Ethics and Morality | First-Year Experience

Course Codes
Faculty Directory

AFS 180 - The Black Atlantic
The concept of the "Black Atlantic" was created by Paul Gilroy to counteract the divisive forces of nationalism and race, which gives rise in people of African descent to a 'double consciousness'. In the Black Atlantic, we seek to understand how the conceptualization of nation/culture around "race" creates a double consciousness and how, in spite of this, peoples of African descent have sustained cultural links that stretch across the Atlantic, uniting Africa, Europe and the Americas. Starting with possible pre-Columbian voyages, through the Middle Passage to the return voyages of contemporary Americans to Africa, we chart these connections across time and space. (McCorkle, annually fall)

01 LEC MWF 9:40-10:40 AM; McCorkle

AMST 101 - Topics in American Studies
These introductory courses in American Studies engage questions central to the field by focusing on how questions of power and difference shape tensions and contradictions in American culture. Students will examine American paradoxes such as the "American Dream," freedom and equality, immigration and reconstruction as well as infrastructures like consumer culture, the urban built environment, and national borders through an interdisciplinary lens. The courses also introduce students to American Studies methods through a close interdisciplinary analysis of a variety of cultural artifacts such as popular fiction, leisure, music, architecture, performance, propaganda and social practices. Readings are drawn from a range of sources including politics, history, popular culture, literature, media studies, and contemporary theory. Specific topics will vary based on the instructor. Offered each semester.

01 LEC TR 1:10-2:40 PM; Mukherji
02 LEC TR 2:50-4:20 PM; Mukherji

ANTH 110 - Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
This course explores the anthropological understanding of human society through ethnographic case studies of particular societies. In the holistic approach of anthropology, the interrelations of kinship, economics, politics, and religion are stressed. Special emphasis is also placed on anthropological theories of human behavior and the wide range of creative solutions to the problem of social living devised by various cultures of the world. (Staff, offered each semester)

01 LEC TR 1:10-2:40 PM; Annear
02 LEC TR 12-1 PM; Maiale

ARTH 201 - Black Arts in America
Using a loosely chronological framework, this course presents a series of topics on Black American art and its crucial role in the shaping of the history and development of American visual arts and culture. Beginning with the Harlem Renaissance, we will study the discourse around so-called 'New Negro' art as it was formulated throughout the 1920s and the rise of the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s through contemporary practice. Importantly, this course will simultaneously engage with questions pertaining to the very category of 'Black Arts.' In our study of arts made by artists of the African and Caribbean diaspora in the U.S., we will be careful to consider the politics of identification across race as well as class, sex, and gender difference. (Szymanek, offered occasionally)

01 LEC MWF 12-1 PM; Szymanek

ARTH 206 - Greece-Greek Revival in Architecture
In this course students will study the Classical tradition in its Greek and Roman contexts, examining both free interpretation of models and rigid following of rules - whether authentic or imagined - of an always contested Classical tradition. The course will spend significant time on the introduction of the Classical tradition into German, Russian, British, and American settings where it had never existed before. Issues of historical preservation will be examined. (Tinkler, offered alternate years)

01 LEC TR 8:40-10:10 AM; Tinkler

ARTH 237 - Princely Art
This course will focus on the Renaissance Court Culture of the cities of Milan, Mantua, Ferrara and Rome. The course is meant to examine art production within the strict confines of noble patronage by Italian princes. Particular attention will be paid to female patronage of Italian duchesses. All media will be taken under consideration - painting, sculpture and architecture - while paying particular attention to the ways in which artists responded to their patrons and introduced innovations eventually imitated by the merchant middle classes throughout the Italian peninsula. (Leopardi, offered alternate years)

01 LEC MW 1:10-2:40 PM; Leopardi

ARTH 282 - 20th Century American Art
This course traces the history of American art as it developed throughout the first half of the 20th century. Using a loose chronological framework, the course is a study of a series of major stylistic, technological, and ideological developments within American art and visual culture including those precipitated by the shift of the Western avant-garde art world from Paris to New York City with the onset of WWI. Spanning half of the century as well as a vast array of mediums such as painting, sculpture, photography, and architecture, the aim of this course is to familiarize students with notable movements and art world figures as well as the socio-political contexts that both made their innovations possible and expanded the field of possibilities for the very definitions of art and authorship as they continue to develop into the 21st Century. (Szymanek, offered regularly)

