The courses listed below are provided by the JHU Public Course Search. This listing provides a snapshot of immediately available courses and may not be complete.
Undergraduate student having directed work with a specific faculty.
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Independent Study AS.300.501 (01)
Undergraduate student having directed work with a specific faculty.
Days/Times:
Instructor: Jerzak, Katarzyna Elzbieta
Room:
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 4/5
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.001.214 (01)
FYS: Doing Things With Maps
TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Patton, Elizabeth
Gilman 208
Fall 2025
In this First-Year Seminar, we will ask why maps and mapping technologies have become useful – some would say central – to the pursuit of new knowledge. Do they clarify, simplify, amplify, organize, reveal unexpected connections, point the way forward, or severely complicate our thoughts and send us back to the drawing board? We will learn/review some ArcGIS mapping basics. Those of you with previous experience in mapping technologies will be welcome to contribute ideas and share skills (no previous experience is required), and we will visit various mapping hubs around Hopkins, such the history of world maps as well as Geospatial Data mapping at Milton S. Eisenhower and Peabody Libraries, brain mapping technologies behind current research in the department of Biomedical Engineering (BME), and genetic engineering at the Translational Tissue Engineering Center (TTEC). Across the semester we will also ground ourselves in the Humanities by reading The Odyssey of Homer (trans. James Lattimore, any edition). Each student will create an ArcGIS map website to locate and illustrate an assigned Odyssey episode. In this way, we will test out various mapping techniques on the intersecting adventures of “great hearted” Odysseus, “circumspect” Penelope and their son, “thoughtful” Telemachus. A series of short close reading assignments on selected passages from The Odyssey will help to refine analytical and writing skills, and at the end of the semester students will present to the group the completed GIS map of the adventures of these characters across the Mediterranean.
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FYS: Doing Things With Maps AS.001.214 (01)
In this First-Year Seminar, we will ask why maps and mapping technologies have become useful – some would say central – to the pursuit of new knowledge. Do they clarify, simplify, amplify, organize, reveal unexpected connections, point the way forward, or severely complicate our thoughts and send us back to the drawing board? We will learn/review some ArcGIS mapping basics. Those of you with previous experience in mapping technologies will be welcome to contribute ideas and share skills (no previous experience is required), and we will visit various mapping hubs around Hopkins, such the history of world maps as well as Geospatial Data mapping at Milton S. Eisenhower and Peabody Libraries, brain mapping technologies behind current research in the department of Biomedical Engineering (BME), and genetic engineering at the Translational Tissue Engineering Center (TTEC). Across the semester we will also ground ourselves in the Humanities by reading The Odyssey of Homer (trans. James Lattimore, any edition). Each student will create an ArcGIS map website to locate and illustrate an assigned Odyssey episode. In this way, we will test out various mapping techniques on the intersecting adventures of “great hearted” Odysseus, “circumspect” Penelope and their son, “thoughtful” Telemachus. A series of short close reading assignments on selected passages from The Odyssey will help to refine analytical and writing skills, and at the end of the semester students will present to the group the completed GIS map of the adventures of these characters across the Mediterranean.
Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Instructor: Patton, Elizabeth
Room: Gilman 208
Status: Canceled
Seats Available: 12/12
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.001.268 (01)
FYS: What Makes Us Human?
MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Egginton, William
Gilman 134
Fall 2025
In this First-Year Seminar, we explore the long history of humans thinking about what it means to be human. In myth, religion, science, art, literature, and philosophy, humans have never stopped posing the question of how we fit in, or fail to fit in, to the natural world; what our relation is to the cosmos, to gods, to animals, and even to other beings we may not yet have encountered. In our own quest we will read fascinating stories, poems, and philosophical texts; visit museums to view and discuss provocative works of art; and delve into the ramifications of our thinking they impact our relations with machines, with non-human animals, and with each other.
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FYS: What Makes Us Human? AS.001.268 (01)
In this First-Year Seminar, we explore the long history of humans thinking about what it means to be human. In myth, religion, science, art, literature, and philosophy, humans have never stopped posing the question of how we fit in, or fail to fit in, to the natural world; what our relation is to the cosmos, to gods, to animals, and even to other beings we may not yet have encountered. In our own quest we will read fascinating stories, poems, and philosophical texts; visit museums to view and discuss provocative works of art; and delve into the ramifications of our thinking they impact our relations with machines, with non-human animals, and with each other.
Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Instructor: Egginton, William
Room: Gilman 134
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 0/12
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.040.126 (01)
Religion, Music and Society in Ancient Greece
TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Yatromanolakis, Dimitrios
Gilman 108
Fall 2025
Emphasis on ancient Greek ritual, music, religion, and society; and on cultural institutions such as symposia (drinking parties) and festivals.
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Religion, Music and Society in Ancient Greece AS.040.126 (01)
Emphasis on ancient Greek ritual, music, religion, and society; and on cultural institutions such as symposia (drinking parties) and festivals.
Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Instructor: Yatromanolakis, Dimitrios
Room: Gilman 108
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 19/25
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.211.333 (01)
Representing the Holocaust
TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Spinner, Samuel Jacob
Gilman 400
Fall 2025
How has the Holocaust been represented in literature and film? Are there special challenges posed by genocide to the traditions of visual and literary representation? Where does the Holocaust fit in to the array of concerns that the visual arts and literature express? And where do art and literature fit in to the commemoration of communal tragedy and the working through of individual trauma entailed by thinking about and representing the Holocaust? These questions will guide our consideration of a range of texts — nonfiction, novels, poetry — in Yiddish, German, English, French and other languages (including works by Primo Levi and Isaac Bashevis Singer), as well as films from French documentaries to Hollywood blockbusters (including films by Alain Resnais, Claude Lanzmann, and Steven Spielberg). All readings in English.
