Difference and Justice in the World
Last updated: September 2, 2020 at 1:54 PM
Objectives
As part of the global engagement requirement, difference and justice in the world courses will allow students to focus on the social, cultural, political, environmental and economic diversity of human experience within the global/transnational context. Looking beyond singular or dominant understandings of the world, students will engage in the study of peoples outside the U.S., their histories, arts, cultures, politics, economies, environments, and religions.
Requirement Beginning Fall 2019
For students entering Brandeis beginning fall 2019, students will complete one semester course that satisfies the difference and justice in the world requirement. Courses that satisfy the requirement in a particular semester are designated "djw" in the Schedule of Classes for that semester.
There is no difference and justice in the world requirement for students entering Brandeis prior to fall 2019.
Courses of Instruction
Difference and Justice in the World
AAAS
115a
Introduction to African History
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Explores the history of African societies from their earliest beginnings to the present era. Topics include African participation in antiquity as well as early Christianity and preindustrial political, economic, and cultural developments. Usually offered every year.
Staff
AAAS
120a
African History in Real Time
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This information literacy-driven course equips students with the skills to place current events in Africa in their historical context. Collectively the class builds 5-6 distinct course modules which entail sourcing and evaluating current newstories from a range of media outlets, selecting those that merit in-depth historical analysis, and developing a syllabus for each one. Usually offered every second year.
Carina Ray
AAAS
135a
Race, Sex, and Colonialism
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Explores the histories of interracial sexual relations as they have unfolded in a range of colonial contexts and examines the relationships between race and sex, on one hand, and the exercise of colonial power, on the other. Usually offered every year.
Carina Ray
AAAS
146b
African Icons
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From Walatta Petros, a seventeenth century Ethiopian nun turned anticolonial agitator to Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, this course introduces a broad range of iconic figures in Africa's history to students who also acquire the investigative and analytical skills associated with sound historical research and writing. Usually offered every year.
Carina Ray
AAAS
151b
Africa: A Reggae Anthology
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Draws on the genre of reggae music as a course of understanding how Africa, its people, its history, and its contemporary circumstances are imagined, understood, represented, and engaged by African descended people in Jamaica and in the broader African diaspora. Usually offered every second year.
Carina Ray
AAAS
162a
Assassination: A History of 20th Century Africa
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Examines the assassinations of a range of different political, cultural, and activist figures, such as Patric Lumumba, Steve Biko, and Ken Saro-Wiwa, and assesses the social, political, economic, and cultural implications and legacies this particular form of murder has had on twentieth-century Africa. Usually offered every second year.
Carina Ray
AAAS/ENG
80a
Black Looks: The Promise and Perils of Photography
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Formerly offered as ENG 80a.
Explores photography and Africans, African-Americans and Caribbean people, from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. This course will examine fiction that refers to the photograph; various photographic archives; and theorists on photography and looking. Usually offered every third year.
Faith Smith
AAPI/HIS
171a
The United States in the Pacific World
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How have U.S. imperial ventures—cultural, military, political, and economic—reconfigured local societies and geographies? What are the afterlives of those ventures and how have they reverberated between American society and the Pacific World? To answer these questions, this course explores the history of American incursion into places such as China, Hawai’i, the Philippines, Guam, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and Samoa from the nineteenth century to present. We explore issues such as orientalism, empires and militarism, labor and commerce, race and inequality, intimacy and sex, as well as migration, culture, family formation, and identity both in and across the Pacific Ocean. In focusing on the lasting legacies and human consequences of this contact, this course deepens our understanding of the multiracial history and character of the United States and also provides an opportunity to place the American experience within a larger global context. Usually offered every second year.
Yuri Doolan
AAPI/HIS
186b
Legacies of the Korean War
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Explores the lasting legacies and human consequences of the Korean War in a transnational context. Course culminates in a final digital oral history project. Usually offered every second year.
Yuri Doolan
AMST/ANT
133a
Deep Historical Perspectives on Native North America
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Surveys deep (pre- and post-Colombian) Native American histories in eastern North America and inquires into the politics of the past, focusing on the relationship between archaeology and Indigenous ways of knowing. Usually offered every second year.
Lee Bloch
ANTH
1a
Introduction to the Comparative Study of Human Societies
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Examines the ways human beings construct their lives in a variety of societies. Includes the study of the concept of culture, kinship, and social organization, political economy, gender and sexuality, religion and ritual, symbols and language, social inequalities and social change, and globalization. Consideration of anthropological research methods and approaches to cross-cultural analysis. Usually offered every semester.
Jonathan Anjaria, Elizabeth Ferry, Sarah Lamb, or Janet McIntosh
ANTH
31b
African Ways of Knowing
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Surveys the diversity of knowledge production across Africa south of the Sahara. Participants consider multidisciplinary approaches to epistemological questions and how they become enacted in social life, with case studies drawn from West Africa, East Africa, and southern Africa. Special one-time offering, spring 2020.