01 LEC MWF 9:40-10:40 AM; Szymanek

ASN 101 - Trekking through Asia
Welcome to the "Asian Century." Asia has re-emerged as the center of the world, after a brief hiatus that started in the 18th century. With histories and religious traditions stretching back three millennia, today as we see cultures across Asia have transformed in ways to meet the demands of our rapidly changing world. China, Japan, and India are three of the world's top economies. Asia contains six of the world's ten largest countries, and is home to over half of the world's population and two of the world's major religions, Hinduism and Buddhism. For decades Asian countries have been leaders in global manufacturing, and Asian universities are now renowned centers for scientific and medical innovation. Fifty percent of the declared nuclear-weapon states are also in the region. Simply put, Asia matters a great deal! In this course, we trek through the Asian past and present, exploring this vast and vibrant region. Through writings and travelogues that documented the peoples and lands of places stretching from the Sea of Japan to Persia, and from Java to the Mediterranean Sea, we will learn about the cultural systems that helped shape Asian societies. We will consider how these traditions contributed to and were changed by historical interactions in Asia itself and in relationship to the rest of the world. Join us on the journey! (Yoshikawa, offered annually)

01 LEC TR 1:10-2:40 PM; Yoshikawa
02 LEC TR 2:50-4:20 PM; Yoshikawa

ASN 212 - Confucianism, Marxism & Chinese Women
This course examines the interplay between Confucianism, Marxism, and Chinese women's experience, tracing their influence on women's roles and identities from imperial China to the present day. The course will address several key questions: How did Confucianism and Marxism influence public philosophy and the feminist movement in China? What are the similarities and differences between Confucian, Marxist, and Western feminist perspectives on women's issues? How do Chinese women negotiate their identities and interests amidst competing and conflicting discourses and practices? The course aims to provide students with a comparative perspective on the interactions between Confucianism, Marxism, and Chinese women, and help them understand the implications and relevance of these interactions for the future of China and the world. No prerequisites. (Zhou, offered alternate years)

01 LEC TR 1:10-2:40 PM; Yoshikawa

ASN 296 - China and the U.S.
Since the Nixon administration opened a new chapter with the People's Republic of China in 1972, China-U.S. relations have shifted from hostile relations to normalization and engagement. However, the relationship between the two countries has nosedived to the lowest point in four decades. The biggest challenge to the U.S. today is the communist China. Cooperation and competition between the two largest world's economies will determine the direction of Asia and the future of global development. The relationship between China and the U.S. has become one of the central global issues in the twenty-first century. By employing a perspective of cultural studies, this course will examine the development of China-U.S. relations since the establishment of the People's Republic of China, explore the roles of culture in shaping China-U.S. relations, discuss the relationship between characteristics of culture and the mindset of foreign policymakers, and analyze the future of China-U.S. relations and its implications to western hegemony and the international order. No prerequisites. (Zhou, offered alternate years)

01 LEC TR 2:50-4:20 PM; Zhou

ECON 120 - Introduction to Economics
Introduction to economics through the application of different analytical tools and perspectives to a variety of contemporary policy issues, such as inflation, unemployment, the environment, regulation, urban problems, economic development, and the role of women and minority groups in the economy.

01 LEC MW 2:50-4:20 PM; Greenstein

ECON 122 - Economics of Caring
There is more to economics than the wealth of nations. A good society is more than its wealth; it has the capacity and is willing to care for those who cannot completely provide for themselves. In this course students explore, analyze, and assess how our society cares for those who cannot provide all of the necessities of life for themselves; including children, the infirm, and the elderly. They examine public policies and debates concerning poverty, health care, education, child protection, and adoption. (Waller, offered annually)

01 LEC TR 8:40-10:10 AM; Waller
02 LEC TR 10:20-11:50 AM; Waller

ECON 126 - Economics of Immigration
Immigration is a centuries-old phenomenon, yet a pressing issue for many countries in the modern era. This course aims to explore, analyze, and evaluate the following topics about immigration: the statistical facts and patterns, determinants, and impacts on the source and destination countries. Students will also examine immigration policies in selected countries and other emerging issues such as climate migrants. This course will introduce approachable economics frameworks as analytical tools for social issues.