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Representing the Holocaust AS.211.333 (01)
How has the Holocaust been represented in literature and film? Are there special challenges posed by genocide to the traditions of visual and literary representation? Where does the Holocaust fit in to the array of concerns that the visual arts and literature express? And where do art and literature fit in to the commemoration of communal tragedy and the working through of individual trauma entailed by thinking about and representing the Holocaust? These questions will guide our consideration of a range of texts — nonfiction, novels, poetry — in Yiddish, German, English, French and other languages (including works by Primo Levi and Isaac Bashevis Singer), as well as films from French documentaries to Hollywood blockbusters (including films by Alain Resnais, Claude Lanzmann, and Steven Spielberg). All readings in English.
Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Instructor: Spinner, Samuel Jacob
Room: Gilman 400
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 3/15
PosTag(s): INST-GLOBAL
AS.190.180 (01)
Introduction to Political Theory
MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM
Simon, Josh David
Gilman 50; Gilman 377
Fall 2025
In the Republic, the ancient Greek philosopher Plato posed three questions: what is justice? How would a just person live? How would a just society be governed? These three questions form the basic subject matter of of political theory. In this course we will survey the history of political theory, reading a series of political theorists who took up Plato’s questions in a wide range of contexts, from Renaissance Italy and early modern England to late colonial India and the Jim Crow US South. Throughout, we’ll consider whether there are better and worse answers to these questions, or simply different answers that appear better or worse depending on the perspective from which one considers them. We’ll look closely at how the circumstances in which political theorists lived influenced their thinking, and how those circumstances should influence our own evaluation of their thinking. And we’ll ask whether Plato’s questions were the right questions to ask in his time, whether they are still relevant in ours, and whether there are other questions that political theorists would do better to spend their time considering.
×
Introduction to Political Theory AS.190.180 (01)
In the Republic, the ancient Greek philosopher Plato posed three questions: what is justice? How would a just person live? How would a just society be governed? These three questions form the basic subject matter of of political theory. In this course we will survey the history of political theory, reading a series of political theorists who took up Plato’s questions in a wide range of contexts, from Renaissance Italy and early modern England to late colonial India and the Jim Crow US South. Throughout, we’ll consider whether there are better and worse answers to these questions, or simply different answers that appear better or worse depending on the perspective from which one considers them. We’ll look closely at how the circumstances in which political theorists lived influenced their thinking, and how those circumstances should influence our own evaluation of their thinking. And we’ll ask whether Plato’s questions were the right questions to ask in his time, whether they are still relevant in ours, and whether there are other questions that political theorists would do better to spend their time considering.
Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM
Instructor: Simon, Josh David
Room: Gilman 50; Gilman 377
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 3/20
PosTag(s): INST-PT, CES-ELECT, POLI-PT
AS.190.180 (02)
Introduction to Political Theory
MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM
Simon, Josh David
Gilman 50; Hodson 216
Fall 2025
In the Republic, the ancient Greek philosopher Plato posed three questions: what is justice? How would a just person live? How would a just society be governed? These three questions form the basic subject matter of of political theory. In this course we will survey the history of political theory, reading a series of political theorists who took up Plato’s questions in a wide range of contexts, from Renaissance Italy and early modern England to late colonial India and the Jim Crow US South. Throughout, we’ll consider whether there are better and worse answers to these questions, or simply different answers that appear better or worse depending on the perspective from which one considers them. We’ll look closely at how the circumstances in which political theorists lived influenced their thinking, and how those circumstances should influence our own evaluation of their thinking. And we’ll ask whether Plato’s questions were the right questions to ask in his time, whether they are still relevant in ours, and whether there are other questions that political theorists would do better to spend their time considering.
×
Introduction to Political Theory AS.190.180 (02)
In the Republic, the ancient Greek philosopher Plato posed three questions: what is justice? How would a just person live? How would a just society be governed? These three questions form the basic subject matter of of political theory. In this course we will survey the history of political theory, reading a series of political theorists who took up Plato’s questions in a wide range of contexts, from Renaissance Italy and early modern England to late colonial India and the Jim Crow US South. Throughout, we’ll consider whether there are better and worse answers to these questions, or simply different answers that appear better or worse depending on the perspective from which one considers them. We’ll look closely at how the circumstances in which political theorists lived influenced their thinking, and how those circumstances should influence our own evaluation of their thinking. And we’ll ask whether Plato’s questions were the right questions to ask in his time, whether they are still relevant in ours, and whether there are other questions that political theorists would do better to spend their time considering.
Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM
Instructor: Simon, Josh David
Room: Gilman 50; Hodson 216
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 1/20
PosTag(s): INST-PT, CES-ELECT, POLI-PT
AS.190.180 (05)
Introduction to Political Theory
MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM
Simon, Josh David
Gilman 50; Gilman 75
Fall 2025
In the Republic, the ancient Greek philosopher Plato posed three questions: what is justice? How would a just person live? How would a just society be governed? These three questions form the basic subject matter of of political theory. In this course we will survey the history of political theory, reading a series of political theorists who took up Plato’s questions in a wide range of contexts, from Renaissance Italy and early modern England to late colonial India and the Jim Crow US South. Throughout, we’ll consider whether there are better and worse answers to these questions, or simply different answers that appear better or worse depending on the perspective from which one considers them. We’ll look closely at how the circumstances in which political theorists lived influenced their thinking, and how those circumstances should influence our own evaluation of their thinking. And we’ll ask whether Plato’s questions were the right questions to ask in his time, whether they are still relevant in ours, and whether there are other questions that political theorists would do better to spend their time considering.
×
Introduction to Political Theory AS.190.180 (05)
In the Republic, the ancient Greek philosopher Plato posed three questions: what is justice? How would a just person live? How would a just society be governed? These three questions form the basic subject matter of of political theory. In this course we will survey the history of political theory, reading a series of political theorists who took up Plato’s questions in a wide range of contexts, from Renaissance Italy and early modern England to late colonial India and the Jim Crow US South. Throughout, we’ll consider whether there are better and worse answers to these questions, or simply different answers that appear better or worse depending on the perspective from which one considers them. We’ll look closely at how the circumstances in which political theorists lived influenced their thinking, and how those circumstances should influence our own evaluation of their thinking. And we’ll ask whether Plato’s questions were the right questions to ask in his time, whether they are still relevant in ours, and whether there are other questions that political theorists would do better to spend their time considering.
Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM
Instructor: Simon, Josh David
Room: Gilman 50; Gilman 75
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 7/20
PosTag(s): INST-PT, CES-ELECT, POLI-PT
AS.190.180 (04)
Introduction to Political Theory
MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 1:30PM - 2:20PM
Simon, Josh David
Gilman 50; Maryland 217
Fall 2025
In the Republic, the ancient Greek philosopher Plato posed three questions: what is justice? How would a just person live? How would a just society be governed? These three questions form the basic subject matter of of political theory. In this course we will survey the history of political theory, reading a series of political theorists who took up Plato’s questions in a wide range of contexts, from Renaissance Italy and early modern England to late colonial India and the Jim Crow US South. Throughout, we’ll consider whether there are better and worse answers to these questions, or simply different answers that appear better or worse depending on the perspective from which one considers them. We’ll look closely at how the circumstances in which political theorists lived influenced their thinking, and how those circumstances should influence our own evaluation of their thinking. And we’ll ask whether Plato’s questions were the right questions to ask in his time, whether they are still relevant in ours, and whether there are other questions that political theorists would do better to spend their time considering.
×
Introduction to Political Theory AS.190.180 (04)
In the Republic, the ancient Greek philosopher Plato posed three questions: what is justice? How would a just person live? How would a just society be governed? These three questions form the basic subject matter of of political theory. In this course we will survey the history of political theory, reading a series of political theorists who took up Plato’s questions in a wide range of contexts, from Renaissance Italy and early modern England to late colonial India and the Jim Crow US South. Throughout, we’ll consider whether there are better and worse answers to these questions, or simply different answers that appear better or worse depending on the perspective from which one considers them. We’ll look closely at how the circumstances in which political theorists lived influenced their thinking, and how those circumstances should influence our own evaluation of their thinking. And we’ll ask whether Plato’s questions were the right questions to ask in his time, whether they are still relevant in ours, and whether there are other questions that political theorists would do better to spend their time considering.
Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 1:30PM - 2:20PM
Instructor: Simon, Josh David
Room: Gilman 50; Maryland 217
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 12/20
PosTag(s): INST-PT, CES-ELECT, POLI-PT
AS.211.383 (02)
Haunting Flesh: Women, Horror, and the Body
M 3:40PM - 6:10PM
Gil'Adí, Maia
Gilman 479
Fall 2025
A course that examines how women's bodies are depicted in horror literature and film, asking: how are issues of race, class, national identity, and belonging illuminated through the genre and its ongoing fascination with gender and sexuality? Why do we return to women's bodies to illuminate our fears? Why do we represent women's bodies through the horror genre? Focusing on speculative fiction and film, we will investigate how women's bodies speak to issues of power and spectatorship through affects such as disgust, terror, titillation, and pleasure.
×
Haunting Flesh: Women, Horror, and the Body AS.211.383 (02)
A course that examines how women's bodies are depicted in horror literature and film, asking: how are issues of race, class, national identity, and belonging illuminated through the genre and its ongoing fascination with gender and sexuality? Why do we return to women's bodies to illuminate our fears? Why do we represent women's bodies through the horror genre? Focusing on speculative fiction and film, we will investigate how women's bodies speak to issues of power and spectatorship through affects such as disgust, terror, titillation, and pleasure.
Days/Times: M 3:40PM - 6:10PM
Instructor: Gil'Adí, Maia
Room: Gilman 479
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 2/10
PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM
AS.211.383 (01)
Haunting Flesh: Women, Horror, and the Body
M 3:40PM - 6:10PM
Gil'Adí, Maia
Gilman 479
Fall 2025
A course that examines how women's bodies are depicted in horror literature and film, asking: how are issues of race, class, national identity, and belonging illuminated through the genre and its ongoing fascination with gender and sexuality? Why do we return to women's bodies to illuminate our fears? Why do we represent women's bodies through the horror genre? Focusing on speculative fiction and film, we will investigate how women's bodies speak to issues of power and spectatorship through affects such as disgust, terror, titillation, and pleasure.