Douglas Bafford
ANTH
107a
Wealth, Value, and Power in a World without Money
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Examines the relationships of value, wealth, power, and authority in the Aztec Empire, Inka Empire and Classic period Maya kingdoms of the Prehispanic Americas. In so doing it raises questions about the origins of these relationships in modern states. Usually offered every third year.
Charles Golden
ANTH
119a
Conquests, Resistance, and Cultural Transformation in Mexico and Central America
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Examines the continuing negotiation of identity and power that were at the heart of tragedy and triumph for indigenous peoples in colonial Mexico and Central America, and which continue in the modern states of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras. Usually offered every second year.
Charles Golden
ANTH
123b
Lost Voices: The Historical Archaeology of Oppression and Exploitation
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Historical archaeology utilizes written records and oral traditions to contextualize places, things (cultural material), and issues from the past or present. This course introduces the main tools and techniques of historical archaeology to analyze past history and material culture through a social lens. Students will gain knowledge of themes such as colonialism, globalization and race relations. Usually offered every year.
Charlotte Goudge
ANTH
127a
Medicine, Body, and Culture
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Examines main areas of inquiry in medical anthropology, including medicine as a sociocultural construct, political and economic dimensions of suffering and health, patients and healers in comparative medical systems. Usually offered every year.
Sarah Lamb or Anita Hannig
ANTH
130a
Filming Culture: Ethnographic and Documentary Filmmaking
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Introduces the history, theory and production of ethnographic and documentary filmmaking. This course traces how ethnographic and culturally-inflected filmmakers have sought to depict cultural difference, social organization, and lived experiences. Students will learn the basics of non-fiction film production. Usually offered every second year.
Patricia Alvarez Astacio
ANTH
140a
Human Rights in Global Perspective
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Explores a range of debates about human rights as a concept as well as the practice of human rights work. The human rights movement seeks the recognition of universal norms that transcend political and cultural difference while anthropology seeks to explore and analyze the great diversity of human life. To what extent can these two goals--advocating for universal norms and respecting cultural difference--be reconciled? The course examines cases from various parts of the world concerning: indigenous peoples, environment, health, gender, genocide/violence/nation-states and globalization. Usually offered every third year.
Elizabeth Ferry
ANTH
144a
The Anthropology of Gender
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Anthropology majors have priority for enrollment.
Examines gender constructs, sexuality, and cultural systems from a comparative perspective. Topics include the division of labor, rituals of masculinity and femininity, the vexing question of the universality of women's subordination, cross-cultural perspectives on same-sex sexualities and transsexuality, the impact of globalization on systems, and the history of feminist anthropology. Usually offered every year.
Anita Hannig, Sarah Lamb, Keridwen Luis, or Ellen Schattschneider
ANTH
163a
Work and Labor in Global Context
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Takes an ethnographic approach to the study of work and labor in the context of the global economy. By looking at various industries and work cultures, we will explore the changing nature of labor and unpack how global processes affect workers in different economic sectors and regions of the world. Usually offered every second year.
Patricia Alvarez Astacio
ANTH
163b
Economies and Culture
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Prerequisite: ANTH 1a, ECON 2a, ECON 10a, or permission of the instructor.
We read in newspapers and books and hear in everyday discussion about "the economy," an identifiably separate sphere of human life with its own rules and principles and its own scholarly discipline (economics). The class starts with the premise that this "common sense" idea of the economy is only one among a number of possible perspectives on the ways people use resources to meet their basic and not-so-basic human needs. In the course, we draw on cross-cultural examples, and take a look at the cultural aspects of finance, corporations, and markets. Usually offered every second year.
Elizabeth Ferry
ANTH
164a
Medicine and Religion
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Prerequisite: ANTH 1a or equivalent.
Considers the convergence of two cultural spheres that are normally treated as separate: medicine and religion. The course will examine their overlap, such as in healing and dying, as well as points of contention through historical and contemporary global ethnographies. Usually offered every second year.
Anita Hannig
ANTH
164b
Cancer and Community
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Addresses the biophysical and sociocultural dimensions of cancer: how can this dreaded disease be both alienating and associated with new forms of solidarity and social connection? We also consider how vulnerability to cancer is mediated by structures of social inequality. Usually offered every second year.
Ellen Schattschneider
ANTH
165b
Anthropology of Death and Dying
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Explores how different societies, including our own, conceptualize death and dying. Topics include the cultural construction of death, the effects of death on the social fabric, mourning and bereavement, and medical issues relating to the end of life. Usually offered every second year.
Anita Hannig
ANTH
166b
Queer Anthropology: Sexualities and Genders in Cross-Cultural Perspective
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Explores ethnographic approaches to the study of sexuality and gender in diverse cultural contexts, such as the US, Brazil, India, Indonesia and Mexico. Examines how sexuality intersects with other cultural forms, including gender, race, ethnicity, labor, religion, colonialism and globalization. Explores also how the discipline of anthropology has been shaped by engagements with questions of sexuality and the field of queer studies. Usually offered every second year.