01 SEM MWF 8:30-9:30 AM; Lee

ECON 160 - Principles of Economics
This course is the first course in economic theory. Microeconomic topics include supply and demand, comparative advantage, consumer choice, the theory of the firm under competition and monopolies, and market failure. Macroeconomic topics include national income accounting, the determinants of national income, employment and inflation, the monetary system and the Fed, and fiscal policy. This course is required for all majors and minors in economics. Open to First year or Sophomore status; Econ or INRL Major or Minor. Prerequisite: Minimum score of 16 on the placement test which can be taken on-line or one of MATH 100, MATH 130, or MATH 131 with a C- or better. (Offered each semester)

01 LEC MW 8-9:30 AM; Tessendorf
02 LEC MW 1:10-4:20 PM; Tessendorf
03 LEC TR 10:20-11:50 AM; Grayson

EDUC 230 - Teaching English Language Learners
While the number of school children speaking a language other than English at home has been growing exponentially over the last few decades, their level of academic achievement has lagged significantly behind that of their language-majority peers. This course aims to contribute to preparing future teachers for working in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms. One of its major goals is to give students a better understanding of the cognitive, linguistic, and emotional challenges involved in being schooled in a second language. In the first part of the course, therefore, through readings and discussions, students will become acquainted with some key theoretical frameworks for understanding second language and literacy development as well as sociocultural issues particularly relevant to the education of English language learners. The second major goal of the course is to provide students with pedagogical strategies for adjusting instruction to meet the needs of English language learners in the mainstream classroom. This goal will be achieved in the second part of the course, which will consist predominantly of lesson planning workshops and teaching demonstrations. The course will have a service learning component consisting of 15-20 hours of tutoring an English language learner, and it is required for TESOL certification in the TEP and for the TEFL certificate. (Roberson, offered alternate years)

01 LEC MW 8-9:30 AM; Roberson

ENV 102 - Introduction to Environmental Studies
This class introduces numerous questions and perspectives regarding global climate change. While the media now reports daily on climate change, understanding its causal mechanisms and effects are exceptionally complex. Is the climate changing and how do we know? What are climate change's causal forces? What are some ways that climate change affects ecosystems and human life? How do we imagine and plan for futures that may look and feel dramatically different from the present? What is being done to mitigate climate change and its effects? And why is more not being done? Addressing these questions requires an interdisciplinary approach, spanning the natural and social sciences as well as the humanities. In this course, we will scratch the surface of multiple approaches to the problem of global climate change and techniques of environmental studies, paying particular attention to the ethical dimensions of climate action. (Staff, offered each semester)

01 LEC MW 2:50-4:20 PM
02 TR 1:10-2:40 PM; Kinne

GSIJ 100 - Introduction to Gender, Sexuality, and Intersectional Justice
Race. Gender. Sexuality. Ability. How do these intersectional social categories determine access to rights, resources, and power? In this course, we examine the notion that sex, gender, sexuality, ability, race, and other categories of identity shape the social world in a myriad of ways, from how we organize our families and communities and how we spend time, to how we conceptualize the self and make meaning, to how we interact with our environment and create and re-create the body. This class seeks to challenge conventionally held "truths" and offer creative alternatives, including even how we conceive of and practice classroom learning itself. The course serves as a gateway to three justice-oriented majors: LGBTQ+ Studies, Gender and Feminist Studies, and Bodies, Disability, and Justice. Students are encouraged to think through the histories and impulses of each of these overlapping fields, and to raise their own questions about the meaning and practice of justice and how we can achieve it. The course invites students into a collective dialogue about how we can utilize critical theory and feminist, queer, and crip critique as a method of creatively re-imagining a more just world. No Prerequisites. Offered each semester. This course substantially addresses the Social Inequalities and Ethical Judgement Goals.