×
Haunting Flesh: Women, Horror, and the Body AS.211.383 (01)
A course that examines how women's bodies are depicted in horror literature and film, asking: how are issues of race, class, national identity, and belonging illuminated through the genre and its ongoing fascination with gender and sexuality? Why do we return to women's bodies to illuminate our fears? Why do we represent women's bodies through the horror genre? Focusing on speculative fiction and film, we will investigate how women's bodies speak to issues of power and spectatorship through affects such as disgust, terror, titillation, and pleasure.
Days/Times: M 3:40PM - 6:10PM
Instructor: Gil'Adí, Maia
Room: Gilman 479
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 0/8
PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM
AS.190.180 (03)
Introduction to Political Theory
MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 1:30PM - 2:20PM
Simon, Josh David
Gilman 50; Hodson 216
Fall 2025
In the Republic, the ancient Greek philosopher Plato posed three questions: what is justice? How would a just person live? How would a just society be governed? These three questions form the basic subject matter of of political theory. In this course we will survey the history of political theory, reading a series of political theorists who took up Plato’s questions in a wide range of contexts, from Renaissance Italy and early modern England to late colonial India and the Jim Crow US South. Throughout, we’ll consider whether there are better and worse answers to these questions, or simply different answers that appear better or worse depending on the perspective from which one considers them. We’ll look closely at how the circumstances in which political theorists lived influenced their thinking, and how those circumstances should influence our own evaluation of their thinking. And we’ll ask whether Plato’s questions were the right questions to ask in his time, whether they are still relevant in ours, and whether there are other questions that political theorists would do better to spend their time considering.
×
Introduction to Political Theory AS.190.180 (03)
In the Republic, the ancient Greek philosopher Plato posed three questions: what is justice? How would a just person live? How would a just society be governed? These three questions form the basic subject matter of of political theory. In this course we will survey the history of political theory, reading a series of political theorists who took up Plato’s questions in a wide range of contexts, from Renaissance Italy and early modern England to late colonial India and the Jim Crow US South. Throughout, we’ll consider whether there are better and worse answers to these questions, or simply different answers that appear better or worse depending on the perspective from which one considers them. We’ll look closely at how the circumstances in which political theorists lived influenced their thinking, and how those circumstances should influence our own evaluation of their thinking. And we’ll ask whether Plato’s questions were the right questions to ask in his time, whether they are still relevant in ours, and whether there are other questions that political theorists would do better to spend their time considering.
Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 1:30PM - 2:20PM
Instructor: Simon, Josh David
Room: Gilman 50; Hodson 216
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 11/20
PosTag(s): INST-PT, CES-ELECT, POLI-PT
AS.213.364 (01)
Truth and Lies in the Languages of Politics
TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Frey, Christiane
Gilman 479
Fall 2025
Fake facts, conspiracy theories, outright lies: have we entered a new era of “post-truth”? Some claim that deception has always been a part of political processes, that objectivity is an illusion, that every “fact” is made, formed, fashioned, constructed (“fact” comes from the same Latin root as “fiction”). Others insist that without a distinction between truth and lie, all politics is a farce, and look to fact-checking and evidence for guidance. Who is right? And what assumptions are at the basis of this perhaps overly-simple binarism? In order to get a grasp on these questions, we will explore the theme and the concept of lying in literature, philosophy, and current media, with an emphasis on political language. We will read literary texts by Heinrich von Kleist, Herman Melville, Thomas Mann, the much-discussed GDR novel “Jacob the Liar,” political philosophy by Plato, Machiavelli, Kant, Nietzsche (“On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense”), Simone Weil, Hannah Arendt, and Nina Schick’s 2020 exposé “Deep Fakes: The Coming Infocalypse.” We will apply what we learn from these readings to fake news and social media in order to develop new skills of dealing with manipulative language. Taught in English (with the option of a section in German).
×
Truth and Lies in the Languages of Politics AS.213.364 (01)
Fake facts, conspiracy theories, outright lies: have we entered a new era of “post-truth”? Some claim that deception has always been a part of political processes, that objectivity is an illusion, that every “fact” is made, formed, fashioned, constructed (“fact” comes from the same Latin root as “fiction”). Others insist that without a distinction between truth and lie, all politics is a farce, and look to fact-checking and evidence for guidance. Who is right? And what assumptions are at the basis of this perhaps overly-simple binarism? In order to get a grasp on these questions, we will explore the theme and the concept of lying in literature, philosophy, and current media, with an emphasis on political language. We will read literary texts by Heinrich von Kleist, Herman Melville, Thomas Mann, the much-discussed GDR novel “Jacob the Liar,” political philosophy by Plato, Machiavelli, Kant, Nietzsche (“On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense”), Simone Weil, Hannah Arendt, and Nina Schick’s 2020 exposé “Deep Fakes: The Coming Infocalypse.” We will apply what we learn from these readings to fake news and social media in order to develop new skills of dealing with manipulative language. Taught in English (with the option of a section in German).
Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Instructor: Frey, Christiane
Room: Gilman 479
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 3/14
PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM, INST-GLOBAL
AS.300.209 (01)
Dilemmas: When fiction asks you to take sides
TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
Morin, Barthelemy
Gilman 208
Fall 2025
In Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall (2023), a woman is tried for murdering her husband. In the myth of Antigone, a young woman is torn between the obligation to obey the law and the necessity to resist. Which way will she embrace? In Yorgos Lanthimos' The Killing of a Sacred Deer, a heart surgeon must sacrifice a member of his family to compensate for mishandling an operation as he was drunk. Is it just to demand a life for a life?
