Because human rights studies encompass a range of issues and methodologies from a variety of disciplines, Columbia's Special Concentration in Human Rights allows students to take courses from many different departments. Each semester, the Undergraduate Human Rights Program compiles a list of courses that automatically count towards the completion of the concentration. We try to keep this information as up-to-date as possible, but make sure to confirm course times and locations with the Registrar Directory of Classes or the department offering the course. A comprehensive list of human rights courses offered throughout the university, including graduate courses, can also be found on ISHR’s Course List.
Human Rights Concentrators can use the Human Rights Concentration Worksheet to track their progress.
Fall 2011 Pre-Approved Courses
| Dept | Course# | Format | Course Title | Instructor(s) | Credits | Day / Time | |
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AFRS BC3110: Colloquium: Critical Race Theory Students will examine the origins and development of race-thinking in the Anglo‑American world with a particular focus on representation and reading practices. Our conversations will draw upon a number of articulations of race theory, including specific post-1980s Critical Race Theory. The course examines "race" narratives as well as critical readings on race from psychoanalytic, post‑colonial, feminist, and critical legal perspectives. These readings will be framed by several interlocking questions: how does representation both respond to and influence socioeconomic conditions? What is the relationship of race to color, ethnicity, and nation? How does race interact with other categories such as class, sexuality and gender? What cultural work is performed by racial definitions and categories such as hybridity and purity? |
AFRS | BC3110 | COL | Colloquium: Critical Race Theory | Hall, Kim | 4 | W 12:00pm-1:50pm |
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AFRS BC3560: Human Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa Examines the evolution of the ideas, institutions and practices associated with social justice in Africa and their relationship to contemporary international human rights movement and focuses on the role of human rights in social change. A number of themes will re-occur throughout the course, notably tensions between norms and reality, cultural diversity, economic and political asymmetries, the role of external actors, and women as rights providers. Countries of special interest include Liberia, Senegal, South African and Tanzania. |
AFRS | BC3560 | SEM | Human Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa | Martin, J. Paul | 4 | T 9:00am-10:50am |
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ANTH V3465: Women, Gender, and Politics in Muslim World Practices like veiling that are central to Western images of women and Islam are also contested issues throughout the Muslim world. Examines debates about Islam and gender and explores the interplay of cultural, political, and economic factors in shaping women's lives in the Muslim world, from the Middle East to Southeast Asia. |
ANTH | V3465 | LEC | Women, Gender, and Politics in Muslim World | Abu-Lughod, Lila | 3 | MW 11:00am-12:15pm |
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CPLS G4125: Critique of Human Rights and the Institution of the Citizen This mini-seminar requires an application. APPLICATION PROCEDURE: Please send an email to Assistant Director Catherine LaSota with the following information: -name; -program and year; -relevant courses taken; -a couple of sentences explaining interest in the course; The course aims at rethinking the articulation of "insurrection" and "constitution" in the trajectory of modern citizenship. It begins with a return to the conflicts between vindications and critiques of the "natural rights" declared by bourgeois revolutionaries, and finishes with a discussion of the perspectives of a "citizenship beyond the institution" opened by the contemporary crisis of the national, social and imperial State. A turning point will be provided by the critical discussion of Hannah Arendt's statement of the "right to have rights" as a negative foundation of the political community. |
CPLS | G4125 | SEM | Critique of Human Rights and the Institution of the Citizen | Balibar, Etienne | 3 | Sep. 27 - Nov 3: TuTh 6:10pm-8:50pm |
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ECON BC3011: Inequality and Poverty Conceptualization and measurement of inequality and poverty, poverty traps and distributional dynamics, economics and politics of public policies, in both poor and rich countries. |
ECON | BC3011 | LEC | Inequality and Poverty | Timmer, Ashley | 3 | MW 9:10am-10:25am |
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ECON W4480: Gender and Applied Economics This course studies gender gaps, their extent, determinants and consequences. The focus will be on the allocation of rights in different cultures and over time, why women's rights have typically been more limited and why most societies have traditionally favored males in the allocation of resources. |
ECON | W4480 | LEC | Gender and Applied Economics | Edlund, Lena | 3 | MW 2:40pm-3:55pm |
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FYSB BC1286: Culture, Ethics, Economics What if humans were only capable of caring for their own interests? What kind of economic world could we expect to find? One in which the common good would be attained by market forces, or one in which many would be left behind? This course uses a diversity of sources to examine the interplay of culture, ethics and economics. The starting point is Adam Smith�s work. Economists and policy makers have focused on one side of Adam Smith�s work represented by self-regarding behavior and the supremacy of the invisible hand in market functioning. However, Adam Smith also pointed out that one of humans� central emotions is �sympathy�, a natural tendency to care about the well-being of others. In light of the recent events as well as research this other side of Adam Smith�s work appears now more relevant. We analyze evidence of cooperative versus self-regarding behaviors and its relationship with the economy, human evolution and cultural values in a variety of settings. Readings include works from Adam Smith, Milton Freedman, Charles Dickens, David Rockefeller and Chris Gardner. |
FYSB | BC1286 | SEM | Culture, Ethics, Economics | Pereira, Sonia | 3 | TR 10:35am-11:50am |
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HIST W3800: Gandhi's India Focus on the history of modern India, using the life and times of Mohandas Gandhi as the basis for not only an engagement with an extraordinary historical figure, but also for a consideration of a great variety of historical issues, including the relationship between nationalism and religion, caste politics in India and affirmative action policies in the United States today, and racism as encountered by Gandhi in relation to colonialism and the Civil Rights movement in the U.S. |
HIST | W3800 | LEC | Gandhi's India | Bakhle, Janaki | 3 | MW 10:35am-11:50am |
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HIST W3926: Historical Origins of Human Rights Dedicated to four main topics on human rights: 1) long-term origins; 2)short-term origins; 3) evolution through the present; 4) moral defenses and ideological criticisms |
HIST | W3926 | LEC | Historical Origins of Human Rights | Moyn, Sam | 4 | MW 9:10am-10:25am |
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HIST W4946: International Criminal Law: History and Theory Application required |
HIST | W4946 | SEM | International Criminal Law: History and Theory | Moyn, Sam | 4 | M 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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HRTS W3950: Human Rights and Human Wrongs This course will examine the tension between two contradictory trends in world politics. On the one hand, we have emerged from a century that has seen some of the most brutal practices ever perpetrated by states against their populations in the form of genocide, systematic torture, mass murder and ethnic cleansing. Many of these abuses occurred after the Holocaust, even though the mantra “never again” was viewed by many as a pledge never to allow a repeat of these practices. Events in the new century suggest that these trends will not end anytime soon. At the same time, since the middle of the twentieth century, for the first time in human history there has been a growing global consensus that all individuals are entitled to at least some level of protection from abuse by their governments. This concept of human rights has been institutionalized through international law, diplomacy, international discourse, transnational activism, and the foreign policies of many states. Over the past two decades, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and international tribunals have gone further than any institutions in human history to try to stem state abuses. This seminar will try to make sense of these contradictions. |
HRTS | W3950 | SEM | Human Rights and Human Wrongs | Cronin, Bruce | 4 | W 11:00am-12:50pm |
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HRTS G4020: Introduction to Human Rights This course will provide a wide-ranging survey of conceptual foundations and issues in contemporary human rights. The class will examine the philosophical origins of human rights, their explication in the evolving series of international documents, as well as questions of enforcement through international law and treaty arrangements. The course will also examine contemporary topics that are in the forefront of concern, among them - the status of women, refugees, children, the use of torture and the horrors of genocide. Though the course emphasizes political rights, it also recognizes the evolution of the human rights culture, the growing importance of economic rights and tensions related to globalization and multiculturalism. The broad range of subjects covered in the course is intended to assist students in honing their interests and making future course selections in the human rights field. |
HRTS | G4020 | LEC | Introduction to Human Rights | Chuman, Joseph N | 3 | R 4:30pm-6:00pm |
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HRTS G4800: Human Rights and International Law This course introduces the fundamental concepts and problems of public international law. What are the origins of international law? Is international law really law? Who is governed by it? How are treaties interpreted? What is the relationship between international law and domestic law? We examine the interplay between law and international politics, in particular with reference to international human rights, humanitarian law, the use of force, and international criminal prosecutions. No prior knowledge of international law is required. While the topics are necessarily law-related, the course will assume no prior exposure to legal studies. |
HRTS | G4800 | SEM | Human Rights and International Law | Sabatello, Maya | 3 | W 4:10pm-7:00pm |
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HRTS G4820: Human Rights and International Organizations This course examines the role of international organizations in the promotion and protection of internationally recognized human rights norms. In particular, the course surveys contending approaches on the importance of international organizations in world politics; explores the constitution, history and function of various international organizations for the promotion/protection of human rights and studies the way in which the human rights discourse has been increasingly intersecting with the peace and security and the sustainable development discourses in the work of these organizations; provides an overview of the growing interaction between international organizations and NGOs; and assesses the record of these organizations’ monitoring and enforcement mechanisms in the area of human rights. |
HRTS | G4820 | LEC | Human Rights and International Organizations | Andreopoulos, George | 3 | T 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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PHIL V3751: Political Philosophy This course is organized around six fundamental concepts of political philosophy: “Authority,” “Rights,” “Equality,” “Justice,” “Liberty,” and “Democracy.” In the case of each of these concepts, three different approaches are used. |
PHIL | V3751 | LEC | Political Philosophy | Sidorsky, David | 3 | TR 1:10pm-2:25pm |
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POLS V3001: Introduction to Human Rights Evolution of the theory and content of human rights; the ideology and impact of human rights movements; national and international human rights law and institutions; their application with attention to universality within states, including the U.S., and internationally. |
POLS | V3001 | LEC | Introduction to Human Rights | Nathan, Andrew J | 3 | MW 2:40pm-3:55pm |
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POLS BC3507: Colloquium: Gender, Politics, Markets Considers why men more than women control political and economic resources in advanced industrial states of the world. Examines how labor markets, welfare states, and political institutions have a different impact on women than men. Evaluates attempts at increasing gender equality in political representation, labor market participation, and household work. |
POLS | BC3507 | COL | Colloquium: Gender, Politics, Markets | Ullman, Claire F | 4 | R 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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POLS BC3521: Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Explores seminal caselaw to inform contemporary civil rights and civil liberties jurisprudence and policy. Specifically, the readings examine historical and contemporary first amendment values, including freedom of speech and the press, economic liberties, takings law, discrimination based on race, gender, class and sexual preference, affirmative action, the right to privacy, reproductive freedom, the right to die, criminal procedure and adjudication, the rights of the criminally accused post-9/11 and the death penalty. |
POLS | BC3521 | LEC | Civil Rights & Civil Liberties | Franzese | 3 | R 11:00am-12:50pm |
