Provisional University Bulletin (2026-2027)

The writing intensive requirement teaches writing as a mode of learning, not simply as a way to articulate what is learned. Students become familiar with the conventions and intellectual traditions of the discipline of their major and use writing to acquire knowledge in that discipline.

For students entering Brandeis beginning fall 2019, the writing intensive requirement will be fulfilled for through coursework taken in the completion of their major, or through other options described in the requirements for the major. Please see the Requirements to Complete a Major for information on fulfilling writing intensive for a specific major.

For students entering Brandeis prior to fall 2019, courses that satisfy the requirement in a particular semester are designated "wi" in the Schedule of Classes for that semester. Students must satisfactorily complete one writing-intensive course, and either a second writing-intensive course or an oral communication course.

AAAS 79b African American Literature of the Twentieth Century
[ hum ss wi ]

An introduction to the essential themes, aesthetic concerns, and textual strategies that characterize African American writing of this century. Examines those influences that have shaped the poetry, fiction, and prose nonfiction of representative writers. Usually offered every second year.

AAAS/ENG 80a Black Looks: The Promise and Perils of Photography
[ deis-us djw hum wi ]

Explores novelists’ and poets’ fascination with photography; the fraught role of photography in the struggle against antiblackness; Black photographers in the studio; and theorists of photography and looking. In African, African-American, Caribbean and Black British archives, canons and communities, from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. Usually offered every third year.

AMST 30b American Environmental History
[ ss wi ]

Provides an overview of the relationship between nature and culture in North America. Covers Native Americans, the European invasion, the development of a market system of resource extraction and consumption, the impact of industrialization, and environmentalist responses. Current environmental issues are placed in historical context. Usually offered every year.

AMST/ENG 48a American Immigrant Narratives
[ deis-us hum wi ]

With its essential role in U.S. society and history, immigration figures prominently in the American literary canon. This course traverses varied immigrant tales of twentieth-century and contemporary United States, set in the frontier of westward expansion, the Golden West, and the Eastern Seaboard. Some classics of this vast cultural corpus will anchor our critical inquiries into subject and nation formation, citizenship, and marginalization under powerful political forces both at home and abroad. By probing the complex aesthetic modes and narrative strategies in these and other texts, we will investigate deeply felt impacts of ever-shifting American cultural politics shaping immigrant experiences. Usually offered every third year.

ANTH 60b Archaeological Analysis
[ dl ss wi ]

Introduces archaeological laboratory methods and analyses, emphasizing hands-on experience and research design. Students engage in practical materials analysis and research working with genuine archaeological artifacts. Course participants will build their project management skills and consider archaeological methodologies, including artifact recovery, analysis, conservation, and eventual publication. Students will also explore vital archaeological dialogues and theoretical approaches comprising the archaeological process, such as the challenges of interpreting human behavior from material remains, the ethical quandaries of cultural heritage, and the questions of who narrates and owns the past. Usually offered every second year.

ANTH 81a Conducting Ethnographic Fieldwork: Methods and Practice of Anthropological Research
[ oc ss wi ]

Introduces the core methods of ethnography—participant observation, interviewing, note-taking, and analysis—while guiding students to design and carry out their own small-scale research projects in local settings. Emphasis is placed on reflexivity, ethics, and translating lived experience into compelling ethnographic writing and other creative, multimodal forms of representation. Usually offered every year.

BCHM 99b Research for Undergraduates
[ wi ]

See BCHM 99a for special notes and course description.

BIOL 18a General Biology Laboratory for Biology Majors
[ sn wi ]

Prerequisites: BIOL 14a, BIOL 18b, sophomore standing, and a declared biology major. Yields full-course credit. This lab is time-intensive and students will be expected to come in to lab between regular scheduled lab sessions. In order to accommodate students with time conflicts it may be necessary to re-assign students without conflicts to another section of the course. Students' section choice will be honored if possible.

Provides firsthand experience with a wide array of organisms and illustrates basic approaches to experimental design and problem solving in genetics and genomics. Usually offered every year.

BIOL 26a Plant Biology
[ sn wi ]

Prerequisites: BIOL 14a and BIOL 15b.

Adopting a molecular and cellular approach, we explore various concepts in plant biology including plant metabolism, structure-function, development, genetics and taxonomy. Intended for students who are familiar with central dogma, structure-function relationship, and genetic inheritance, but have not yet applied those concepts in plant systems. Usually offered every second year.

BISC 5b Diseases of the Mind
[ sn wi ]

Prerequisite: High school chemistry. May not be taken by students who have completed BIOL 15b without permission of the instructor. Does not meet the requirements for the major in Biology.

An exploration of biology of several protein folding diseases including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, ALS, and mad cow disease and their effect on normal brain function. Examines the medical and ethical challenges of therapies, drug design, and clinical trials on patients afflicted with these disorders. Usually offered every second year.

BUS 47a Business Communication
[ oc ss wi ]

Prerequisite: BUS 6a and BUS 10a. Enrollment limited to Business Majors.

Success in today's competitive corporate world stems from an individual's strong communication skills. As a future professional, you will be asked to organize, develop, and deliver concise presentations and write business specific that meet a range target audiences' needs in a variety of business contexts. This course will help you prepare and develop your written, oral, visual, and digital communication skills, as well as your critical and analytical thinking skills. Emphasis will focus on real business cases, my personal business experiences, and communication styles and techniques represented in the business community. By the end of this class, you will understand how to communicate professionally using various business communication techniques and applications based on the audience you are communicating with and in what context through practice and feedback from both professor and peers will be an important part of this course. Usually offered every year.

CHEM 49a Advanced Laboratory: Organic Chemistry
[ sn wi ]

Prerequisites: C- or higher in CHEM 25a and b, and CHEM 29a and b, or the equivalent. Four semester-hour credits.

Compounds will be synthesized, purified and then characterized by NMR, IR and mass spectroscopy. Multi-week projects will be completed with a lab report in the style of a journal article with full experimental supporting information. The lectures cover the necessary background and experimental techniques for each project. Usually offered every second year.

CHEM 59b Advanced Laboratory: Physical Chemistry
[ sn wi ]

Prerequisites: A satisfactory grade (C- or higher in CHEM 18b or equivalent; CHEM 141a or 142a (may be taken concurrently) or equivalent. One one-hour lecture and one afternoon of lab per week.

This course introduces the student to a number of topics of current interest in physical and analytical chemistry and provides experimental verification of physico-chemical principles in thermodynamics, kinetics, macromolecules, organic chemistry, semiconductors, nanochemistry, photochemistry, magnetic resonance imaging and electrochemistry. The properties, reactions, and structure of compounds are understood by evaluating their physicochemical responses to changes in experimental conditions. The experiments use synthesis, spectroscopy, chromatography, electrochemical and other instrumental methods employed in the modern chemical laboratory. The program includes the methodology of quantitative measurement, statistical data analysis, and report writing. One one-hour lecture and one afternoon of laboratory per week. Usually offered every second year.

CHEM 69a Advanced Laboratory: Materials Chemistry
[ sn wi ]

Prerequisites: C- or higher in CHEM 25a and b, and CHEM 29a and b, or the equivalent. Four semester-hour credits.

Introduces the student to selected topics in materials chemistry and provides hands-on experience for making materials that find applications in the real world or are being intensively explored for a wide range of applications. By focusing on the design, control, and characterization of the atomic and molecular structures, macroscopic properties, and applications of materials, we will introduce materials chemistry as a frontier of science that aims to address important societal problems, such as energy and health. Usually offered every second year.

COSI 12b Advanced Programming Techniques in Java
[ dl sn wi ]

Prerequisite: COSI 10a or successful completion of the COSI online placement exam.

Studies advanced programming concepts and techniques utilizing the Java programming language. The course covers software engineering concepts, object-oriented design, design patterns and professional best practices. This is a required foundation course that will prepare you for more advanced courses, new programming languages, and frameworks. Usually offered every year.

ECON 26b Writing in Economics Practicum
[ wi ]

Prerequisite: ECON 82b. Course may be taken as a corequisite. Yields half-course credit.

Introduces students to how economists communicate research and policy analyses to the public through writing exercises on macroeconomic policy and economic indicators. Usually offered every semester.

ECON 27a A Day in the Life of An Economist
[ oc ss wi ]

Prerequisite: ECON 20a.

Introduces students to the challenges and rewards of working as a professional economist and develops research and writing and oral communications skills used in the practice of economics. Usually offered every year.

ECON 28b The Global Economy
[ ss wi ]

Prerequisites: ECON 2a, or ECON 10a and ECON 20a. ECON 20a may be taken concurrently with ECON 28b.

Applies the basic tools and models of economic analysis to a wide range of topics in international economics. Usually offered every semester.

ECON 65b Governance, Bureaucracy, and Economic Development
[ djw ss wi ]

Prerequisite: ECON 2a or ECON 10a.

Analyzes the role of institutions, governance, and bureaucracy in economic development. Topics include transaction costs, role of institutions, governance performance indicators, causes and consequences of corruption, anti-corruption policies, principal-agent theory and bureaucratic behavior. The course also includes a detailed case study on the role of governance and bureaucratic reforms in China's economic success since 1980. Usually offered every second year.

ENG 1a Introduction to Literary Studies
[ hum wi ]

May not be taken by students who completed FYS 16a without instructor permission.

This course is designed to introduce students to basic skills and concepts needed for the study of Anglophone literature and culture. These include skills in close reading; identification and differentiation of major literary styles and periods; knowledge of basic critical terms; definition of genres. Usually offered every semester.

ENG 12a Decolonizing Tongues: Language in African Literature
[ deis-us djw hum wi ]

A comparative exploration of the politics of language in postcolonial African Literature and its impact on literary production. It locates the language question in anglophone and francophone African Literature within the context political independence. Usually offered every third year.

ENG 17b Climate Fictions
[ hum oc wi ]

Examines fictional narratives addressing climate change. Asks how authors from around the world imagine a future in which sea levels, animal populations, temperatures, access to food, and/or weather patterns are significantly different from those of the present. Usually offered every third year.

ENG 19a Introduction to Creative Writing Workshop
[ hum wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis.

A workshop for beginning writers. Practice and discussion of short literary forms such as fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Other forms may also be explored. Usually offered every year.

ENG 19b The Autobiographical Imagination: Creative Nonfiction Workshop
[ hum wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis.

Combines the study of contemporary autobiographical prose and poetry--from primarily Asian and Pacific Islander writers in the United States--with intense writing practice arising from these texts. Examines--as writers--what it means to construct the story of one's life, and ways in which lies, metaphor, and imagination transform memory to reveal and conceal the self. Usually offered every second year.