Fiction constitutes an inexhaustible source of alternative worlds and experiences that theoretical reasoning fails to address. That is, fictions often present us with dilemmas for which there are no clear answers. And yet, we are asked to choose. In this class, we will explore and analyze a variety of extreme situations. What is so tantalizing about fictional dilemmas? Do they teach us something that can last? Together, we will experiment with a variety of critical reading practices that bring us to grapple with our own position as readers, judges, interpreters, and ethical agents who are forced to make impossible choices for which we are nevertheless accountable.
×
Dilemmas: When fiction asks you to take sides AS.300.209 (01)
In Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall (2023), a woman is tried for murdering her husband. In the myth of Antigone, a young woman is torn between the obligation to obey the law and the necessity to resist. Which way will she embrace? In Yorgos Lanthimos' The Killing of a Sacred Deer, a heart surgeon must sacrifice a member of his family to compensate for mishandling an operation as he was drunk. Is it just to demand a life for a life?
Fiction constitutes an inexhaustible source of alternative worlds and experiences that theoretical reasoning fails to address. That is, fictions often present us with dilemmas for which there are no clear answers. And yet, we are asked to choose. In this class, we will explore and analyze a variety of extreme situations. What is so tantalizing about fictional dilemmas? Do they teach us something that can last? Together, we will experiment with a variety of critical reading practices that bring us to grapple with our own position as readers, judges, interpreters, and ethical agents who are forced to make impossible choices for which we are nevertheless accountable.
Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
Instructor: Morin, Barthelemy
Room: Gilman 208
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 10/18
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.213.364 (02)
Truth and Lies in the Languages of Politics
TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Frey, Christiane
Gilman 479
Fall 2025
(German language section of this course.) Fake facts, conspiracy theories, outright lies: have we entered a new era of “post-truth”? Some claim that deception has always been a part of political processes, that objectivity is an illusion, that every “fact” is made, formed, fashioned, constructed (“fact” comes from the same Latin root as “fiction”). Others insist that without a distinction between truth and lie, all politics is a farce, and look to fact-checking and evidence for guidance. Who is right? And what assumptions are at the basis of this perhaps overly-simple binarism? In order to get a grasp on these questions, we will explore the theme and the concept of lying in literature, philosophy, and current media, with an emphasis on political language. We will read literary texts by Heinrich von Kleist, Herman Melville, Thomas Mann, the much-discussed GDR novel “Jacob the Liar,” political philosophy by Plato, Machiavelli, Kant, Nietzsche (“On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense”), Simone Weil, Hannah Arendt, and Nina Schick’s 2020 exposé “Deep Fakes: The Coming Infocalypse.” We will apply what we learn from these readings to fake news and social media in order to develop new skills of dealing with manipulative language.
×
Truth and Lies in the Languages of Politics AS.213.364 (02)
(German language section of this course.) Fake facts, conspiracy theories, outright lies: have we entered a new era of “post-truth”? Some claim that deception has always been a part of political processes, that objectivity is an illusion, that every “fact” is made, formed, fashioned, constructed (“fact” comes from the same Latin root as “fiction”). Others insist that without a distinction between truth and lie, all politics is a farce, and look to fact-checking and evidence for guidance. Who is right? And what assumptions are at the basis of this perhaps overly-simple binarism? In order to get a grasp on these questions, we will explore the theme and the concept of lying in literature, philosophy, and current media, with an emphasis on political language. We will read literary texts by Heinrich von Kleist, Herman Melville, Thomas Mann, the much-discussed GDR novel “Jacob the Liar,” political philosophy by Plato, Machiavelli, Kant, Nietzsche (“On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense”), Simone Weil, Hannah Arendt, and Nina Schick’s 2020 exposé “Deep Fakes: The Coming Infocalypse.” We will apply what we learn from these readings to fake news and social media in order to develop new skills of dealing with manipulative language.
Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Instructor: Frey, Christiane
Room: Gilman 479
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 0/3
PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM, INST-GLOBAL
AS.300.313 (01)
Myself Through the Years: Women and the Personal Essay
TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Theodoropoulos, Eleni Eleni
Gilman 208
Fall 2025
Virginia Woolf famously called the lives of women “infinitely obscure” seeing as their everyday, domestic existence had long passed unnoticed, undervalued, and unrecorded. The personal essay, a form which inherently values the ordinariness and even triviality of subjective experience, has helped counteract the burdensome “accumulation of unrecorded life,” to use Woolf’s phrase, and fill in the gaps of women’s collective history. In this course we will read a diverse range of personal essays by Sei Shōnagon, Virginia Woolf, Alice Walker, Anne Carson, Audre Lorde, Naomi Shihab Nye, Annie Dillard, Joan Didion, and more, tracing a tradition of women’s essayism. We will attend to the essay’s unique and flexible modalities for portraying subjectivity, exploring universal themes, and experimenting with form. This is a writing intensive course that will incorporate critical and essayistic modes of writing that will teach us first-hand about experimentation with voice, temporality, rhetorical argument, narrative, and the representation of consciousness on the page.