Brian Horton, Sarah Lamb, or Keridwen Luis
ANTH/WGS
176a
Queer/Trans Theories from Elsewhere
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Centers the notion of “elsewhere” in relationship to studies of gender, sexuality, power, and desire. “Elsewhere” refers not only to place, but also to body and method. While terms like “queer” and “transgender” have become useful analytics for exploring gender, sexuality, feeling, space, place, relationality, and time, the academic theories that focus on these categories have remained mostly within white, US- and European academic spaces. We invite students to trouble these analytics - that is, the categories themselves, the bodies that these analytics center, and the methods deployed in relation to these analytics - by reading diverse approaches to gender and sexuality. The semester’s engagement with “elsewhere” is divided into three units: body, place, and method. Our objective is to teach students to cultivate new ways of seeing and ultimately new theories of gender and sexuality through engaging with non-canonical perspectives. Usually offered every third year.
Brian A. Horton and V Varun Chaudhry
CAST
110b
Dance and Migration
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Highlights the aesthetic, political, social, and spiritual potency of dance forms and practices as they travel, transform, and are accorded meaning both domestically and transnationally, especially in situations (or in the aftermath) of extreme violence and cultural dislocation. Usually offered every third year.
Toni Shapiro-Phim
CLAS
140a
Women, Gender, and Sexuality in Greek and Roman Art and Text
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An exploration of women, gender, and sexuality in ancient Greece and Rome as the ideological bases of Western attitudes toward sex and gender. Includes, in some fashion, Greek and Roman myth, literature, art, architecture, and archaeological artifacts. Usually offered every third year.
Ann O. Koloski-Ostrow
CLAS
144b
Archaeological Ethics, Law and Cultural Heritage
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The material culture of the past is imbued with multitude of meanings and values for different groups, often at odds with each other. This class explores the ethical and legal context of heritage as well as the conservation, protection, or stewardship of our shared human experience. Usually offered every second year.
Alexandra Ratzlaff or Staff
CLAS
160a
Race and Ethnicity in the Ancient World
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Introduces students to ancient attitudes toward race and ethnicity. Students will be challenged to consider how these categories are presented in literature and artistic works of Greece and Rome, and how ancient thinking remains current and influential today. Usually offered every second year.
Caitlin Gillespie
CLAS/ENG
153b
Race Before Race: Premodern Critical Race Studies
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Provides an introduction to ancient and medieval attitudes towards race and ethnicity through the theoretical lens of premodern critical race studies. Special one-time offering, fall 2020.
Caitlin Gillespie and Dorothy Kim
COML/ENG
70b
Environmental Film, Environmental Justice
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Examines films that address nature, environmental crisis, and green activism. Asks how world cinema can best advance the goals of social and environmental justice. Includes films by major directors and festival award winners. Usually offered every third year.
Caren Irr
ECON
176a
Health, Hunger, and the Household in Developing Countries
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Prerequisites: ECON 80a and ECON 184b or permission of the instructor.
Examines aspects of poverty and nutrition that are confronted by households in low-income countries. Examines these issues primarily from a microeconomic perspective, although some macroeconomic angles are explored as well. Usually offered every second year.
Nidhiya Menon
ENG
20a
Bollywood: Popular Film, Genre, and Society
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An introduction to popular Hindi cinema through a survey of the most important Bollywood films from the 1950s until today. Topics include melodrama, song and dance, love and sex, stardom, nationalism, religion, diasporic migration, and globalization. Usually offered every third year.
Ulka Anjaria
ENG
32a
21st-Century Global Fiction: A Basic Course
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Offers an introduction to 21st-century global fiction in English. What is fiction and how does it illuminate contemporary issues such as migration, terrorism, and climate change? Authors include Zadie Smith, Amitav Ghosh, Chimamanda Adichie, Mohsin Hamid, J.M. Coetzee and others. Usually offered every third year.
Ulka Anjaria
ENG
62b
Contemporary African Literature, Global Perspectives
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What is "African" in African literature when the majority of writers are somehow removed from the African societies they portray? How do expatriate writers represent African subjectivities and cultures at the intersection of Diaspora and globalization? Who reads the works produced by these writers? Usually offered every third year.
Emilie Diouf
ENG
68b
Race, Colonialism, and Modernism
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A critical introduction to the ever-expanding field of modernist studies. We will read canonical modernists along with writers from Black America, the Caribbean, and Africa to explore the convergence of race, colonialism, and modernism. We will examine what has been silenced and left behind in the modernist compulsion to “make it new” and highlight the contributions of writers across the black diaspora to the ongoing debates about modernism and modernity. The aim is to rethink the canon of modernism critically and explore different implications of the modern from a global perspective. Special one-time offering, spring 2021.
Chih-Chien Hsieh
ENG
111b
Postcolonial Theory
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Introduces students to key concepts in postcolonial theory. Traces the consequences of European colonialism for politics, culture and literature around the world, situates these within ongoing contemporary debates, and considers the usefulness of postcolonial theory for understanding the world today. Usually offered every third year.
Ulka Anjaria
ENG
127b
Migrating Bodies, Migrating Texts
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Beginning with the region's representation as a tabula rasa, examines the textual and visual constructions of the Caribbean as colony, homeland, backyard, paradise, and Babylon, and how the region's migrations have prompted ideas about evolution, hedonism, imperialism, nationalism, and diaspora. Usually offered every second year.
