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Catalogue 2019-2020 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Course Descriptions
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Political Science: II. Intermediate D. Political Theory |
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POLI 275 - Reconsidering Western Political Thought
1 unit(s)
An engagement with the debated meanings and worldly political manifestations of selected, classical texts of “Western” political theory. Texts and interpretive literature vary from semester to semester and, in order to consider the “Western” quality of political theory, are read in conversation with texts understood to be discursively outside, or on the borders of, “the West.” Andrew Davison.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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POLI 277 - The Politics of Capitalism Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
An examination of theories of the relationship between capitalism, politics and the state. Central concerns include tendencies toward fiscal crisis, war, and waste; the impact of capital on political power and the sabotage of democracy; ideology, class consciousness and the potential for resistance from below. Authors to be considered include, among others, Thorstein Veblen, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Franz Neurmann, C. Wright Mills, and Sheldon Wolin. Sidney Plotkin.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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Political Science: II. Intermediate: E. Other |
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POLI 290 - Community-Engaged Learning Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
Individual or group field projects or internships with prior approval of the adviser. Students are expected to do substantial directed reading in theoretical material specifically related to the field placement prior to or in conjunction with the field experience; to develop in consultation with a faculty supervisor a set of questions based on the theoretical reading to guide the field observations; to submit a written report relating the theoretical reading to the field observations or, in lieu of a report and at the option of the department, to take a final oral examination administered by two faculty members. No more than 1 unit of community-engaged learning (290) may be counted toward fulfilling the requirements of the minimum major. The Department.
Special permission.
Course Format: INT
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POLI 298 - Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
Independent work is normally based on a student’s desire to study with an instructor a specialized aspect of a course taken with that instructor. One unit normally entails substantial directed reading and/or the writing of a long paper and biweekly conferences with the instructor. In no case shall independent work satisfy the subfield distribution requirement. The department.
Special permission.
Course Format: OTH
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Political Science: III. Advanced A. Optional Senior Thesis Seminars in the 340s, 350s, 360s, and 370s are generally limited to twelve students and require permission of the instructor. Students taking seminars are expected to have taken relevant course-work at a lower level. The content of seminars can vary from year to year depending upon interests of students and instructors. Seminars might focus on topics too specialized to receive exhaustive treatment in lower-level courses; they might explore particular approaches to the discipline or particular methods of research; they might be concerned with especially difficult problems in political life, or be oriented toward a research project of the instructor. The thesis (POLI 300 , POLI 301 , POLI 302 ) and senior independent work (POLI 399 ) require permission of the instructor.
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POLI 300 - Senior Thesis Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
A 1-unit thesis, written in the fall semester.
Special permission.
Course Format: INT
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POLI 301 - Senior Thesis Semester Offered: Fall
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
A 1-unit thesis written in two semesters.
Special permission.
Yearlong course 301-POLI 302 .
Course Format: INT
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POLI 302 - Senior Thesis Semester Offered: Spring
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
A 1-unit thesis written in two semesters.
Special permission.
Yearlong course POLI 301 -302.
Course Format: INT
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Political Science: III. Advanced B. American Politics Seminars |
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POLI 341 - Seminar in Congressional Politics: U.S. House and Senate Election Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
This seminar is focused on U.S. congressional elections, with some attention also devoted to interrelationships between voting for Congress and voting for the president. The ideas covered in the course are applied to the specific context of the 2010 midterms and the forthcoming 2012 elections. Among the topics studied are the following: 1) the ongoing massive redistricting of congressional districts; 2) the electoral effects of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision of 2010; 3) the emergence of 501(c)(4) “non-profit” groups and Super-PACs as major players in campaign financing; 4) the development of ever more sophisticated campaign technology, like “microtargeting” of voters; 5) the transformation of southern House and Senate seats from Democratic to Republican control; and 6) the increasing partisan polarization of American elections. Richard Born.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: CLS
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POLI 342 - Judicial Politics, Power and Rights Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Rights constitute a critical component of American political discourse. The government routinely commits itself to upholding rights while minority groups advance rights claims to influence policy and challenge the status quo. This seminar examines the United States Supreme Court as a site of political contestation, with a particular emphasis on the Court’s ability to recognize and rescind rights. We explore fundamental questions such as: What are rights? If, when, and why do rights have power in the American political context? What authority and power do justices have to interpret and enforce rights? And what happens when rights conflict? In answering these questions, we focus on social and political movements in the United States that use rights-claims, as well as the various advantages, limitations and problems that accompany rights-based appeals.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: CLS
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POLI 343 - Seminar in Constitutional Theory Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
This seminar focuses on some core problems pertaining to constitutional interpretation, examining questions of constitutional theory and interpretation as they relate to issues of equality and full citizenship. The course discusses the nature and function of the Constitution, explores theories about how the Constitution should be interpreted, and examines the methods that interpreters use to decipher the meanings of constitutional provisions. These concerns are addressed by focusing on various dimensions of constitutional theories and decisions pertaining to questions related to anti-discrimination law. Some of the issues covered include standards of judicial review, Supreme Court interpretations of equal protection, the constitutional protection of groups as well as individuals, and the appropriateness of constitutional protections rooted in color-blind and gender-blind principles. Luke Harris.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: CLS
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POLI 346 - Race and Gender in Judicial Politics Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as AFRS 346 ) This seminar explores the centrality of race/ethnicity and gender in the American judicial process and system. The course is designed to promote and facilitate healthy discussions and debates about the level, nature, and importance of judicial diversity in the American justice system. After examining the diversity levels on the state and federal bench and how those levels have changed over the last century, students consider factors that improve and/or limit judicial diversity such as the selection process and evaluations of judicial performance. Afterwards, students explore the value of judicial diversity. Special attention is given to judicial decision-making behavior, and the extent to which the courts protect minority rights and provide redress for historical injustices. The course concludes with students considering the issues presently facing our legal system such as mass incarceration, the proliferation of for-profit prisons, racial and gender bias in the criminal justice system, and demands for criminal justice reform. Taneisha Means
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: CLS
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POLI 348 - Seminar in Democracy and Power in America
1 unit(s)
An examination of tensions and adjustments between democratic ideals and the structures and practices of political and economic power in the United States. Sidney Plotkin.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor, normally an intermediate-level course in American Politics.
One 2-hour period.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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Political Science: III. Advanced C. Comparative Politics Seminars |
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POLI 351 - Africana Studies Seminar Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as AFRS 351 ) This seminar explores both historical and contemporary debates within the field of Africana Studies. Students examine a variety of subjects and themes encompassing different disciplinary and interdisciplinary works drawn from the humanities and social sciences. The critical perspectives that the seminar engages draw attention to the political, representational and explanatory value of a variety of genres of expression and knowledge practices. By delving into philosophical, historical, aesthetic and political analyses of Africa and African Diaspora societies, subjects and practices, students acquire a deep understanding of Africana research methods culminating in a substantive research project. The particular subject and themes explored vary with the faculty teaching the course. Samson Opondo.