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POLS W3673: Power and Progress in International Relations To understand the current geopolitical competition between liberal democratic states and other global forces, we will try to integrate the insights from the realist logic of struggle for domination and securitythe logic of powerwith the logic of political development and modernization the logic of progress. Historical and contemporary themes will include the origins of the modern states system, the rise of nationalism and democratization, the management of the global market economy, decolonization, human rights activism, changing norms for the use of force, and multiple paths to modernity. Prerequisite: Students should have taken (or be simultaneously taking) POLS V1601, Introduction to International Politics, or have the permission of the instructor. |
POLS | W3673 | LEC | Power and Progress in International Relations | Snyder, Jack L | 3 | MW 10:35am-11:50am |
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POLS W3921: Bill of Rights This seminar is an investigation of the nature and importance of the federal Bill of Rights in the American federal and state constitutional systems. Common readings, class discussions, and student seminar papers consider the social, political, and legal significance of the Bill of Rights in historical and contemporary American discourse and analysis, along with constitutional case law regarding specific rights. The first part of the course is devoted to a discussion of common, required readings that consider the Bill of Rights in historical and contemporary perspective. The second part of the course is devoted to students' presentations, in class, of their own research on individual topics relating to a particular rights grounded in the American federal and state bills of rights. |
POLS | W3921 | SEM | Bill of Rights | Zebrowski, Martha K | 4 | T 6:10pm-8:00pm |
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POLS W3921: Terrorism & Counterterrorism The seminar is designed to illuminate students' understanding of the most important aspects of domestic and international terrorism with an emphasis on the United States as target of and responder to this sort of political violence. |
POLS | W3921 | SEM | Terrorism & Counterterrorism | Nacos, Brigitte | 4 | Location W 11:00am-12:50pm |
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POLS W3921: Majority Rule/Minority Rights Description not currently available |
POLS | W3921 | SEM | Majority Rule/Minority Rights | Smith, Raymond A | 4 | T 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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POLS W3921: Equality and the Law Description not currently available |
POLS | W3921 | SEM | Equality and the Law | Abdur, Robert | 4 | M 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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POLS W3921: Issues that Divide America Seminar focuses on four political issues so contentious that they have produced enduring cultural, socio-economic, and political divisions throughout the United States. The four issues are slavery and efforts to end it; the use of alcoholic beverages and the struggle to curtail it; abortion and attempts to prohibit it; and lesbian and gay rights and the battle to impede them. |
POLS | W3921 | SEM | Issues that Divide America | Gertzog, Irwin | 4 | T 11:00am-12:50pm |
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POLS W3930: Constitutional Law This course explores major features of U.S. constitutional law through close examination of selected decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court. Through student discussion and some lecturing, the seminar addresses issues arising from the Constitution's allocation of power among the three branches of government, including the role of the federal judiciary in a democratic polity; the allocation of powers between the National and State governments, including the scope of Congress regulatory powers; and the protection of the private sphere from arbitrary and discriminatory government conduct, including the evolution of the concept of liberty from its protection of economic interests before the New Deal to its current role in protecting individual autonomy and privacy, protections against racial and gender discrimination and some aspects of freedom of speech and press. More generally the seminar aims to enhance understanding of some main aspects of our constitutional tradition and the judicial process by which it is elaborated. |
POLS | W3930 | SEM | Constitutional Law | Rosdeitcher, Sidney | 4 | T 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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POLS W3951: Comparative Politics of Inequality This seminar uses some of the major analytical perspectives in comparative politics to understand the issue of persistent gender inequality in the advanced industrial states. In doing so, it provides an overview of some of the issues in the study of political representation and participation, political culture, political economy and varieties of capitalism, the historical development of welfare states, electoral systems and electoral quotas, supranational and international organizations, and public policy. Students are welcome to extend the focus of the seminar in their own research papers either to other geographic areas or to other types of inequality." |
POLS | W3951 | SEM | Comparative Politics of Inequality | Ullman, Claire F | 4 | M 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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POLS W3961: Ending Wars/Keeping Peace The study of war in international relations has traditionally focused on its causes, but less attention has been paid to ending wars once they begin, and to keeping peace in their aftermath. This course will address: the process by which belligerents in international and cicil wars reach cease-fires and negotiate peace; why peace sometimes lasts and sometimes falls apart; and the prospects for reconciliation among adversaries and for rebuilding after war. We will examine both international and civil conflicts. Students write a research paper and present their research to the class. |
POLS | W3961 | SEM | Ending Wars/Keeping Peace | Fortna, Virginia Pag | 4 | T 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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POLS W3961: Law & Ethics of International Intervention Description not currently available |
POLS | W3961 | SEM | Law & Ethics of International Intervention | Doyle, Michael | 4 | T 11:00am-12:50pm |
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POLS W4226: American Politics and Social Welfare Policy Description not currently available |
POLS | W4226 | LEC | American Politics and Social Welfare Policy | Lieberman, Robert | 3 | MW 9:10am-10:25am |
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RELI W4612: Religion and Humanitarianism This seminar examines the role of religion in the antislavery movement, foreign missions, and women's rights in the nineteenth century, and its relevance to contemporary humanitarian activism |
RELI | W4612 | SEM | Religion and Humanitarianism | Kenny, Gale | 4 | M 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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SOCI V3324: Poverty, Inequality, Policy Examination of poverty, the "underclass," and inequality in the United States. Part 1: The moral premises, social theories, and political interests shaping current debates about the poor. Part 2: A more concrete analysis of the lives of the poor and the causes of family breakdown, the drug economy, welfare, employment, and homelessness. |
SOCI | V3324 | SEM | Poverty, Inequality, Policy | Olvera, Jacqueline | 4 | M 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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SOCI W3915: Stigma and Discrimination This course considers stigma and discrimination as general processes that apply to a broad range of phenomena, from mental illness to obesity to HIV/AIDS to racial groups. We will use a conceptual framework that considers power and social stratification to be central to stigma and discrimination. We will focus on both macro- and micro-level social processes and their interconnections, and we will draw on literature from both sociology and psychology. |
SOCI | W3915 | SEM | Stigma and Discrimination | Phelan, Jo | 4 | R 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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WMST W4300: Feminism and Diaspora The losses suffered in the last century, the atrocities that have dominated it, and the displacement of peoples across the globe continue to preoccupy our current imagination, calling for justice and acts of repair. This course will explore contemporary theories of diaspora and transnational feminism from the perspective of the ethics and politics of return. Through a cross-disciplinary analysis of new and old media of return to past places (memoir and fiction, ritual and performance, visual and digital media, tourism, museums and memorials, as well as the science of genealogy), we will focus on a number of sites where contested histories collide and lost stories are waiting to be recovered (the aftermath of the slavery in Africa and the new world; anti-semitism, the Holocaust and the Nakbah in Europe and Israel/Palestine; racism, poverty and Katrina in New Orleans; queer diaspora and transnational adoption; and the claims of indigenous peoples to restitution and redress). The personal, the familial, the affective, and the intimate have offered constitutive structures of thinking in feminist theory, trauma theory, and psychoanalysis. We will bring these same emphases to bear on the paradigms of diaspora, place and displacement. |
WMST | W4300 | SEM | Feminism and Diaspora | Hirsch, Marianne | 4 | M 2:10pm-4:00pm |
Other Courses of Potential Interest
| Dept | Course# | Format | Course Title | Instructor(s) | Credits | Day / Time | |
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ACLS BC3450: Women and Leadership Examination of the social conditions and linguistic practices that have shaped the gendering of power in the United States and around the world over the past century. Through examples drawn from education, labor, civil rights, business, and politics, we will explore leadership in varying racial, class, and regional contexts. |
ACLS | BC3450 | SEM | Women and Leadership | Abzug, Liz | 4 | T 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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AFAS C3930: Topics in the Black Experience: Black Masculinity Description not currently available |
AFAS | C3930 | SEM | Topics in the Black Experience: Black Masculinity | Blount, Marcellus | 4 | M 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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AFAS C3930: Topics in the Black Experience: Exploring Black Chicago Description not currently available |
AFAS | C3930 | SEM | Topics in the Black Experience: Exploring Black Chicago | Shedd, Carla | 4 | T 11:00am-12:50pm |
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AFAS G4080: Topics in the Black Experience This seminar will investigate the cultural contributions of Africans in the formation of the contemporary Americas. There will be a particular focus on the African religious traditions that have continued and developed in spite of hostile social and political pressures. Because of their important roles in the continuations of African aesthetics, the areas of visual art, music and dance will be emphasized in the exploration of the topic. This seminar will also discuss two important African ethnic groups: the Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria, and the Bakongo of Central Africa. It will highlight the American religious traditions of these cultures, e.g., Candomblé Nago/Ketu, Santeria/Lucumi, Shango, Xangô, etc., for the Yoruba, and Palo Mayombe, Umbanda, Macumba, Kumina, African-American Christianity, etc., for the Bakongo and other Central Africans. In the course discussions, the Americas are to include Brazil, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, the United States and numerous other appropriate locations. There will also be a focus on visual artists like Charles Abramson, Jose Bedia, Juan Boza, Lourdes Lopez, Manuel Mendive, etc., whose works are grounded in African based religions. In addition, we will explore how African religious philosophy has impacted on every-day life in the Americas, for example in the areas of international athletics, procedures of greeting and degreeting, culinary practices, etc. *This course has been designated that it can be used as a Majors Cultures required course* |
AFAS | G4080 | SEM | Topics in the Black Experience | Griffin, Farah | 4 | T 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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AFAS G4510: Critical Approaches to African-American Studies Description not currently available |
AFAS | G4510 | SEM | Critical Approaches to African-American Studies | TBD | 4 | TBD |
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AFAS G4520: Race and the Articulation of Difference Description not currently available |
AFAS | G4520 | SEM | Race and the Articulation of Difference | Gregory, Steven | 3 | TBD |
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AFCV C1020: African Civilization Description not currently available |
AFCV | C1020 | LEC | African Civilization | TBD | 4 | Multiple sections |
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AFRS BC3004: Introduction to African Studies Interdisciplinary and thematic approach to the study of Africa, moving from pre-colonial through colonial and post-colonial periods to contemporary Africa. Focus will be on its history, societal relations, politics and the arts. The objective is to provide a critical survey of the history as well as the continuing debates in Africana studies. |
AFRS | BC3004 | LEC | Introduction to African Studies | Webel, Mari K | 3 | MW 2:40pm-3:55pm |
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AFRS BC3005: Introduction to Caribbean Societies Multidisciplinary exploration of the Anglophone, Hispanic and Francophone Caribbean. Discusses theories about the development and character of Caribbean societies; profiles representative islands; and explores enduring and contemporary issues in Caribbean studies (race, color and class; politics and governance; political economy, the struggles for liberation; cultural and identity and migration.) |
