Another A&I Perspective

Hey everyone! In today’s blog, I’ll be talking about my experience in A&I so far. If you haven’t read Defne’s post about her A&I, you can check it out here for another perspective!

What is an A&I?

Technically, A&I stands for “Argument and Inquiry”, and it’s a seminar-style class that every first-year takes in their first term at Carleton. There are over 30 A&I classes offered each fall, and each freshman gets to pick a few that they’re interested in, and get sorted into one of those. The topics of A&I classes range through all the departments at Carleton: cinema and media studies, international history, and computer science are just a few. I’ve even heard of a “History of Bob Marley” class being offered some years. However, prospective students shouldn’t get too attached to an A&I being offered right now, because they switch up every year!

My A&I Class!

The A&I that I got sorted into is Queer and Trans Memoir, and I’ve enjoyed it so far! There are 14 people in my class, and our professor works in the GWSS (Gender, Women’s & Sexuality Studies) and CAMS (Cinema and Media Studies) departments, so we’ve gotten to look at works that are textual as well as videos/movies. As the name of the class suggests, we work with the memoirs of queer and trans authors, but some of those memoirs come in the form of poetry or comedy specials, as opposed to your standard autobiography.

All A&Is are meant to get first-years on the same page about the writing standards at Carleton, so they’re all pretty similar to an English class, but with a more specific theme. In my class, we’ve written 2 essays so far, with our 3rd being due in a few weeks. However, other A&Is have different forms of assessment (my friend in the Games and Gaming Culture A&I has weekly labs where his class plays different games!). But all A&Is will have some element of writing in them.

My Thoughts

Overall, I’ve really enjoyed Queer and Trans Memoir, especially as I am queer myself and so relate to some of our readings. However, you don’t have to relate to your A&I’s topic! Many people like to take A&Is from subjects they know nothing about, since it’s a great opportunity to learn something in a new field.

Every first-year at Carleton has to take an A&I, so you’ll end up going through this process at some point, but just because its required doesn’t mean you can’t get something out of it! So go forth, Argue, and Inquire!