Prerequisite(s): AFRS 100 or permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: CLS
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POLI 352 - Redemption and Diplomatic Imagination in Postcolonial Africa
1 unit(s)
(Same as AFRS 352 ) This seminar explores the shifts and transformations in the discourse and practice of redemptive diplomacy in Africa. It introduces students to the cultural, philosophical and political dimensions of estrangement and the mediation practices that accompany the quest for recognition, meaning and material well-being in selected colonial and postcolonial societies. Through a critical treatment of the redemptive vision and diplomatic imaginaries summoned by missionaries, anti-colonial resistance movements and colonial era Pan-Africanists, the seminar interrogates the ‘idea of Africa’ produced by these discourses of redemption and their implications for diplomatic thought in Africa. The insights derived from the interrogation of foundational discourses on African redemption are used to map the transformation of identities, institutional forms, and the minute texture of everyday life in postcolonial Africa. The seminar also engages modern humanitarianism, diasporic religious movements, Non-Governmental Organizations and neoliberal or millennial capitalist networks that seek to save Africans from foreign forces of oppression or ‘themselves.’ Samson Opondo.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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POLI 355 - Seminar on Violence
1 unit(s)
This seminar explores the many manifestations of political violence. Drawing from cases around the world, we examine: 1) a range of theoretical explanations of violence; 2) how governments and societies address systematic violations of human rights of their pasts; 3) organized insurgency and counterinsurgency response; and 4) extremely high levels of violence as an every day social phenomenon. The seminar attempts to address the influences, linkages, and implications of past and present violence for these societies; present and future politics and culture. Case studies come from Latin America, Africa, Southeast Asia, and the United States. Katherine Hite.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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POLI 358 - State, Market and Development Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
The turmoil in the global economy has ignited a fierce debate about the proper role of government across the world. Does this mark the end of the free market ideology? Are governments going to take over more responsibilities in managing the economy and society? To engage these important questions, this course embarks on an intellectual journey to explore similar debates in the past and examine a variety of choices countries have made in different time periods and in different regions of the world. After a general discussion of some major analytical traditions in political economy, the course revisits scholarly exchanges over mercantilist policies in the 19th century, Marxist and Polanyian critiques of capitalism, structuralist theories in the mid-20th century, East Asian development in the 1980s, the socialist transition in the 1990s, and globalization in the 21st century. The course concludes with some new insights from the reinvigorated research in institutionalism and the welfare state. Particular attention is paid to the variegated conceptualization of development and intellectual bases for the role of state and market. Fubing Su.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: CLS
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POLI 381 - The Politics of Memory Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
This seminar is a multidisciplinary exploration of the politics of memory, broadly understood as the relationships of atrocious political pasts to the present. The seminar draws from comparative politics, international relations, political theory, media studies, art history, psychoanalysis, journalism, and fiction to examine and analyze the significance of the many manifestations of memory for politics. Works and sites examined include testimonies, declassified government documents, memorials, museums, artwork, performance, and trials, from around the globe. The seminar may include site visits. Katherine Hite.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: CLS
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Political Science: III. Advanced D. International Politics Seminars |
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POLI 360 - The Ethics of War and Peace
1 unit(s)
This course considers the moral rights and obligations of states, political and military leaders, soldiers, and ordinary citizens with respect to war and peace. Taking just war theory as our point of departure, we concentrate on three major questions: (1) When, if ever, is the use of military force permissible? (2) How may military force be used? (3) Who is responsible for ensuring that force is used only at a permissible time and in a permissible manner? Students are encouraged to develop positions on these matters and to apply them to recent and contemporary cases involving the use or potential use of force. Stephen Rock.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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POLI 361 - Struggles over Jurisdiction in Global Politics Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
In this class, we examine struggles over legal authority in global politics, focusing on relations between the “Global North” and “Global South.” We begin by examining how, during early periods of colonial expansion, European legal authority (or “jurisdiction”) came to be grounded in notions of race, discovery and conquest. However, we focus on how such groundings have been, and continue to be, contested, particularly in anti-colonial struggles. We pay particular attention to relationships between legal authority and violence, including by examining claims and attributions of legal authority that attempt to avoid or modify such relationships. We also reflect on how we understand the relationships between concepts like “law”, “sovereignty” and “the state.”
Possible moments/sites/campaigns through which we think through these questions include the Third World movement for Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources, “people’s tribunals” on U.S. war crimes (for example, in Vietnam and Iraq), and the #NoDAPL movement. These moments/sites/campaigns are not always thought of as (international) struggles over jurisdiction: we consider what might be gained or lost by approaching them in this way. Freya Irani.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: CLS
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POLI 362 - Seminar in International Politics: Migration and Citizenship Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
This seminar addresses the causes and consequences of movement from countries such as Jamaica, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Algeria, Morocco, Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey, China and Mexico to post-industrial countries in Europe, and the United States.
The seminar first considers different reasons for why people move across state borders, such as the role of economic forces, the legacies of colonialism, and escape from violence.
The seminar then engages in a comparative analysis of the politics of ‘difference’ in post-industrial countries such as Britain, France, Germany, and the U.S.; and asks why these politics have played out quite differently in each country. Comparisons may also include minorities and the politics of ‘difference’ in countries of the former Soviet Union. So as to compare the politics of ‘difference,’ readings consider government policies to, societal views on, and experiences of migrants, minorities, and refugees. Readings address specific subjects including education policy in regard to the (grand) children of migrants; policies towards religious minorities; diverse views on the implications of multiculturalism and assimilation for gender inequity; perceptions on the economic consequences of immigration for other workers; and the sources and impact of anti-immigrant and anti-refugee political movements historically and contemporarily. Leah Haus.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: CLS
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POLI 363 - Decolonizing International Relations
1 unit(s)
(Same as ASIA 363 ) Colonial frameworks are deeply constitutive of mainstream international relations. Issues of global security, economy, and politics continue to be analyzed through perspectives that either silence or are impervious to the voices and agencies of global majorities. This seminar challenges students to enter into, reconstruct, and critically evaluate the differently imagined worlds of ordinary, subaltern peoples and political groups. We draw upon postcolonial theories to explore alternatives to the historically dominant explanations of international relations. Himadeep Muppidi.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period.