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Myself Through the Years: Women and the Personal Essay AS.300.313 (01)
Virginia Woolf famously called the lives of women “infinitely obscure” seeing as their everyday, domestic existence had long passed unnoticed, undervalued, and unrecorded. The personal essay, a form which inherently values the ordinariness and even triviality of subjective experience, has helped counteract the burdensome “accumulation of unrecorded life,” to use Woolf’s phrase, and fill in the gaps of women’s collective history. In this course we will read a diverse range of personal essays by Sei Shōnagon, Virginia Woolf, Alice Walker, Anne Carson, Audre Lorde, Naomi Shihab Nye, Annie Dillard, Joan Didion, and more, tracing a tradition of women’s essayism. We will attend to the essay’s unique and flexible modalities for portraying subjectivity, exploring universal themes, and experimenting with form. This is a writing intensive course that will incorporate critical and essayistic modes of writing that will teach us first-hand about experimentation with voice, temporality, rhetorical argument, narrative, and the representation of consciousness on the page.
Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Instructor: Theodoropoulos, Eleni Eleni
Room: Gilman 208
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 8/18
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.300.346 (01)
Revolution in Theatre, 1880-1930
TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Lisi, Leonardo
Gilman 208
Spring 2026
The years 1880-1930 constitutes one of the most intense periods of experimentation in Western drama. We will look closely at texts and performance practices from this time to trace how dramatists upended the conventions that had governed the theatre since the time of Shakespeare and imposed a completely new understanding of the artform. Authors to be read will include August Strindberg, Maurice Maeterlinck, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, W. B. Yeats, Sophie Treadwell, Luigi Pirandello, Federico García Lorca.
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Revolution in Theatre, 1880-1930 AS.300.346 (01)
The years 1880-1930 constitutes one of the most intense periods of experimentation in Western drama. We will look closely at texts and performance practices from this time to trace how dramatists upended the conventions that had governed the theatre since the time of Shakespeare and imposed a completely new understanding of the artform. Authors to be read will include August Strindberg, Maurice Maeterlinck, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, W. B. Yeats, Sophie Treadwell, Luigi Pirandello, Federico García Lorca.
Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Instructor: Lisi, Leonardo
Room: Gilman 208
Status: Open
Seats Available: 7/12
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.300.211 (01)
Collaboration across the arts: Modernism and beyond
M 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Schmelz, Peter John
Gilman 400
Fall 2025
Using Daniel Albright’s Untwisting the Serpent: Modernism in Music, Literature, and Other Arts (2000) and Panaesthetics: On the Unity and Diversity of the Arts (2014) as guides, this class investigates the idea of collaboration and communication across and between the arts from the late nineteenth century to the present. Albright’s book includes the famous dictum: “The great Modernist collaborations all survive as fragments.” This class examines and, as possible, reassembles and reassesses these fragments. Among other artistic collaborations, topics will include dialogues between Eric Satie, Pablo Picasso, and Jean Cocteau; Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein; and John Cage and Merce Cunningham; as well as Richard Wagner’s Gesamtkunstwerk—“Total work of art”—and its implications for artistic interrelationships from his time to now, including its impact on Serge Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, among many others.
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Collaboration across the arts: Modernism and beyond AS.300.211 (01)
Using Daniel Albright’s Untwisting the Serpent: Modernism in Music, Literature, and Other Arts (2000) and Panaesthetics: On the Unity and Diversity of the Arts (2014) as guides, this class investigates the idea of collaboration and communication across and between the arts from the late nineteenth century to the present. Albright’s book includes the famous dictum: “The great Modernist collaborations all survive as fragments.” This class examines and, as possible, reassembles and reassesses these fragments. Among other artistic collaborations, topics will include dialogues between Eric Satie, Pablo Picasso, and Jean Cocteau; Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein; and John Cage and Merce Cunningham; as well as Richard Wagner’s Gesamtkunstwerk—“Total work of art”—and its implications for artistic interrelationships from his time to now, including its impact on Serge Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, among many others.
Days/Times: M 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Schmelz, Peter John
Room: Gilman 400
Status: Canceled
Seats Available: 18/18
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.300.229 (01)
Lu Xun: Literary, Comparative, Philosophical
W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Hashimoto, Satoru
Smokler Center Library
Fall 2025
Modern China’s foremost writer and intellectual Lu Xun (1881–1936) wrote to think, to innovate, to fight, and, ultimately, to transform. What and how did he write as he confronted a radically changing world in early-twentieth-century China, and what can we learn from his works, as we once again face an uncertain world? This course introduces students to fundamental methods of textual analysis by exploring the contemporary significance of Lu Xun’s writings—short stories, poems, “miscellaneous essays”—through three distinct approaches: literary, comparative, and philosophical. Our investigation will revolve around questions such as: How did he expand what written language was capable of doing? How did he engage with world literature (from Europe, Russia, and beyond), and how have his works been read and adapted by writers in East Asia? How can his works be understood in a broader context of the global spread of Enlightenment thought and the discontents it caused? This course is open to any student interested in Lu Xun’s works and their transnational significance, and satisfies the “text-based” course requirement for the minor in Comparative Thought and Literature. All readings are in English.
