Two Interconnected Courses Exploring Political Thought, Writing, and Democracy
At the heart of the Yale Summer Session Program in Politics are two integrated seminar courses that examine politics through writing, theory, and real-world inquiry. Together, Writing About Politics and Nationalism and Democracy invite students to explore how political ideas are formed, communicated, and contested across time and place. Through close reading, discussion, and analysis, students develop the critical and expressive skills needed to engage thoughtfully with the political challenges of today.
ENGL S1021: Writing About Politics
Course Description
How did politics begin? Aristotle suggested that the answer ought to be self-evident—at least to a noble audience. Citing the poet Hesiod, he also placed a priority on “speaking well.” But what if one has not been blessed from birth with noble station? And how do we decide what amounts to speaking well? Welcome to Writing About Politics! In this class, you will experiment with several forms that writers on politics have made their own over time. Profile writing, opinion-driven analysis of empirical trends, and satire will all be part of the mix. We will look at some ideas from antiquity and the Enlightenment before settling into a particular focus on the post-WWII United States. Writers whose work we will consider range from Voltaire to Sontag, from W.E.B. Du Bois to William F. Buckley, Jr., and beyond.
Faculty Bio
Seth Colter Walls is a contributing music critic at the New York Times. His literary criticism has appeared in the London Review of Books, Slate and the Baffler. He has worked as a politics reporter, from both Washington, DC and Beirut, Lebanon. Previously, he taught in the Interdisciplinary Studies Program at CUNY’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He has a BFA in Film and Television Arts from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, and an MA with a Politics concentration from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. In 2025, the English Department awarded him the Fred Strebeigh and Linda Peterson Prize for Excellence in Teaching by Instructional Faculty.
PLSC S3437: Nationalism and Democracy
Course Description
This seminar dives into the fascinating—and sometimes fraught—relationship between nationalism and democracy. Can nations thrive without democracy? Can democracies survive without nations? Drawing on insights from history, political science, economics, and contemporary case studies, we’ll explore how nationalism has inspired ideals of liberal democracy, and how it has been manipulated by authoritarian regimes to fuel exclusion. Students will engage with texts of classical and contemporary thinkers, artwork, documentaries, historical episodes, and real-world cases across several continents, gaining new tools to understand how nations and democracies make—and unmake—one another.
Faculty Bio
Maria J. Hierro is a lecturer in the Department of Political Science, where she teaches courses on nationalism, secession, and political protest. An educator by vocation, she believes in the transformative power of teaching and prides herself on creating warm, intellectually engaging classes that make complex theories accessible. She has participated in the Pedagogical Partners and Associates in Teaching programs organized by the Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning. This year, she is also the faculty leader of the reading group "Can the American Nation be Depolarized?" in collaboration with the Center for Civic Thought. Prof. Hierro has published in the American Journal of Political Science, Nations and Nationalism, and the Journal of Conflict Resolution, among others. She is the founder and co-chair of the new APSA Section on Nationalism and Politics. Her current book project, Nurturing Independentism: Movements and Parties in Secessionist Contexts, examines how cooperation, cooptation, and conflict between pro-independence movements and parties in Catalonia shaped public support for secession.