Not offered n 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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POLI 365 - Civil Wars and Rebel Movements
1 unit(s)
(Same as INTL 365 ) Since World War II, civil wars have vastly outnumbered interstate wars, and have killed, conservatively, five times as many people as interstate wars. This seminar explores contemporary civil wars from a variety of different angles and approaches drawn primarily from political science, but also other disciplines. In addition, we consider personal accounts, journalistic coverage, and fictional accounts that seek to illustrate the reality of contemporary warfare. The course is divided into several thematic sections, each of which emphasizes the transnational nature of contemporary civil wars. Primarily, we explore literature on the organization and behavior of rebel organizations by guerrilla theorists and academics. The course also covers a selection of differing perspectives on the causes and consequences of civil conflicts. Finally, we consider an array of related subjects including female participation in political violence and the response to civil war by the international community. Zachariah Mampilly.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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POLI 366 - Worlding International Relations
1 unit(s)
This seminar is a writing intensive course where we explore how prominent thinkers/scholars of international relations have engaged the task of writing alternative worlds into the field of politics. Though located in the periphery, how have various thinkers imagined, articulated and taken up the challenge of crossing multiple colonial borders? While we read various authors, our focus is primarily on the act and practice of writing itself. We closely consider how those we read write, and we write and study each other’s works in order to collectively think through, critique and help ourselves imagine and write into existence variously silenced aspects of international relations. Himadeep Muppidi.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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POLI 383 - Global Political Thought
1 unit(s)
Conventional international relations theory derives its core concepts primarily from Western political thought. Political relations in most of the world, however, are based on ways of imagining and acting that are constituted through different and multiple languages of political, economic and social thought. Classics such as The Shahnameh, The Ramayana, The Mahabharata, The Adventures of Amir Hamza, The Arthasastra, The Rayavacakamu offer textured understandings of worlds shaped by imaginations of order, justice, governance, power, authority and sovereignty. This seminar introduces students to some of these ways of thinking world politics through a careful reading of classic texts such as Popol Vuh, Sundiata, Muqaddimah, Ain-e-Akbari, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, The Tale of Genji, and Journey to the West. The idea is to read these classics as global texts rather than as the essences of specific cultures or civilizations. The focus is therefore on analyzing how certain classic texts have traveled, been translated, understood, or appropriated across various historical groupings. Himadeep Muppidi.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period.
Not offered in 2019/20
Course Format: CLS
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POLI 388 - Strategic Thinking in Global Affairs Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as HIST 388 ) This seminar explores strategic thinking to attain large ends with limited means. We examine a historical set of instances in which individuals, groups, and/or nations have attempted to harness political, military, diplomatic, economic, environmental, legal, and scientific resources to advance national and global interests. Because strategic thinking requires the art of reconciling ends and means, we also examine how a range of people and groups with various levels of power balance what they think and want with the constraints that they face. Elizabeth Bradley and Robert Brigham. Elizabeth Bradley
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: CLS
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POLI 395 - Thinking Africa: Conversations on the Thought of Achille Mbembe Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as AFRS 395 and FFS 395 ) The Intensive examines a select number of texts by Achille Mbembe, the Cameroonian postcolonial theorist and author of De La Postcolonie: Essai sur l’Imagination Politique dans L’Afrique Contemporaine (2000) [On The Postcolony (2001)], “Necropolitics” (2003), Sortir de la Grande Nuit (2010), Critique de la Raison Nègre (2013) [Critique of Black Reason (2016)]. Charting Mbembe’s intellectual history, the major debates and concepts he engages, and their implication for thinking with and about Africa, we discuss the complexity of an African thinker reflecting on the condition of a continent (and humanity at large).
A goal of this Intensive is to develop a greater critical fluency on what it means to think, read and write the world from Africa. With insights from Mbembe’s corpus and the work of his interlocutors, the Intensive explores the stakes of Mbembe’s thought and relates them to other lines of inquiry, reflection, and creativity. Working individually and collaboratively, the students undertake a large writing, translation, or creative project which engages an element of Mbembe’s work and relates it to an area of their intellectual interest.
This intensive is organized as a peer-to-peer, inter-disciplinary conversation hinging on three main activities: 1. Textual exegesis, translation (from French to English) of interviews, podcasts, and conference presentations, and critique. 2. Participation in two student-organized workshops with Mbembe’s interlocutors from different disciplines, e.g., Souleymane Bachir Diagne (Philosophy/French, Columbia University) and Abdourahman Waberi (Literature and Creative Writing, George Washington University). 3. Ongoing conversation and guided independent studies with the two professors teaching the intensive as they edit a volume on the themes of this intensive.
Working in English and French, this team-taught intensive allows students to collaboratively explore Mbembe’s ideas in ways that might not be possible in a traditional senior seminar. Our discussions will take place in English, with the French and Francophone Studies students reading some of the texts and writing their assignments in French for FFS credit. Patricia-Pia Celerier and Samson Opondo.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: INT
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Political Science: III. Advanced E. Political Theory Seminars |
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POLI 371 - Gender, Science and Politics
1 unit(s)
(Same as STS 371 and WMST 371 ) In a context that some have described as “post-truth,” and in which “marching for Science” has become a form of resistance to power, there are high stakes behind science literacy. When the climate sciences are helping us understand our ecological condition, yet climatology and the new discourse of “Anthropocene” also has begun legitimizing fantasies of geoengineering the Earth, what would a feminist climatology look like? In today’s digital age, when boundaries between real/unreal, physical/virtual, human/natural, female/male seem to collapse all around us, should we, more-than-women and more-than-men espouse our new cyborg selves, or cling to an image of women-as-goddesses oh-so-close to nature, and to images of men as taming, mastering, dominating nature? What are some alternatives beyond these possibilities? This course critically engages the sciences from a feminist theoretical perspective. We examine the ”situated” nature of scientific knowledge, against the positivist grain of scientific claims to Truth and objectivity. We also examine how feminist theorists have drawn from some dissensual and innovative scientific theories of late, to inspire provocative arguments about the environment, ontology, and normativity. Claire Sagan.
One 2-hour period.
Not offered in 2019/20.