01 LEC TR 10:20-11:50 AM; Hayes-Conroy

GSIJ 213 - Transnational Feminism
Is woman a global category? How is gender performed differently across the globe? How do representations of first, second, and third-world women circulate transnationally? In this course, we will investigate how gendered bodies travel, perform, and are understood in a wide variety of national, diasporic, and global media contexts, from theater and film, to politics and popular culture. (Formerly WMST 213) (Martin-Baron, offered alternate spring semesters)

01 LEC MWF 10:50-11:50 AM; Martin-Baron

GSIJ 247 - History, Psychology and Feminism
Should the history of feminism and psychology be x-rated, as was asked once of science more generally? This question opens onto psychology's expressways where histories of feminism, gender, sexuality, race and what are sometimes called the 'psy' disciplines crosscut in the greater search for knowledge of who we are or might become. Running parallel throughout this history are the ways feminist and critical gender scholars tackled the very ways the science of psychology upheld cultural conventions of gender, race and sexuality. This course examines these tangled stories from early case studies of hysteria and spiritualism through to mid-century depictions of the "mommy pill," "how the clinic made gender" and to late twentieth and early twenty-first century concerns around gender, race and bodies. The course uses history, theory and research in psychology to appreciate psychology's changing views, treatment and study of diverse lives, and how feminism shaped psychology as much as psychology shaped feminism. This course also counts toward the major in psychology. (Formerly WMST 247)

01 LEC TR 1:10-2:40 PM; Bayer

GSIJ 250 - Chicana Feminism & Visual Culture
This course lays the foundations for the study of Chicana feminism, women of color feminism, feminist visual cultural studies, and arts-based activism. This course traces the emergence of Chicana as an identity category and its challenges to Chicano and feminist activism; the radical ways Chicanas have employed visual, performance, and graphic arts as a means of educating and catalyzing social change; and the rich body of indigenous folklore that has both defined gender and sexual roles and provided the platform for defying them. Throughout the semester, we will draw from primary texts from the beginning of the Chicano movement, a rich selection of visual, performance, and graphic arts, and contemporary scholarship in women's studies, Chicana/o studies, and visual cultural studies. (Formerly WMST 150) (Martin-Baron, offered alternate fall semesters)

01 LEC MWF 9:40-10:40 AM; Martin-Baron

HIST 231 - Modern Latin America
This course will trace out the historical construction of national and regional identities in Latin America through an examination of paradigms of modernity and marginality. It will focus on: the continuities and ruptures from Spanish colonialism to nation-state rule; the imposition of stability in Latin America, and the ideological foundations of the dominant, transnational paradigm of progress; identity politics and the rejection of European paradigms of progress; the coming and process of the global paradigm of Cold War, and its new models of anxiety, hope, and marginality in Latin America; the survival and even prosperity of Latin America's indigenous populations in the era of neoliberalism. In so doing, we will examine the possibilities for the most marginal of populations to represent themselves, and the limitations of such self-representation. (Ristow, offered annually).

01 LEC MW 1:10-2:40 PM; Ristow

HIST 233 - History of American Thought to 1865
This class provides an immersion in the intellectual history of the United States from its colonial beginnings to the end of the Civil War. Major topics include law and constitutionalism, republicanism and the history of political thought, theology and religious history, literature, and philosophy. Contexts for the class include early modern and modern empire, settler colonialism, gender ideology, and the centrality of slavery to early American politics. The class will include a focus on close reading, critical reflection, and deep, respectful discussion. Offered semi-annually. (Crow)

01 LEC TR 10:20-11:50 AM; Crow

HIST 235 - Civil War America
In America's mid-nineteenth century, rising tensions over slavery's expansion, diverging ideas about federalism, and polarizing sectional identities erupted into violence, leading to four years of protracted, brutal war. The outcome was nothing less than revolutionary: the nation's political structures, economic systems, and social hierarchies were transformed. Paying careful attention to Americans' lived experiences, in this course we will seek to understand how and why the Civil War began, what changes it wrought, whether or not its fundamental conflicts were solved by Reconstruction, and finally, why it continues to have such a profound impact on America's vision of itself even today.