Faith Smith
ENG
131b
Decolonial Pedagogy
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Familiarizes students in the humanities, social sciences and public policy with an important strain of pedagogical theory, what Brazilian pedagogue Paulo Freire called “education as the practice of freedom.” Topics will include diversity, equity and inclusion; embodied teaching and learning; authority, or the lack thereof; grading and assessment; and teaching reading and writing. Special one-time offering, fall 2020.
Joshua Williams
ENG
137b
Women and War
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Examines how African women writers and filmmakers use testimony to bear witness to mass violence. How do these writers resist political and sociocultural silencing systems that reduce traumatic experience to silence, denial, and terror? Usually offered every third year.
Emilie Diouf
ENG
143b
Chaucer’s “Global and Refugee Canterbury Tales"
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Focuses on situating Chaucer, and particularly the Canterbury Tales, as a global
work. We will examine black feminist writers, playwrights, and poets of the African diaspora who have revised, adapted, extrapolated, and voiced the Canterbury Tales in Jamaican patois, Nigerian pidgin, and the S. London dialects of Brixton. Usually offered every second year.
Dorothy Kim
ENG
152a
Indian Love Stories
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Introduces students to writings on love, desire and sexuality from ancient India to the present. Topics include ancient eroticism, love in Urdu poetry, Gandhi's sexual asceticism, colonial regulation of sexuality, Bollywood, queer fiction and more. Usually offered every third year.
Ulka Anjaria
ENVS
49a
Conservation Politics
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Examines theories and practices of nature conservation from interdisciplinary social science and humanistic perspectives. Surveys a range of moral, political, cultural and economic dilemmas facing conservationists. Explores ways to balance competing ethical imperatives to protect biodiversity and respect human rights. Usually offered every year.
Richard Schroeder
FA
164a
The Re-Invention of Art
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By the 1960s, the United States was the art-world capital. Radical art, however, appeared everywhere. Examines US art of the 1960's-1970s in light of artistic production in, among other places, Germany, England, Italy, Brazil, Argentina, Senegal, and Japan. Usually offered every year.
Peter Kalb
FA
166b
Representing Globalism
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For several decades, artists have been investigating the character and consequences of life under global capitalism. Through examination of writings by artists, theorists, and historians in the context of art since the turn of the millennium, this course seeks to uncover stories of the global present and possible futures. Usually offered every year.
Peter Kalb
FREN
161a
The Enigma of Being Oneself: From Du Bellay to Laferrière
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Prerequisite: FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
Explores the relationship of identity formation and modern individualism in texts by writers working in France, Francophone Africa and Canada. Authors range from modern and contemporary writers Sarah Kofman, Dany Laferrière, Achille Mbembe, Alain Mabanckou, and Edouard Glissant to early-modern writers like Joachim Du Bellay and Michel de Montaigne. Usually offered every year.
Michael Randall
GECS
188b
Human/Nature: European Perspectives on Climate Change
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Open to all students.
Introduces European attitudes towards climate change as reflected in policy, literature, film, and art, with a focus on workable future-oriented alternatives to fossil-fueled capitalism. Usually offered every second year.
Sabine von Mering
HBRW
146a
The Voices of Jerusalem
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Prerequisite: Any 30-level Hebrew course or permission of the instructor.
For advanced-intermediate students who wish to enhance their language proficiency and work toward improving fluency and communication through analysis of selected materials covering literature, poetry, history, politics, and art that depict the unique tradition and culture of Jerusalem. Usually offered every fall.
Sara Hascal
HBRW
164b
Israeli Theater
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Prerequisite: Any 30-level Hebrew course or permission of the instructor.
An advanced-intermediate course that promotes language skills through the reading and analysis of plays. The student's creativity is developed through participation in acting and creative writing assignments. Usually offered every second year.
Sara Hascal
HISP
111b
Introduction to Latin American Literature and Culture
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Prerequisite: HISP 106b, or HISP 108a, or permission of the instructor.
Examines key Latin American texts of different genres (poems, short stories and excerpts from novels, chronicles, comics, screenplays, cyberfiction) and from different time periods from the conquest to modernity. This class places emphasis on problems of cultural definition and identity construction as they are elaborated in literary discourse. Identifying major themes (coloniality and emancipation, modernismo and modernity, indigenismo, hybridity and mestizaje, nationalisms, Pan-Americanism, etc.) we will trace continuities and ruptures throughout Latin American intellectual history. Usually offered every semester.
Jerónimo Arellano, Lucía Reyes de Deu, or Fernando Rosenberg
HISP
158a
Latina Feminisms
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Taught in English.
Explores the theoretical frameworks and literary productions of feminisms developed by Latina/xs. It introduces students to a diversity of backgrounds and experiences (Chicana, Dominican American, Cuban American, Salvadoran American, and Puerto Rican authors) as well as a variety of genres (i.e. novel, poetry, short stories, drama). Using intersectionality as a theoretical tool for analyzing oppressions, students will explore the complex politics of gender, sexuality, class, ethnicity, and race in the lives of Latina/xs. They will also explore Latina/x feminists’ theoretical and/or practical attempts to transcend socially-constructed categories of identity, while acknowledging existing material inequalities. Usually offered every third year.