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POLI 372 - New Materialism Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
This seminar is a non-exhaustive survey of a recent and prolific current in theory called “new materialism” and “the nonhuman turn.” Consisting mostly of feminist theorists, new materialists argue for the need to build upon, radicalize, and sometimes even break from the previous post-structuralist focus on discourse (the so-called “linguistic turn”). They argue that it is time to re-emphasize materiality, bodies, biology, evolution, ecologies, the nonhuman, the more-than-human, even the specter of the posthuman. This attempt is partly inspired by the rise of digital and surveillance capitalism resulting in the omnipresence of technology in our daily lives and in the production of “cyborg” (Donna Haraway) subjectivities or “dividuals” (Gilles Deleuze). New materialism has also emerged in response to the “intrusion of Gaia” (Isabelle Stengers) or what some have called the “Anthropocene,” or the “ecological crisis” (arguably more aptly described as “eco-catastrophe”). Claire Sagan.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: CLS
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POLI 376 - Ecological Catastrophe and Nietzsche’s Eternal Return
1 unit(s)
(Same as STS 376 ) This course explores several sorts of texts together, for thought experiments pertaining to our times of ecological catastrophe. We critically engage: 1) theories concerned with ecological collapse, extinction, catastrophism, and the oft-cited and ill-named Anthropocene 2) literature on Nietzsche within environmental political thought 3) literature on Nietzsche and gender 4) selected primary texts by Nietzsche. Examining the latter in close readings and in the context of our compromised ecological futures, we ask ourselves to what extent the Nietzschean concepts of “eternal return” and “will to power” may help us think in these troubled times: what would a feminist Nietzschean ecology look like? Claire Sagan.
One 2-hour period.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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POLI 384 - Seminar in Political Theory Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
An examination of selected theorists and problems in contemporary political theory. Mr. Davison.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: CLS
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Political Science: III. Advanced F. Other |
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POLI 399 - Senior Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
Independent work is normally based on a student’s desire to study with an instructor a specialized aspect of a course taken with that instructor. Normally 1 unit entails substantial directed reading, the writing of a long paper, and biweekly conferences with the instructor. This course cannot be used to satisfy the requirement of 2 units of 300-level work in the major. In no case shall independent work satisfy the subfield distribution requirement. The department.
Special permission.
Course Format: OTH
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Portuguese: I. Introductory |
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PORT 105 - Beginning Portuguese I Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Special Permission.
Year long course 105-PORT 106 .
Course Format: OTH
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PORT 106 - Beginning Portuguese II Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Special Permission.
Year long course PORT 105 -106.
Course Format: OTH
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Portuguese: II. Intermediate |
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PORT 210 - Intermed Portuguese I Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Special Permission.
Year long course 210-PORT 211 .
Course Format: OTH
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PORT 211 - Intermed Portuguese II Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Special Permission.
Year long course PORT 210 -211.
Course Format: OTH
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Portuguese: III. Advanced |
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PORT 310 - Advanced Portuguese I Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Special permission.
Course Format: OTH
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PORT 311 - Advanced Portuguese II Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Special permission.
Course Format: OTH
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Psychological Science: I. Introductory |
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PSYC 105 - Introduction to Psychological Science Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
This course is designed to introduce the student to fundamental psychological processes, their nature and development, and contemporary methods for their study through a survey of the major research areas in the field. Areas covered include the biological and evolutionary bases of thought and behavior, motivation and emotion, learning, memory, thinking, personality, developmental, and social psychology. Some sections of this course are taught as a traditional introductory survey. Other sections may take a more topical focus to their survey. In all sections, students are expected to participate in three hours of psychological research during the semester. The Department.
Topic for 2019/20a: Saving the planet: What’s Psyc got to do with it? This topical Introduction to Psychological Science focuses on climate change. It covers all of the topics of an introductory survey course, examining many of them through the lens of humans’ relationships with their environments, broadly construed. We apply the tools of evidence-based reasoning to identify facts and misinformation in climate change narratives. As we consider the genetic and physiological scaffolding of human and non-human behavior, we focus on organisms’ adaptations to and effects on their environments. We examine the role of the natural environment in physical and mental health and consider how insights from Psychological Science may inform individual and collective behaviors that support a sustainable environment. Sue Trumbetta.
Topic for 2019/20b: Sex on the Brain: The purpose of this course is to introduce you to the science of psychology via an exploration of contemporary research and theory on sex and sexuality. Special attention is devoted to scientific methodology in the study of sex and sexuality in order to give you a solid understanding of how psychologists and other scientists conduct their research and build theories about phenomena associated with sex.
Please note: This is not a human sexuality course; it is a psychology course that uses the study of human sexuality to introduce you to psychology. You leave the course not only with an understanding of the physiological, evolutionary, learning, developmental, personality and social psychological perspectives on human sexual behavior, among other topics, but also with the necessary knowledge and conceptual tools to continue your explorations in psychology and other experimental sciences. Randy Cornelius.
Open to all classes.
Enrollment limited.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 108 - Reading and Writing in Psychological Science Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
This first-year writing seminar is designed to develop critical reading skills across a range of work in Psychological Science and to practice different kinds of writing. Open only to first year students, this course satisfies the college requirement for a First-Year Writing Seminar. The specific topics of these first-year writing seminars in Psychological Science vary, and despite its variety of topics, this course may not be repeated for credit.
Topic for 2019/20a: Growing Up Poor in America. Poverty can have profound effects on the psychological development of children. In this course, we explore scientific and anecdotal accounts of those effects. Specific topics we explore include stress, relationships, racism and resilience. Readings include articles on the science of child development, including brain development, as well as memoirs and accounts of children’s experiences. Writing focuses on reporting scientific findings, and on relating that science to everyday life. Nicholas de Leeuw.
Open only to first year students; satisfies the college requirement for a First-Year Writing Seminar.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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Psychological Science: II. Intermediate |
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PSYC 200 - Statistics and Experimental Design Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
An overview of principles of statistical analysis and research design applicable to psychology and related fields. Topics include descriptive statistics and inferential statistics, concepts of reliability and validity, and basic concepts of sampling and probability theory. Students learn when and how to apply such statistical procedures as chi-square, z-tests, t-tests, Pearson product-moment correlations, regression analysis, and analysis of variance. The goal of the course is to develop a basic understanding of research design, data collection and analysis, interpretation of results, and the appropriate use of statistical software for performing complex analyses. Janet Andrews.
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 105 or its equivalent, COGS 100 or NEUR 105 .
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 201 - Principles of Social Psychology Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
The study of the individual under social influences, including such topics as attitude formation and change, prosocial behavior, aggression, social influence processes, group dynamics, attribution theory, and interpersonal communication processes. Psychology 201 may NOT be taken if PSYC 205 has already been taken. Dara Greenwood.
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 105 .
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 221 - Learning and Behavior Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
A survey of major principles that determine the acquisition and modification of behavior. Topics include the relation of learning and evolution, habituation and sensitization, classical and operant conditioning, reinforcement and punishment, stimulus control, choice behavior, animal cognition, concept formation, perceptual learning, language, reasoning, and self-control. Kevin Holloway.
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 105 .
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 222 - Psychological Perspectives on the Holocaust
1 unit(s)
(Same as JWST 222 ) The Holocaust has spawned several now classic programs of psychological research. This course considers topics such as: anti-Semitism and stereotypes of Jews; the authoritarian and altruistic personalities; conformity, obedience, and dissent; humanistic and existential psychology; and individual differences in stress, coping and resiliency. The broader implications of Holocaust-inspired research is explored in terms of traditional debates within psychology such as those on the role of the individual versus the situation in producing behavior and the essence of human nature. The ethical and logical constraints involved in translating human experiences and historical events into measurable/quantifiable scientific terms are also considered. Debra Zeifman.