01 LEC MW 1:10-2:40 PM; Free

INRL 140 - Introduction to Comparative Politics
An ambitious introductory course, aimed at teaching students basic theoretical and empirical concepts necessary for comparison across the world's political systems. Student will be introduced to the fundamental tenets of diverse political and economic systems and ideologies, explore the foundations of political order and disorder (including discussions of nationalism, state-building, globalization, revolution, and more), and consider the myriad ways in which relationships between state, society, and market are ordered. Theoretical discussions will be supplemented with empirical case studies from around the world. Combining theoretical insights with political, social, and economic history and current events will help students as they endeavor to understand just why it is that the world's political systems are organized the way they are. Also listed as POL 140. (Philbrick Yadav, Ost, offered each semester, subfields: CP)

01 LEC TR 10:20-11:50 AM; Philbrick Yadav

INRL 180 - Introduction to International Relations
As a broad introduction to the study of international relations (IR), this course is designed to give students an understanding of the basic concepts of world politics, an appreciation of the evolution of the current state system, and a sampling of various approaches and theories of IR. Readings come from primary documents, as well as a standard text. The course is grounded in an awareness of current events. Students examine how the lens used to view the world shapes understanding of the world, its problems, and possible solutions. (Dunn and Yadav, offered every semester)

01 LEC MWF 9:40-10:40 AM; Yadav

INRL 248 - Politics of Development
This course examines contending historical and contemporary explanations for the phenomenon of absolute poverty and critically assessed policy solutions implemented to end this form of poverty in our time. The course contrasts micro-level approaches, which seek to built an "inclusive capitalism" through the extension of property rights and the enhancement of individual capacity with meso-level approaches that rely on a "developmental state" to guide markets, and macro-level approaches that seek to restructure the international regime on debt relief and intergovernmental development organizations. (Yadav, offered alternate years; Political Economy keystone course in INRL)

01 LEC MWF 10:50-11:50 AM; Yadav

INRL 285 - Borders, Belonging, and Rights in the Middle East and North Africa
This course examines the politics that have produced and sustained the Middle East and North Africa as a region from the late-colonial to the contemporary period. The course examines the role of borders and bordering practices, the dynamics of migration and the construction of national and transnational publics. Placing particular emphasis on the many ways in which the high politics of states shape the lived experiences of different communities in the region, it works to better understand how and why borders shape the rights and rights-claims of different communities of belonging.

01 LEC TR 1:10-2:40 PM; Philbrick Yadav

MGMT 101 - Entrepreneurial Leadership
As technology and globalization continue to spur interconnectedness, leaders must navigate tumultuous environments where change is rapid, discontinuous and unpredictable. Innovation, ingenuity and an ability to add value by solving problems are necessary. This course will examine the attributes required of successful entrepreneurs in contemporary leadership roles. Students will learn how to take an idea to impact. They will consider important concepts, such as ethics, sustainability, economic Darwinism, and managing uncertainty. They will discuss product invention, service implementation, economic choice, risk and return, scale and scope, value creation, and small business generation. As a significant course assignment, students will develop a strategic plan for a product, service, startup or organization that is worthy of implementation. No prerequisites required. (Forbes and Hamilton, offered annually)

02 LEC MWF 9:40-10:40 AM
03 LEC MW 2:50-4:20 PM; Tessendorf
04 LEC MWF 10:50-11:50 AM
06 LEC MWF 9:40-10:40 AM; Ryan

MUS 210 - Remixing Western Music History
The word "remix" calls to mind the technological practice of altering, contorting or otherwise reconceiving a cultural artifact, appropriating and changing it to make something new. Remixes are spaces in which authorship is broadened, authority is questioned, power is redistributed, and the past is reinterpreted. If we can remix a song, why not a history? Reconceiving (or remixing) remix as an intellectual, rather than technological, practice. This course rewrites European music history with pluralistic, anti-racist! and anti-imperialist voices. Deconstructing the longstanding dichotomy between "the West and the rest," we'll examine the centrality of othering in the construction of European selfhood, as well as music's participation in that project. In the process, we will consider Western music's ambivalent relations with popular, folk, and non-Western music; its role in the formation of national and racial identities; and issues of representation and difference in jazz, blues, and world music. Remixes often claim to preserve the "aura of the original"; in this case, with reverence for the music itself, it is precisely the aura-of imperialism, patriarchy, colonialism, and slavery-that is being contested. (Offered annually)

