Profiles in Innovative Teaching

Elena Fratto (Slavic Languages and Literatures) and Tala Khanmalek (Gender and Sexuality Studies and American Studies) will describe their innovative course, Humanistic Studies 302: “Medical Story-Worlds”, which examined illness, health, and the body through the lens of storytelling. These stories included historical accounts of the spectacle of the American circus freak show, Audre Lorde’s collection of essays The Cancer Journals, and the graphic novel Epileptic by David Beauchard. Highly interactive, the seminar took the form of a “floating classroom,” taking students to spaces across campus for individual classes and guest lectures given by faculty members in various disciplines.