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 105 .
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 223 - Evolutionary Psychology
1 unit(s)
The study of evolutionary theory, with attention to how it informs the developmental, ecological, genetic, and physiological explanations of behavior. Mark Cleaveland.
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 105 .
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 231 - Principles of Development Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
The study of principles and processes in developmental psychology, surveying changes in physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development during the life span. Major theoretical orientations to the growing person are illustrated by empirical material and supplemented by periodic observations of children in natural settings.
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 105 .
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 233 - Health Psychology
1 unit(s)
Health Psychology is the scientific study that applies psychological theory and empirical research to examine the promotion and maintenance of health and the prevention and treatment of illness. Students taking this course will gain a firm foundation in health psychology, and learn about the various scientific approaches to understanding the mind/body connection. This course takes a biopsychosocial approach and considers research and theory related to health promotion, illness prevention, and behavior change. Students learn about psychophysiological processes relevant to health psychology (e.g., immunology) and examine health processes in diverse populations with regard to age, ethnicity, socioeconomic backgrounds and health status. Topics may include health enhancing and health damaging behaviors, pain management, stress and coping. Emphasis is placed on critically evaluating primary sources, drawing from empirical studies in psychology, public health, and behavioral medicine. Michele Tugade.
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 105 .
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 237 - Early Childhood Education: Theory and Practice
1 unit(s)
(Same as EDUC 237 ) What is the connection between a textbook description of preschool development and what teachers do every day in the preschool classroom? This course examines curriculum development based on contemporary theory and research in early childhood. The emphasis is on implementing developmental and educational research to create optimal learning environments for young children. Major theories of cognitive development are considered and specific attention is given to the literatures on memory development; concepts and categories; cognitive strategies; peer teaching; early reading, math, and scientific literacy; and technology in early childhood classrooms. Julie Riess.
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 231 and permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period; 4 hours of laboratory participation.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 241 - Principles of Physiological Psychology Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as NEUR 241 ) The role of physiological systems, especially the brain, in the regulation of behavior. In addition to basic topics in neuroscience (neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neurochemistry and pharmacology), topics may include: sensory mechanisms, motivational systems (e.g., sleep, eating, reproductive behaviors), emotion, learning and memory, language, stress and psychopathology. Hadley Bergstrom, Lori Newman.
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 105 or its equivalent, or NEUR 105 .
Recommended: .
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 243 - Topics in Physiological Psychology Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as NEUR 243 ) The study of the functions of particular brain structures and their relation to behavior and mental activity. In addition to basic topics in neuroscience the course focuses on such topics as: perception, attention, memory, language, emotion, control of action, and consciousness. Neural alterations related to learning disabilities, neurological and psychiatric disorders may be examined as well. Abigail Baird.
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 105 .
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 253 - Individual Differences and Personality Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
An introduction to contemporary approaches to understanding personality. The focus of the course is on evaluating recent theories and research that attempt to uncover the underlying dimensions that distinguish one person from another. Emphasis is placed on understanding behavior in interactions with others; the development of personality over time; and people’s intuitive theories about personality, including their own. Randy Cornelius.
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 105 .
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 254 - Emotional Engagement with Film Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as FILM 254 and MEDS 254 ) While movies engage our emotions in psychologically significant ways, scholarship on the psychological allure and impact of film has existed primarily at the interdisciplinary margins. This course aims to bring such scholarship into the foreground. We begin with a careful examination of the appeal and power of narrative, as well as processes of identification and imagined intimacy with characters, before taking a closer analytical look at specific film genres (e.g., melodrama, horror, comedy, action, social commentary) both in their own right and in terms of their psychological significance (e.g., why do we enjoy sad movies? How do violent movies influence viewer aggression? How might socially conscious films inspire activism or altruism?) In addition to delving into theoretical and empirical papers, a secondary goal of the course is to engage students as collaborators; brainstorm and propose innovative experimental methods for testing research questions and hypotheses that emerge in step with course materials. Dara Greenwood, Sarah Kozloff.
Prerequisite(s): For Psychology majors - PSYC 105 ; for Film majors - FILM 175 or FILM 209 ; for Media Studies majors - MEDS 160 .
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 262 - Principles of Clinical Psychology and Psychopathology Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
A survey of research and theory concerning the nature, origins, and treatment of major psychological disorders. The course considers behavioral, biological, cognitive and psychodynamic approaches to understanding psychopathology. Topics may include schizophrenia, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, childhood disorders, and personality disorders. Allan Clifton, Susan Trumbetta.
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 105 .
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 269 - Research Methods in Clinical Psychology and Psychopathology Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
The study of research methods in psychopathology and clinical psychology. Every stage of research is considered: the generation of hypotheses, operationalization of variables, data collection, analysis and evaluation, and presentation of results. The focus is on the development of skills particular to research with clinical populations including ethical considerations, structured clinical interviews, behavioral observations, reliable and valid assessment, and measurement of change over time. Jannay Morrow.
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 200 and PSYC 262 .
Two 2-hour periods.
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 281 - Topics in Cognitive Psychology: Cognition and Education Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
A presentation of various topics in human cognition and education including collaborative learning, multimedia learning, working memory, testing effect, metacognition, judgement and decision making, and false memory. Current theory, research, application and integration of cognitive theories in educational settings are emphasized. Bavani Paneerselvam
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 105 or COGS 100.
Two 75 minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 289 - Introduction to Neuroanatomy Semester Offered: Spring
0.5 unit(s)
This course is a lab-based 0.5 credit, 6-week course strongly focused on comparative neuroanatomy, from neurocytology to neural pathways/systems and gross anatomy. It is designed for Psychology, Neuroscience and Behavior, and Biology majors as well as other students interested in gaining a more thorough, hands-on understanding of central nervous system (and to a small extent peripheral nervous system) structure and function. Laboratory exercises are the focus of the course and include tissue dissection, slide preparation and analysis, as well as evaluation of published micrographs, prepared tissue slides and virtual neuroanatomy tools. Bojana Zupan.
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 105 or BIOL 106 .
Both first and second six-week course.
One 3-hour period and one 50-minute period.
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PSYC 290 - Community-Engaged Learning Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
0.5 to 2 unit(s)
Individuals or group field projects or internships, with prior approval of the adviser and the instructor who supervises the work. May be elected during the college year or during the summer. The department.
Course Format: INT
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PSYC 298 - Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
Individual or group studies with prior approval of the adviser and of the instructor who supervises the work. May be elected during the college year. The Department.