01 LEC MW 1:10-2:40 PM

PBHL 100 - Introduction to Public Health
Drawing from interdisciplinary sources as well as key scholarship from within the field of public health, this course provides an introduction to the core functions of public health, covering both US and global contexts. The course uses historical and contemporary examples to highlight the role of public health in promoting the health status of different populations, and the relationship of public health to other forms of health promotion in clinical and community settings. Focal topics include issues of global health, environmental health, health justice, and clinical health. Students are encouraged to think critically and reflexively about what it means to intervene in human health in such contexts, and to consider how social inequality and structural injustice plays a significant role in health outcomes. (Offered annually)

01 LEC MWF 8:30-9:30 AM; MacPhail

PHIL 100 - Introduction to Philosophy
This course seeks to provide an understanding of what philosophy is by discussing some of the main problems that philosophers examine and by developing skills in the methods used in philosophy. Among the kinds of problems considered in this course are: Is it always wrong to break the law? Can we prove God's existence? What is 'personal identity'? What distinguishes knowledge from mere belief? (Staff, offered every semester)

01 LEC MWF 10:50-11:50 AM; Brophy
02 LEC MWF 12-1 PM; Brophy

PHIL 154 - Environmental Ethics
This course explores the ethical and philosophical issues that arise when we consider the relation between humans and the natural environment - issues made urgent by our current environmental crisis. Among questions examined are: Is the value of nature intrinsic or only instrumental? Do humans have obligations toward nonhuman animals? Why are animal species worth preserving? Is it individual animals or ecosystems that should be of moral concern? What can feminism tell us about our treatment of nature? Are economic efficiency and cost/benefit analysis adequate criteria for assessing our relation to the environment? (Ward, offered annually)

01 LEC MW 1:10-2:40 PM; Ward
02 LEC MW 2:50-4:20 PM; Ward

PHIL 163 - Philosophy of Sport
Explore the philosophical questions that underlie amateur and professional sports. This course will examine questions such as: What is the difference between sports and other games? Are e-sports actually sports? What is the value of participating in or watching sports? Is it ever okay to purposely commit a foul? What should be done about performance enhancing drugs? Are there some sports that should be banned? What role should gender play in creating competitions? Should technology replace humans in officiating some elements of sports? The goal of this course is to use these questions to gain insight into what it is to do philosophy, including how to approach both ethical and metaphysical questions.

01 DIS MW 2:50-4:20 PM; Barnes
02 DIS TR 2:50-4:20 PM; Barnes

PHIL 275 - God
This course examines both the nature of God and the foundation of rational belief in God. The traditional understanding of God, at least according to the Abrahamic religions, is a being that is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent. However, each of these properties introduces classical philosophical problems. The puzzle of omnipotence challenges the idea that omnipotence is even a coherent notion. The dilemma of freedom and foreknowledge implies that God's omniscience is incompatible with human freedom. Last, the problem of evil gives reason to doubt that God is truly omnibenevolent. In sum, the class explores the following major questions: does God exist? What is God like? How do we know what God is like? Do we have good evidence for belief in God? If not, can we still have rational belief in God? (Leininger, offered alternate years) [Area 1: Knowledge & Reality]

01 LEC TR 1:10-2:40 PM; Leininger

POL 110 - Introduction to American Politics
This course examines the capability of the American political system to respond to the needs of all its citizens, exploring the historical origins, basic institutions, distribution of power, popular influence, political parties, social movements, and inequalities based on class, race, and gender. (Lucas, Passavant, Quish, offered each semester, subfields: LG, ap)