AFRS | BC3005 | LEC | Introduction to Caribbean Societies | Horn, Maja | 3 | TR 2:40pm-3:55pm |
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AFRS BC3121: Black Women in America Examines the roles of black women in the U.S. as thinkers, activists and creators during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Focusing on the intellectual work, social activism and cultural expression of African American women, we examine how they understood their lives, resisted oppression and struggled to change society. We will also discuss theoretical frameworks (such as "double jeopardy," or "intersectionality") developed for the study of black women. The seminar will encourage students to pay particular attention to the diversity of black women and critical issues facing Black women today. This course is the same as WMST BC3121. |
AFRS | BC3121 | SEM | Black Women in America | Hall, Kim | 4 | R 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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AFRS BC3146: African-American and African Writing & Screen Focuses on the context and history of representations of African Americans and Africans in early American and other cinematographies; the simultaneous development of early film and the New Negro, Negritude and Pan African movements; and pioneer African American and African cinema. |
AFRS | BC3146 | SEM | African-American and African Writing & Screen | Christianse, Yvette | 4 | T 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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AMST BC3401: Cultural Approaches-American Past Introduction to the theoretical approaches of American Studies, as well as the methods and materials used in the interdisciplinary study of American society. Through close reading of a variety of texts (e.g., novels, films, essays), we will analyze the creation, maintenance, and transmission of cultural meaning within American society. |
AMST | BC3401 | SEM | Cultural Approaches-American Past | Kassanoff, Jennie | 4 | R 11:00am-12:50pm |
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AMST W3930: Topics in American Studies: Equity in Higher Education In this seminar, we will examine the roles colleges and universities play in American society, the differential access to those institutions available to high school students based on family background and income, ethnicity, and other characteristics, the causes and consequences of this differential access, and some attempts to make the system more equitable. Readings and class meetings will include a study of the following subjects historically and in the 21st century: the wide variety of American institutions of higher education, financial aid policies (locally and nationally), affirmative action, and the role of the high school in helping students attend college. Students in the seminar will be required to spend at least four hours each week as volunteers at the Double Discovery Center (DDC) in addition to completing assigned reading, participating in seminar discussions, and completing written assignments. DDC is an on-campus program that helps New York City high school students who lack many of the resources they need to attend college and to become more successful in gaining admission and finding financial aid. The seminar will integrate its students' first-hand experiences with readings and class discussions. |
AMST | W3930 | SEM | Topics in American Studies: Equity in Higher Education | Lehecka And Delbanco | 4 | M 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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AMST W3930: Topics in American Studies: Writing September 11: Narratives and Arguments The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 were one of the greatest traumas in American history, and like all traumas, they demanded not just practical response but interpretation. How should we understand what happened that day—as an act of war, a criminal conspiracy, a punishment? How should we commemorate the victims? How did the attacks change the way Americans thought about their society and their role in the world? This seminar will examine some of the answers to such questions offered by novelists, journalists, and intellectuals in the years after 9/11. Readings will include the official government inquiry, “The 9/11 Commission Report,” and some of the conspiracy theories that challenged it; “American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center,” by William Langewiesche; “Terror and Liberalism” by Paul Berman; “Terrorist” by John Updike; “Falling Man” by Don DeLillo; and other works of fiction and nonfiction. |
AMST | W3930 | SEM | Topics in American Studies: Writing September 11: Narratives and Arguments | Kirsch, Adam | 4 | R 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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AMST W3930: Topics in American Studies: History of the US Supreme Court In this course we consider the origins of the Supreme Court, including how the framers of the Constitution envisioned the function and authority of the judicial branch of the federal government; the importance of judicial independence; and the Supreme Court’s role in the development of American democracy. We examine the lives and work of several individual justices to determine the role that perspective and life experiences have on judicial decision making. Issues considered include the evolution of the law governing civil rights, from the 13th and 14th Amendments to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. Readings range from the Federalist Papers to biographies of individual justices to relevant Supreme Court cases. |
AMST | W3930 | SEM | Topics in American Studies: History of the US Supreme Court | Greenaway Jr., Josep | 4 | R 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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ANTH V1002: The Interpretation of Culture The anthropological approach to the study of culture and human society. Case studies from ethnography are used in exploring the universality of cultural categories (social organization, economy, law, belief system, art, etc.) and the range of variation among human societies. Discussion Section Required. |
ANTH | V1002 | LEC | The Interpretation of Culture | Fennel, Cassie | 3 | MW 2:40pm-3:55pm |
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ANTH V1007: The Origins of Human Society An archaeological perspective on the evolution of human social life from the first bipedal step of our ape ancestors to the establishment of large sedentary villages. While traversing six million years and six continents, our explorations will lead us to consider such major issues as the development of human sexuality, the origin of language, the birth of art and religion, the domestication of plants and animals, and the foundations of social inequality. Designed for anyone who happens to be human. |
ANTH | V1007 | LEC | The Origins of Human Society | Hartnett, Alexandra | 3 | TR 2:40pm-3:55pm |
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ANTH V2004: Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology Introduces students to crucial theories of society, paying particular attention to classic social theory of the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Traces a trajectory through writings essential for an understanding of the social: from Saussure, Durkheim, Mauss, Marx, Freud, and Weber, on to the structuralis ethnographic elaboration of Claude Levi-Strauss, the historiographic reflections on modernity of Michel Foucault, and contemporary modes of socio-cultural analysis. Explored are questions of signification at the heart of anthropological inquiry, and to the historical contexts informing these questions. |
ANTH | V2004 | LEC | Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology | Ivy, Marilyn | 3 | TR 10:35am-11:50am |
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ANTH V2008: Film and Culture How have cultures been represented through film? This course offers a selective introduction to the past and present of ethnographic and documentary filmmaking. It also considers Hollywood depictions of "other" cultures and the growing number of films by directors working within their own communities. Film & Culture joins scholarly and filmmaking sensibilities to examine the relation of cultural identity to portrayal in film. |
ANTH | V2008 | LEC | Film and Culture | Vail, Margaret | 3 | T 7:30pm-10:30pm |
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ANTH V2015: Chinese Society Social organization and social change in China from late imperial times to the present. Major topics include family, kinship, community, stratification, and the relationships between the state and local society. |
ANTH | V2015 | LEC | Chinese Society | Cohen, Myron | 3 | MW 2:40pm-3:55pm |
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ANTH V3090: Introduction to Native American Studies This course engages the ways in which the late period of "settlement" in North America relies upon particular forms of knowledge, history-making, law-making and symbolic representation. What are the contemporary implications of this period for Native peoples today? And how do the logics that made settlement "make sense" live within the present? Central to understanding these efforts at history-making is the mastery of concepts that govern the interpretation of the past. Among these critical concepts are the notions of "savagery", of "civilization", "property" and "ownership." These concepts are embedded within the practices of militarism, policy, law and representation-making that work in concert to make Indigeneity in North America known, managed, resisted and expressed in certain ways |
ANTH | V3090 | LEC | Introduction to Native American Studies | Simpson, Audra | 3 | MW 10:35am-11:50am |
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ANTH V3893: The Bomb The first part of the course focuses on the history of the creation of the atomic bomb and the aftermath of its use during World War II. We look at the socialization of the scientists involved in the birth of the bomb; at the devastation it wrought in Hiroshima and Nagasaki; and at the physical and psychological injuries that afflicted its survivors, especially the immediate and long-term effects of radiation poisoning and trauma. The course then considers the Cold War period, examining civil defense campaigns, the cultural features of weapons laboratories, and the devastating physical and environmental contamination suffered by communities--disproportionately composed of indigenous populations-where such weapons repeatedly have been tested. The second part of the course explores the transformative cultural and psychological consequences of living with the bomb. Readings consider the evidence of spontaneous psychic adaptations to life in the nuclear age. They also examine governments' deliberate attempts to shape citizens' cognitive and emotional lives. How do states produce political subjects who comply with military imperatives? What role does the continual manufacture of foreign threats and enemies play in this process? While acknowledging the powerful forces that seek to control public perceptions of nuclear arms by minimizing their destructive potential, the course concludes by considering organized resistances to increasing nuclear proliferation and to militarism. |
ANTH | V3893 | SEM | The Bomb | Seeley, Karen | 4 | T 9:00am-10:50am |
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ANTH V3922: The Emergence of State Society The creation of the earliest states out of simpler societies was a momentous change in human history. This course examines major theories proposed to account for that process, including population pressure, warfare, urbanism, class conflict, technological innovation, resource management, political conflict and cooperation, economic specialization and exchange, religion/ideology, and information processing. |
ANTH | V3922 | COL | The Emergence of State Society | D'Altroy, Terence | 4 | R 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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ANTH V3923: Colonialism and the Intellectual This course is a consideration of the choices and dilemmas faced by the category of intellectuals who have been labeled 'colonial intellectuals'. |
ANTH | V3923 | SEM | Colonialism and the Intellectual | Mokeona And Messick | 4 | R 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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ANTH V3933: Arabia Imagined Arabia, of Quranic revelation and the sacred precincts of Islam, the site of pilgrimage and the direction of daily prayer for Muslims world-wide. Arabia, of the Queen of Sheba, the Thousand and One Nights, Bedouin poets, and the peninsular novel. Arabia, of Wahhabism and Aljazeera. Organized around primary Arabic texts read in English translations, the course explores the phenomenon of Arabia. Seminar with research paper. |
ANTH | V3933 | SEM | Arabia Imagined | Messick, Brinkley | 4 | F 10:00am-12:00pm |
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ANTH V3957: Ethnography of the Everyday The 'Ethnography of the Everyday' offers students an opportunity to engage the discipline's methods and genres, and the ethico-philosophical questions about representativeness and exemplarity that subtend them.The course will consider the everyday as an alternative concept to 'culture' and habitus,' while looking at the ethnographic works that were informed by those ideas.Students will undertake weekly writing assignments as part of an investigation not only of method but of aesthetics, expression, and representation in general. |