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Lu Xun: Literary, Comparative, Philosophical AS.300.229 (01)
Modern China’s foremost writer and intellectual Lu Xun (1881–1936) wrote to think, to innovate, to fight, and, ultimately, to transform. What and how did he write as he confronted a radically changing world in early-twentieth-century China, and what can we learn from his works, as we once again face an uncertain world? This course introduces students to fundamental methods of textual analysis by exploring the contemporary significance of Lu Xun’s writings—short stories, poems, “miscellaneous essays”—through three distinct approaches: literary, comparative, and philosophical. Our investigation will revolve around questions such as: How did he expand what written language was capable of doing? How did he engage with world literature (from Europe, Russia, and beyond), and how have his works been read and adapted by writers in East Asia? How can his works be understood in a broader context of the global spread of Enlightenment thought and the discontents it caused? This course is open to any student interested in Lu Xun’s works and their transnational significance, and satisfies the “text-based” course requirement for the minor in Comparative Thought and Literature. All readings are in English.
Days/Times: W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Hashimoto, Satoru
Room: Smokler Center Library
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 6/15
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.300.306 (01)
Perspectives on Climate Change
TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Lisi, Leonardo
Gilman 208
Fall 2025
Scientific consensus tells us human induced climate change is a fact and that continuing with business as usual constitutes an existential threat to our social order, perhaps even to our species. And yet, these pronouncements have had little impact on our politics or everyday behavior. This suggests that understanding climate change does not depend on scientific data alone but on the perspectives that we have on such data, the meaning and significance our culture and personal values ascribe to it. In this course we will study a range of such perspectives, from ethics and politics to forms of belief and literary imagination, in order to examine both why we have failed to act and what adequate action might require. This class counts toward the requirement of concept-based courses for the minor in Comparative Thought and Literature.
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Perspectives on Climate Change AS.300.306 (01)
Scientific consensus tells us human induced climate change is a fact and that continuing with business as usual constitutes an existential threat to our social order, perhaps even to our species. And yet, these pronouncements have had little impact on our politics or everyday behavior. This suggests that understanding climate change does not depend on scientific data alone but on the perspectives that we have on such data, the meaning and significance our culture and personal values ascribe to it. In this course we will study a range of such perspectives, from ethics and politics to forms of belief and literary imagination, in order to examine both why we have failed to act and what adequate action might require. This class counts toward the requirement of concept-based courses for the minor in Comparative Thought and Literature.
Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Instructor: Lisi, Leonardo
Room: Gilman 208
Status: Canceled
Seats Available: 15/15
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.150.487 (01)
Philosophies of History
W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Moyar, Dean
Gilman 55
Spring 2026
Is there a purpose to history? Under what descriptions does history make sense? This course will examine the idea of philosophy of history as it arose in classic German philosophy (esp. Kant and Hegel) and was transformed by radical thinkers in reaction to that original program (Marx, Nietzsche). The last part of the course will examine twentieth century philosophies of history, including those of Spengler, Toynbee, Koselleck, and Fukuyama.
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Philosophies of History AS.150.487 (01)
Is there a purpose to history? Under what descriptions does history make sense? This course will examine the idea of philosophy of history as it arose in classic German philosophy (esp. Kant and Hegel) and was transformed by radical thinkers in reaction to that original program (Marx, Nietzsche). The last part of the course will examine twentieth century philosophies of history, including those of Spengler, Toynbee, Koselleck, and Fukuyama.
Days/Times: W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Moyar, Dean
Room: Gilman 55
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/10
PosTag(s): PHIL-MODERN, PHIL-ETHICS, CES-LSO
AS.300.323 (01)
Shakespeare and Ibsen
Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Lisi, Leonardo
Gilman 208
Fall 2025
William Shakespeare and Henrik Ibsen are the two most frequently performed playwrights in history, and both have been credited with reinventing drama: Shakespeare for the Elizabethan stage and Ibsen for the modern. In this course we will pair plays by each author – those that stand in an explicit relation of influence as well as those that share a significant set of concerns – in order to investigate how each takes up and transform key problems in Updated description: the literary, political, and philosophical tradition for their own historical moment. Plays to be studied by Shakespeare: Hamlet, King Lear, Coriolanus, The Tempest; by Ibsen: Hedda Gabler, The Wild Duck, An Enemy of the People, The Master Builder. As part of the course, we will try to organize at least one excursion to a Shakespeare or Ibsen performance in the Baltimore-D.C. area. This class counts towards the requirement of text-based courses for the minor in comparative thought and literature.
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Shakespeare and Ibsen AS.300.323 (01)
William Shakespeare and Henrik Ibsen are the two most frequently performed playwrights in history, and both have been credited with reinventing drama: Shakespeare for the Elizabethan stage and Ibsen for the modern. In this course we will pair plays by each author – those that stand in an explicit relation of influence as well as those that share a significant set of concerns – in order to investigate how each takes up and transform key problems in Updated description: the literary, political, and philosophical tradition for their own historical moment. Plays to be studied by Shakespeare: Hamlet, King Lear, Coriolanus, The Tempest; by Ibsen: Hedda Gabler, The Wild Duck, An Enemy of the People, The Master Builder. As part of the course, we will try to organize at least one excursion to a Shakespeare or Ibsen performance in the Baltimore-D.C. area. This class counts towards the requirement of text-based courses for the minor in comparative thought and literature.