01 LEC MW 1:10-2:40 PM; Lucas
02 LEC MWF 10:50-11:50 AM; Quish

POL 130 - Introduction to Law & Politics
This course provides an introduction to law and politics focused on the United States. What ideas underwrite the concept of constitutional government? What is the role of the Supreme Court in United States politics? What should it be? What are the intended constitutional responsibilities of Congress and the Executive Branch? How do they function today? What constitutional roles should the people play? Do the American people play that role today? This course will consider a variety of historic and more contemporary legal controversies in this light. Controversies may include slavery. women's suffrage, civil rights, freedom of speech, abortion and reproductive autonomy, and right to bear arms, among others. Reading may include works by John Locke, Frederick Douglass, and Larry Kramer, in addition to legal documents (Constitution and Supreme Court cases), legal commentaries, and speeches.

01 LEC TR 1:10-2:40 PM; Passavant

POL 160 - Introduction to Political Theory
This course reads classical political theory from the Ancient Greeks through the early modern period in England. The class introduces students to some of the major themes through which politics and political life have been understood. Beginning with Thucydides, it examines the virtues and values of the ancient world with attention to the dilemma between justice and expediency. Continuing with Plato and Aristotle, it considers justice, reason, and the good in the context of life in the polis. The course ends with the challenges Machiavelli's and Hobbes' notions of power present for the presumption of an original human sociality, for the emergence of liberal ideals of individual autonomy and national sovereignty. (Dean, Quish offered annually, subfields: FT, pt)

01 LEC TR 10:20-11:50 AM; Dean

POL 208 - Law and Society
Law and Society is a field that seeks to understand law as a socio-political phenomenon. Among the questions Law and Society asks include the question of law's impact on the ground, in the actual functioning of society. For example, the Law and Society movement has been interested in why there seemed to be a gap in the 1950s and 1960s between Supreme Court decisions ruling that racial segregation violated the Constitution ('law on the books') and the impact of those decisions in light of the almost total lack of integration in the Deep South for years thereafter ('law in action'). Topics may include access to justice, how law influences and is influenced by a cultural order, law and inequality, and law and the government of gender, sexuality, or racialized subjects. Prerequisite: a 100- or 200-level POL course or by permission of instructor. (Passavant, offered alternate years, subfields: LG, ap)

01 LEC MW 1:10-2:40 PM; Passavant

REL 105 - Religion, Peace, and Conflict
What is religion? What counts as peace? How do religion and other social institutions contribute to, and are influenced by, peace or conflicts? This course explores on humans' search for meaningful and peaceful life and on the role of religion in such pursuit. It will first of all investigate the meaning, elements, and functions of religion in humans' pursuit of peace and meaning. It will then examine the meaning of peace and conflicts and the conditions that contribute to peace or conflicts. In turn, the course will look at the ways in which peace or conflicts may influence religion. Finally, the course will examine the role religion plays in peacemaking efforts.

01 LEC TR 10:20-11:50 AM; Kafrawi

REL 274 - Zionism, Israel, Mideast Conflict
An examination of the roots of Zionism - a complicated religious, ideological, and political movement. Such external factors as the Holocaust and the acute problems of the surviving refugees; the conflict between Jews and Arabs in Palestine; the breakdown of the British Mandate and the mutual rivalries of the Western powers in the Middle East; and the East-West conflict in the global scene are some of the historical forces which accelerated the creation of the Jewish state that are examined. But attention is also given to the internal intellectual and spiritual forces in Jewish life, which were at least as important and which constitute the ultimately decisive factor. (Dobkowski, offered occasionally)

01 LEC TR 2:50-4:20 PM; Dobkowski

REL 278 - Modern Judaism
This course examines Jewish life, thought, and cultural development from 1760 to the present. Among the topics discussed are: the rise of Hasidism and reaction to it; the Enlightenment and modern varieties of Judaism; Zionist thought; and revolution and Jewish emancipation. The course also focuses on major Jewish thinkers and actors who have had a profound impact on shaping, defining, and transforming Jewish thought and praxis. This includes thinkers like the Baal Shem Tov, Martin Buber, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Mordecai Kaplan, and Blu Greenberg. (Dobkowski, offered alternate years)