ANTH | V3957 | SEM | Ethnography of the Everyday | Morris, Rosalind | 4 | R 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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ANTH V3980: Nationalism This course will cover the basic readings in the contemporary debate over nationalism. It will cover different disciplinary approaches and especially look at recent studies of nationalism in the formerly colonial world as well as in the industrial West. The readings will offer a mix of both theoretical and empirical studies. The readings include the following: 1) Eric Hobsbawn: Nationalism since 1700; 2) Ernest Gillner: Nations ans Nationalism; 3) Benedict Anderson: Imagined Communities; 4) Antony Smith: The Ethnic Origins of Nations; 5) Linda Coley: Britons; 6) Peter Sahlins: Boundaries and 7) Partha Chatterjee; The Nation and Its Fragments. Prerequisite: intended for seniors but not necessarily anthropology majors. |
ANTH | V3980 | SEM | Nationalism | Chaterjee, Partha | 4 | T 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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ANTH G4201: Principles and Applications of Society and Culture Required for students in Anthropology Department's master degree program and for students in the graduate programs of other departments and professional schools desiring an introduction in this field. Prerequisite: graduate standing. Introductory survey of major concepts and areas of research in social and cultural anthropology. Emphasis is on both the field as it is currently constituted and its relationship to other scholarly and professional disciplines. |
ANTH | G4201 | LEC | Principles and Applications of Society and Culture | Marakowitz, Ellen | 3 | M 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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ANTH W4277: Anthropology of the Middle East Description not currently available |
ANTH | W4277 | LEC | Anthropology of the Middle East | Abu-Lughod, Lila | 3 | R 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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CPLS BC3121: A Kind of Wild Justice Examines the various motives that move our nature to turn to revenge: Orestes, compelled to murder by duty; Ferdinand, pathologically obsessed with his family honor and his sister's body; Heathcliff, driven to frustration and unfocused rage; the Continental Op, just taking care of a job. Organized into four broad categories, we will move through Archaic and Classical Greek poetry, Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama, the Victorian Novel and finish our study in American film noir. Readings will include: Archilochus, Shakespeare, John Webster, Emily Bronte, and Richard Stark. |
CPLS | BC3121 | LEC | A Kind of Wild Justice | Charles, Collomia | 3 | MW 1:10pm-2:25pm |
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CSER W1010: Introduction to Comparative Ethnic Studies Introduction to the field of Asian American studies, including a history of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the U.S., the field's multiple pivots around race, gender, sexuality, class, and nation, and contemporary concerns of identities, community, culture, and location within the U.S. and world. |
CSER | W1010 | LEC | Introduction to Comparative Ethnic Studies | Okihiro, Gary | 4 | TR 1:10pm-2:25pm |
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CSER W3250: Native American Representation All too often, the general population's ideas about American Indians are shaped by representations that do not come from Indian people. These often stereotyping images of Native Americans shape not only popular, but even indigenous notions about what Indians are or ought to be. This course is designed to provide students with a background in the ways that Native people have represented themselves, whether they are writing/creating back against outside portrayals or creating for their own expression. This is an ethnic studies course. As such we will be addressing issues including indigeneity, race, ethnicity, privilege, and marginalization. We will also address the intersections between these issues and those of class, gender, and sexuality. |
CSER | W3250 | LEC | Native American Representation | Gamber, John | 3 | T 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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CSER W3905: Asian American & Psychology of Race This seminar provides an introduction to mental health issues for Asian Americans. In particular, it focuses on the psychology of Asian Americans as racial/ethnic minorities in the United States by exploring a number of key concepts: immigration, racialization, prejudice, family, identity, pathology, and loss. We will examine the development of identity in relation to self, family, college, and society. Quantitative investigation, qualitative research, psychology theories of multiculturalism, and Asian American literature will also be integrated into the course. |
CSER | W3905 | SEM | Asian American & Psychology of Race | Han, Shinhee | 4 | R 11:00am-12:50pm |
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CSER W3919: Modes of Inquiry One of CSER's new required courses, Modes of Inquiry aims to introduce students to a variety of ways of knowing key to several fields that investigate racial and ethnic difference in social, cultural, political and economic life. The seminar will also ask students to think reflexively and critically about the approaches they employ and evaluate the ethics, constraints and potential of contemporary knowledge production about difference. The course will culminate in a semester project, an 8-10 page proposal for research that will ideally be related to the student senior project. |
CSER | W3919 | SEM | Modes of Inquiry | Fennel, Cassie | 4 | W 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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CSER W3926: Latin Music and Identity Latin music has had a historically strained relationship with mainstream music tastes, exploding in occasional "boom" periods, and receding into invisibility in others. What if this were true because it is a space for hybrid construction of identity that directly reflects a mixture of traditions across racial lines in Latin America? This course will investigate Latin music's transgression of binary views of race in Anglo-American society, even as it directly affects the development of pop music in America. From New Orleans jazz to Texas corridos, salsa, rock, and reggaetón, Latin music acts as both as a soundtrack and a structural blueprint for the 21st century's multicultural experiment. There will be a strong focus on studying Latin music's political economy, and investigating the story it tells about migration and globalization. |
CSER | W3926 | SEM | Latin Music and Identity | Edward Morales | 4 | W 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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CSER W3928: Colonization/Decolonization This course focuses on the spread of European influence and hegemony throughout the world from the age of discovery in the late fifteenth and sixteenth century to the era of decolonization after World War II and postcolonial realities of the present. We are interested in the processes and contents of social and cultural contact and exchange, the development of knowledge, and how they shape relations of power; the place of colonialism in the development of western capitalism; and the elements of colonial power and resistance, including ideologies of liberal political philosophy, social Darwinism, and nationalism. We will think about how ideas about civilization, religion, self and other, and freedom have evolved over time and shaped the making of the modern world. Class is held as a discussion seminar based on close reading of the primary-source documents. |
CSER | W3928 | SEM | Colonization/Decolonization | Ngai And Brown | 4 | W 11:00am-12:50pm |
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EAAS V2002: Introduction to Major Topics: East Asia Description not currently available |
EAAS | V2002 | LEC | Introduction to Major Topics: East Asia | Gentzler, Jennings | 4 | MW 1:10pm-2:25pm |
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EAAS V2361: Introduction to East Asian Civilizations: Japan Description not currently available |
EAAS | V2361 | LEC | Introduction to East Asian Civilizations: Japan | Pflugfelder, Gregory | 4 | MW 4:10pm-5:25pm |
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EAAS W3880: History of Modern China I Description not currently available |
EAAS | W3880 | LEC | History of Modern China I | Zelin, Madeleine | 3 | TR 10:35am-11:50am |
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ECON BC3019: Labor Econmics Factors affecting the allocation and remuneration of labor; population structure; unionization and monopsony; education and training, mobility and information; sex and race discrimination; unemployment; and public policy. |
ECON | BC3019 | LEC | Labor Econmics | Garibotti, Maria | 3 | TR 4:10pm-5:25pm |
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ECON BC3063: Senior Seminar: Intergenerational Equity A topic in economic theory or policy of the instructor's choice. See department for current topics and for senior requirement preference forms. |
ECON | BC3063 | SEM | Senior Seminar: Intergenerational Equity | Reback, Randall | 4 | M 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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ECON G4301: Economic Growth and Development I Empirical findings on economic development, theoretical development models; problems of efficient resource allocation in a growing economy; balanced and unbalanced growth in closed and open economic systems; the role of capital accumulation and innovation in economic growth. |
ECON | G4301 | LEC | Economic Growth and Development I | Quella, Nuria | 3 | MW 4:10pm-5:25pm |
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ECON W4325: Economic Development of Japan Description not currently available |
ECON | W4325 | LEC | Economic Development of Japan | Weinstein, David | 3 | TR 9:10am-10:25am |
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ECON W4370: Political Economy The interaction between economics and politics. Anintroduction to the voting theory and other alternative theories of the interaction between economic policy and elections in democracies. Examines both fiscal and monetary policies with relation to different interest groups. Also considers political economy of stabilizationpolicies in developing countries. |
ECON | W4370 | LEC | Political Economy | Alessandra Casella | 3 | MW 9:10am-10:25am |
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ECON W4400: Labor Economics The labor force and labor markets, educational and man power training, unions and collective bargaining, mobility and immobility, sex and race discrimination, unemployment. |
ECON | W4400 | LEC | Labor Economics | Edlund, Lena | 3 | MW 11:00am-12:15pm |
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ECON W4625: Economics of the Environment Microeconomics is used to study who has an incentive to protect the environment. Government's possible and actual role in protecting the environment is explored. How do technological change, economic development, and free trade affect the environment? Emphasis on hypothesis testing and quantitative analysis of real-world policy issues. |
ECON | W4625 | LEC | Economics of the Environment | Schlenker, Wolfram | 3 | TR 4:10pm-5:25pm |
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ECON W4750: Globalization and Its Risks The world is being transformed by dramatic increases in flows of people, goods and services across nations. Globalization has the potential for enormous gains but is also associated to serious risks. The gains are related to international commerce where the industrial countries dominate, while the risks involve the global environment, poverty and the satisfaction of basic needs that affect in great measure the developing nations. Both are linked to a historical division of the world into the North and the South-the industrial and the developing nations. Key to future evolution are (1) the creation of new markets that trade privately produced public goods, such as knowledge and greenhouse gas emissions, as in the Kyoto Protocol; (2) the updating of the Breton Woods Institutions, including the creation of a Knowledge Bank and an International Bank for Environmental Settlements. |
ECON | W4750 | LEC | Globalization and Its Risks | Chichilnisky, Gracie | 3 | MW 5:40pm-6:55pm |
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ECON W4921: Seminar in Political Economy Provides a forum in which students can integrate the economics and political science approach to political economy. The theoretical tools learned in political economy are applied: the analysis of a historical episode and the empirical relation between income distribution and politics on one side and growth on the other. |
ECON | W4921 | SEM | Seminar in Political Economy | Alessandra Casella | 4 | M 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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EEEB W4321: Human Nature: DNA, Race & Identity Description not currently available |
EEEB | W4321 | SEM | Human Nature: DNA, Race & Identity | Pollack, Robert | 3 | W 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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EEEB W4700: Race: The Tangled History of a Biological Concept From Aristotle to the Bell Curve, this course examines the history of race as a biological concept. We will explore the complex relationship between the scientific study of biological differences, real, imagined, or invented and the historical and cultural factors involved in the development and expression of "racial ideas." |
EEEB | W4700 | LEC | Race: The Tangled History of a Biological Concept | Shapiro, Jill | 4 | MW 4:10pm-5:25pm |
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ENGL W3285: Post-1945 American Literature This course surveys major works of American fiction, poetry, essays, literary and cultural criticism written since 1945. It will situate the analysis of literature against a historical backdrop that includes such key events as the Holocaust; the atomic bomb; the Beatniks; youth counterculture; the women's, peace, and Civil Rights movements; the Korean, Vietnam, and Gulf Wars; the energy crisis; globalization; the rise of the internet; and the War on Terror. We will also consider major literary and artistic movements such as postmodernism, the Beats, confessional poetry, minimalism, the New Journalism, and historiographic metafiction. Lectures will emphasize literature in its cultural/historical context, but will also attend to its formal/aesthetic properties. |
