Scribner Seminar Program
Course Description

Saratoga: People & Place, Past and Present

Instructor(s): William Fox, Sociology

Welcome to Saratoga Springs—your home for the next four years! In this seminar we will explore our town, learn its rich history, and meet its people, past and present, to understand how individuals and groups shape communities and how communities shape individuals and groups. We will draw ideas and methods from the social sciences, insights from the arts, and perspectives from history. You will meet and talk with Saratogians of all sorts—come-heres and been-heres, Republicans and Democrats and Independents, business people and social workers, young and old and in between, citizens of all sorts. We will go beyond our campus to explore Saratoga's streets and alleys, its nooks and crannies—a "hidden" library that few natives know, a coffee house where American Pie was first performed, a Victorian cemetery, and a church with Tiffany windows. We will share many readings and speakers in our seminar, but you will also explore in depth an issue of special interest to you. In sum, this seminar on Saratoga will foster your sense of place.\