Class is in Session: Your Guide to Dark Academia
By: Allissa Patton
Welcome, students, to the darker corners of academia, where the knowledge you seek within your courses may come with a dangerous price. From shadowy secrets to mystical beings that haunt the night, these six dark academia novels invite you to play with the magic normally hidden from the mortal eye. Make sure you have your school supplies ready for use; class is officially in session.
Course Schedule: School of Supernatural Theory
ENG 401: Linguistic Weapons
Text: Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution
Instructor: R. F. Kuang
Course Description: This course takes a look at the prestigious and world-renowned Royal Institute of Translation, examining how language and rhetoric can be both tools of colonization and weapons of liberation. Students will deep dive into the art of silver-working while observing how translating ‘conquered’ foreign languages leads to an appropriation of culture and meaning.
Essential Question: Does what we gain from translations outweigh the cost?
SOC 318: Ghost Communion
Text: Ninth House
Instructor: Leigh Bardugo
Course Description: How is magic used to create systems of power and privilege? To answer this question, students will infiltrate one of Yale’s secret societies to uncover occult practices and expose murders that were never meant to see the light of day. This course will also include a weekly lab centered on best practices for ghost communion.
Essential Question: When systems are built on silence and submission, what role does truth play?
WST 350: Forbidden Mentorship
Text: An Education in Malice
Instructor: S. T. Gibson
Course Description: Students will explore women’s studies through a queer and gothic lens while critiquing the function of “mentor” figures. This course will examine vampiric theory, poetic rivalry, and unhealthy power dynamics. This course must be taken in tandem with HIS 409: Immortality and Vampiric Empires to receive their education in malice.
Essential Question: How does one find personal agency while underneath a veil of obsession?
ANTH 476: The Monsters Around Us
Text: A Mastery of Monsters
Instructor: Liselle Sambury
Course Description: Question your understanding of what makes someone or something a “monster” throughout this advanced seminar. Students will break down institutional power and how, in the hands of monsters, power is used to perpetuate harm and create systems of oppression. This seminar will also explore the Learner’s Society and how its framework relates to and reflects modern-day ideological conflict.
Essential Question: What does it mean to be a monster? How does the course text challenge preconceived notions we may have about monsters?
HIS 409: Immortality and Vampiric Empires
Text: Immortal Dark
Instructor: Tigest Girma
Course Description: Examining Ethiopian lore and vampiric dynasties, this course will explore how love and vengeance can erode the human psyche. Prepare to journey with Kidan Adane, a fractured heiress, and Susenyos Sagad, a dangerously fragile fallen prince, as they uncover house-bound secrets, familial disappearances, and their growing (yet toxic) companionship.
Essential Question: Is inherited power a privilege or a curse?