ENGL | W3285 | LEC | Post-1945 American Literature | Posnock, Ross | 3 | MW 6:10pm-7:25pm |
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ENGL W3510: Immigration, Relocation, Diaspora The master narrative of the United States has always vacillated between valorizations of movement and settlement. While ours is a nation of immigrants, one which privileges its history of westward expansion and pioneering, trailblazing adventurers, we also seem to long for what Wallace Stegner called a "sense of place," a true belonging within a single locale. Each of these constructions has tended to focus on individuals with a tremendous degree of agency in terms of where and whether they go. However, it is equally important to understand the tension between movement and stasis within communities most frequently subjected to spatial upheavals. To that end, this course is designed to examine narratives of immigration, migration, relocation, and diaspora by authors of color in the United States. |
ENGL | W3510 | LEC | Immigration, Relocation, Diaspora | Gamber, John | 3 | TR 2:40pm-3:55pm |
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FREN BC3073: Africa in Cinema Representations of African culture by filmmakers from various cultural backgrounds. Social and ideological positions and the demands of exoticism. The constructions of the African as other and the responses they have elicited from Africaïs cineastes. |
FREN | BC3073 | LEC | Africa in Cinema | Glover, Kaiama | 3 | TR 4:10pm-5:25pm |
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FYSB BC1216: Revolution: Locke to Luxembourg Close reading of revolutionary and counterrevolutionary texts from the 18th through the 20th century. Examination of revolutions as debates among competing points of views, with emphasis on the ways in which the language of revolution is challenged and transformed in the course of these debates. Readings include: selections from Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War; selections from, Paine, Common Sense and Rights of Man; Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France; Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Women; Conrad, The SecretAgent, Lenin, What Is to Be Done?; Luxemburg, "Leninism or Marxism?"; Kollontai, "Women and the Revolution." Films include "Battleship Potemkin" (S. Eisenstein) and "Rosa Luxemburg" (M. von Trotta). |
FYSB | BC1216 | SEM | Revolution: Locke to Luxembourg | Sloan, Herbert E | 4 | MW 2:40pm-3:55pm |
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FYSB BC1228: Ethnicity and Social Transformation Novels, memoirs, films and fieldwork based on the American experience of immigration during the twentieth centure. Readings will include works by Bernard Malamud, Philip Roth, Christina Garcia, Julia Alvarez, Fae Ng, Gish Jen, Langston Hughes, Toni Morrison, and Malcolm X. |
FYSB | BC1228 | SEM | Ethnicity and Social Transformation | Ellsberg, Margaret R | 3 | MW 1:10pm-2:25pm |
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HIST/AMST W3478: U.S. Intellectual History, 1865 To the Present This course examines major themes in U.S. intellectual history since the Civil War. Among other topics, we will examine the public role of intellectuals; the modern liberal-progressive tradition and its radical and conservative critics; the uneasy status of religion ina secular culture; cultural radicalism and feminism; critiques of corporate capitalism and consumer culture; the response of intellectuals to hot and cold wars, the Great Depression, and the upheavals of the 1960s. |
HIST/AMST | W3478 | LEC | U.S. Intellectual History, 1865 To the Present | Blake, Casey | 3 | MW 5:40pm-6:55pm |
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HIST BC1401: American Civilization to Civil War The major intellectual and social accommodations made by Americans to industrialization and urbanization; patterns of political thought from Reconstruction to the New Deal; selected topics on post–World War II developments. |
HIST | BC1401 | LEC | American Civilization to Civil War | Sloan, Herbert E | 3 | TR 2:40pm-3:55pm |
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HIST BC3255: Italy Balkans Turkey 1918-39 The course examines the social, economic and political impact World War I had on the Balkans, Italy, and Turkey. In particular, the growing influence of fascism from its birthplace in Italy to its emergence in various forms throughout the Balkans will be the central theme in the course. |
HIST | BC3255 | LEC | Italy Balkans Turkey 1918-39 | TBD | 3 | MW 1:10pm-2:35pm |
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HIST BC3321: Colonial Encounters Examines the shaping of European cultural identity through encounters with non-European cultures from 1500 to the post-colonial era. Novels, paintings, and films will be among the sources used to examine such topics as exoticism in the Enlightenment, slavery and European capitalism, Orientalism in art, ethnographic writings on the primitive, and tourism. |
HIST | BC3321 | LEC | Colonial Encounters | Tiersten, Lisa | 3 | MW 11:00am-12:15pm |
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HIST BC3408: Emerging Cities: 19th Century Urban History of the Americas and Europe Urban history of 19th century cities in Europe and the Americas. First, we study the economic, geographic, and demographic changes that produced 19th century urbanization in the Western world. Second, we examine issues of urban space: density, public health, housing conditions, spatial reforms, and the origins of the modern city planning. |
HIST | BC3408 | LEC | Emerging Cities: 19th Century Urban History of the Americas and Europe | Baics, Gergely | 3 | MW 9:10am-10:25am |
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HIST BC3413: United States 1940-1975 Emphasis on foreign policies as they pertain to the Second World War, the atomic bomb, containment, the Cold War, Korea, and Vietnam. Also considers major social and intellectual trends, including the Civil Rights movement, the counterculture, feminism, Watergate, and the recession of the 1970s. |
HIST | BC3413 | LEC | United States 1940-1975 | Carnes, Mark | 3 | MW 1:10pm-2:25pm |
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HIST BC3414: United States in the World Examination of the meaning of empire in its relationship to the historical development of what we now call the United States of America. Starting with the thirteen colonies and moving west through time and space, we will examine the relationship of ideas, geography, borders, immigration, culture, economies and the military to the expansion of U.S. power in the world. Using insights from our current "global" moment, we will investigate questions dealing with the control and use of resources, the structure of society, the meaning of political borders, inequality and power. |
HIST | BC3414 | LEC | United States in the World | Esch, Elizabeth | 3 | MW 2:40pm-3:55pm |
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HIST BC3440: Introduction to African-American History Major themes in African-American History: slave trade, slavery, resistance, segregation, the "New Negro," Civil Rights, Black Power, challenges and manifestations of the contemporary "Color Line." |
HIST | BC3440 | LEC | Introduction to African-American History | Naylor, Celia | 3 | TR 10:35am-11:50am |
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HIST W3535: History of City of New York The social, cultural, economic, political, and demographic development of America's metropolis from colonial days to present. Slides and walking tours supplement the readings (novels and historical works). |
HIST | W3535 | LEC | History of City of New York | Jackson, Kenneth | 3 | MW 10:35am-11:50am |
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HIST W3618: The Modern Caribbean This lecture course examines the social, cultural, and political history of the islands of the Caribbean Sea and coastal regions of Central and South American that collectively form the Caribbean region, from Amerindian settlement, through the era of European imperialism and African enslavement, to the period of socialist revolution and independence. The course will examine historical trajectories of colonialism, slavery, and labor regimes, post-emancipation experiences and migration, radical insurgencies and anti-colonial movements, and intersections of race, culture, and neocolonialism. It will also investigate the production of national, creole, and transborder indentities. Formerly listed as "The Caribbean in the 19th and 20th centuries" |
HIST | W3618 | LEC | The Modern Caribbean | Lightfoot, Natasha | 3 | MW 2:40pm-3:55pm |
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HIST W3657: Medieval Jewish Cultures This course will survey some of the major historical, cultural, intellectual and social developments among Jews from the fourth century CE through the fifteenth. We will study Jewish cultures from the Christianization of the Roman Empire, the age of the Talmuds, the rise of Islam, the world of the Geniza, medieval Spain, to the early modern period. We will look at a rich variety of primary texts and images, including mosaics, poems, prayers, polemics, and personal letters. |
HIST | W3657 | LEC | Medieval Jewish Cultures | Carlebach, Elisheva | 3 | MW 10:35am-11:50am |
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HIST BC3676: Latin America: Migration/Race/Ethnicity Examines immigrations to Latin America from Europe, Africa, and Asia and the resulting multiracial societies; and emigration from Latin America and the formation of Latino communities in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere. Analyzes the socioeconomic and discursive-cognitive construction of ethno-racial identities and hierarchies, and current debates about immigration and citizenship. - |
HIST | BC3676 | LEC | Latin America: Migration/Race/Ethnicity | Moya, Jose | 3 | TR 10:35am-11:50am |
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HIST W3716: History of Islamic Society Focus on religions, conversion, ethnic relations, development of social institutions, and the relationship between government and religion. |
HIST | W3716 | LEC | History of Islamic Society | Kamaly, Hossein | 3 | MW 4:10pm-5:25pm |
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HIST W3719: History of Modern Middle East This Course will cover the History of the Middle East from the 18th century until the present, examining the region ranging from Morocco to Iran and including the Ottoman Empire. It will focus on transformations in the states of the region, external intervention , and the emergence of modern nation-states, as well as aspects of social, economic, cultural and intellectual history of the region. |
HIST | W3719 | LEC | History of Modern Middle East | Khalidi, Rashid | 3 | TR 9:10am-10:25am |
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HIST BC3861: Chinese Cultural History Introduction to visual and material cultures of China, including architecture, food, fashion, printing, painting, and the theatre. Using these as building blocks, new terms of analyzing Chinese history are explored, posing such key questions as the meaning of being Chinese and the meaning of being modern. |
HIST | BC3861 | LEC | Chinese Cultural History | Ko, Dorothy | 3 | TR 2:40pm-3:55pm |
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HIST W4227: Empire and Nation: Nationality Issues in the Russian Empire This senior seminar deals with nationalist challenges and nationality policies in imperial Russia. Particular emphasis will be placed on the imperial policies vis-à-vis national peripheries (primarily Poland, Ukraine, the Baltic, and Volga region) as well as religious minorities (particularly Jews, Roman Catholics, and Muslims). We will also analyze the relationship between the imperial government and Russian nationalism. The gap between nation and empire in Russia will be considered. The main chronological focus of the seminar is the long nineteenth century, the late eighteenth-the early twentieth centuries. |
HIST | W4227 | SEM | Empire and Nation: Nationality Issues in the Russian Empire | Bilenky, Serhiy | 4 | M 6:10pm-8:00pm |
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HIST W4235: Central Asia: Imperial Legacies, New Images This course is designed to give an overview of the politics and history of the five Central Asian states, including Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan starting from Russian imperial expansion to the present. We will examine the imperial tsarist and Soviet legacies that have profoundly reshaped the regional societies' and governments' practices and policies of Islam, gender, nation-state building, democratization, and economic development. |
HIST | W4235 | SEM | Central Asia: Imperial Legacies, New Images | Kendirbai, Gulnar T | 4 | T 6:10pm-8:00pm |
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HIST BC4324: Vienna and the Birth of the Modern Examines Vienna from the 1860s through the 1930s as the site of intellectual, political, and aesthetic responses to the challenges of modern urban life. Through readings in politics, literature, science, and philosophy, as well as through art and music, we explore three contested elements of personal identity: nationality, sexuality, and rationality. |
HIST | BC4324 | SEM | Vienna and the Birth of the Modern | Coen, Deborah | 4 | M 11:00am-12:50pm |
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HIST BC4333: History of Childhood in Britain and Europe This research seminar explores the changing history of childhood in Britain and Europe. We will examine children's lives and what childhood came to represent in different periods and cultures. We will discuss the latest scholarship on topics of child psychology; childhood as a site for state and expert intervention; popular and scientific practices of childrearing; theories of parenthood; the construction of childhood as a period of education rather than labor; children in democractic and dictorial regimes; juvenile delinquency; and children and consumerism. We will draw on secondary sources that examine the history of private life, gender, selfhood, the family, war and nationalism. Not open to first-year students. |