01 LEC TR 10:20-11:50 AM; Dobkowski

REL 286 - Islam and Environment
The course offers an overview of key concepts in Islamic environmental ethics, Muslim responses to environmental catastrophes, and the link between local and global forces in Islamic societies and their impacts on environment. The course will begin with a comparative ethical approach on the relationship between humans and their environment by introducing the concept of the sacred. The foundations of Islamic ethics will follow. The course will also evaluate Muslims' treatment of their environment, as well as their responses to climate change and natural disasters using theological, ethical, textural, political, cultural, and civic approaches. Such discussions will be contextualized in the interplay between local factors that shape Muslims' attitudes and behaviors toward their environment and global forces, such as colonialism and capitalism, that exacerbate the use and abuse of nature. Social justice, sustainability, Islamic socialism and anti-capitalism, and disaster relief efforts in the aftermath of tsunamis are also key topics in the course.

01 LEC MW 2:50-4:20 PM; Anwar

REL 291 - Ethics of Identity
Identity and identity politics has become an inescapable hot button issue in our current public discourse in the last decade. Too often, however, such discussions are so focused on picking a side in the political aspects of the debate, that they do not stop to articulate what identity is and how it shapes our individual and collective lives. This course will take a philosophical deep dive into the questions and challenges of identity along three vectors; Being, Knowing, and Doing. In the first section on “Being”, we will explore the ontology of identity by asking such questions as What does it mean to have an identity or be a person with an identity? (Why) Is identity important? What are different types of identity (ethno-cultural, national, sexual, gender, race, religious, socio-economic, philosophical, political) and how do they intersect and interact? How are group identities related to and distinct from individual ones? In the second section, “Knowing,” we will explore how identity shapes perception and knowledge creation. Here we will pursue such questions as; how do the different types of identity discussed in the first part of the course influence how we are able to perceive the world and be perceived by it? How does identity shape how we come to know things individually and the extent to which we contribute to public or group knowledge? And what is the relationship between objectivity and subjectivity in ideal epistemic practice? In the final section we will explore the role which identity plays in the moral sphere by asking such questions as; how does identity shape our processes of moral reasoning and our ability to act “virtuously”? What is the relationship between identity and human rights or identity and moral duties? Should all rights and obligations be universal, or should forms of identity inflect either or both? Finally, how should we prioritize between individualism and group identities when they come into conflict? There are no prerequisites for this course, however, it may be of particular interest to students interested in politics, philosophy, ethics, critical sexuality, and social epistemology. (Gervais, offered biannually)

01 DIS TR 8:40-10:10 AM; Gervais

REL 297 - Religion, Ethics, and Society
How do humans create meaning and orient their individual and collective lives? What role has "religious" thinking played in these central human projects historically, and what do religious feeling, cults, rituals, prayer, high priests, and prophets look like in our supposedly post-religion age? In this course we will explore the inextricability of the religious and cultural; how they inform one another, and how they work together in tension to help us make sense of life's persistent questions concerning: What can we know? What should we do? And what can we hope for? We will focus particular attention on contemporary manifestations of this relationship, with case studies ranging from Soul Cycle, to inceldom, to video games, to Hijab solidarity, to the neopagan witch renaissance. This course will be of interest to students studying philosophy, history, sociology, anthropology, psychology, religion, and media and society.

01 DIS TR 1:10-2:40 PM; Gervais

SOC 100 - Introduction to Sociology
An introduction to the fundamental concepts of sociology, this course focuses on such central issues as the social nature of personality; the effects of social class, race, and gender on social life; the interactional basis of society; and the place of beliefs and values in social structure and social action. A fundamental concern is to analyze the reciprocal nature of social existence, to understand how society influences us and how we, in turn, construct it. Typically, the course applies the sociological perspective to an analysis of American society and other social systems. (Freeman, Harris, Kosta, Monson, Perkins, Sutton, offered every semester) Note: All upper level sociology courses require SOC 100 as a prerequisite.

01 LEC 8-9:30 AM; Kosta
02 LEC TR 1:10-2:40 PM