María J. Durán
HISP
165b
The Storyteller: Short Fiction in Latin America
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Prerequisite: HISP 109b or HISP 111b, or permission of the instructor.
Through a study of Latin American short stories, some of them by consecrated writers, some of them by less well-known, we will reflect on the power of storytelling and narrative to shape subjectivity and community. We will examine topics that traverse Latin American cultures and are expressed in these stories, such tensions between literacy and oral traditions, hegemonic and minority voices, cultural diversity, ethnicity, class, migration, as well as contemporary concerns around issues of gender and sexuality, and in relation to the natural world. This class has an optional creative writing component, as students will have the chance, if so inclined, to write fiction applying concepts and themes studied in class (instead of critical/analytical assignments). Usually offered every third year.
Fernando Rosenberg
HISP
178b
Latinx Futurisms
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Examines critical theory about and cultural productions of Latinx futurisms. Engaging with Latinx speculative and science fiction aesthetics, it will explore questions of race, ethnicity, citizenship, immigration, gender, and sexuality, among other sociopolitical issues. Special one-time offering, spring 2020.
Maria Duran
HIST
56b
World History to 1960
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An introductory survey of world history, from the dawn of "civilization" to c.1960. Topics include the establishment and rivalry of political communities, the development of material life, and the historical formation of cultural identities. Usually offered every second year.
Govind Sreenivasan
HIST
66a
History of South Asia (2500 BCE - 1971)
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Introduces South Asian history from the earliest civilizations to the independence of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Surveys the formation of religious traditions, the establishment of kingdoms and empires, colonialism and its consequences, and post-independence political and economic development. Usually offered every second year.
Govind Sreenivasan
HIST
71a
Latin American and Caribbean History I: Colonialism, Slavery, Freedom
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Studies colonialism in Latin America and Caribbean, focusing on coerced labor and struggles for freedom as defining features of the period: conquest; Indigenous, African, and Asian labor; colonial institutions and economics; Independence and revolutionary movements. Usually offered every year.
Gregory Childs
HIST
71b
Latin American and Caribbean History II: Modernity, Medicine, Sexuality
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Studies the idea of "modernity" in Latin America and Caribbean, centered on roles of health and human reproduction in definitions of the "modern" citizen: post-slavery labor, race and national identity; modern politics and economics; transnational relations. Usually offered every year.
Gregory Childs
HIST
80a
Introduction to East Asian Civilization
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A selective introduction to the development of forms of thought, social and political institutions, and distinctive cultural contributions of China and Japan from early times to the beginning of the nineteenth century. Usually offered every year.
Heyward James
HIST
106b
The Modern British Empire
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Surveys British imperial history from the Seven Years’ War through the period after decolonization. Explores economic, political, and social forces propelling expansion; ideologies and contradictions of empire; relationships between colonizer and colonized; and the role of collaboration and resistance. Usually offered every second year.
Hannah Muller
HIST
109b
A Global History of Sport: Politics, Economy, Race and Culture
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Examines soccer, boxing, baseball, cricket and other sports to reflect on culture, politics, race, and globalization. With a focus on empire, gender, ethnicity, this course considers sport as the battleground for ideological and group contests. Usually offered every second year.
Avinash Singh
HIST
111a
History of the Modern Middle East
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An examination of the history of the Middle East from the nineteenth century to contemporary times. Focuses on political events and intellectual trends, such as imperialism, modernity, nationalism, and revolution, that have shaped the region in the modern era. Usually offered every second year.
Naghmeh Sohrabi
HIST
111b
The Iranian Revolution: From Monarchy to the Islamic Republic
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An examination of the roots of the Iranian revolution of 1979, the formation of the Islamic Republic, and its evolution over the past 30 years. Usually offered every second year.
Naghmeh Sohrabi
HIST
112a
Nationalism in the Middle East
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Seminar examining the history of nationalism in the modern Middle East. Covers divergent theories and practices of nationalism in the region, and explores the roles of gender, memory, historiography, and art in the formation and articulation of Middle East nationalisms. Usually offered every second year.
Naghmeh Sohrabi
HIST
121a
Breaking the Rules: Deviance and Nonconformity in Premodern Europe
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Explores the ways in which "deviant" behavior was defined and punished by some, but also justified and even celebrated by others in premodern Europe. Topics include vagrancy, popular uprisings, witchcraft, religious heresy, and the status of women. Usually offered every second year.
Govind Sreenivasan
HIST
135b
The Middle East and Its Revolutions
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An examination of the various revolutions that have shaped the modern Middle East since the late 19th century. The course focuses on four different revolutionary moments: The constitutional revolutions of the turn of the century, the anti-colonial revolutions of mid-century, the radical revolutions of the 1970's, and most recently, the Arab Spring revolutions that have affected the region since 2011. Usually offered every second year.