Course Format: INT
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Psychological Science: III. Advanced Open to seniors. For majors, satisfactory completion of a research methods course (PSYC 209 , PSYC 229 , PSYC 239 , PSYC 249 , PSYC 259 ) is a prerequisite for these courses. Seminar seats are assigned according to a department lottery system. Please contact department office for lottery information. Non-majors and juniors should consult the instructor.
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PSYC 301 - Seminar in Social Psychology Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
An intensive study of selected topics in social psychology. Emphasis is placed on current theories, issues, and research areas. Dara Greenwood, Michele Tugade.
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 201 , a research methods course in Psychological Science, and permission of the instructor.
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 321 - Seminar in Animal Learning and Behavior Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
An in-depth analysis of selected mechanisms of learning and behavior. Topics can vary from year to year, but may include animal cognition, language and communication, behavioral ecology, and recent advances in the theory and neurophysiology of learning and behavior. Hadley Bergstrom.
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 221 or PSYC 223 , a research methods course in Psychological Science, and permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 323 - Seminar in Evolutionary Psychology
1 unit(s)
Applications of comparative psychology to a specific topic. Topics can vary from year to year, and have in the past included altruism, sex differences, aggression, language, etc. The focus is how theory and data from other species inform questions about human functioning.
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 221 or PSYC 223 or BIOL 340 , a research methods course in Psychological Science, and permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 331 - Seminar in Developmental Psychology Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Seminar in current issues, research, and theory in developmental psychology. Topics vary and may include laboratory work.
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 231 , a research methods course in Psychological Science, and permission of the instructor.
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 336 - Childhood Development: Observation and Research Application Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as EDUC 336 ) What differentiates the behavior of one young child from that of another? What characteristics do young children have in common? This course provides students with direct experience in applying contemporary theory and research to the understanding of an individual child. Topics include attachment; temperament; parent, sibling and peer relationships; language and humor development; perspective taking; and the social-emotional connection to learning. Each student selects an individual child in a classroom setting and collects data about the child from multiple sources (direct observation, teacher interviews, parent-teacher conferences, archival records). During class periods, students discuss the primary topic literature, incorporating and comparing observations across children to understand broader developmental trends and individual differences. Synthesis of this information with critical analysis of primary sources in the early childhood and developmental literature culminates in comprehensive written and oral presentations. Julie Riess.
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 231 and permission of the instructor. For Psychology Majors: completion of a research methods course.
One 3-hour period. and 4 hours of laboratory observation work.
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PSYC 341 - Seminar in Physiological Psychology Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Analysis of selected topics in physiological psychology. Topics vary from year to year but may include learning, memory, human neuropsychology, neuropharmacology, psychopharmacology, sensory processes, emotion, and motivation. Hadley Bergstrom.
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 241 or PSYC 243 , a research methods course in Psychological Science, and permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 343 - Seminar on States of Consciousness
1 unit(s)
A consideration of conditions giving rise to disruptions of awareness and implications for behavioral integration. Topics serving as areas of discussion may include: sleep and dreaming; hypnosis and hypnagogic phenomena; drug behavior and biochemistry; cerebral damage; dissociations of consciousness such as blindsight; psychopathologic states.
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 241 or PSYC 243 .
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 353 - Seminar in Individual Differences and Personality Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Intensive study of selected topics in personality and individual differences. Theory and empirical research form the core of required readings. Topics studied reflect the interests of both the instructor and the students. Allan Clifton.
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 253 , a research methods course in Psychological Science, and permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 362 - Seminar in Clinical Psychology and Psychopathology Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
An intensive study of research and theory concerning the nature, origins, and treatment of major psychological disorders. Topics vary but may include schizophrenia, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, childhood disorders, and personality disorders. Abigail Baird, Sue Trumbetta.
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 262 , a research methods course in Psychological Science, and permission of the instructor.
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 364 - Seminar in Behavior Genetics
1 unit(s)
This course explores genetic contributions to complex behavioral phenotypes. Its primary focus is on genetic contributions to human behavior with some attention to comparative and evolutionary genetics. Quantitative methods are emphasized.
Prerequisite(s): A research methods course in Psychological Science, and permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 380 - Seminar: The Person in Context
1 unit(s)
This seminar explores the influence of individual differences and situational variables on behavior. This course focuses on empirical research in personality and social psychology.
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 200 , a research methods course in Psychological Science, and permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 384 - Topical Applications in Psychological Science Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Individual or group studies with prior approval of the adviser and of the instructor who supervises the work.This course focuses on topical applications of psychological science. Dara Greenwood.
Topic for 2019/20b: Topical Applications in Psychological Science: Students will read and discuss current research on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, etc.), covering a range of psychological perspectives (Developmental, Personality, Social, Health) and will develop a research project to be conducted and analyzed in the second half of the semester. The goal will be to build on and extend existing research by surveying Vassar students and other populations about their own use of social media and how it intersects with their social and emotional well-being . Dara Greenwood.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor; each instructor sets content-specific prerequisites.
Course Format: INT
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PSYC 386 - Advanced Research Methods in Psychological Science Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Individual or group studies with prior approval of the adviser and of the instructor who supervises the work. This course focuses on advanced research and statistical techniques of psychological science. Abigail Baird, Allan Clifton, Jannay Morrow. Allan Clifton.
This course focuses on the analysis and interpretation of interpersonal relationships using Social Network Analysis (SNA). We will examine theory and applications of SNA using primary literature and weekly discussion. We will work with various software packages to analyze archival datasets. Students will develop independent research projects applying SNA to investigate a topic of interest. Allan Clifton.
This course focuses on empirical approaches to understanding self-control and emotion regulation. During the semester, students synthesize research focused on topics related to coping with stress and negative emotions, willpower, grit, and delay of gratification. We will develop a group project or set of individual research projects that tests hypotheses related to self-control. This course represents a consolidation and extension of the research methods and analytic techniques introduced in 200-level research methods courses. We use SPSS software to analyze archival and newly generated datasets on self-control and emotion regulation. Jannay Morrow.
This course will focus on Human brain imaging. It will explore the different structural and functional techniques that are currently used to study the human brain. Experimental design as well as data analysis will be heavily emphasized. In addition to brain imaging software we will be using SPSS for off-line data analysis. Prior experience with neuroanatomy/physiology is suggested but not required. Students will be expected to create their own research question (from previously acquired data sets) and complete the necessary analyses. Abigail Baird.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor; each instructor sets content-specific prerequisites.
