One of Amherst’s best features is the school’s open curriculum that lets students choose whatever courses they want. Even though I’m planning to double major and have been working hard to complete credits for my major early on in my college career, I’ve been able to take some incredible courses outside of my major that I enjoy. Since I’m majoring in Psychology and Economics, that means most of my major courses are very technical. So, my first-year advisor told me to always leave a free spot in my schedule for a humanities class.
I’ve taken her advice, and I’m grateful for it because I’ve enjoyed all the humanities classes I’ve taken. During the spring semester of last year, I took U.S. History of Race and Gender in Comics with Professor Peralta, which was cross-listed as a Sexuality, Women, and Gender Studies and History course. As a huge fan of comics, I knew I wanted to take this course the moment I saw the name. Professor Peralta did an incredible job of combining the format of comics with historical content, and I learned a lot about parts of history that I haven’t had the chance to learn about in other history courses, such as the history of comfort women in Japan in World War II. The class discussions were always interesting, and even though it was a Friday class, most of the students seemed really excited to be in the class. We’d often have activities where we practiced drawing comics so we could tell our own histories. I enjoyed the course so much that I ended up working as a Zine Research Assistant for Professor Peralta and am currently continuing my work this semester.
My next favorite non-major class is my current class is Television Detection, which is cross-listed as an English and Film and Media Studies class. It’s taught by Professor Hastie, who was my first-year advisor. Every week, we have required viewings and readings that we discuss in class. I was really excited to see that one of my favorite shows, Sherlock, was a required viewing, and I loved being able to approach something that I watched for enjoyment through an academic and analytical lens.
There are tons of other humanities classes that I’m interested in taking across different subject areas, including sociology and anthropology, that I plan on taking during upcoming semesters. But even with my busy double-major schedule, I know that I’ll always have space in my schedule for these fantastic courses.