Naghmeh Sohrabi
HIST
136b
Global War and Revolutions in the Eighteenth Century
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Surveys global conflicts and revolutions and examines exchanges of idea, peoples, and goods in the eighteenth-century Atlantic World. Explores the legacies of inter-imperial rivalry and the intellectual borrowings and innovations of the American, French, and Haitian revolutions in comparative perspective. Usually offered every second year.
Hannah Muller
HIST
140b
Charity and Poverty in Islamic Societies
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Charity and poverty are universal aspects of human societies, culturally specific and historically contingent. This course studies charitable giving as a fundamental aspect of Muslim belief and practice, reflecting change over time and space, offering comparisons with non-Muslim societies. Usually offered every second year.
Amy Singer
HIST
162a
Writing on the Wall: Histories of Graffiti in the Americas
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Focuses on the history of graffiti in the U.S. from 1960s forward. Includes the historical role of Caribbean migration, the impact of criminology and economic recession of the 1970s on graffiti culture, and the relationship between private property, public space, and graffiti. Usually offered every second year.
Gregory Childs
HIST
165a
Starting from Food: New Perspectives on the Middle East and Islam
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Studying food - consumption, production, distribution, regulation, representation - illuminates every aspect of human history. This course explores texts, images, objects, local supermarkets and your experience to consider questions of power, identity, faith, taste, and more in Middle Eastern and Islamic history. Usually offered every second year.
Amy Singer
HIST
172b
Historicizing the Black Radical Tradition
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Introduces students to the many ways that people and scholars of African descent have historically struggled against racial oppresion by formulating theories, philosophies, and practices of liberation rooted in their experiences and understandings of labor, capitalism, and modernity. Usually offered every second year.
Gregory Childs
HIST
175b
Resistance and Revolution in Latin America and the Caribbean
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Focuses on questions of race, gender and modernity in resistence movements and revolutions in Latin American and Caribbean history. The Haitian Revolution, Tupac Amaru Rebellion, and Vaccination Riots in Brazil are some topics that will be covered. Usually offered every second year.
Gregory Childs
HIST
178a
The Middle East and the West: Historical Encounters
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Examines Middle Eastern and Western encounters from nineteenth century to the present. Topics include: travel, Orientalism, modernity, spectacles and world fairs, gender and sexuality, notions of sovereignty, and the immigrant experience. Usually offered every second year.
Naghmeh Sohrabi
HIST
178b
Britain and India: Connected Histories
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Surveys the history of Britain and India from the rise of the East India Company to the present. Explores cultural and economic exchanges; shifts in power and phases of imperial rule; resistance and collaboration; nationalism; decolonization and partition; and postcolonial legacies. Usually offered every second year.
Hannah Muller
HIST
180b
Modern India: From Partition to the Present
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Examines the history, culture, and economy of modern India (1947-2019) with a focus on key concerns, such as the environment, urbanization, gender/sexual relations, and the transformations of democratic politics. Usually offered every second year.
Avinash Singh
HIST
182b
Modern China
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Surveys Chinese history from the Ming to Mao, with an emphasis on political, social, cultural, and literary trends; and attention toward ethnic minorities and overseas communities and diaspora. Usually offered every year.
Xing Hang
HIST
183a
Empire at the Margins: Borderlands in Late Imperial China
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Explores Ming and Qing China's frontiers with Japan, Korea, Inner Asia, Vietnam, and the ocean from the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries, examining the role of borderlands in forging the present-day multiethnic Chinese state and East Asian national identities. Usually offered every third year.
Xing Hang
HIST
184a
Silk, Silver, and Slaves: China and the Industrial Revolution
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Examines why industrial capitalism, which underpins the current world order, first developed in Western Europe rather than China. Comparative treatment of commercialization, material culture, cities, political economies, and contingencies on both ends of Eurasia in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Usually offered every second year.
Xing Hang
HIST
185a
The China Outside China: Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Diaspora in the Making of Modern China
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Studies the history of Chinese outside Mainland China, from Hong Kong and Taiwan to Siberia and Africa, from fifteenth century to present day. Ambivalence to ancestral and adopted homelands made these communities valuable agents of transnational exchange and embodiments of Chinese modernity. Usually offered every third year.
Xing Hang
HIST
187b
Unequal Histories: Caste, Religion, and Dissent in India
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Examines the religious, political, and social dimensions of discrimination in India. In order to study caste, power, and representation, we will look at religious texts, historical debates, film, and literature from the Vedic Age to contemporary India. Usually offered every second year.
Avinash Singh
HIST
189a
Modern Japan Through Crime
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The bloody history of modern Japan as told through both true crime and crime fiction. Covers the period from the fall of the samurai in the mid-nineteenth century to today. Course culminates in a true crime podcast project. Special one-time offering, spring 2020.
Ryan S. Glasnovich
HIST/SOC
170b
Gender and Sexuality in South Asia
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Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or permission of the instructor.
Explores historical and contemporary debates about gender and sexuality in South Asia; revisits concepts of "woman," "sex," "femininity," "home," "family," "community," "nation," "reform," "protection," and "civilization" across the colonial and postcolonial periods. Usually offered every second year.