HIST | BC4333 | SEM | History of Childhood in Britain and Europe | Shapira, Michal | 4 | W 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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HIST W4358: Themes in Intellectual History: Education "Themes in Intellectual History" offers an intensive examination of one major intellectual concept or problem as it develops over time. This semester will be devoted to some classic modern works on education: its aims, its methods, its prerequisites, its limitations, its social and political implications. These works by Montaigne, Descartes, Locke, Vico, and Rousseau have been chosen for intensive study due to their wide influence and the starkly different pedagogical alternatives they develop. Particular attention will be devoted to Rousseau's Emile and its relation to its precursors. |
HIST | W4358 | SEM | Themes in Intellectual History: Education | Lilla, Mark | 4 | F 11:00am-12:50pm |
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HIST W4380: The Idea of Europe This seminar is dedicated to studying the historical developments of the idea of Europe from antiquity until the early twenty-first century with an emphasis on modern times. We will examine the major shifts in the meanings and interpretations of Europe, covering regions from Russia to the United Kingdom, Hungary to the Netherlands, Portugal to Estonia. We will consider a wide range of historical perspectives, including but not limited to political, legal, economic, cultural, and religious traditions. |
HIST | W4380 | SEM | The Idea of Europe | Collins, Nancy | 4 | M 11:00am-12:50pm |
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HIST W4400: America and the Natural World, 1800-Present This seminar deals with how Americans have treated and understood the natural world, connected or failed to connect to it, since 1800. It focuses on changing context over time, from the agrarian period to industrialization, followed by the rise of the suburban and hyper-technological landscape. We will trace the shift from natural history to evolutionary biology, give special attention to the American interest in entomology, ornithology, and botany, examine the quest to save pristine spaces, and read from the works of Buffon, Humboldt, Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Darwin, Aldo Leopold, Nabokov, among others. Perspectives on naming, classifying, ordering, and most especially, collecting, will come under scrutiny. Throughout the semester we will assess the strengths and weaknesses of the environmentalist movement, confront those who thought they could defy nature, transcend it, and even live without it. |
HIST | W4400 | SEM | America and the Natural World, 1800-Present | Leach, William | 4 | M 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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HIST W4481: Culture, Memory, Crisis in the US How have Americans used culture as a means of responding to, interpreting, and memorializing periods of social, economic, and political crisis? Do these periods create breaks in cultural forms and practices? Or do periods of significant upheaval encourage an impetus to defend cultural practices, thereby facilitating the ?invention of tradition?? How are the emotional responses produced by critical moments?whether trauma, outrage, insecurity, or fear?turned into cultural artifacts? And, finally, how are cultural crises memorialized? This course focuses on Americans? cultural responses to the lynching of black Americans in the era of World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II to answer these questions. We will examine a wide range of individual and collective cultural expressions, including anti-lynching plays and songs, WPA programs, the 1939 World?s Fair, war photographs and radio broadcasts, the zoot suit and swing culture, and the military?s effort to preserve culture in European war areas. |
HIST | W4481 | SEM | Culture, Memory, Crisis in the US | Hallett, Hilary-Anne | 4 | M 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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HIST W4535: 20th Century New York City History This course explores critical areas of New York's economic development in the 20th century, with a view to understanding the rise, fall and resurgence of this world capital. Discussions also focus on the social and political significance of these shifts. Assignments include primary sources, secondary readings, film viewings, trips, and archival research. Students use original sources as part of their investigation of New York City industries for a 20-page research paper. An annotated bibliography is also required. Students are asked to give a weekly update on research progress, and share information regarding useful archives and websites. |
HIST | W4535 | SEM | 20th Century New York City History | Jackson, Kenneth | 4 | M 6:10pm-8:00pm |
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HIST BC4542: Education in American History Consideration of the place educational institutions, educational ideas, and educators have played in American life. Emphasis will be on the connection between education and social mobility. |
HIST | BC4542 | SEM | Education in American History | Woloch, Nancy | 4 | T 11:00am-12:50pm |
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HIST BC4587: Modern Representations of Slavery Remembering Slavery: Critiquing Modern Representations of the Peculiar Institution. The enslavement of people of African descent signifies a crucial historical and cultural marker not only for African-Americans but also for Americans in general. We will interrogate how and why images of slavery continue to be invoked within the American sociocultural landscape (e.g., in films, documentaries, historical novels, and science fiction). |
HIST | BC4587 | SEM | Modern Representations of Slavery | Naylor, Celia | 4 | T 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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HIST BC4678: Idea of Western Hemisphere Interdisciplinary examination of conceptualizations of the Western Hemisphere as a distinct geoculture from the age of Bolivar and Jefferson to that of Chávez and Obama. Working across media and expansively engaging primary sources we interrogate the international political economy of geography and the role of culture in international history. |
HIST | BC4678 | SEM | Idea of Western Hemisphere | TBD | 4 | M 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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HIST W4768: Writing Contemporary African History An exploration of the historiography of contemporary (post-1960) Africa, this course asks what African history is, what is unique about it, and what is at stake in its production. |
HIST | W4768 | SEM | Writing Contemporary African History | Mann, Gregory | 4 | W 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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HIST BC4953: Anarchism: A Global History Explores the historical development of anarchism as a working-class, youth, and artistic movement in Europe, North and Latin America, the Middle East, India, Japan, and China from the 1850s to the present. Examines anarchism both as an ideology and as a set of cultural and political practices. |
HIST | BC4953 | SEM | Anarchism: A Global History | Moya, Jose | 4 | W 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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HSME W3260: Rethinking Middle East Politics Description not currently available |
HSME | W3260 | LEC | Rethinking Middle East Politics | Mitchell, Timothy | 3 | MW 2:40pm-3:55pm |
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MDES W3000: Theories of Culture: Middle East/South Asia Critical introduction to theories of culture as they are related to the Middle East and South Asia. Enables students to articulate their emerging knowledge of these two regions and cultures in a theoretically informed language. |
MDES | W3000 | LEC | Theories of Culture: Middle East/South Asia | Diouf, Mamadou | 4 | TR 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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MDES W3923: Central Question in Islamic Law Description not currently available |
MDES | W3923 | SEM | Central Question in Islamic Law | Hallaq, Wael | 3 | T 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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MDES W3942: Introduction to Modern African History Description not currently available |
MDES | W3942 | LEC | Introduction to Modern African History | Diouf, Mamadou | 3 | MW 9:10am-10:25am |
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MDES G4000: Theory and Methods- Middle East & Asia Explores recent studies on the Middle East with explicitly stated theoretical orientations that may be grouped under three broad catagories of nationalism, discipline, and power and resistance. Methodologies as diverse as comparative method, post-structuralism, narrative, and ethnography are not investigated in the abstract but in the context of rich empirical case studies. |
MDES | G4000 | SEM | Theory and Methods- Middle East & Asia | Kaviraj, Sudipta | 3 | W 11:00am-12:50pm |
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MDES G4062: Global Political Thought Description not currently available |
MDES | G4062 | SEM | Global Political Thought | Kaviraj, Sudipta | 3 | W 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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PHIL V2101: History of Philosophy: Pre-Socratics-Augutine Exposition and analysis of the positions of the major philosophers from the pre-Socratics through Augustine. Discussion Section Required. |
PHIL | V2101 | LEC | History of Philosophy: Pre-Socratics-Augutine | Mann, Wolfgang | 4 | MW 1:10pm-2:25pm |
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PHIL V2110: Philosophy and Feminism Is there an essential difference between women and men? How do questions about race conflict or overlap with those about gender? Is there a "normal" way of being "queer"? Introduction to philosophy and feminism through a critical discussion of these and other questions using historical and contemporary texts, art, and public lectures. Focus includes essentialism, difference, identity, knowledge, objectivity, and queerness. |
PHIL | V2110 | LEC | Philosophy and Feminism | Mercer, Christia | 3 | MW 10:35am-11:50am |
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PHIL V2702: Contemporary Moral Problems In this class, we will discus the moral dimensions of several contemporary issues, including (but not limited to) affirmative action, abortion, poverty, the treatment of non-human animals, punishment, and terrorism. As we delve into these specific issues, we will also explore different conceptions of morality and justice, and the presuppositions about human nature and value that underlie them. |
PHIL | V2702 | LEC | Contemporary Moral Problems | Bell, Macalester | 3 | TR 1:10pm-2:25pm |
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PHIL V3301: Twentieth-Century Philosophy A survey of the precursors and founders of the three movements of 20th century analytical philosophy: Pragmatism, Logical Positivism and Linguistic Analysis, through selected texts of pragmatism including James, Peirce and Dewey; and the texts of logical positivism including Russell, Carnap and Ayer as well as the texts of linguistic analysis that include Moore, Ryle, Austin and Wittenstein. This survey is followed by an exposition of the continental movements of phenomenology and existentialism with readings from Husserl, Heidegger and Sartre. A concluding review of some postmodernist tendencies that focuses on selected texts of Foucault and Berlin. |
PHIL | V3301 | LEC | Twentieth-Century Philosophy | Sidorsky, David | 3 | MW 1:10pm-2:25pm |
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PHIL V3353: European Social Thought Historical survey of European social philosophy, 18 to 20th century, with special attention to theories of capitalism and the normative concepts (freedom, alienation, human flourishing) that inform them. Further topic is the relations between society and the state. Readings from Smith, Hegel, Marx, and Weber. |
PHIL | V3353 | LEC | European Social Thought | Honneth, Axel | 3 | TR 2:40pm-3:55pm |
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PHIL V3653: Mind and Morals Examines theories of normative ethics against the background of studies in cognitive and social psychology. How important are empathy, self-knowledge, and cultural norms to determining what is the right thing to do? Topics include moral cognition, the rationality of certain ethical intuitions, and the possibility of altruism. |
PHIL | V3653 | LEC | Mind and Morals | Beardman, Stephanie | 3 | MW 2:40pm-3:55pm |
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PHIL V3701: Ethics Introduction to the three central theories of normative ethics: consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics; introduction to selected topics in meta-ethics. |
PHIL | V3701 | LEC | Ethics | Vogt, Katja | 4 | MW 11:00am-12:15pm |
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POLS V1601: International Politics Lecture and discussion. The basic setting and dynamics of global politics, with emphasis on contemporary problems and processes. |
POLS | V1601 | LEC | International Politics | Marten, Kimberly | 3 | MW 10:35am-11:50am |
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POLS BC3118: Coll: Problems in International Security Readings, discussions, and presentations on "Secession in Domestic and International Perspective." |
POLS | BC3118 | COL | Coll: Problems in International Security | TBD | 4 | M 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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POLS W3180: Liberty and Empire Recent geopolitical developments have brought the notions of empire and liberal imperialism to the fore. This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the history of Western imperialism, including the ancient empires of Athens and Rome, the Respublica Christiana, Europe's overseas expansion during the Early Modern period, Western colonialism and twentieth-century totalitarianism. Our focus will be on how these developments are reflected and conceptualized in the works of leading political theorists like Aristotle, Machiavelli, Tocqueville and Arendt. Particular emphasis will be placed on the dual theme of liberty and empire, and the classical republican idea of liberty at home and empire abroad. In a contemporary context, the course will touch on questions concerning national sovereignty, religious universalism, identitarian politics, the doctrine of human rights, and American exceptionalism. From a normative perspective, we will addresses a series of interrelated questions of great current import: Is empire compatible with liberal and democratic values broadly defined? What, if any, are the alternatives to empire and Western hegemony? And what is the price political, economic, military, and social of empire? To gain a more in-depth understanding of how these theoretical issues are played out and experienced on a more personal level, we will turn to literary and cinematographic works of fiction. |
