This course is an introduction to the study of religion and politics in the US and globally. It explores key debates about how religion relates to state institutions, policy, law, human rights, and group politics. Part I of the course acquaints students with essential concepts in these debates. Part II examines the main theories surrounding the role of religion in politics. Part III focuses on cases from different cultural and political contexts, including Western Europe, East Asia, and the Middle East. In this part, we learn about various faith perspectives and how different societies have approached as well as experienced the religion-state relationship. Part IV discusses the social and political implications of this relationship across time and space. By the end of the course, students will have a grounding in the key concepts and themes centered on religion and politics in the contemporary world. Students will also have the basic theoretical and empirical tools to engage critically with broader debates on these subjects. Lectures, in-class discussions, and assignments are designed to ensure these learning objectives are achieved.

This course will provide an introduction to a range of important literary works concerned with representing the Nazi Holocaust. Readings for the course will include fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, and will be by witnesses as well as more recent writers who have attempted to imagine the events of the Holocaust. Themes, motifs, and images in these works will be considered, along with fundamental questions raised about the human condition. The course should offer a deeper understanding of a uniquely tragic event of the 20th century and provide students a working knowledge of the major texts in this important literary genre.

The short story is an enduringly popular form for Irish writers, in a country known for its literary excellence and experimentation. This course introduces students to modern and contemporary Irish writing through the short story form. What distinguishes the Irish short story? What are its chief thematic preoccupations and formal innovations? Who are its leading authors and who were their influences? Our readings for this course include work by James Joyce, Frank O’Connor, Colm Tóibín, Claire Keegan, Kevin Barry, Sally Rooney, and others. In addition to the primary text, we will also consult an array of secondary materials, including relevant historical texts, literary criticism or theory, and other forms of cultural expression (e.g., images, music, films, etc.) that provide context for the work being studied. By the end of the course, students will better understand the themes and motifs associated with the Irish short story, as well as the reciprocal relationship between Irish writers and place.

In this course, we will investigate the powerful kingdoms that flourished in Western and Central Africa before and after European contacts. The royal arts of the kingdoms of Benin, Kongo and Kuba, to cite only a few, had elaborate and distinct artistic conventions in the representation of its rulers (both males and females) and regalia. We will study these conventions to understand how Western and Central African kingdoms established court-art traditions to define individual, dynastic, royal and national identity as well as gender roles. Further, we will analyze how these kingdoms were affected by and responded to colonialism and international trade. The concept and current protocols concerning repatriation of works of art seized during colonial times will also be discussed. Fulfills: Elective credit

This course is designed to familiarize you with the patterns, particulars, navigations, and directives of women’s experiences from around the globe. Starting with a holistic understanding of the concept of diaspora, followed by a grounded analysis of feminist, film, critical race, and cultural studies principles, you will embark on a sojourn to analyze the representation of women in narratives beyond boundaries and binaries. Various literary and multimodal texts (essays, poems, novels, mémoirs, documentaries, and feature length films) will serve as vehicles to engage ideas of intersectionality, identity politics, and social justice.

This course is designed with the purpose of equipping students with the essential knowledge to pursue and contribute to the field of postcolonial studies in their college career and beyond. Throughout the semester, students will read literary and theoretical texts written by such foundational authors as Chinua Achebe, Ngugi Wa Thiongo, Salmon Rushdie, Eduardo Glissant, Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak, Homi Bhabha among others. By way of reading and class discussion, students will also be introduced to the key areas of debate in the field and important interventions made therein. These areas include, representation, anticolonial nationalism, colonial psychosis, capitalist globalization, feminism in the Global South.

This course has students think critically about the ways in which society and media depict and imagine African women through Western patriarchal lenses. We will juxtapose those perceptions and images in which African women imagine and represent themselves. This exercise is important because all too often, the phrase ‘African women’ conjures up certain predictable, and negative, images of poverty, illiteracy, victims of patriarchy, men, shadowy figures, passive, voiceless, and docile subjects. While much attention has been paid to how African men and outsiders view African women, very rarely does the World get a sense of how African women view themselves. In this course, we are going to explore broader historical generalizations as well as individual life stories of African women to understand these women as subjects (and not objects) with agency. After a continental overview and exploration of general experiences shared by African women, we will consider several regional differences but not always in chronological order, beginning with African women’s experiences in pre-colonial Africa followed by the colonial period and ending with the postcolonial era—if there is one.

An examination of how environmental issues result in justice-related claims made by disadvantaged and marginalized sectors of countries around the world. Uses a conceptual approach to understand the broader concept of social justice and the narrower concept of environmental justice. Analyzes case studies from around the world that illustrate the unequal distribution of the effects of climate change and environmental issues on different sectors of the population in a region or country, and the reactions from those different sectors. LEARNING OUTCOMES (Objectives): 1. Understanding the definitions and concepts of social justice and environmental justice. 2. Understanding the human and socioeconomic aspects of the United Nations 17 Goals for Sustainable Development. 3. Understanding resource, landscape, place, natural hazards, and climate change issues of environmental justice. 4. Understanding roles played by decision-makers, the general population, disadvantaged and marginalized groups, privileged outsiders, and environmental activists.

An examination of how environmental issues result in justice-related claims made by disadvantaged and marginalized sectors of countries around the world. Uses a conceptual approach to understand the broader concept of social justice and the narrower concept of environmental justice. Analyzes case studies from around the world that illustrate the unequal distribution of the effects of climate change and environmental issues on different sectors of the population in a region or country, and the reactions from those different sectors. LEARNING OUTCOMES (Objectives): 1. Understanding the definitions and concepts of social justice and environmental justice. 2. Understanding the human and socioeconomic aspects of the United Nations 17 Goals for Sustainable Development. 3. Understanding resource, landscape, place, natural hazards, and climate change issues of environmental justice. 4. Understanding roles played by decision-makers, the general population, disadvantaged and marginalized groups, privileged outsiders, and environmental activists.

This course will provide an introduction to a range of important literary works concerned with representing the Nazi Holocaust. Readings for the course will include fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, and will be by witnesses as well as more recent writers who have attempted to imagine the events of the Holocaust. Themes, motifs, and images in these works will be considered, along with fundamental questions raised about the human condition. The course should offer a deeper understanding of a uniquely tragic event of the 20th century and provide students a working knowledge of the major texts in this important literary genre.

This course is designed with the purpose of equipping students with the essential knowledge to pursue and contribute to the field of postcolonial studies in their college career and beyond. Throughout the semester, students will read literary and theoretical texts written by such foundational authors as Chinua Achebe, Ngugi Wa Thiongo, Salmon Rushdie, Eduardo Glissant, Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak, Homi Bhabha among others. By way of reading and class discussion, students will also be introduced to the key areas of debate in the field and important interventions made therein. These areas include, representation, anticolonial nationalism, colonial psychosis, capitalist globalization, feminism in the Global South.