ENG 26a Novels on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown: Fiction as Psychological Inquiry
[ hum wi ]

Explores novels as a mode of psychological inquiry, particularly into trauma, addiction, delusion, and depression. Our reading will help us consider the cultural complexity of mental illness and social dimensions of private suffering. How does the genre of the novel afford special attention to the intricacies of distressed mental life? And how has this art form been important for imagining psychological healing? Readings include novels from the 19th century to the present from several regions of the world, in a long lineage of narrative fiction about human psychology. Usually offered every third year.

ENG 35a The Weird and the Experimental in Contemporary Literature
[ hum wi ]

What does it mean to be “weird”? What makes a text “experimental”? And what can experimental texts teach us about the ever-changing nature of society? This course explores innovation and experimentation in the narrative structure of contemporary novels and films from around the world within their cultural contexts. Special one-time offering, spring 2024.

ENG 46b American Gothic Romantic Fiction
[ hum wi ]

American Gothic and romantic fiction from Charles Brockden Brown to Cormac McCarthy. Texts by Brown, Cooper, Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, Faulkner, O'Connor, Warren, and McCarthy. Usually offered every third year.

ENG 66b Contemporary Global Dystopias
[ djw hum wi ]

Explores the sources, moods, and effects of dystopian fiction from around the world. Usually offered every third year.

ENG 79a Screenwriting Workshop: Beginning Screenplay
[ dl hum wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. May be repeated for credit.

Fundamentals of screenwriting: structure, plot, conflict, character, and dialogue. Students read screenwriting theory, scripts, analyze files, and produce an outline and the first act of an original screenplay. Usually offered every year.

ENVS 21b Oceanography
[ sn wi ]

Registration priority will be given to ENVS majors and ENVS/CJSP minors, followed by non-ENVS students by seniority.

Provides an overview of the geology, physics, chemistry, and biology of the world's oceans, with an emphasis on current ocean issues like climate change, sea level rise, hurricanes, ocean acidification, coral bleaching, dead zones, hypoxia, and declining fisheries. Usually offered every year.

FA 86b Museum Studies
[ ca dl wi ]

May not be taken for credit by students who took FA 85b in prior years.

An experiential learning seminar focused on the art object in the context of the museum; the history of museums (architecture, educational mission, curatorial presentation); museum ethics and provenance studies; new theories of museums and their expanded role in the community. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 61b A People's History of New England
[ deis-us ss wi ]

Studies the many people who shaped New England, yet are not known or commemorated today. We will consider their stories spatially, keeping in mind the changing landscape and human geography of the region once known to Indigenous peoples as the Dawnland. We will study migration to and from New England, work for wages and in bondage, women and gendered power, poverty and industrialization, Indigenous dispossession and survival, and consider the importance of memory and history for New England today. Usually offered every second year.

JOUR 15a Documentary Journalism: Reporting and Storytelling for Broadcast
[ ss wi ]

 Studies a wide range of documentary journalism, examining the genre with a critical eye. We'll assess scripts and visuals for their journalistic value, underscoring the power of rigorous reporting methods and compelling storytelling choices.  Usually offered every year.

JOUR 45a Sports Journalism and Innovation
[ ss wi ]

Innovative journalists have found new, impactful ways to cover sports. In this course, students will practice the skills needed to craft meaningful stories across platforms, examine the role of the sportswriter in modern culture, and discuss how the sports media industry has evolved to include new niches and business models. Usually offered every second year.

LGLS 89a Law and Society Internship and Seminar
[ oc wi ]

Prerequisites: LGLS 10a and one additional LGLS course. To obtain an internship, students must discuss their placements with the LGLS internship director by April 15 for fall term internships or by November 15 for spring term internships. This course may not be repeated for credit.

Course consists of regular class meetings, a supervised law-related internship in a public agency or nonprofit organization, and a related research paper. Students must work between 10 and 15 hours per week at their internship placement site. Examples of internship activities include investigating discrimination cases, negotiating between consumers and small business, and attending criminal and family courts. Internships are arranged in consultation with the Internship Director and the Program Administrator for Legal Studies. Usually offered every semester.

MATH 23b Introduction to Proofs
[ sn wi ]

Prerequisites: MATH 15a, 20a, or 22a, or permission of the instructor.

Emphasizes the analysis and writing of proofs. Various techniques of proof are introduced and illustrated with topics chosen from set theory, calculus, algebra, and geometry. Usually offered every semester.

MATH 47a Introduction to Mathematical Research
[ sn wi ]

Prerequisite: MATH 23b or permission of the instructor.

Students work on research projects that involve generating data, making conjectures, and proving theorems, and present their results orally and in writing. Introduces applications of computers in mathematical research: symbolic computation, typesetting, and literature search. Usually offered every second year.

MUS 36b Divas
[ ca wi ]

Though her name means 'goddess,' the diva is frequently imagined as a creature with all-too-human failings; she is both talented and tempestuous, both revered and reviled. This course will explore the complex image of the diva in Western culture from the middle ages to the present day. We'll treat the category of 'diva' expansively ' encompassing opera singers and pop stars, composers and castrati ' and engage with thorny questions of gender, sexuality, race, class, and power, in hopes of understanding the enduring cultural potency of this compelling and problematic figure. Usually offered every second year.

PHYS 31b Quantum Theory II
[ sn wi ]

Prerequisite: PHYS 31a.

A continuation of PHYS 31a. Topics include time-independent and time-dependent perturbation theory, identical particles, with applications to atomic, nuclear and condensed matter physics, scattering theory, and special topics as time allows. Usually offered every year.

PHYS 39a Advanced Physics Laboratory
[ oc qr sn wi ]

Prerequisites: PHYS 20a and PHYS 19a/b. This course may be repeated once for credit with permission of the instructor. This course is co-taught with PHYS 169b.

Experiments in a range of topics in physics, possibly including selections from the following: wave optics, light scattering, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, numerical simulation and modeling, phase transitions, laser tweezers, chaotic dynamics, and optical microscopy. Students work in depth on three experiments during the term. Usually offered every year.

PSYC 52a Research Methods and Laboratory in Psychology
[ qr sn ss wi ]

Prerequisites: PSYC 10a and 51a.

The laboratory/lecture offers supervised practice in experimental design, data analysis and interpretation, and formal presentation of experimental results. Usually offered every semester.

THA 71a Playwriting
[ ca wi ]

Introduces students to the fundamentals of playwriting. Attention will be given to dramatic structure, the development of character, and stage dialogue. In addition to completing a number of playwriting exercises, students will write one ten-minute play and one one-act play. Work will be shared with the class and read aloud. Usually offered every year.

YDSH 30a Intermediate Yiddish
[ fl wi ]

Prerequisite: YDSH 20b or permission of the instructor. Meets for four class hours per week.

Third in a four-semester sequence. Students continue to develop reading skills as they sample texts from Yiddish prose fiction, folklore, and memoir literature. Grammatical instruction is more contextualized than in the previous courses. Speaking and writing skills are strongly emphasized. Usually offered every year.

AAAS 125b Caribbean Women and Globalization: Sexuality, Citizenship, Work
[ ss wi ]

Utilizing perspectives from sociology, anthropology, fiction, and music to examine the relationship between women's sexuality and conceptions of labor, citizenship, and sovereignty. The course considers these alongside conceptions of masculinity, contending feminisms, and the global perspective. Usually offered every second year.

AAAS 131b African Women's and Gender Studies
[ djw ss wi ]

Introduction to the genealogy, epistemology, and pedagogy of African Women's and Gender Studies. Students examine a range of gendered experiences in Africa by applying interdisciplinary frames from feminist theory, history, queer studies, development studies, political science, economics, peace studies, literary, art and performance studies, and so on. Students critically evaluate scholarship that deconstructs static notions about women and gender in Africa by centering decolonial perspectives on the topics covered. Usually offered every second year.

AAAS 157a African American Political Thought
[ deis-us ss wi ]

Examines the ideological and intellectual traditions that have influenced African American politics. Addresses the question of what are the best strategies for black Americans to pursue freedom and opportunity in the United States. Usually offered every second year.

AAAS 159a Identity Politics in the United States
[ deis-us ss wi ]

Examines the politics of identity in the United States. It brings together several disciplines: history, political science, sociology, psychology, and others. It spans several groups and social movements in order to equip students with the skills to understand identity group politics through historical contexts, theoretical underpinnings, and current manifestations. The course is organized around a central question: what is the relationship between democracy and identity politics in the United States? In addressing this question, the course will explore the complexities of intergroup relations across race, ethnicity, class, and gender, and examine when, why, and how policy and politics respond to group interests. Usually offered every year.

AAAS 168b The Black Intellectual Tradition
[ ss wi ]

Prerequisite: Sophomore standing.

Introduces broad historical themes, issues and debates that constitute the black intellectual tradition. Examines the works of male and female black intellectuals from slavery to present. Will explore issues of freedom, citizenship, uplift, gender, and race consciousness. Usually offered every second year.

AMST 100a Foundations of American Culture
[ ss wi ]

This is the core seminar for American studies majors; a text-based course tracing the American experience from the earliest colonizations through the nineteenth century. Usually offered every fall.

AMST 106b Food and Farming in America
[ ss wi ]

Yields four semester-hour credits towards rate of work and graduation.

American food is abundant and cheap. Yet many eat poorly, and some argue that our agriculture may be unhealthy and unsustainable. Explores the history of American farming and diet and the prospects for a healthy food system. Includes extensive fieldwork. Usually offered every second year.

AMST/ENG 138a Race, Region, and Religion in the Twentieth-Century South
[ deis-us hum wi ]

May not be taken for credit by students who took ENG 38b in prior years.

Twentieth century fiction of the American South. Racial conflict, regional identity, religion, and modernization in fiction from both sides of the racial divide and from both sides of the gender line. Texts by Chestnutt, Faulkner, Warren, O'Connor, Gaines, McCarthy, and Ellison. Usually offered every third year.

AMST/JOUR 109b Reinventing Journalism on the Local Level
[ dl ss wi ]

Prerequisite: JOUR 101a is strongly recommended.

This fast-paced, experiential course examines media innovation at work, from digital storytelling to data visualization, at both start-up and legacy media outlets. Students will then put what they learn into action: reporting and producing multimedia news stories and participating in weekly workshops to sharpen their work so it can be published in a respected, professional local-news outlet. Students will be required to travel to Brookline for this course (BranVan provided). Students may use this course, in combination with JOUR 89A, to fulfill the JOUR minor’s internship requirement (instead of completing an outside internship). Usually offered every year.

AMST/LGLS 140b Investigating Justice
[ deis-us ss wi ]

Prerequisite: LGLS 10a or FYS 12a.

Examines methods used by journalists and other investigators in addressing injustices within criminal and civil legal systems. Problems include wrongful convictions, civil rights, privacy protection, and ethical conflicts. Research methods and reporting techniques enhance skills in interviewing, writing, and oral presentation. Usually offered every second year.