Hannah Muller and Gowri Vijayakumar
IGS
165a
Revolution, Religion, and Terror: Postcolonial Histories
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Examines religious conflict, revolutionary violence, and civil war in modern South Asia. It looks at Jihad, Maoist militancy, rising fundamentalism, and the recent refugee crisis. Usually offered every second year.
Avinash Singh
IGS
175a
Digital Asia: Democracy in the Internet Age
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Analyzes the transformative potential of the internet as an agent of development and as a mechanism for disrupting social and political orders in Asia, home to the world's largest democracy and also the world's largest authoritarian regime. Usually offered every second year.
Avinash Singh
JAPN
130a
The Literature of Multicultural Japan
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"Multicultural" may not be an adjective that many associate with Japan, but as we will find in this class, Japan's modern literary and cinematic tradition is rich with works by and about resident Koreans, Ainu, Okinawans, outcasts, and sexual and other marginalized minorities. Why then does the image of a monocultural Japan remain so resilient? Usually offered every third year.
Matthew Fraleigh
JAPN
145a
The World of Classical Japanese Literature
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A survey of some of the most important works of Japanese literature from its origins to the late sixteenth century, including a wide range of genres: fiction, essays, travelogues, poetry, and drama. All readings are in English. Usually offered every third year.
Matthew Fraleigh
LGLS
129a
Global Justice and Societies in Transition
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Introduces transitional justice, a set of practices that arise following a period of conflict that aim directly at confronting past violations of human rights. This course will focus on criminal prosecutions, truth commissions, and the contributions of art and culture. Usually offered every second year.
Melissa Stimell
LGLS
141b
Juvenile Justice: From Cradle to Custody
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After an overview of juvenile justice basics, this course examines the realities and remedies for the school-to-prison pipeline analyzing this pattern from the perspectives of law, society, and economics, tracing the child's experience along that path, and exploring creative public solutions. Usually offered every second year.
Rosalind Kabrhel
MUS
6b
Survey of West African Music: Dance-Drumming from Senegal to Nigeria
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Explores the dance-drumming of West Africa--a global music style with profound impact on contemporary world cultures. Through engaged listening, critical analysis of ethnomusicological readings, and experiential learning on African percussion instruments, we examine the cultural context and musical systems of West African dance-drumming music. Special one-time offering, spring 2020.
Benjamin Paulding
NEJS
85a
Defining Status in the Modern State: Citizens, Nationals and Refugees
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hum
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Examines terms like “citizen,” “national,” “refugee,” “stateless,” and “indigenous” using theory, law, and historic case studies to understand the different relationships between states and people. From voting, to travel, to social security, our basic rights are determined by how a state views our legal status. In the current era of border control, refugee crises, and resurgent nationalism, a critical study of citizenship is more relevant than ever. This course will help students understand the legal terms used to categorize humanity and appreciate the complexities and limitations of those definitions in practice. Special one-time offering, fall 2020.
Maham Ayaz
NEJS
109a
Collapse! Refugees, Climate Change and the Fall of Bronze Age Civilization
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International markets, refugees, climate change—these may feel like uniquely modern problems, but they are not. The Bronze Age (3200–1200 BC) was an era of globalization, international trade, and unprecedented wealth in the Middle East. Then, it all fell apart. What went wrong? This course will examine the complex network of Bronze Age civilization and the factors that contributed to its demise, including climate change, natural disasters, and an unmanaged refugee crisis. We will also explore the significance of these findings for crafting solutions to today’s challenges. Usually offered every second year.
Jessie DeGrado
NEJS
143a
Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Medieval Spain
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Examines interactions among the three religious communities focusing on political and social development, intra-religious conflict, and intellectual and artistic production. We will investigate the degree to which Castilian culture can be described as "Christian" or as "Muslim-Christian-Jewish" in character. Usually offered every second year.
Jonathan Decter
NEJS
160b
Legal Controversies in Israeli History
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Investigates Israeli history, politics, and culture through the lens of major legal controversies including the tension between "Jewish" and "democratic," the Shoah in Israeli history, the Occupied Territories, legislation of family life and religious practice and more. Usually offered every second year.
Alexander Kaye
NEJS
174b
Israeli Women Writers on War and Peace
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Taught in Hebrew.
An exploration of nationalism and gender in Modern Hebrew literature. By discussing various Hebrew texts and Israeli works of art and film, this course explores women's relationship to Zionism, war, peace, the state, politics, and processes of cultural production. Usually offered every second year.
Ilana Szobel
NEJS
184b
Disability Cultures: Art, Film and Literature of People with Disabilities
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Explores cultural representations of disability in Israel, Europe, and the US. By focusing on literature, film, dance, and visual art, it explores physical, mental, and emotional disability experiences, and their relations to gender, sexuality, nationalism, and identity politics. Usually offered every second year.