POLS | W3180 | LEC | Liberty and Empire | Hornqvist, Mikael | 3 | TBD |
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POLS W3202: Labor and American Politics Description not currently available |
POLS | W3202 | LEC | Labor and American Politics | Warren, Dorian | 3 | MW 11:00am-12:15pm |
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POLS W3210: Judicial Politics Description not currently available |
POLS | W3210 | LEC | Judicial Politics | Lax, Jeffrey | 3 | TR 2:40pm-3:55pm |
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POLS W3215: Workshop in Media & Politics 2-credit workshop. Permission of the instructor is required before signing up for this course. Interested should contact instructor by email. The Workshop in Media and Politics is the academic component of a media internship, and is available to both Barnard and Columbia students. Through it the student receives two units of academic credit while working in a media-related job. The internships themselves must be pre-arranged independently or through the Office of Career Services. Any kind of media-related internship (radio, television, magazines, the music industry, public relations firms, government agencies, political campaigns, and so on) is potentially acceptable, but only if the student can relate the internship to larger issues of the role/impact of the mass media in contemporary politics. It is advised that students download the application form, fill it out, and bring it with them to the first meeting with the professor. An appointment for the first meeting should be arranged with the professor via email, or during office hours. |
POLS | W3215 | WKSHP | Workshop in Media & Politics | Knight, Kathleen | 2 | TBD |
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POLS W3220: Logic of Collective Choice Much (most?) of politics is about combining individual preferences or actions into collective choices. We will make use of two theoretical approaches. Our primary approach will be social choice theory, which studies how we aggregate what individuals want into what the collective �wants.� The second approach, game theory, covers how we aggregate what individuals want into what the group gets, given that social, economic, and political outcomes usually depend on the interaction of individual choices. The aggregation of preferences or choices is usually governed by some set of institutional rules, formal or informal. Our main themes include the rationality of individual and group preferences, the underpinnings and implications of using majority rule, tradeoffs between aggregation methods, the fairness of group choice, the effects of institutional constraints on choice (e.g., agenda control), and the implications for democratic choice. Most of the course material is highly abstract, but these abstract issues turn up in many real-world problems, from bargaining between the branches of government to campus elections to judicial decisions on multi-member courts to the allocation of relief funds among victims of natural disasters to the scoring of Olympic events. The collective choice problem is one faced by society as a whole and by the smallest group alike. |
POLS | W3220 | LEC | Logic of Collective Choice | Lax, Jeffrey | 3 | TR 10:35am-11:50am |
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POLS BC3331: American Political Decision Making Readings on decisionmaking, policy analysis, and the political setting of the administrative process. Students will simulate an ad hoc Cabinet Committee assigned to prepare a presidential program to deal with aspects of the foreign aid program involving hunger and malnutrition. |
POLS | BC3331 | COL | American Political Decision Making | Pious, Richard M | 4 | W 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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POLS V3401: Democracy and Dictatorship Europe Description not currently available |
POLS | V3401 | LEC | Democracy and Dictatorship Europe | Berman, Sheri | 3 | MW 10:35am-11:50am |
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POLS W3631: American Foreign Policy Introduction to American foreign policy since 1945 with an emphasis on post-cold war topics. Will cover major schools of American thought, the policy making process, and key policies and issues. |
POLS | W3631 | LEC | American Foreign Policy | Cronin, Bruce L | 3 | TBD |
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POLS BC3805: International Organization Exploration of the various structures, institutions, and processes that order relations among states and/or actors in the international system. Emphasis will be placed on contemporary issues such as dilemmas of humanitarian intervention, the politics of international institutions, the rise of non-governmental organizations, and globalization. |
POLS | BC3805 | COL | International Organization | Cooley, Alexander A | 4 | M 11:00am-12:50pm |
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POLS W3911: Political Theory Seminar: Religion and Democracy The class will be organized as a close reading of Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. |
POLS | W3911 | SEM | Political Theory Seminar: Religion and Democracy | Cohen, Jean | 4 | M 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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POLS W3921: Gays & Lesbians in American Politics Description not currently available |
POLS | W3921 | SEM | Gays & Lesbians in American Politics | Phillips, Justin | 4 | W 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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POLS W3921: 20th Century African-American Thought This course surveys the political and social thought of African-Americans during the 20th century. It will consider the social, political, and historical context of political ideologies in black communities, from the standpoint of early thinkers and activists such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, and Ida B. Wells-Barnett to post-World War II thinkers such as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, bell hooks, Cornel West, among others. The course will critically assess such perspectives as liberalism, nationalism, feminism, conservatism, and Marxism as considered by important black thinkers of the era. The course approaches the study of African Americans political and social thought from theoretical and historical perspectives. |
POLS | W3921 | SEM | 20th Century African-American Thought | Harris, Fredrick | 4 | R 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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POLS W3921: Quantitative Analysis/American Politics Description not currently available |
POLS | W3921 | SEM | Quantitative Analysis/American Politics | Hirano, Shiego | 4 | T 9:00am-10:50am |
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POLS W3921: Media and American Politics Both conventional wisdom and scholarly research about the role of the mass media in American politics have changed rapidly in a very short period of time. This course explores the influence of the mass media on politics with attention to changes in the relationship between the media and government. We will start with consideration of the historical role of the mass media and how it has changed. Then we will focus on the question of how much real influence the media have, and how it is exercised. This will involve examination of media treatment of substantive topics of current interest. These will include the fall political campaigns, the war, and additional topics chosen on the basis of student interest. This is a research seminar in American politics. Students are expected to engage in original empirical research on one of several topics in mass media and politics and to contribute to group efforts on data collection, coding, fact checking, cross-verification and review. In the event of excess demand, an application process with take place at the first class meeting. |
POLS | W3921 | SEM | Media and American Politics | Knight, Kathleen | 4 | W 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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POLS W3951: Size of Government Description not currently available |
POLS | W3951 | SEM | Size of Government | Goodhart, Lucy | 4 | T 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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POLS W3951: Democracy and Regime Change Description not currently available |
POLS | W3951 | SEM | Democracy and Regime Change | Kasara, Kimuli | 4 | T 11:00am-12:50pm |
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POLS W3961: National Security Policy Description not currently available |
POLS | W3961 | SEM | National Security Policy | Betts, Richard K | 4 | M 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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POLS W3961: Globalization and International Politics Globalization involves the increasing integration of economic, social and political processes across international borders. Workers in Bangalore man telephones in the middle of the night to provide technical support to customers in the US and Europe. Farmers in Chiapas and college students in Nice demonstrate against the World Bank. Multinational corporations and backyard business clamor for greater access to markets. Governments in Asia find that they are beholden to panic by investors a world away. To some degree, these processes (or ones like them) have always been with us. However, international politics, which has traditionally been organized around the physical control of geography by sovereign governments, increasingly poses tensions or contradictions as the scope of the world that defies boundaries increases. While globalization means many things to many different people, this course will begin to map some of the most obvious examples where sovereignty and the global society collide. Globalization defies easy definition in part because these processes are dynamic and ongoing. We will explore the economics, politics and conflict processes associated with a globalizing world. |
POLS | W3961 | SEM | Globalization and International Politics | Pinto, Pablo M | 4 | M 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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POLS W3961: Seminar in Foreign Policy/Decisionmaking How can we account for the foreign policies of states in the international system? Why do they behave the way they do? This seminar focuses on a critical examination of the major explanations for foreign policy outcomes. Our main emphasis is on decision-making. However, we will begin with explanations operating at other levels of analysis, such as the international system and domestic politics. We then explore decision-making explanations, including those derived from cognitive and social psychology, theories of motivation and personality, the impact of the political context, and the role of group dynamics. Throughout, we will be looking at these different approaches in the light of actual episodes taken largely, but not exclusively, from American foreign policy. |
POLS | W3961 | SEM | Seminar in Foreign Policy/Decisionmaking | Farnham, Barbara | 4 | R 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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POLS W4210: Research Topics in Game Theory Advanced topics in game theory will cover the study of repeated games, games of incomplete information and principal-agent models with applications in the fields of voting, bargaining, lobbying and violent conflict. Results from the study of social choice theory, mechanism design and auction theory will also be treated. The course will concentrate on mathematical techniques for constructing and solving games. Students will be required to develop a topic relating political science and game theory and to write a formal research paper. Prerequisite: W4209 or instructor's permission. |
POLS | W4210 | LEC | Research Topics in Game Theory | Ting, Michael | 3 | MW 2:40pm-3:55pm |
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POLS W4454: Politics Systems of South Asia This course first compares the post-independence political histories of South Asian countries, particularly India and Pakistan. It then explores selected topics across countries: social and cultural dimensions of politics; structures of power; and political behavior. The underlying theme is to explain the development and durability of the particular political regimes democratic or authoritarian in each country. |
POLS | W4454 | LEC | Politics Systems of South Asia | Oldenburg, Phillip | 3 | TR 1:10pm-2:25pm |
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POLS W4471: Chinese Politics Selected aspects of contemporary Chinese politics, including the causes and character of the Chinese revolution, the transformation worked in Chinese society by the revolutionary government, political conflict, and the goals of government policies and the policies of carrying them out. |
POLS | W4471 | LEC | Chinese Politics | TBD | 3 | TBD |
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POLS G4472: Japanese Politics Surveys key features of the Japanese political system, with focus on political institutions and processes. Themes include party politics, bureaucratic power, the role of the Diet, voting behavior, the role of the state in the economy, and the domestic politics of foreign policy |