ANTH 111a Aging in Cross-Cultural Perspective
[ djw nw ss wi ]

Examines the meanings and social arrangements given to aging in a diversity of societies, including the U.S., India, Japan and China. Key themes include: the diverse ways people envision and organize the life course, scholarly and popular models of successful aging, the medicalization of aging in the U.S., cultural perspectives on dementia, and the ways national aging policies and laws are profoundly influenced by particular cultural models. Usually offered every second year.

ANTH 112b Bison, Berries and Banquets: The Social Archaeology of Food and Drink
[ nw ss wi ]

Some of our strongest values and beliefs -- about the cosmos, the world, other people, our culture, and ourselves -- are expressed in the ways we use, consume, think about, and talk about food. In this class, we will consider the theoretical and methodological approaches that archaeologists use to study food and eating in society from a global anthropological perspective; we will identify and analyze the material processes of food production, preparation, and consumption, the cognitive models that define our food choices, and the ways power and inequality drive global feast and famine. Usually offered every third year.

ANTH 119a Conquests, Resistance, and Cultural Transformation in Mexico and Central America
[ djw nw ss wi ]

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.

ANTH 123b Lost Voices: The Historical Archaeology of Oppression and Exploitation
[ djw ss wi ]

Historical archaeology utilizes written records and oral traditions to contextualize places, things (cultural materials), and critical dialogues, past and present. This course introduces the primary tools and techniques historical archaeology uses to analyze past histories and material culture through a social lens, connecting archaeology with an exploration of the complex relationships between colonialism, consumerism, capitalism, slavery, race and freedom, structural racism, and the past, present, and future. Usually offered every three years.

ANTH 125a Abnormality in Medicine
[ deis-us ss wi ]

Prerequisite: Open to sophomores and above.

Focuses on how societal values shape desires and norms around the body. Students will engage with work from across the humanities and social sciences that highlights how social differences like race/ethnicity, gender, and dis/ability shape possibilities and aspirations for a good or a normal life. Usually offered every second year.

ANTH 131b Culture, Power, and Meaning in Latin America
[ djw ss wi ]

Anthropology and LACLS majors and minors have priority for enrollment.

Examines issues in contemporary Latin America and the Spanish Caribbean from the perspective of sociocultural anthropology, based primarily on books and articles drawing on long-term ethnographic research. Topics may include: the Zapatista Rebellion in Mexico; tin mining and religion in Bolivia; mortuary cannibalism in the Amazon; the role of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexican national identity; love and marriage among young migrants from Mexico and the United States; weaving, beauty pageants, and jokes in Guatemala; and daily life in revolutionary Cuba. Usually offered every second year.

ANTH 135b Culture and Horticulture: Gardens and Worldmaking
[ oc ss wi ]

Explores anthropological and historical perspectives on gardening and horticulture, with an emphasis on how gardening occasions forms of self-fashioning and world-making in diverse contexts. Topics include gardening and cosmologies in small-scale societies, divinity in microcosm; gardens, capitalism, and modernity; and gardens from the margins, including gardening in utopian communities, displaced persons’ gardens in military topographies, and homeless persons’ gardens in their places of abode. Usually offered every third year.

ANTH 140a Human Rights in Global Perspective
[ djw ss wi ]

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.

ANTH 144a The Anthropology of Gender
[ djw nw ss wi ]

Anthropology majors have priority for enrollment.

Explores gender, sexuality, and cultural systems from a comparative perspective. Topics may include rituals of masculinity and femininity, the vexing question of the universality of women's subordination, culturally-specific classifications of sexual orientation and gender identity, transnational feminisms, sex work, migrant labor, reproductive rights, and much more. Usually offered every year.

ANTH 154a Culture and Mental Illness
[ ss wi ]

Without underestimating the importance of biological causes and treatments, this course challenges the hegemony of bio-medical models in psychiatry by seeking to conceptualize emotional problems and mental illness as historically situated and culturally constructed. Examines how factors related to political circumstances, social institutions, religious belief systems, socio-economic status, and ethnic background participate in shaping forms of distress and the ways they are dealt with in various socio-cultural settings. The course will also consider alternative therapies such as art therapy, community-based treatments, and culturally specific approaches to emotional healing and accommodation. Usually offered every third year.

ANTH 165b Anthropology of Death and Dying
[ djw nw ss wi ]

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.

ANTH 178b Culture, Gender and Power in East Asia
[ djw nw ss wi ]

Examines the role of culture in changing gender power relations in East Asia by exploring how the historical legacy of Confucianism in the region influences the impact of changes such as the constitutional proclamation of gender equality and rapid industrialization. Usually offered every third year.

BIBC 126b Molecular Mechanisms of Disease
[ sn wi ]

Prerequisite: BCHM 88b or BCHM 100a. May not be taken for credit by students who took BIOL 126b in prior years.

Explores biochemical changes in proteins, enzymes and metabolic pathways that underlie human diseases. Examines molecular mechanisms for a variety of diseases, with a particular focus on molecular mechanisms for therapies. Draws heavily on current literature. Usually offered every second year.

CHIN 105a Advanced Conversation and Composition I
[ fl hum oc wi ]

Prerequisite: A grade of C- or higher in CHIN 40b or the equivalent.

Designed for advanced students who wish to enhance and improve their skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing through listening and reading authentic or slightly modified materials, discussing and writing on various topics of Chinese society and culture. Usually offered every fall.

CHIN 105b Advanced Conversation and Composition II
[ fl hum oc wi ]

Prerequisite: A grade of C- or higher in CHIN 105a or the equivalent.

Designed for advanced students who wish to enhance and improve their speaking proficiency and writing skills. Speaking skills will be developed through guided conversation, discussion of texts and films, and oral presentation. Exercises and essays will be used to improve students' writing skills. Usually offered every spring.

CHIN 106b Business Chinese and Culture
[ fl nw wi ]

Prerequisite: CHIN 40b or equivalent. Does not meet the requirement in the school of humanities.

An advanced Chinese course where students develop their language proficiency and cultural knowledge in professional settings such as the workplace. The course is conducted entirely in Chinese and is designed for students who want to sharpen their language skills and reach a higher level of proficiency in which they are able to read newspapers, magazines, or professional documents, as well as to improve their communicative ability and enhance their self-confidence in Chinese workplaces. Usually offered every second spring.

CHIN 120a Readings in Contemporary Chinese Literature: Advanced Chinese Language
[ fl hum wi ]

Prerequisite: CHIN 105a or equivalent.

For advanced students of Chinese, an introduction to contemporary Chinese short stories from the 1990s and later. Focuses on significant expansion of vocabulary and grammar, and on providing students an opportunity to develop and polish both oral and written skills through class discussion, presentations, and writing assignments. Usually offered every fall.

CHIN 120b Readings in Contemporary Chinese Literature: Advanced Chinese Language II
[ fl hum wi ]

Prerequisite: CHIN 120a or equivalent.

Continuation of CHIN 120a. Study of contemporary Chinese short stories from the 1990s and later. These stories not only represent new literary themes and linguistic expressions, but also reflect the modernization, commercialization, and urbanization that is transforming China. The course improves students' knowledge of the language, as well as enhancing their understanding of Chinese society and culture. Usually offered every spring.

CLAS 120a Age of Caesar
[ hum wi ]

The life and times of Gaius Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE) viewed through primary texts in a variety of genres: from Caesar himself to contemporaries Cicero and Catullus and biographers Plutarch and Suetonius. Usually offered every third year.

CLAS 140a Women, Gender, and Sexuality in Greek and Roman Art and Text
[ ca djw hum wi ]

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.

CLAS 155a Mummies, Myths, and Monuments of Ancient Egypt
[ hum wi ]

Surveys Egyptian archaeology and culture from the Predynastic Period to the Late Period. Topics include race and ethnicity in Egypt, mythology, mummification, and a survey of monuments. Course also provides a critical examination of the reception and (mis)use of Ancient Egypt in popular culture over time. Usually offered every second year.

CLAS 156b Living and Dying in Roman and Byzantine Egypt
[ djw hum wi ]

Examines the lived experiences of the Roman and Byzantine inhabitants of Egypt from the Nile valley to the desert oases. Topics include bioarchaeology, childhood, education, religious life, papyrology, important archaeological discoveries/collections, colonial archaeology, mortuary arts, and the journey from childhood to death in antiquity. Class will visit area museums to also examine the artifactual evidence of Roman and Byzantine Egypt. Usually offered every second year.

COSI 142a Embedded Systems Development
[ oc sn wi ]

Prerequisites: COSI 10a and COSI 131a.

A project-based course that teaches the foundational aspects of embedded systems and the development process utilizing Raspberry Pi. Students will will create prototypes of embedded systems, including applications for IoT devices. Usually offered every year.

COSI 159a Computer Vision
[ oc sn wi ]

Prerequisites: COSI 10a and COSI 104a.

Designed for undergraduate and graduate students majoring/minoring in computer science, the course covers core topics in image/video understanding, such as, object detection/recognition/tracking (with applications in face detection, gesture detection, pose detection), image segmentation (saliency detection, semantic segmentation, co-segmentation), image enhancement (super resolution, image recovery), visual relationship mining (spatial relationship, kinship), 3D reconstruction, image generation, optical flow, and video segmentation. It will also touch several advanced computer vision topics, such as, multi-view image clustering, image captioning, image generation from text, and visual question and answering. Usually offered every second year.

DSCI 180b Writing Science
[ wi ]

Given the central role of science in present and future public and social policy decisions, it is imperative that science communication be persuasive and accurate. This course offers students an opportunity to improve their ability to write about science for audiences of all kinds through reading and analysis of various forms of science writing, meetings with professional science writers, and multiple writing, editing and rewriting assignments. Usually offered every second year.

ECON 122b The Economics of the Middle East
[ nw ss wi ]

Prerequisite: ECON 2a or ECON 10a or the equivalent. Does not count toward the upper-level elective requirement for the major in economics.

Examines the Middle East economies ' past experiences, present situation, and future challenges ' drawing on theories, policy formulations and empirical studies of economic growth, trade, poverty, income distribution, labor markets, finance and banking, government reforms, globalization, and Arab-Israeli political economy. Usually offered every year.

ECON 143a Behavioral Economics
[ ss wi ]

Prerequisites: ECON 80a and ECON 83a.

Uses insights from psychology and the tools of microeconomic theory to study how our choices deviate from those of the perfectly rational, fully informed, self-interested “homo economicus” and considers the normative implications of our choices and potential public policy interventions. Usually offered every year.

ECON 150b Urban and Regional Economics
[ ss wi ]

Prerequisite: ECON 80a.

Examines the main economic forces that lead to the establishment and growth of cities and economic regions. Develops theories of urban and regional growth. Analyzes patterns of firm location, agglomeration, city growth and urban land use. Usually offered every third year.

