A Hampshire College summer program, directed by Daniel Altshuler, exploring the interactions of linguistic theory, the philosophy of language and mind, and artistic practice. June 5-30, 2017
The Institute for Linguistics Image and Text (LIT) is a four-week intensive summer program designed for students who are intrigued by the linguistic workings of the human mind and artistic expression. The program will explore central topics in semantics, psycholinguistics, as well as the philosophy of language and mind, by applying influential theories to poetic and literary verse, graphic novels, comics, film, and other forms of visual art. The program will consist of class discussions, focused group work, and local field trips to museums, cinemas, and other cultural sites in the Five College consortium. At the conclusion of the program, students will have the opportunity to present their work in a professional conference setting, in which they will create and analyze their own narrative art in terms of the theory taught in the class, while applying acquired skills of effective presentation. The interdisciplinary nature of the institute will be helpful for rising college freshman and sophomores who have not yet declared a major/concentration, and want to learn how to synthesize the general education that they have received or hope to receive into a coherent major/concentration. It will also be helpful to more advanced students who would like to pursue an interdisciplinary senior thesis/project, or to any student who is interested in working across disciplines to explore narrative discourse.