Course Format: INT
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PSYC 389 - Seminar Special Topic: Tools for Transformation
1 unit(s)
What’s the science behind self-help? What processes keep us mired in habit, and what processes help us transform? And why do we need so many guides? In this seminar we explore methods of awareness and self-transformation, particularly examining theory and research evidence of effectiveness. Additionally, we sample a variety of evidence-based practices, in class and course projects. Students engage in a project of personal value, and interview others about methods that work for them. We consider principles of motivation, development, neuropsychology, creativity, cognition, relationship, individual differences, and topics of specific interest to enrolled students.
Prerequisite(s): At least two 200-level psychological science courses, and a research methods course (may be concurrent).
One 2-hour period.
Not offered 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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PSYC 390 - Senior Research Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
Graded independent research. A student wishing to take this course must first gain the support of a member of the psychology faculty, who supervises the student as they design and carry out an empirical investigation of some psychological phenomenon. In addition to a final paper and regular meetings with their faculty sponsor, students also attend weekly meetings organized by the course instructor. Both the course instructor and the supervising faculty member participate in the planning of the research and in final evaluation. The Department.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.
Course Format: INT
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PSYC 397 - Senior Empirical Thesis Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
This is a year-long thesis project conducted collaboratively with a participating faculty member on an empirical research project. In Psychology 397, students work to identify a conceptual question of interest, read and integrate background literature on that topic, and formulate a novel research plan. In PSYC 398 , students carry out their proposed studies by collecting data, statistically analyzing the results of the study, and interpreting how the results relate to the study’s original hypothesis and existing findings in the field. Both semesters involve intensive writing, with detailed feedback from the primary faculty adviser and a second faculty reader, as well as a formal presentation of the research findings to other students and faculty. Completion of PSYC 398 is required to receive credit for Psychology 397. The Department.
Prerequisite(s): Psychology research methods course and permission of the instructor.
One 4-hour period.
Course Format: INT
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PSYC 398 - Senior Empirical Thesis Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
This is a year-long thesis project conducted collaboratively with a participating faculty member on an empirical research project. In PSYC 397 , students work to identify a conceptual question of interest, read and integrate background literature on that topic, and formulate a novel research plan. In Psychology 398, students carry out their proposed studies by collecting data, statistically analyzing the results of the study, and interpreting how the results relate to the study’s original hypothesis and existing findings in the field. Both semesters involve intensive writing, with detailed feedback from the primary faculty adviser and a second faculty reader, as well as a formal presentation of the research findings to other students and faculty. Completion of Psychology 398 is required to receive credit for PSYC 397 . The Department.
Prerequisite(s): Psychology research methods course and permission of the instructor.
One 4-hour period.
Course Format: INT
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PSYC 399 - Senior Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
Individual or group studies with prior approval of the adviser and of the instructor who supervises the work. The Department.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor; each instructor sets content-specific prerequisites.
Course Format: INT
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Religion: I. Introductory |
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RELI 100 - Introduction to American Studies
1 unit(s)
(Same as AMST 100 )
Open to first-year students and sophomores only.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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RELI 101 - An Examined Life: Religious Approaches to Enduring Questions
1 unit(s)
What is a good life? How do we understand dying and death? Does God exist? Is there evil? Why do we suffer? How do we love? What’s the proper way to treat one’s neighbor? This class explores the variety of ways that religious thinkers have responded to these ancient, persistent, and troubling questions about the nature of human existence. Our focus is on philosophical texts, however we also consider filmic representations of these problems. Jonathon Kahn.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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RELI 102 - Religion, Media & American Popular Culture Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
How does the mass media change religious values and behaviors? How might we understand the relationship between American Christians and American culture? Has sports, television or entertainment replaced religion? Is popular culture hostile to faith or is it religious in wholly new and unexpected ways? In this course we explore these questions by looking in detail at American television, film, popular literature and the internet. We also examine how specific religions and religious symbols are expressed in popular culture, what happens when traditional religions borrow pop cultural forms or ideals, and how the American media is abetting a trend towards religious eclecticism and hybridity. Christopher White.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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RELI 104 - Religion, Prisons, and the Civil Rights Movement Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as AFRS 104 ) African American citizenship has long been a contested and bloody battlefield. This course uses the modern Civil Rights Movement to examine the roles the religion and prisons have played in theses battles over African American rights and liberties. In what ways have religious beliefs motivated Americans to uphold narrow definitions of citizenship that exclude people on the basis of race or moved them to boldly challenge those definitions? In a similar fashion, civil rights workers were incarcerated in jails and prisons as a result of their nonviolent protest activities. Their experiences in prisons, they exposed the inhumane conditions and practices existing in many prison settings. More recently, the growth of the mass incarceration of minorities has moved to the forefront of civil and human rights concerns. Is a new Civil Rights Movement needed to challenge the New Jim Crow? Jonathon Kahn and Quincy Mills.
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RELI 107 - Inner Paths: Religion and Contemplative Consciousness
1 unit(s)
(Same as ASIA 107 ) The academic study of religion spends a lot of time examining religion as a social and cultural phenomenon. This course takes a different approach. Instead of looking at religion extrinsically (through history, philosophy, sociology, scriptural study, etc.) “Inner Paths” looks at the religious experience itself, as seen through the eyes of saints and mystics from a variety of the world’s religious traditions. By listening to and reflecting upon “mystic” and contemplative narratives from adepts of Jewish, Christian, Islamic, Hindu, Daoist and other traditions we learn to appreciate the commonalities, differences, and nuances of various “inner paths.” Readings include John of the Cross, Theresa of Avila, Rabbi Akiba, Rumi, Thich Nhat Hanh, Ramakrishna, and Mirabai. Rick Jarow.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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RELI 112 - An Introduction to Islam
1 unit(s)
(Same as AFRS 112 ) This course introduces students to Muslim cultures, beliefs, and practices through the lens of journey, migration and quest. Voyage and migration have characterized Muslim communities ever since Muhammad sent a group of his followers to seek refuge with the Christian king of Abyssinia. Over the centuries, Islamic legal, literary, and philosophical traditions have reflected deeply on migration and journeying, and Muslim communities have settled around the world. We explore Muhammad’s miraculous journey to Jerusalem, the event of migration to Medina, the role of travel in the expansion of the Islamic world, Muslims as religious minorities in the 20th century, and the place of Islam in the contemporary global refugee crisis. Sources include scripture, theology, history, poetry and literature, ethnography, autobiography, and film. Kirsten Wesselhoeft.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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RELI 150 - Jews, Christians, and Muslims Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as JWST 150 ) An historical comparative study of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The course focuses on such themes as origins, development, sacred literature, ritual, legal, mystical, and philosophical traditions, and interactions among the three religions. Marc Michael Epstein, Kirsten Wesselhoeft.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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RELI 152 - Religions of Asia Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as ASIA 152 ) This course is an introduction to the religions of Asia (Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Zen, Shinto, etc.) through a study of practices, sites, sensibilities, and doctrines. The focus is comparative as the course explores numerous themes, including creation (cosmology), myth, ritual, action, fate and destiny, human freedom, and ultimate values. Rick Jarow and Michael Walsh.