ECON 172b Money and Banking
[ ss wi ]

Prerequisites: ECON 82b and ECON 83a or equivalent statistics course, or permission of the instructor.

Examines the relationship of the financial system to real economic activity, focusing especially on banks and central banks. Topics include the monetary and payments systems; financial instruments and their pricing; the structure, management, and regulation of bank and nonbank financial intermediaries; and the design and operations of central banks in a modern economy. Usually offered every year.

ECON 173a Central Banking: Theory and Policy
[ ss wi ]

Prerequisite: ECON 82b.

Studies the purposes and functions of central banks over time and the challenges they confront. Examines central banks' roles in the recent financial crisis and explores current debates over the policies that central banks are following in its aftermath. Usually offered every other year.

ECON 175a Introduction to the Economics of Development
[ djw ss wi ]

Prerequisite: ECON 2a or ECON 10a or permission of the instructor. Does not count toward the upper-level elective requirement for the major in economics.

An introduction to various models of economic growth and development and evaluation of these perspectives from the experience of developing and industrial countries. Usually offered every second year.

ECON 191b Econometric Methods for Causal Inference
[ ss wi ]

Prerequisite: ECON 184b.

An introduction to methods for causal inference in economics and related fields. Topics include the potential outcomes framework, randomized controlled trials, regression, methods based on the propensity score, instrumental variables, difference-in-differences, synthetic controls, and regression discontinuity designs. Emphasis on applications in fields such as labor, education, development, and health economics. Usually offered every second year.

ED 155b Education and Social Policy
[ oc ss wi ]

Examines the various functions that schools perform in a community, with special attention to the intended and unintended consequences of contemporary policies such as special education, desegregation, charter schools, and the standards/accountability movement. Usually offered every second year.
Leah Gordon

ED 170a Race, Power, and Urban Education
[ deis-us oc ss wi ]

Examines the nature of urban schools, their links to the social and political context, and the perspectives of the people who inhabit them. Explores the historical development of urban schools; the social, economic, and personal hardships facing urban students; and challenges of urban school reform. Usually offered every year.

ENG 103b Medieval Women in Print
[ dl hum wi ]

We will be thinking about reading women, writing women, and the production of female bodies through images, sound, and script. We will be reading about teenage runaways, real and fictional queens, Muslim princesses, business women, warrior women, and transgender women. Usually offered every third year.

ENG 106a Representing Slavery
[ deis-us hum wi ]

Examines the culture and politics of slavery in the US. We will read some of the classic slave narratives, some diaries of enslavers, political speeches by abolitionists and defenders of slavery, letters and public papers of President Lincoln, and novels written by authors with a close engagement with slavery. Usually offered every third year.

ENG 109a Poetry Workshop
[ hum oc wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. May be repeated for credit.

A workshop for poets willing to explore and develop their craft through intense reading in current poetry, stylistic explorations of content, and imaginative stretching of forms. Usually offered every year.

ENG 109b Fiction Workshop: Short Fiction
[ hum oc wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. May be repeated for credit.

This workshop will focus on short fiction--stories ten pages and under in length. We will use writing exercises, assigned readings, and essays on craft to discuss structure, character development, point of view, and other elements of fiction. While appropriate for all levels, this workshop might be of special interest to writers who want a secure foundation in the basics. Usually offered every year.

ENG 111b Postcolonial Theory
[ djw hum wi ]

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.

ENG 112a The Fierce Urgency of Now: Some Poetry in English Since 1945
[ hum wi ]

An introduction to recent poetry in English, dealing with a wide range of poets, as well as striking and significant departures from the poetry of the past. Looks, where possible, at individual volumes by representative authors. Usually offered every third year.

ENG 117b Novels of William Faulkner
[ hum wi ]

A study of the major novels and stories of William Faulkner, the most influential American novelist of the twentieth century. Usually offered every third year.

ENG 119a Fiction Workshop
[ hum oc wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. May be repeated for credit.

An advanced fiction workshop. Students are expected to compose and revise their fiction, complete typed critiques of each other's work weekly, and discuss readings based on examples of various techniques. Usually offered every year.

ENG 119b Poetry Workshop: Special Topics in Poetry
[ dl hum wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. May be repeated for credit.

For those who wish to improve as poets while broadening their knowledge of poetry, through a wide spectrum of readings. Students' poems will be discussed in a "workshop" format with emphasis on revision. Remaining time will cover assigned readings and issues of craft. Usually offered every year.

ENG 126b Joyce's Ulysses
[ hum wi ]

An intensive, collaborative reading of James Joyce's Ulysses, with attention to its historical situation and cultural impact. Consideration of significant scholarly debates around the novel. How does this remarkable text work and what does it offer readers today? How is it still teaching us to read and think about the role of literature in modern societies? We will engage this novel with slow, close attention in an interdisciplinary context, in order to generate a combination of analytical and creative responses. Usually offered every third year.

ENG 129a Creative Nonfiction Workshop
[ hum wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. May be repeated for credit.

Students will learn how to use a wide range of literary techniques to produce factual narratives drawn from their own perspectives and lives. Creative assignments and discussions will include the personal essay, the memoir essay and literary journalism. Usually offered every second year.

ENG 133a Advanced Shakespeare
[ hum wi ]

Recommended prerequisite: ENG 33a or equivalent.

An intensive analysis of a single play or a small number of Shakespeare's plays. Usually offered every third year.

ENG 139b Screenwriting Workshop: Intermediate Screenwriting
[ hum oc wi ]

Prerequisites: ENG 79a. Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. May be repeated for credit.

In this writing-intensive course, students build on screenwriting basics and delve more deeply into the creative process. Participants read and critique each other's work, study screenplays and view films, and submit original written material on a biweekly basis. At the conclusion of the course each student will have completed the first draft of a screenplay (100-120 pages). Usually offered every year.

ENG 144b The Body as Text
[ hum wi ]

How are our bodies the material for our presentations of self and our interactions with others? Examines contemporary theories and histories of the body against literary, philosophical, political, and performance texts of the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. Usually offered every third year.

ENG 149a Screenwriting Workshop: Writing the Streaming Series
[ dl hum wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. May be repeated for credit.

Introduces students to the craft of writing for a variety of television programming formats, including episodic, late-night, and public service announcements. Students will read and view examples and create their own works within each genre. Usually offered every year.

ENG 149b Writing the Horror and Suspense Film
[ hum wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. May be repeated for credit.

Combining lectures, workshops, and screenings, this course introduces the principles and craft of screenwriting, specifically in the horror genre. Students develop confidence and critical thinking while honing their storytelling skills.

Class lectures cover the fundamentals of creative screenwriting: characterization, story structure, pacing, plot, and dialogue. Student participation includes discussions of the reading and viewing assignments, writing exercises, and critiques of their classmates’ original material.

Student work is informed by exploring horror films and their enduring appeal, dating from the earliest incarnations of the silent era through contemporary examples from Hollywood, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the indie film world. This course requires students to complete a polished first act and a detailed eight-to-ten-page outline of their feature-length screenplay. Usually offered every second year.

ENG 153a Enlightenment of the Flesh: Reading and Writing Sex in the Eighteenth Century
[ hum wi ]

Reading libertine and erotic writing alongside medical and philosophical treatises and commercially mainstream fiction, we will ask how practices of writing and reading sex contributed to the emergence and surveillance of a private self knowable through its bodily sex and sensations. Usually offered every third year.

ENG 159a Screenwriting Workshop: Variations on the Short Film
[ hum wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. May be repeated for credit.

Introduces writing and producing of short films for independent production. Topics will include introduction to screenwriting, script format, loglines, pitch pages, beat sheets and outlines, short form structure, and the planning involved in pre-production. Usually offered every year.

ENG 166b The Promise of Poetry: Whitman, Dickinson, and Others
[ hum wi ]

Poetry of Whitman, Dickinson, Emerson, and Melville, with representative poems of Whittier, Bryant, Longfellow, Poe, Sigourney, and Tuckerman. Usually offered every third year.

ENG 169a Eco-Writing Workshop
[ hum wi ]

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis.

A creative writing workshop focused on writing essays and poems that engage with environmental and eco-justice concerns. Readings, writing assignments, and class discussions will be augmented by field trips. Usually offered every second year.

ENG 176b Jane Austen and George Eliot: Novel Genius
[ hum wi ]

Explores the novels of England's most inventive and surprising worldbuilders, Jane Austen and George Eliot. Their experiments in depicting unexpected aspects of reality unsettled their era's ideas about gender and class and the hidden workings of inequality. How did their innovative ways of depicting subjectivity, the passage of time, and the relationship between the ideal and the actual shape Modernist fiction, as well as the narrative arts of our own day, from film to television and beyond? Usually offered every third year.

ENVS 112b Governing the Environmental Commons
[ deis-us djw ss wi ]

Introduction to the environmental commons—the environmental resources shared among local communities or globally. Analyzes the motivations for citizen mobilization and collective action to reclaim the commons. Debates the policies and programs for sustainable management of the commons, including atmospheric commons at the center of climate action. Usually offered every year.

FA 119b Professional Practice in Art
[ ca wi ]

Prerequisite: Instructor permission.

This is an introductory course to business practices of working artists and arts professionals for students who plan to pursue cultural work/production professionally. Part seminar, part laboratory, students will gain practical experience through hands-on writing exercises while contemplating the philosophical ramifications of what it means to be a contemporary practicing cultural worker through the course's curated reading material and discussion. We will explore diverse modes of professional engagement as well as various opportunities/possibilities, in and outside of traditional art world structures. Usually offered every year.

FA 149a The Age of Rubens, Rembrandt and Vermeer
[ ca wi ]

Explores the major figures of seventeenth-century painting in the Netherlands and Flanders: Rubens, Van Dyck, Rembrandt, and Vermeer. During this time, the ideal of Renaissance painter/courtier gives way to the birth of the modern artist in an open market, revolutionizing the subjects, themes, and styles of painting. Usually offered every second year.

FA 156b Postimpressionism and Symbolism, 1880-1910
[ ca wi ]

Artists Vincent Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat and Cézanne, first identified with Post-Impressionism, are contextualized with Toulouse-Lautrec and others who defined the French art world before 1900. Symbolism has its roots in the art work of Redon, Van Gogh and above all Gauguin, here studied in context with poetry and art criticism of the times. The Expressionist move toward an abstract idiom in Norway, Germany and Austria will focus on Edvard Munch and Gustav Klimt. Decorative styles such as Art Nouveau and Jugendstil define the bridge to the 20th century. The course ends with early 20th century masters, Matisse and the Fauves, and finally German Expressionism. Usually offered every fourth year.

FA 191b Studies in Renaissance and Baroque Art
[ ca oc wi ]

Preference to Fine Arts majors and minors, Italian Studies minors, and Medieval and Renaissance minors only. Topics may vary from year to year; the course may be repeated for credit as topics change.

