spring 2022