Open to all students except seniors.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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RELI 160 - Relatively Uncertain: A History of Physics, Religion and Popular Culture
1 unit(s)
(Same as PHYS 160 and STS 160 ) This course examines the cultural history of key ideas and experiments in physics, looking in particular at how non-scientists understood key concepts such as entropy, relativity, quantum mechanics and the idea of higher or new dimensions. It begins with an assumption that’s widely accepted among historians – namely, that the sciences are a part of culture and are influenced by cultural trends, contemporary concerns and even urgent personal ethical or religious dilemmas. In this course we are attuned to the ways that physicists drew key insights from popular culture and how non-scientists, including religious or spiritual seekers, appropriated (and misappropriated) scientific insights about the origin and nature of the world, its underlying laws and energetic forces, and its ultimate meaning and purpose. Brian Daly and Christopher White.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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RELI 180 - Interrogating Religious Extremism Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as JWST 180 ) Where is the center in religion? And what defines the fringes, borders, margins and extremes? The aim of this course is to the concept and category of religious “extremism” and how it relates to the equally fraught idea of “mainstream religiosity:” to what extent does it draw on it and yet differ from it? What is the difference between “extreme” and “marginal”? After investigating these categories, we identify beliefs and social practices of contemporary Jewish, Christian and Muslim groups that depart from what we have identified as “mainstream” bodies of tradition in significant ways and seek to understand the complex theological and social agenda behind them. We also investigate how these groups portray themselves and construct their identity vis-a-vis the more centered groups by simultaneously laying claim on tradition and radically deviating from it. Agnes Veto.
Open only to first-year students; satisfies the college requirement for a First-Year Writing Seminar.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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RELI 181 - Radical Evil: The History of Wickedness in the West Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
This course explores the concept of evil in Christian thought by starting with a recurring theological problem: if God is just and omnipotent, why do innocent people suffer? In order to answer this question, we trace the history of evil in the Christian thought and proximate cultural milieus. What are the intellectual and cultural sources of the idea of evil and how has it evolved through different moments and locations in history? Why are certain personifications of evil (demons, the Devil, heretics, monsters, sexual deviants, secret societies, criminals) most visible at a given time and what do these ideas of evil say about the values and anxieties of a given culture or civilization? In this course we investigate the different stories that get told about evil in Christianity and Christian-influenced societies from antiquity to the present in order to de-familiarize, contextualize, and re-interpret this persistent and mysterious moral concept. Klaus Yoder
Open only to first-year students; satisfies the college requirement for a First-Year Writing Seminar.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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RELI 184 - Seeing God in Art, Image and Experience Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Religious traditions and philosophies across world history have faced the question of how to represent or picture the sacred. This means addressing whether divinity or holiness can be visible at all, or whether truth must keep out of sight, accessible only through language or inner experience. For this course, we read broadly across sources from classical philosophy, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism in order to compare the different justifications for or prohibitions against making divinity visible or tactile. Doing so prepares us to consider the power of images in contemporary mass media and question the relationship between beauty and deception. Klaus Yoder.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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RELI 188 - Finding Your Calling: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Vocation Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Through autobiographies, novels, films, psychological tracts, and philosophical essays we explore how representative cultural figures have envisioned vocations that have allowed themselves to live and act from the most authentic part of their being and to express their strongest values, energies, and talents in the world. Hopefully, this encourages and inspires us to do likewise. Readings include Confucius, Shakespeare, Weber, Joyce, Lorde, Morrison, and others. E H Jarow.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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Religion: II. Intermediate |
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RELI 200 - Regarding Religion Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
To study religion is to study culture and society, as well as to critically engage and participate in the humanities and social sciences. In this course we compare and critique different approaches to the study of religion and think about the category of religion in relation to other topics and social concerns. Michael Walsh.
Required for all majors. Encouraged for correlates.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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RELI 205 - Religion and Its Critics
1 unit(s)
Some say it is impossible to be both a modern and a religious person. What are the assumptions behind this claim? The course explores how religion has been understood and challenged in the context of Western intellectual thought from the Enlightenment to the present. Kant, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Freud, and Buber are some of the thinkers whom we study. Jonathon Kahn.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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RELI 207 - Christian Ethics and Modern Society Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
This course is an introduction to Christian ideals of faith, conduct, character, and community, and to modern disputes over their interpretations and applications. Our emphasis is on how Christian thinkers have negotiated the emergence of modern values about authority, rights, equality, and freedom. In what ways have Christian beliefs and moral concepts been consonant with or antagonistic to democratic concerns about gender, race and pluralism? Some of the most prominent Christian ethicists claim a fundamental incompatibility with this democratic ethos. We examine these claims and devote special attention to how Christian thinkers have dealt with the ethics of war, sexuality and the environment. Jonathon Kahn.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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RELI 210 - Secularism and Its Discontents
1 unit(s)
Is there a distinct realm called the secular, which is free of and from the religious? As sons and daughters of the Enlightenment, we’ve come to think that there is. What sort of philosophical and historical moments have led to the public insistence on a non-religious space? What projects in ethics, politics, and identity have the insistence on the secular authorized? This class both analyzes and contests modern assumptions about secularism and the religious, and asks whether the ideals of secularism have materialized. Is it possible or even desirable to create realms scrubbed free of the religious, in our politics, in our public institutions, or in ourselves? Jonathon Kahn.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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RELI 211 - Islam in Europe and the Americas
1 unit(s)
(Same as AFRS 211 and INTL 211 ) Various processes of migration and conversion have contributed to the development of Muslim minority communities in Europe and the Americas, dating back to the 17th century. From enslaved Muslims in the Americas, to the Nation of Islam, to colonial and post-colonial migrations, to the debates over whether and how to define “European,” “American,” and “Latin@” Islams, this course covers the history of these religious communities and movements, their relationships with European and American states, and how contemporary European and American Muslims have described and theorized the experience of being a religious minority or diaspora. Key themes include race & ethnicity, gender & sexuality, transnational media, political resistance, ethics, and spirituality. Kirsten Wesselhoeft.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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RELI 213 - The Experience of Freedom
0.5 unit(s)
(Same as ASIA 213 ) This six week course looks at the four paths of freedom that have emerged from Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian thought. Concepts and practices we will consider include: karma (the yoga of action), jnana, (the yoga of knowledge), bhakti, (the yoga of love) and tantra, (the yoga of imminent awareness). The focus of this course is on practice in a contemporary context. Rick Jarow.
Prerequisite(s): RELI 152 .
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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