Usually offered every third year.

FA 193a Studies in Modern and Contemporary Architecture
[ ca oc wi ]

Topics may vary from year to year; the course may be repeated for credit with permission of the instructor.

Usually offered every third year.

FA 199a Methods and Approaches in the History of Art
[ ca dl wi ]

Prerequisite: One course in Art History and instructor permission.

Explores various ways of analyzing works of art and provides an overview of the historical development of the discipline. Designed specifically for junior and senior art history majors. Usually offered every year.

FREN 118a Algeria-France: Divided Memories, Entangled Identities
[ djw hum wi ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a.

Guided by prominent French and Algerian writers and filmmakers, we will explore major episodes of the history of the twentieth-century and disentangle the knots tying together Algeria and France: knots of violence—colonial violence, war violence, terrorist violence; knots of memory, or rather, of conflictual memories—the memory of colonization; the memory of the traumatized veterans of the Algerian War, of the harkis (Algerians who fought along the French), of the pieds-noirs, as the French of Algeria were called, of the Algerian Jews, who parted from their ancestral Judeo-Arab culture; knots of identity—divided or fractured identities, in Algiers or in the French banlieues peopled by immigrants from North Africa. Usually offered every second year.

FREN 142b City and the Book
[ fl hum wi ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

Analyzes the symbolic appearance of the city in French literature and film from the Middle Ages to the present day. The representation of the city in literature and film is contextualized in theoretical writings of urbanists and philosophers. Literary texts include medieval fabliaux, Pantagruel (Rabelais) and Nana (Zola) as well as theoretical texts by Descartes, Ledoux, Le Corbusier, Salvador Dalí, and Paul Virillo. Usually offered every second year.

FREN 149b Le Livre Illustré: Word and Image in Francophone Texts from Bestiaries to Bandes Dessinées
[ fl hum wi ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

Explores the theories and practices of text-image interactions in illustrated francophone books of the past and present by addressing themes such as learning, travel, sentimentality, pornography, politics, and humor. This course will include archival work in the Brandeis library. Usually offered every third year.

FREN 151b Francophone Identities in a Global World: An Introduction to Francophone Literature
[ fl hum wi ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

Introduces Francophone literature and film, retracing, through the works of great contemporary Francophone writers and directors, the evolution of the Francophone world, from the colonial struggles to the transcultural and transnational trajectories of our global era. Usually offered every second year.

FREN 159b Wordplay: Humor in Francophone Texts
[ fl hum wi ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

Students will analyze the forms and functions of humor in francophone texts (French, Canadian, and Caribbean) from the Middle Ages to the present day. Course themes will include farce, comedy of manners, wordplay, and satire. The course will include archival work. Usually offered every third year.

FREN 161a The Enigma of Being Oneself: From Du Bellay to Laferrière
[ djw fl hum wi ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or 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.

FREN 162b From Les Confessions to Instagram: Self-Writing in Contemporary French and Francophone Literature
[ fl hum wi ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

Through the works of major writers, the main goal of the course will be to study the many variations of autobiographical writing that characterize contemporary French and Francophone literature, and to relate them to the renewed exploration of the post-modern subject. We will examine along the way how the self relates to the others, how it engages with filiation, memory and history - (especially World War II and the Franco-Algerian War) - and we will put an emphasis on the notions of self-fashioning and performance. Usually offered every second year.

FREN 186b Literature and Politics
[ fl hum wi ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

We will be interested in how the literary is political and the political literary. We will organize the class around the relationship of the individual and the community. Texts include: Montaigne's Essais, Corneille's Horace, Genet's Les nègres, Arendt's What is Politics?, Dumont's Essays on Individualism, Fanon's Peau noire, masques blancs. Usually offered every third year.

GECS 130b The Princess and the Golem: Fairy Tales
[ hum wi ]

Conducted in English.

Compares Walt Disney's films with German and other European fairy tales from the nineteenth and twentieth century, focusing on feminist and psychoanalytic readings. Usually offered every second year.

GECS 188b Human/Nature: European Perspectives on the Climate Crisis and What to Do About It
[ djw hum oc wi ]

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.

HBRW 124a Hebrew for Business, Doing Business in Start-Up Nation
[ dl fl wi ]

Prerequisite: Any 30-level Hebrew course or permission of the instructor. Does not meet the requirement in the school of humanities.

Provides students with tools and competence to deal with the Israeli business community. For advanced-intermediate Hebrew students who wish to gain cultural understanding and business language speaking skills. Usually offered every second year.

HBRW 144a Plays, Drama, and Society: Israel and the U.S.
[ ca djw fl hum oc wi ]

Prerequisite: Any 30-level Hebrew course or permission of the instructor.

Focuses on critical reading and analysis of authentic and contemporary Israeli short plays and studying the comparison between plays in Israel and those in the U.S. We will examine theories in aspects of drama and implement drama techniques including improvisation, movement, and creative expression. Readings cover topics such as social diversity and justice, as well as human rights and awareness of world identities. The course culminates in the writing of an original scene or one-act play in Hebrew. Usually offered every second year.

HBRW 146a The Voices of Jerusalem
[ djw fl hum wi ]

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.

HBRW 161b What’s up in Israel Today?: Diverse Perspectives in Film and Media
[ fl hum wi ]

Prerequisite: Any 30-level Hebrew course or permission of the instructor.

In this course, Israeli films, media, TV shows (e.g., Srugim ), and online resources will be used to promote discussion, enhance oral communication skills, and also broaden cultural awareness and understanding of diverse societal perspectives. Usually offered every second year.

HBRW 164b Israeli Theater Within the Framework of U.S Cultures
[ ca deis-us djw fl hum oc wi ]

Prerequisite: Any 30-level Hebrew course or permission of the instructor.

Promotes cultural awareness and global understanding through the reading and analysis of plays. Student creativity develops through participation in acting and creative writing assignments. Usually offered every second year.

HBRW 170a Take I: Israeli Cinema and American Culture
[ deis-us djw fl hum wi ]

Prerequisite: Any 40-level Hebrew course or permission of the instructor.

Introduces students to various aspects of Israeli society as portrayed in Israeli films and television. In addition to viewing films, students will be asked to read Hebrew background materials, to participate in class discussions, and to write review and criticism about the films. The course prepares students to deepen their analytical skills in order to gain broader understanding and intercultural knowledge as well as transform their personal and global thinking. Usually offered every second year.

HISP 106b Advanced Written Communication Through Cultural Topics in Spanish
[ fl hum wi ]

Prerequisite: HISP 105a or the equivalent. Students enrolling for the first time in a Hispanic Studies course at Brandeis should refer to www.brandeis.edu/registrar/newstudent/testing.html#spantest.

Focuses on written communication and the improvement of writing skills, from developing ideas to outlining and editing. Literary selections will introduce the students to the principles of literary analysis and serve as topics for class discussion and writing. Usually offered every semester.

HISP 108a Spanish for Heritage Speakers
[ fl hum wi ]

Designed specifically for students who grew up speaking Spanish and who would like to enhance existing language skills while developing higher levels of academic proficiency. Assignments are geared toward developing skills in reading, writing, and critical thinking about U.S. Latino/as and the Spanish-speaking world. Students may use this course to fulfill the foreign language requirement. Usually offered every year.

HISP 142b Literature, Film, and Human Rights in Latin America
[ djw fl hum nw wi ]

Prerequisite: HISP 109b or HISP 111b, or instructor permission.

Examines literature, film (fiction and non-fiction), and other artistic expressions from Latin America, in conversation with the idea of human rights from the colonial arguments about slavery and the "natural rights" of the indigenous, to the advent of human rights in the context of post-conflict truth and reconciliation processes, to the emergence of gender and ethnicity as into the human rights framework, to the current debates about rights of nature in the midst of a global ecological crisis. Usually offered every third year.

HISP 160a Culture, Media, and Social Change in Latin America
[ djw fl hum nw wi ]

Prerequisite: HISP 109b or HISP 111b, or permission of the instructor.

Explores the role of various creative arts (creative writing, visual arts, music, film, performance) in their role as fostering political change in Latin America. We will examine key eras of 20th and 21st century cultural production in relation to shifting mass-media landscapes, from the revolutionary impetus of the early 20th century avant-gardes in literature and visual arts, the Mexican Revolution, popular music in the 1940s, documentary film and music, and the anti-establishment movements of the 1960s-1970s guerrillas, artistic resistance to the dictatorship, to the street art accompanying human rights, and grass roots identity movements of the 2000s. Usually offered every second year.

HISP 196a Topics in Latinx Literature and Culture
[ hum wi ]

May be repeated for credit. May be taught in English or Spanish.

Offers students the opportunity for in-depth study of a particular aspect of the diverse literary and cultural production of U.S. latinx. Topics will vary from year to year but may include autobiography, detective fiction, or historical fiction. Usually offered every third year.

HIST 114b Histories of American Capitalism
[ deis-us ss wi ]

Explores the history of American capitalism as it developed from the colonial period to the near present. We will follow three main analytical themes through the centuries: racial capitalism; the role of the state in shaping economic development; and the function of social reproduction and other unwaged work in commercial societies. As we engage central historiographic debates about the timing and location of the transition to capitalism in the United States, we will use the concept of capitalism as a tool to better understand and differentiate the wide range of economic systems that have existed in the nation’s history. Topics include: the rise of wage labor and the expansion of markets; slavery and emancipation; territorial conquest; technological and infrastructural development; the rise of big business and organized labor; alternative labor regimes and the experience of work; the economic dimensions of gender, race, and other categories of social difference; social welfare policy; and recent developments in deindustrialization, globalization, and income inequality. Usually offered every year.

HIST 115b War and Gender in U.S. History
[ deis-us ss wi ]

Examines the ways that military conflict has both shaped and been shaped by gender norms and roles in the course of U.S. history, from colonial wars to contemporary conflicts. We will analyze how wars have influenced gender expectations, identities, and experiences for various groups including American service members, civilians, and people around the world affected by U.S. military operations. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 121a Breaking the Rules: Deviance and Nonconformity in Premodern Europe
[ djw ss wi ]

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.

HIST 123b Reformation Europe (1400-1600)
[ ss wi ]

Survey of Protestant and Catholic efforts to reform religion in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Topics include scholastic theology, popular piety and anticlericalism, Luther's break with Rome, the rise of Calvinism, Henry VIII and the English Reformation, the Catholic resurgence, and the impact of reform efforts on the lives of common people. Usually offered every third year.

HIST 129b Ghosts, Graphic Literature, and Black History
[ dl ss wi ]

Centers the study of the African Diaspora through the medium of graphic literature. Topics include slavery and resistance, civil rights, gender and reproduction, and migration. Covers seventeenth century to the early twentieth century. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 136b Global War and Revolutions in the Eighteenth Century
[ djw oc ss wi ]

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.

