| Course Title: Topics in Politics: 'Defense Against the Dark Arts' |
| Start Date: 01/27/2026 End Date: 05/12/2026 |
| Term: Spring Semester 2026 |
| Description: Popular narratives about American politics today are often horror stories or crime stories, set in a realm of dirty tricksters, snake-oil salesmen and swamp creatures. Does entering the political arena mean going over to the dark side? This course separates myths, caricatures and textbook idealizations from the more complicated realities about political operators and their machinations. Participants will study the dark arts of electoral manipulation, propaganda, influence-peddling, and other cynical and subterranean political stratagems, learning how these tricks are performed, with the aims of counteracting their influence and designing more democratic modes of governance. |
| Distribution(s): III - Social Sciences , TP - Topics Course |
| Academic Level Of Course: Undergraduate | Credits:4.00 |
| Faculty | Phone | Email address |
| Robert Darrow | rdarrow@mtholyoke.edu |
| Meeting Dates | Method | Meeting days | Meeting times | Building name | Room | Frequency |
| 01/27/2026 - 05/12/2026 | Lecture | Monday and Wednesday | 03:15PM - 04:30PM | KNDD - Kendade | 107 | Weekly |
| Requisite Courses | ||
| None |
| Comments |
| Additional Comments |
| Course Tags | ||
| POLIT-AMER | POLIT-AMER: Politics - American subfield | This course has been approved to count towards the American Politics subfield of the Politics major (100-200-level courses only) and minor (all courses). |
| NXJRN0001 | NXJRN: Nexus in Journalism, Media, and Public Discourse | This course is approved for the Journalism, Media, & Public Discourse Nexus track. |
| Cross-listed Sections |
| None |
| Course Availability | ||||
| Section status: Open | Capacity: 18 | Enrollment: 17 | Available: 1 | Waitlist: 0 |
BOOK INFORMATION
| Book List | Required | Publisher Full Price |
| To be determined. |
| Additional Book Comments |
| This is NOT the complete book list for this class. |