POLS | G4472 | LEC | Japanese Politics | Shimizu, Kay | 3 | Location T 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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POLS G4491: Post-Soviet States and Markets Recommended preparation: some familiarity with Communist or post-Communist states. Considers the collapse of Communism in the Soviet Union and the challenge of building new political and economic systems in the post-Communist space. Evaluates contending theories of markets, transitions, constitutions, federalism, and democratic institutions. Primary focus on the post-Soviet states, with some reference to Eastern Europe and China. |
POLS | G4491 | LEC | Post-Soviet States and Markets | Frye, Timothy | 3 | R 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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POLS W4496: Contemporary African Politics Topics include the transition from colonialism to independence, ethnic and class relations, the state, strategies for development, international influences, and case studies of selected countries. |
POLS | W4496 | LEC | Contemporary African Politics | Kasara, Kimuli | 3 | MW 10:35am-11:50am |
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POLS G4610: Recent Continental Political Thought Description not currently available |
POLS | G4610 | LEC | Recent Continental Political Thought | Cohen, Jean | 3 | W 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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POLS W4895: War, Peace & Strategy Survey of the causes of war and peace, functions of military strategy, interaction of political ends and military means. Emphasis on 20th-century conflicts; nuclear deterrence; economic, technological, and moral aspects of strategy; crisis management; and institutional norms and mechanisms for promoting stability. |
POLS | W4895 | LEC | War, Peace & Strategy | Betts, Richard K | 3 | MW 11:00am-12:15pm |
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POLS W4910: Quantitative Political Research Introduction to the use of quantitative techniques in political science and public policy. Topics include descriptive statistics and principles of statistical inference and probability through analysis of variance and ordinary least-squares regression. Computer applications are emphasized. |
POLS | W4910 | LEC | Quantitative Political Research | Shapiro, Robert | 3 | TR 10:35am-11:50am |
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RELI V3311: Islam in Post-Colonial World This course focuses on the multiple manifestations of the Islamic vision in the modern world. It begins with a survey of core Muslim beliefs before shifting to an examination of the impact of colonization and secular modernity on contemporary formulations of Islam. |
RELI | V3311 | LEC | Islam in Post-Colonial World | Haider, Najam I | 3 | MW 2:40pm-3:55pm |
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RELI V3602: Religion in America I Survey of American religion from the Civil War to the present, with the emphasis on the ways religion has shaped American history, culture, identity. |
RELI | V3602 | LEC | Religion in America I | Balmer, Randall | 3 | TR 10:35am-11:50am |
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RELI W4322: Exploring Sharia: Islamic Law The platform of every modern Islamist political party calls for the implementation of the sharia. This term is invariably (and incorrectly) interpreted as an unchanging legal code dating back to 7th century Arabia. In reality, Islamic law is an organic and constantly evolving human project aimed at ascertaining Gods will in a given historical and cultural context. This course offers a detailed and nuanced look at the Islamic legal methodology and its evolution over the last 1400 years. The first part of the semester is dedicated to classical Islamic jurisprudence, concentrating on the manner in which jurists used the Quran, the Sunna (the model of the Prophet), and rationality to articulate a coherent legal system. The second part of the course focuses on those areas of the law that engender passionate debate and controversy in the contemporary world. Specifically, we examine the discourse surrounding Islamic family (medical ethics, marriage, divorce, womens rights) and criminal (capital punishment, apostasy, suicide/martyrdom) law. The course concludes by discussing the legal implications of Muslims living as minorities in non-Islamic countries and the effects of modernity on the foundations of Islamic jurisprudence |
RELI | W4322 | SEM | Exploring Sharia: Islamic Law | Haider, Najam | 4 | W 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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RELI W4620: Religious Worlds of New York Exploration of religious diversity in New York City with emphasis on the current historical moment. Meetings will focus on the impact of immigrant and migrant cultures on New York's religious landscape and on texts that explore the experiences and histories of religious communities in New York. Students conduct supervised research on and observation of a particular religious site or community. |
RELI | W4620 | SEM | Religious Worlds of New York | Bender And Hawley | 4 | W 11:00am-12:50pm |
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SOCI W1000: The Social World Identification of the distinctive elements of sociological perspectives on society. Readings confront classical and contemporary approaches with key social issues that include power and authority, culture and communication, poverty and discrimination, social change, and popular uses of sociological concepts. |
SOCI | W1000 | LEC | The Social World | Bearman, Peter | 3 | TR 9:10am-10:25am |
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SOCI V2420: Race and Place in Urban America Analyzing the relationship between race/ethnicity and spatial inequality, emphasizing the institutions, processes, and mechanisms that shape the lives of urban dwellers. Surveying major theoretical approaches and empirical investigations of racial and ethnic stratification in several urban cities, and their concomitant policy considerations. |
SOCI | V2420 | LEC | Race and Place in Urban America | Carla L Shedd | 3 | TR 2:40pm-3:55pm |
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SOCI W3243: China Today: Change, Inequality, Social Life Comprehensive introduction to the major social issues in contemporary China. Not a survey in general Chinese history, but a discussion of important thematic issues, we will read and discuss with an emphasis on changes in the post-Mao era. Meant to be interdisciplinary, incorporating readings in anthropology, history, economics, political science, a number of important subjects will be discussed: state politics in pre-reform China since the 1949 revolution, shift to market reforms since 1978, rural China, and various population issues. |
SOCI | W3243 | LEC | China Today: Change, Inequality, Social Life | Lu, Yao | 3 | TR 4:10pm-5:25pm |
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SOCI W3264: The Changing American Family Examines social forces contributing to changes in U.S. family formation including declines in marriage, increases in nonmarital childbearing, and women's labor force participation. Analyzes forces affecting growth of "non-traditional" families including lesbian/gay, multigenerational families. Particular attention given to urban, suburban, rural contexts of poverty. |
SOCI | W3264 | LEC | The Changing American Family | Aidala, Angela | 3 | MW 4:10pm-5:25pm |
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SOCI W3277: Post Racial America? What is race? Is the US a post-racial society? Is such a society desirable? Is a post-racial society necessarily a just and egalitarian one? We consider these questions from ethnographic, historical, and theoretical perspectives. Topics discussed include intersectionality, multiracial identity, colorism, genetics, and the race and/or class debate. |
SOCI | W3277 | LEC | Post Racial America? | Nelson, Alondra R | 3 | MW 4:10pm-5:25pm |
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SOCI V3285: Israeli Society Description not currently available |
SOCI | V3285 | LEC | Israeli Society | Cohen, Yinon | 3 | TR 4:10pm-5:25pm |
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SOCI W3324: Global Urbanism Using classical texts about cities (do they still work for us?) and on the diverse new literatures on cities and larger subjects with direct urban implications, we will use a variety of data sets to get at detailed empirical information, and draw on two large ongoing research projects involving major and minor global cities around the world (a total of over 60 cities are covered in detail as of 2008). |
SOCI | W3324 | LEC | Global Urbanism | Sassen, Saskia J | 3 | MW 2:40pm-3:55pm |
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SOCI W3355: Religion and Politics Exploring the major themes of religion and politics in the contemporary world: how did the major thinkers conceptualize the role of religion in society, the relationship between religion and politics, and state and church? How do different religions conceptualize and give life to these arrangements? After a mix of theoretical and historical readings, we study various substantive examples of the relationship between religion and politics, within differing contexts, different religions as well as different nation-states. |
SOCI | W3355 | LEC | Religion and Politics | Barkey, Karen | 3 | MW 10:35am-11:50am |
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SOCI W3490: Mistake, Misconduction, Disaster How Organizations Fail - the fundamental principles of organizations, examining how and why organizations fail, producing harmful outcomes. Studying failures opens up parts of organizations for public view that are seldom seen; studying the dark side is especially revealing. Students will examine cases to identify the causes of failures and think about what kind of strategies can be developed that prevent failure. |
SOCI | W3490 | LEC | Mistake, Misconduction, Disaster | Vaughan, Diane | 3 | MW 4:10pm-5:25pm |
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SOCI BC3911: Social Contexts Immigration Law Examines the historical and contemporary social, economic, and political factors that shape immigration law and policy along with the social consequences of those laws and policies. Addresses the development and function of immigration law and aspects of the immigration debate including unauthorized immigration, anti-immigration sentiments, and critiques of immigration policy. |
SOCI | BC3911 | SEM | Social Contexts Immigration Law | Salyer, John | 4 | R 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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SOCI W3945: Inequality and Public Policy Economic inequality in the United States; the roles of labor market processes and inheritance with respect to wealth assimilation; assets and the poor; public policies in regard to income redistribution; taxation of income, wealth, and bequests; issues in poverty policy. |
SOCI | W3945 | SEM | Inequality and Public Policy | Spilerman, Seymour | 4 | W 2:10pm-4:00pm |
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SOCI G4042: Economic Sociology Meets Economic Geography For students interested in economic and organizational sociology, in the interplay of local and global forces, in political economy, and in the intersection of business and policy studies, the course is to be a graduate level seminar tracing the development and future direction of the conversation between the fields of economic sociology and economic geography. |
SOCI | G4042 | LEC | Economic Sociology Meets Economic Geography | Whitford, Joshua | 3 | R 4:10pm-6:00pm |
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SOCI G4370: Processes of Stratification and Inequality The nature of opportunity in American society; the measurement of inequality; trends in income and wealth inequality; issues of poverty and poverty policy; international comparisons. |
SOCI | G4370 | SEM | Processes of Stratification and Inequality | Spilerman, Seymour | 3 | T 11:00am-12:50pm |
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SPAN W3300: Advanced Language through Content Description not currently available |
SPAN | W3300 | LEC | Advanced Language through Content | Multiple | 3 | Multiple sections |
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URBS V3920: Social Entrepreneurship Introduction to the main concepts and processes associated with the creation of new social enterprises, policies, programs, and organizations; criteria for assessing business ventures sponsored by non-profits and socially responsible initiatives undertaken by corporations; specific case studies using New York City as a laboratory. |
URBS | V3920 | SEM | Social Entrepreneurship | Kamber, Thomas | 4 | M 6:10pm-8:00pm |
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WMST V1001: Introduction to Women and Gender Studies Starting with the lives and experiences of women in the West, historical, comparative, and global perspectives are incorporated to introduce the commonalities and differences that mark women's lives. Also, investigates how gender intersects with such categories as race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, age, and religion. |
WMST | V1001 | SEM | Introduction to Women and Gender Studies | Ciolkowski, Laura | 3 | TR 11:00am-12:15pm |
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WMST BC2140: Critical Approaches Introduction to key concepts from social theory as they are appropriated in critical studies of gender, race, sexuality, class and nation. We will explore how these concepts are taken up from different perspectives to address particular social problems, and the effects of these appropriations in the world. |
WMST | BC2140 | LEC | Critical Approaches | Tadiar, Neferti | 3 | M 1:10pm-2:25pm |
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WMST V3112: Feminist Texts II Contemporary issues in feminist thought. A review of the theoretical debates on sex roles, feminism and socialism, psychoanalysis, language, and cultural representations. Authors include Simone de Beauvoir, J. S. Mill, A. Kollantai, Zora Neale Hurston, and others. |
WMST | V3112 | COLL | Feminist Texts II | Kessler-Harris | 4 | TBD |
This list is for the Columbia Undergraduate Human Rights Concentration. An informal list of additional human rights and related courses is maintained by the Institute for the Study of Human Rights (ISHR). Courses on ISHR's list do not necessarily fulfill the requirements of any human rights program.