HIST 137b World War I
[ ss wi ]

Examines the opening global conflict of the twentieth century. Topics include the destruction of the old European order, the origins of total war, the cultural and social crisis it provoked, and the long-term consequences for Europe and the world. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 157b Marginalized Voices and the Writing of History
[ deis-us dl ss wi ]

Seeks to understand not only the system but the inner lives and cultures of slaves within that system. This course is a reading-intensive seminar examining both primary and secondary sources on American slaves. Focuses on the American South but includes sources on the larger African diaspora. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 175b Resistance and Revolution in Latin America and the Caribbean
[ djw nw ss wi ]

Focuses on questions of race, gender and modernity in resistance 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.

HIST 178b Britain and India: Connected Histories
[ djw oc ss wi ]

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.

HIST 183a Empire at the Margins: Borderlands in Late Imperial China
[ djw nw ss wi ]

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.

HIST 184a Silk, Silver, and Slaves: China and the Industrial Revolution
[ djw nw ss wi ]

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.

HIST 184b Swashbuckling Adventurers or Sea Bandits? The Chinese Pirate in Global Perspective
[ nw ss wi ]

Explores the commercial role, political economy, social structure, and national imaginations of the Chinese pirate situated in both world history and in comparison to "piracies" elsewhere. Usually offered every third year.

HIST 185a The China Outside China: Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Diaspora in the Making of Modern China
[ djw nw ss wi ]

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.

HIST 186a Europe in World War II
[ dl ss wi ]

Examines the military and diplomatic, social and economic history of the war. Topics include war origins; allied diplomacy; the neutrals; war propaganda; occupation, resistance, and collaboration; the mass murder of the Jews; "peace feelers"; the war economies; scientific warfare and the development of nuclear weapons; and the origins of the Cold War. Usually offered every third year.

HIST 187a Frenemy States: Identity and Integration in East Asia
[ ss wi ]

Examines the emergence and development of distinct national identities in East Asia. We focus upon key transformative moments and events in the histories of China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam from the dawn of time to the early twentieth century. Usually offered every third year.

HSSP 106a Managing Medicine
[ ss wi ]

Prerequisite: HS 104b or LGLS 114a.

Overview of the principles of management within health care, and how public policy decisions can influence the choices of individual healthcare organizations. Through case studies of real hospitals, insurers, and firms, the class examines choices of clinicians and managers aimed at improving health care quality, delivering patient satisfaction, and containing costs. Usually offered every year.

HSSP 112b Perspectives on Child Health and Well-Being
[ ss wi ]

Open only to juniors and seniors.

This is a survey course on child well-being in the United States. It is divided into four sections: child development, child and family context, environment, and programs and services. We will focus on early childhood and school-age child issues with a complementary understanding of adolescence and family issues. The course will consider theoretical perspectives, the science of child development and outcomes, methods for understanding and tackling child public health issues and finally the services and programs available–and needed–for optimal child health. We will primarily use three frames: social determinants of health, social ecological model, and life course perspective. They consider race, gender, geography, socioeconomic status, sexuality, age, immigration status, education and other important issues in the larger context of child public health. Usually offered every third year.

IGS 104a Seminar in International Order
[ oc ss wi ]

Prerequisites: IGS 8a and IGS 10A recommended.

Critically appraises the institutions known as the “international order.” We examine threats to this order and consider how it may evolve or erode with the renewed influence of rising powers and perturbations to the balance of power. Our interaction with the scholarly debate is interspersed with sessions on research methods to enable students to conduct research on related topics. Usually offered every year.

IGS 106b Seminar in Global Cultures and Societies
[ djw ss wi ]

How do cultures affect the nature and functioning of societies? Do cultures affect how we understand and judge each other's behavior? How do cultures and societies change? Can they be changed from the outside and, if so, under what circumstances? Students will consider the roles of religion, ideology, film, and social media in shaping conflict and cooperation, within and across societies. Usually offered every year.

IGS 108a Seminar in Law, Justice, and Human Rights
[ djw oc ss wi ]

Explores international justice and human rights regimes along with concepts and prominent theories that inform the field. We examine specific cases carried out in different national settings and critique the utility and efficacy of international human rights institutions. Usually offered every year.

IGS 136b Contemporary Chinese Society and Culture
[ djw nw ss wi ]

Introduces students to contemporary Chinese society, with a focus on the rapid transformations that have taken place during the post-Mao era with a focus on family, gender, sexuality, migration, ethnicity, and family planning. Usually offered every third year.

IGS 138a China in the World
[ djw ss wi ]

This course examines China's role on the world stage. Looking at the history of China's interaction with the world, both at home and abroad, we will examine how China has affected, and been affected by, other societies and cultures. Usually offered every second year.

IGS 140a Styles of Globalization
[ ss wi ]

Why do some countries benefit from globalization while others lag behind? How do different nations balance issues such as free trade, foreign investment, and workers' rights? This course considers the real-world choices behind success and failure in the global economy. Usually offered every second year.

ITAL 134b Voci e storie della cultura ebraica italiana
[ fl hum wi ]

Prerequisite: ITAL 105a or 106a or permission of the instructor. Conducted in Italian. Materials fee: $20.

Analyzes Italian Jewish representations in Italian culture from medieval times to the founding of the ghetto in Venice in 1516 and leading Jewish figures of the Renaissance. Works of modern Italian Jewish writers and historians are examined as well as Italian movies that address Jewish themes within mainstream of Italian culture. This course has an interdisciplinary approach while focusing on advanced Italian language skills. Usually offered every second year.

JAPN 105a Advanced Conversation and Composition I
[ fl hum oc wi ]

Prerequisite: A grade of C- or higher in JAPN 40b or the equivalent. Four class hours per week.

Continuation of JAPN 40b. For advanced students of Japanese who wish to enhance and improve their speaking proficiency as well as reading and writing skills. Students will develop their proficiency in reading and speaking through texts, films, videos and discussions on current issues on Japanese society. Various forms of writing will be assigned to improve students' writing skills. Usually offered every year.

JAPN 105b Advanced Conversation and Composition II
[ fl hum oc wi ]

Prerequisite: A grade of C- or higher in JAPN 105a or the equivalent. Four class hours per week.

Continuation of JAPN 105a. For advanced students of Japanese who wish to enhance and improve their speaking proficiency as well as reading and writing skills. Students will develop their proficiency in reading and speaking through texts, films, videos and discussions on current issues on Japanese society. Various forms of writing will be assigned to improve students' writing skills. Usually offered every year.

JAPN 120a Topics in Contemporary Japanese Culture and Society
[ fl hum nw oc wi ]

Prerequisite: A grade of C- or higher in JAPN 105b or the equivalent. May be repeated for credit.

Further enhances advanced students’ proficiency in four skills through discussion, reading, writing, presentation, and group work. Usually offered every fall.

JAPN 120b Readings in Modern Japanese Literature
[ fl hum nw oc wi ]

Prerequisite: JAPN 120a or the equivalent.

Students read, analyze, discuss, and write about Japanese short fiction by a wide range of modern and contemporary authors. Screening of film adaptations and television programs complement class discussion, which is conducted in Japanese. Usually offered every year.
Matthew Fraleigh

JOUR 101a The Fundamentals of Journalism
[ ss wi ]

Provides students with a grounding in the fundamentals of news reporting and writing, linking theory to practice. Equips them with the foundational skills to address the demands of today’s rapidly changing media world. Counts toward Writing requirement for Journalism minor. Usually offered every year.

JOUR 107b Media and Public Policy
[ ss wi ]

Examines the intersection of the media and politics, the ways in which each influences the other, and the consequences of that intersection for a democracy. Through analytic texts, handouts, and contemporaneous newspaper and magazine articles, explores the relationship between policy decisions and public discourse. Usually offered every second year.

JOUR 110b Ethics in Journalism
[ deis-us ss wi ]

Should reporters ever misrepresent themselves? Is it ever acceptable to break the law in pursuit of a story? What kind of news footage is too graphic to share? By wrestling with difficult decisions in journalism, this course is designed to strengthen students’ critical thinking and news judgment. Usually offered every year.

JOUR 112b Social Journalism: The Art of Engaging Audiences
[ dl ss wi ]

Students will learn how to use social media storytelling to develop their own voices, sharpen their reporting skills, and reach new communities and platforms. They will also learn the art of tracking and building audiences through engagement tools and will critique the work of professionals and colleagues. Usually offered every second year.

JOUR 114b Arts Journalism, Pop Culture, and Digital Innovation
[ ss wi ]

How do journalists cover the arts in a world of ever-expanding online options, and where artists are increasingly telling their own stories through social media? This course explores the evolution of arts and entertainment coverage, from its earliest days to its current digital incarnation. Students will develop skills using new tools and innovative approaches to deliver meaningful pop culture coverage and cultural criticism. Usually offered every second year.

JOUR 130b Science Journalism: Covering Crises from the Pandemic to Climate
[ dl ss wi ]

What is the best way to communicate real science in the age of fake news? What role should science journalists play in the face of today’s biggest crises, from the pandemic to climate change? This course explores the hallmarks of sound science and medical writing and how to confront the public-health consequences of misinformation. Usually offered every second year.

JOUR 145a Opinion Writing
[ ss wi ]

An exploration of opinion and first-person writing in all of its journalistic forms. In an era of hot takes unsupported by facts, this course focuses on commentary with a journalistic, factually sound backbone. Students will learn to hone their voice and practice the art of persuasion, developing well-constructed arguments built on deep research. They will also write autobiographical pieces that are held to the same rigorous truth-telling standards that apply when reporting on someone else. Usually offered every second year.

LGLS 118a Gender, Justice, and Legislation
[ deis-us ss wi ]

Gender equity can be defined as equal access to resources and opportunities for any and all genders. A society’s laws generally reflect the level of its active commitment to gender equity and justice. We will explore both legislation and the implementation of legislation that impacts historically and presently marginalized gender identities. The course utilizes an intersectional lens to explore the experiences of marginalized gender identities, as we know systems of oppression intertwine to inform the unique lived experiences of different individuals and groups. Emphasizing these themes specifically through an exploration of menstrual equity, we'll examine both the role of legislation itself as well as the advocacy and research that accompany policy.

Students will engage in on and off campus advocacy activities as well as experiences to cultivate their research skills (conducting interviews, focus groups, etc.). Students will have an opportunity to meet with legislators, coalition members, and community stakeholders, leveraging experiential learning to achieve the course learning objectives. This course is part of the ENACT network. Note: This course places consistent attention on women, gender. and/or sexuality throughout the class. There is also close attention paid to feminist theory throughout the class and intersectional ways of viewing gender are utilized as analytic frames. Usually offered every year.

