ENGL 186G: Exploring Thompson Island: On the Ground & in the Archives

Visible from UMass Boston's campus, Thompson Island is an extraordinary environment in which to explore a specific place and how it has evolved over time. Through readings, discussions, and boat trips guided by experts in relevant disciplines, this course explores ways of seeing, investigating and "knowing." Using a creative approach to history, the course engages with original documents and secondary sources to help answer the question: Why is Thompson Island worthy of our attention? The course reconstructs the Island's historic and educational uses from the political, social, cultural, and scientific artifacts of the past, and hones the skills of making meaning from them as well as of developing good practices of environmental and archival stewardship.