Ilana Szobel
NEJS
186a
Introduction to the Qur'an
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Traces the history of the Qur'an as text, its exegesis, and its role in inter-religious polemics, law, theology, and politics. Examines the role of the Qur'an in Islamic teachings and its global impact. Usually offered every second year.
Suleyman Dost
POL
134b
The Global Migration Crisis
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Looks at immigration from the perspectives of policy-makers, migrants, and the groups affected by immigration in sender nations as well as destination countries. Introduces students to the history of migration policy, core concepts and facts about migration in the West, and to the theories and disagreements among immigrant scholars. Usually offered every second year.
Jytte Klausen
POL
141a
Elections and Electoral Systems in Comparative Perspective
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Introduces students to the scientific study of elections and electoral systems from a comparative standpoint. Students will be exposed to social scientific literature on elections, analyze these processes from a comparative perspective, and learn how to use digital tools, such as ArcGIS and online mapping software (GIS) to analyze electoral processes. Usually offered every year.
Alejandro Trelles
POL
144a
Latin American Politics
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Examines the development and deepening of democracy in Latin America, focusing on the role of political institutions, economic development, the military, and U.S.-Latin American relations. Usually offered every year.
Alejandro Trelles
POL
161b
Good Neighbor or Imperial Power: The Contested Evolution of US-Latin American Relations
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Studies the ambivalent and complex relationship between the U.S. and Latin America, focusing on how the exploitative dimension of this relationship has shaped societies across the region, and on how Latin American development can be beneficial for the U.S. Usually offered every year.
Alejandro Trelles
POL
163a
Seminar: The United Nations and the United States
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Prerequisite: Sophomore standing.
Investigates the United Nations organization and charter, with an emphasis on the integral role of the United States in its founding and operation. Using archival documents and other digitized materials, explores topics such as UN enforcement actions, the Security Council veto, human rights, and the domestic politics of US commitments to the UN. Usually offered every second year.
Kerry Chase
POL
184a
Seminar: Global Justice
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Prerequisites: One course in Political Theory or Moral, Social and Political Philosophy.
Explores the development of the topic of global justice and its contents. Issues to be covered include international distributive justice, duties owed to the global poor, humanitarian intervention, the ethics of climate change, and immigration. Usually offered every second year.
Jeffrey Lenowitz
RECS/THA
140a
Russian Theater: Stanislavsky to Present
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Throughout its history, Russian theatre has tried to communicate truthfully in a mostly repressive society. This course introduces students to the achievements of theatre artists from Stanislavsky through Post-Modernism. We will examine the work of groundbreaking directors like Meyerhold, Vakhtangov, and Lyubimov. We will read and analyze representative works of major modern and contemporary playwrights. The course load consists of readings, discussions, papers and in-class projects. Usually offered every second year.
Dmitry Troyanovsky
SAS
100a
India and Pakistan: Understanding South Asia
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An exploration of the history, societies, cultures, religions, and literature of South Asia--India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Uses perspectives from history, anthropology, literature, and film to examine past and contemporary life in South Asia. Usually offered every year.
Jonathan Anjaria, Ulka Anjaria, or Harleen Singh
SAS
150b
Love, Sex, and Country: Films from India
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A study of Hindi films made in India since 1947 with a few notable exceptions from regional film, as well as some recent films made in English. Students will read Hindi films as texts/narratives of the nation to probe the occurrence of cultural, religious, historical, political, and social themes. Usually offered every third year.
Harleen Singh
SOC
124a
Gender, Sexuality, and Globalization
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Introduces theories of gender, sexuality, and transnational feminism. Uses sociological research to examine labor, social movements, politics, and culture in global perspective, emphasizing Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Usually offered every second year.
Gowri Vijayakumar
SOC
153a
The Sociology of Empowerment
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Attendance at first class meeting mandatory. Students interested in the course should contact the instructor.
Combines reading, exercises, journal keeping, and retreats (including a pivotal weekend one on Cape Cod) to address activism and how sociological constructs affect feelings of helplessness, futility, hope, vision, efficacy, hurt, fear, and anger. The course focuses on both self and social activism/social change. Usually offered every year.
Gordon Fellman
THA
126a
Playing for Change - Community Building and Social Change on Stage
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Examines ways in which theatrical arts can create change in a variety of non-traditional situations. This course is grounded in the discussion/practice of theater activists such as Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed. For both theater and non-theater students, this course focuses on how and why this collaborative, useful art form can be introduced into sociological, psychological, political, cultural, educational, medical, and historical paradigms. Students will generate work surrounding social issues of importance to them. Usually offered every second year.
Jennifer Cleary
THA
150a
Global Theater: Voices from Asia, Africa, and the Americas
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Explores dramatic literature and performance traditions from across the globe. Examines the ways various artists have engaged theater to express, represent, and interrogate diversity and complexity of the human condition. Usually offered every second year.
Isaiah Wooden
WGS
6b
Sexuality and Queer Studies
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May not be taken for credit by students who took SQS 6b in prior years.
Examines cross-cultural and historical perspectives on sexual meanings, experiences, representations, and activist movements within a framework forged by contemporary critical theories of gender and sexuality. Usually offered every year.
V Varun Chaudhry