LGLS 121a Legislation for Change: Research, Policy, and Social Determinants of Health
[ deis-us ss wi ]

Examines state, local, and federal level policy making and reform through exploration of the five domains of the social determinants of health (SDOH). Students will research how to write a policy that relates to at least one of the following SDOH domains: 1) economic stability, 2) social and community context, 3) healthcare access and quality, 4) education access and quality, and 5) neighborhood and built environment. For example, a student might explore universal basic income as a policy to support economic stability and examine how this type of policy can impact the health of individuals and communities. This course encourages students to cultivate their research skills for the purposes of creating evidence based policies. Students are also asked to utilize their advocacy and communication skills by engaging in productive civil discourse surrounding their chosen policy. This course is part of the ENACT network. Usually offered every year.

LGLS 122b Indigenous Rights, Environmental Justice, and Federal Indian Law
[ ss wi ]

Provides a look at the intersection of indigenous rights, environmental justice, and federal Indian law. You will learn essential tools of legal reasoning and argument. Through in-class discussion, cases, and reading you will learn about conflicts over land use, climate change, and sovereignty. The course will be organized into weekly case studies where we will study contemporary and historical conflicts including: the Dakota Access pipeline, relocation due to sea level rise, fishing rights and dam removal, water rights in the face of drought, uranium mining, and Native Nation regulation of oil and gas extraction on reservation lands. Usually offered every second year.

LGLS 126a Forced Migration Clinic
[ deis-us djw oc ss wi ]

Prerequisite: LGLS 123b and instructor permission. May be repeated once for credit.

In the Forced Migration Clinic, students represent migrants who have fled persecution or torture in their home countries and seek refuge in the United States, as well as support immigrant communities in addressing human rights violations in the United States (and abroad), out of our storefront offices in Waltham. Students handle every aspect of representation in cases and causes that determine, for example, whether a client will be granted asylum or face deportation, under the close supervision of faculty. The principal learning model for this course is reflection on planning, experience, and witnessing, so students will have multiple opportunities to try out different forms of the skills, concepts, values, and attitudes required for competent legal representation and effective and accountable social change, but they will also experience how legal systems operate from the inside and so to understand the roles of law in constructing societal conditions and expectations. Students will have the opportunity, but not the obligation, to seek Department of Justice immigration representation accreditation before, during, or after this course. Usually offered every year.

LGLS 132b Environmental Law and Policy
[ oc ss wi ]

Provides a basic survey of environmental law. You will learn essential tools of legal reasoning and argument. Through in-class discussion, cases, and reading on environmental history and ethics, we will cover a range of environmental issues, including: climate change, water rights, the Keystone XL pipeline, our national parks and monuments, and much more. You will reflect on the tradeoffs, contradictions, and inequities baked into our core environmental laws, and think about ways to apply those laws in more equitable ways. Usually offered every year.

LGLS 161b Advocacy for Policy Change
[ oc ss wi ]

This hands-on course invites students to address concrete social problems through public policy reform. It provides background in theories, advocacy skills, networks, and key players that drive the legislative process. Focusing on policy change at the statehouse level, students engage with elected officials and community organizations to advance key legislation affecting social welfare, health, education, and economic justice. This course is supported by ENACT, the Educational Network for Active Civic Transformation. Usually offered every year.

LING 120b Syntax I
[ ss wi ]

Prerequisite: LING 100a is recommended but not required.

An introduction to the process of syntactic analysis, to generative syntactic theory, and to many major syntactic phenomena of English and other languages, including the clausal architecture, the lexicon, and various types of syntactic movement. Usually offered every year.

MUS 161b Advanced Seminar
[ ca wi ]

Prerequisites: MUS 3b and either MUS 101a/b or MUS 103a/b.

Upper-level academic seminar taken by all juniors that focuses on a single topic of the instructor’s choice (such as notation, musical form, aesthetics, improvisation, etc.). Ideally students will take this in their junior year, although if students are away on Study Abroad, they may take this course at another point in their degree program. Usually offered every fall.

NEJS 108a The Megillot: Ruth, Esther, Song of Songs
[ hum wi ]

NEJS 115a Gender, Women, and Islam
[ djw hum wi ]

Tracks the evolving histories of women, gender, and sexuality in diverse Muslim societies. Examines how gendered norms and sexual mores were negotiated through law, ethics, and custom. We will compare and contrast these themes in diverse societies, from the Prophet Muhammad’s community in 7th century Arabia to North American Muslim communities in the 21st century. Usually offered every third year.

NEJS 128b Gender and Multiculturalism: Conflicts Between Women's Secular Rights and Religious Laws
[ hum wi ]

May not be taken for credit by students who took PHIL 128a in prior years.

Can the state determine what children must learn in schools run by religious minorities? Should the state intervene to prevent forced or underage marriage if these practices are based on religious traditions? Can the state accommodate religiously-based demands to provide separate but equal public services to men and women, in prayer, on public transportation or at universities? These are some of the issues we will explore in this class through reading texts in law, political philosophy and modern Jewish thought. Usually offered every second year.

NEJS 129b Debating Jesus: Diverse Beliefs in the Early Church
[ hum wi ]

Examines the nature of Jesus, the Trinity, and scripture, both canonical and non-canonical, in the first four centuries of early Christianity. Students analyze material culture and written documents related to a wide array of diverse Christian voices. The course explores scandals, heresies, and dissension along with points of unity and changing alliances within the Early Church in a diverse religious and political landscape. Usually offered every second year.

NEJS 130b Denial and Desires: Gender and Sexuality in Early Christianity
[ hum wi ]

Formerly offered as NEJS 218a.

Investigates how Christians (1st-4th C.) contested and reshaped attitudes toward the family gender expectations (for nonbinary persons, men, and women), sexuality, and aging in cities, the countryside, and in monasteries. Readings include the New Testament, early Christian literature, and modern studies regarding the body, sexuality, and theological frameworks for defining how to maintain the Christian body. Usually offered every fourth year.
Darlene Brooks Hedstrom

NEJS 158b Yiddish Literature and the Modern Jewish Revolution
[ hum wi ]

Students with reading knowledge of Yiddish may elect to read the original texts.

Surveys and analyzes Yiddish fiction, poetry, and drama of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Readings include several works of the classic Yiddish writers, but the primary focus is on works by succeeding generations of modernist writers. Taught in English using texts in translation. Weekly additional section for students with advanced reading knowledge of Yiddish who elect to read some texts in the original. Usually offered every second year.

NEJS 162a American Judaism
[ hum ss wi ]

American Judaism from the earliest settlement to the present, with particular emphasis on the various streams of American Judaism. Judaism's place in American religion and comparisons to Judaism in other countries. Usually offered every year.

NEJS 164a Judaism Confronts America
[ hum wi ]

Examines, through a close reading of selected primary sources, central issues and tensions in American Jewish life, paying attention to their historical background and to issues of Jewish law. Usually offered every second year.

NEJS 182a Jewish Life in Television, Film, and Fiction
[ hum wi ]

Film and fiction are windows through which we can view transformations in American Jewish life. By depicting religious, socioeconomic, and cultural change over the past half-century, these media both reflect and shape the shifting definitions of the American Jew. Some of the topics covered over the course of the semester include immigrant fiction, the American dream and its discontents, literary multilingualism, ethnic satire and humor, the after-effects of the Holocaust, and the impact of gender on the Jewish experience in America. Usually offered every year.

NEJS 183b Global Jewish Literature
[ hum wi ]

May not be taken for credit by students who took NEJS 171a in prior years.

Introduces important works of modern Jewish literature, graphic fiction, and film. Taking a comparative approach, it addresses major themes in contemporary Jewish culture, interrogates the "Jewishness" of the works and considers issues of language, poetics, and culture significant to Jewish identity. Usually offered every second year.

NPSY 121b Alzheimer's Disease Resilience and Risk Factors
[ oc sn wi ]

Prerequisite: Junior or Senior standing. Open to majors in one of the following programs: psychology, neuroscience, or HSSP. Also open to graduate students in psychology and neuroscience.

Provides an overview of Alzheimer’s disease, and the factors that may accelerate disease progression and those factors that may be protective. We will cover a broad array of topics including: neuroimaging and blood biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease in humans; aging versus preclinical Alzheimer’s disease; modern definitions of Alzheimer’s resilience, reserve and brain maintenance; role of stress and psychopathology as risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease; relationships between Alzheimer’s pathology and cognitive function. Usually offered every year.

NPSY 139a Memory and the Brain
[ oc sn ss wi ]

Prerequisite: NBIO 140b or NPSY 11b, or permission of the instructor.

Explores the nature and organization of memory in the brain. Readings from primary literature will give a deeper understanding of how the brain orchestrates memory, and the role of memory in learning, behavior and cognition. Usually offered every second year.

NPSY 182a Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience: Infancy through Adolescence
[ oc sn ss wi ]

Prerequisites: NPSY 22b or PSYC 33a, or permission of the instructor.

Current research and methods in developmental cognitive neuroscience are surveyed through analysis of journal articles on language, memory, attention, executive functions, and social cognition. Infancy through adolescence are covered in both typically and atypically (Autism, ADHD, etc.) developing populations. Usually offered every second year.

PHIL 112a Social Contract Theory and its Critics
[ hum wi ]

Prerequisite: One course in philosophy or political theory. 
 

Explores a variety of normative arguments for and against the legitimacy of the state that have been put forward by key figures in the history of western political philosophy; e.g. Hobbes, Kant, Rousseau, Hume, and Dewey. Usually offered every second year.

PHIL 113b Aesthetics
[ ca hum wi ]

Examines the nature of art and aesthetic experience. Questions considered include: Is there an objective standard of taste? What is beauty? What counts as art? Are multiple performances of a play the same work of art, or different works of art? What is the role of emotion in art? How can something we know to be fictional make us have real feelings? What is the relationship between aesthetics and ethics? Does a work of art suffer aesthetically if it is about something morally vicious? How do public monuments reflect and shape our way of thinking about history and political society? Readings include historical and contemporary philosophers. Usually offered every second year.

PHIL 115a The Philosophy and Ethics of Technology
[ hum wi ]

From TikTok to Meta, and from CRISPR to ChatGPT, gamification, Extended Reality, and the struggle against climate change, dramatic advances in technology are shaping our world and our lives like never before. This course investigates the moral, social, and political implications of these and other new technologies. How should we understand privacy and surveillance in the age of metadata? Will emerging biotechnologies and life-tracking metrics allow us to re-engineer humanity? Should we edit our genes or those of our children to extend human lives and enhance human abilities? Can geoengineering resolve the climate crisis? How will AI and robotics change the work world? Can machines be “conscious” and what would it mean if they can? Will AI help us reduce bias and combat bigotry, or make things worse? What does the explosion of social media mean for human agency? How can we live an act in meaningful ways in a world increasingly dominated by technological and capital forces?

This course will explore how technology and our attitudes towards it are transforming who we are, what we do, how we make friends, care for our health, and conduct our social and political lives. In doing so, we will also investigate fundamental philosophical and ethical questions about agency, integrity, virtue, “the good,” and what it means to be human in an uncertain and shifting world. Special one-time offering, spring 2024.

PHIL 131a Philosophy of Mind
[ hum wi ]

Covers the central issue in the philosophy of mind: the mind-body problem. This is the ongoing attempt to understand the relation between our minds -- our thoughts, perceptions, feelings, and so on -- and our bodies. Is the mind just a complex configuration of (neural) matter, or is there something about it that's irreducibly different from every physical thing? Topics include intentionality, consciousness, functionalism, reductionism, and the philosophical implications of recent work in neuroscience, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence. Usually offered every year.

POL 108a Seminar: The Police and Social Movements in American Politics
[ deis-us ss wi ]

Analyses American mass political movements, their interaction with police, and their influences on American politics. Topics include the relationship between social movements and various political institutions. Explore various theories with case studies of specific political movements. Usually offered every third year.

POL 123a Seminar: Political Psychology
[ dl ss wi ]

Open to juniors, seniors, and graduate students.

Explores public opinion, political socialization, and political behavior through the lens of psychology. Applying psychological theory to traditional topics in political science is emphasized. Usually offered every year.

POL 133b Politics of Russia and the Post Communist World
[ ss wi ]

Overview of the politics of Russia and the former Soviet world. Topics include the fall and legacy of communism, trends of democracy and dictatorship, European integration, resurgent nationalism, social and economic patterns throughout the former Soviet Bloc, and Putin's rise and influence both within Russia and abroad. Usually offered every year.

POL 134b Seminar: The Global Migration Crisis
[ djw ss wi ]

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.

POL 139a Seminar: The Radical Right: From Ballots to Bullets
[ deis-us oc ss wi ]

Radical right and far-right are umbrella terms used to refer to political parties and militant subcultures that differentiate themselves from mainstream conservatism. Students will be introduced to case studies of far-right groups and parties in Western Europe and the United States. We will discuss their ideologies and tactics, the different subcultures and the legal restraints that countries have used to control extremist groups linked to violence. Students will also learn about political science theories about the causes of far-right extremism. Usually offered every second year.

POL 141a Seminar: Elections and Electoral Systems in Comparative Perspective
[ djw dl ss wi ]

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.

POL 144a Latin American Politics
[ djw nw ss wi ]

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.

POL 161b Good Neighbor or Imperial Power: The Contested Evolution of US-Latin American Relations
[ djw oc ss wi ]

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.

POL 163a Seminar: The United Nations and the United States
[ djw dl ss wi ]

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 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 year.

POL 164a Seminar: Arabs and Israelis: Conflict and Peacemaking
[ ss wi ]

Spans the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, from the origins of Zionism and Palestinian nationalism in the late 19th century to the Hamas-Israel war that began on October 7, 2023. Uniquely co-taught by two scholars, one Palestinian and one Israeli, the class exposes students to competing perspectives about the conflict and provides a toolbox for explaining its causes and consequences. As the class is conducted seminar-style, student participation is expected and encouraged. Usually offered every year.

POL 165a Seminar: Dilemmas of Security Cooperation
[ dl ss wi ]

States regularly cooperate in the security domain. They can choose to band together in alliances, rely on stronger states for defense, or improve weaker actors' capacity to fight or defend themselves by providing arms and training. Security cooperation is a major feature of international relations, with powerful actors like the United States spending billions each year on efforts to arm, equip, and train partner militaries around the world. But security cooperation contains many dilemmas where states face difficult choices between alternatives without clear answers. Efforts to increase security can lead to unintended consequences, both for states and for the people who live in them. This course explores different dilemmas across a range of topics, considering both the causes and consequences of security cooperation. Topics include alliances, proxy warfare, arms transfers and military aid, peacekeeping, and security outcomes ranging from combat effectiveness to political violence and human rights. Usually offered every third year.

POL 167b Russian Foreign Policy
[ oc ss wi ]

Surveys Russian foreign policy in the contemporary world, with particular attention paid to the deep historical context for its attitudes and goals in international relations. Topics include relations with the larger post-communist region, the Muslim world, its ongoing antagonistic relations with America and the West, the rise of disinformation warfare on the internet, in addition to the distinct Russian perspective on geopolitics. Usually offered every year.

POL 169b Seminar: Alliance Politics
[ oc ss wi ]

Explores the evolution, design, and operation of interstate security alliances—their history, institutional purposes, and strategic functions—while providing students with tools to analyze the gap between theory and practice in alliance behavior across different times and regions. Students will engage with major theories of alliance politics and apply these frameworks to evaluate contemporary security arrangements and partnerships. Case studies include both historical and present-day examples: World War I and World War II coalitions, the Sino-Soviet alliance, NATO, U.S. alliances in Asia, America’s “special relationships” with the United Kingdom and Israel, Indo-Pacific minilateral frameworks such as the Quad and AUKUS, and China’s growing network of “strategic partnerships.” In addition to guided discussion, students will conduct independent research on an alliance of their choice, sharpening their analytical skills and deepening their understanding of the policy dilemmas facing the United States, its allies and partners, and their strategic rivals. The course concludes with forward-looking debates on how alliances may evolve in the wake of the War in Ukraine and intensifying U.S.–China competition. Usually offered every year.

POL 173a Seminar: U.S. Foreign Economic Policy
[ oc ss wi ]

Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or above.

Addresses the politics of  foreign economic policy in the United States, with special attention to the political institutions and domestic actors involved in formulating policies toward trade, the dollar, and foreign aid. Usually offered every second year.

POL 184a Seminar: Global Justice
[ djw ss wi ]

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.

PSYC 160b Seminar on Sex Differences
[ oc sn ss wi ]

Prerequisite: PSYC 10a, 51a, 52a or permission of the instructor.

Considers research evidence bearing on sex differences in the cognitive domain and in the social domain, evaluating this evidence in light of biological, cultural, and social-cognitive theories as well as methodological issues. Usually offered every year.

RECS 130a The Great Russian Novel
[ hum wi ]

Open to all students. Conducted in English. Students may choose to do readings either in English translation or in Russian.

A comprehensive survey of the major writers and themes of the nineteenth century including Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, and others. Usually offered every second year.

RECS 134b Literature and Medicine: Chekhov and the Healing Arts
[ hum wi ]

Open to all students. Conducted in English. Most students will choose to read the works in English translation, but students who know Russian may do the readings in Russian.

Explores Chekhov as a fiction writer, a dramatist, and a devoted physician. Many of his artistic works, including a number where doctors figure as primary characters, read as case studies of particular diseases, mental illnesses, and conditions induced by poverty. Chekhov practiced the healing arts in all aspects of his professional and creative life, as well as in his courageous efforts on the remote penal-colony island of Sakhalin and in his dangerous public work during a terrible cholera epidemic. Reading both Chekhov and the works of several other modern and contemporary writers who were deeply influenced by him, this course emphasizes the skills of close looking—techniques equally valuable to the writer, the dramatist, and the physician. We read works about children and the nature of childhood, about students, about “the woman question,” about peasants, about religion, about marriage and adultery, as well as two plays: The Seagull and Uncle Vanya (and adaptations of each of them). Students will consider the ebb and flow between Chekhov’s efforts as a dramatist and a story-teller and engage with Chekhov’s most vivid, candid, and intriguing letters about medicine and art. Usually offered every second year.

RECS 144b Tolstoy and Dostoevsky: Confronting the Novel
[ hum oc wi ]

Where do Tolstoy and Dostoevsky fit in the theory and history of the novel? Students will engage in close readings of two of the greatest novels of all time: War and Peace and The Brothers Karamazov. We will explore the genesis of each work, its cultural backdrop and critical responses. Usually offered every third year.

RECS/THA 140a Russian Theater: Stanislavsky to Present
[ ca djw hum wi ]

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.

SOC 111a Cognitive Sociology
[ ss wi ]

How do our brains shape our perception of reality? How does a preference for the familiar shape our perceptions of new situations? How does culture shape brain function and thus minds? This course will examine how we use culture and conversation to sustain and change how we think and the societies in which we live. Usually offered every second year.

SOC 113a Sociology of Love
[ deis-us ss wi ]

Examines the concept of love in sociological theory and research, through the lenses of race, economy, gender, sexuality. Usually offered every second year.

SOC 123a Countercultures and Cultural Change
[ ss wi ]

Countercultures consist of symbols and practices that are deployed to repudiate conventional ways of life. This class explores the emergence of countercultures, how they are expressed, the ways in which they decline, and when they lead to cultural change. Usually offered every second year.

SOC 146b Nationalism and Globalization
[ ss wi ]

In an age of globalization, why does nationalism thrive? Are globalization and nationalism rivals, strangers or possibly partners? Students will trace the emergence of nationalism while also examining globalization's impact on societies such as the United States, Russia, China, and India. Usually offered every second year.

SOC 148b The Sociology of Information: Politics, Power, and Property
[ ss wi ]

Examines the claim that information is a key political and economic resource in contemporary society. Considers who has access to information, and how it is used for economic gain, interpersonal advantage, and social control. Usually offered every third year.

SOC 151b Morality and Capitalist Society
[ ss wi ]

Is the economy moral? Is it just, fair, or equitable? Is it even vulnerable to moral judgements? Living in a capitalist society, these questions become very important. This course examines them by introducing students to sociological ways of understanding the economy and morality. Usually offered every second year.

SOC 179a Sociology of Drugs in America
[ ss wi ]

Explores the use, misuse, and control of drugs in the United States, both legal medications and illicit "street" drugs. Examines pressing contemporary debates and dilemmas surrounding drugs in contemporary America, including the opioid crisis. Usually offered every second year.

THA 142b Women Playwrights: Writing for the Stage by and about Women
[ ca deis-us wi ]

Introduces the world of women playwrights. This course will engage the texts through common themes explored by women playwrights: motherhood (and daughterhood), reproduction, sexuality, family relationships, etc. Students will participate in writing or performance exercises based on these themes. Usually offered every second year.

THA 148b Fundamentals of Dramaturgy
[ ca wi ]

Introduces students to the art and practice of dramaturgy. Explores the role of the dramaturg in the theater-making process from production research, new play development, and script analysis, to season planning, community outreach, and audience enrichment. Usually offered every second year.

THA 150a Global Theater: Voices from Asia, Africa, and the Americas
[ ca djw nw wi ]

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 year.

WGS 108a Ecofeminism and Climate Justice Activism
[ ss wi ]

From local activism to regional and national fights against militarization and deforestation to broader movement organizing, education, and international politics, this class aims to showcase how ecofeminists and ecowomanists nurture and grow resilience in times of multiple crises through employing “a radical political orientation grounded in solidarity, rather than sameness, as an organizing principle.” Usually offered every second year.