Days/Times: Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Lisi, Leonardo
Room: Gilman 208
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 11/12
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.300.336 (01)
Forms of Moral Community: The Contemporary World Novel
W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Ong, Yi-Ping
Gilman 208
Fall 2025
Literary and philosophical imaginations of moral community in the post-WWII period. Texts include: Coetzee, Disgrace; McEwan, Atonement; Achebe,Things Fall Apart; Ishiguro, An Artist of the Floating World; Roy, The God of Small Things; Lessing, The Grass is Singing; Mistry, A Fine Balance; Morrison, Beloved; and essays by Levi, Strawson, Adorno, Murdoch, and Beauvoir on the deep uncertainty over moral community after the crisis of World War II. Close attention to novelistic style and narrative will inform our study of the philosophical questions that animate these works. What does it mean to acknowledge another person’s humanity? Who are the members of a moral community? Why do we hold one another responsible for our actions? How do fundamental moral emotions such as contempt, humiliation, compassion, gratitude, forgiveness, and regret reveal the limits of a moral community?
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Forms of Moral Community: The Contemporary World Novel AS.300.336 (01)
Literary and philosophical imaginations of moral community in the post-WWII period. Texts include: Coetzee, Disgrace; McEwan, Atonement; Achebe,Things Fall Apart; Ishiguro, An Artist of the Floating World; Roy, The God of Small Things; Lessing, The Grass is Singing; Mistry, A Fine Balance; Morrison, Beloved; and essays by Levi, Strawson, Adorno, Murdoch, and Beauvoir on the deep uncertainty over moral community after the crisis of World War II. Close attention to novelistic style and narrative will inform our study of the philosophical questions that animate these works. What does it mean to acknowledge another person’s humanity? Who are the members of a moral community? Why do we hold one another responsible for our actions? How do fundamental moral emotions such as contempt, humiliation, compassion, gratitude, forgiveness, and regret reveal the limits of a moral community?
Days/Times: W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Ong, Yi-Ping
Room: Gilman 208
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 8/12
PosTag(s): CES-CC, CES-ELECT
AS.010.255 (01)
Introduction to Performance Art
MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Schopp, Caroline Lillian
Gilman 186
Spring 2026
Performance art is provocative and often controversial because it troubles, without dissolving, the distinction between art and life. Not just a matter of activating bodies or spurring participation, performance art asks what kinds of actions count as worthy of attention in contemporary culture. Studying performance art provides a unique introduction to art history because it allows us to rethink established art historical concerns with representation, form, perspective, and materiality, while at the same time offering critical insight into the forms of attention that structure everyday life. In this introduction to performance art and its history, we will explore how performance art addresses ingrained assumptions about action and passivity, success and failure, embodiment and mediation, “good” and “bad” feelings, emancipation and dependency. The study of performance art invites transdisciplinary approaches. Students from across the university are welcome. Our attention to a wide array of artists and practices will be supplemented by readings in art history and art criticism as well as diverse theoretical approaches.
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Introduction to Performance Art AS.010.255 (01)
Performance art is provocative and often controversial because it troubles, without dissolving, the distinction between art and life. Not just a matter of activating bodies or spurring participation, performance art asks what kinds of actions count as worthy of attention in contemporary culture. Studying performance art provides a unique introduction to art history because it allows us to rethink established art historical concerns with representation, form, perspective, and materiality, while at the same time offering critical insight into the forms of attention that structure everyday life. In this introduction to performance art and its history, we will explore how performance art addresses ingrained assumptions about action and passivity, success and failure, embodiment and mediation, “good” and “bad” feelings, emancipation and dependency. The study of performance art invites transdisciplinary approaches. Students from across the university are welcome. Our attention to a wide array of artists and practices will be supplemented by readings in art history and art criticism as well as diverse theoretical approaches.
Days/Times: MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Instructor: Schopp, Caroline Lillian
Room: Gilman 186
Status: Open
Seats Available: 3/20
PosTag(s): HART-MODERN
AS.305.135 (01)
The Future of Work: AI, Labor, and Migration
TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Todarello, Josh
Gilman 186
Fall 2025
How is the so-called “AI Revolution” altering the landscape of work? This course takes up this question through the lens of underemployment, migratory labor, and diasporic communities. We will read a variety of key works on migration and imagined communities, precarity and alienation, labor, automation, and empire—as well as texts produced in the margins of globalization. In conversation with these texts, we will investigate the dynamics of diasporic communities, migration, and solidarity vis-a-vis the future of work in a global society increasingly automated by AI models such as DeepSeek, ChatGPT, and Qwen 2.5, and the entities that own them. Through a variety of writing assignments and presentations, students engage issues such as race, class, gender, the border, citizenship, and community as they exist for diasporic and migratory workers. This course explores themes relevant to students of Critical Diaspora Studies, as well as the history of science and technology, political science and political economy, international studies, literature, film, and sociology.
Readings may include works by Ruha Benjamin, Audre Lorde, Harry Braverman, Benedict Anderson, David Harvey, Edward Said, Mary L. Gray, Octavia Butler, and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o.
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The Future of Work: AI, Labor, and Migration AS.305.135 (01)
How is the so-called “AI Revolution” altering the landscape of work? This course takes up this question through the lens of underemployment, migratory labor, and diasporic communities. We will read a variety of key works on migration and imagined communities, precarity and alienation, labor, automation, and empire—as well as texts produced in the margins of globalization. In conversation with these texts, we will investigate the dynamics of diasporic communities, migration, and solidarity vis-a-vis the future of work in a global society increasingly automated by AI models such as DeepSeek, ChatGPT, and Qwen 2.5, and the entities that own them. Through a variety of writing assignments and presentations, students engage issues such as race, class, gender, the border, citizenship, and community as they exist for diasporic and migratory workers. This course explores themes relevant to students of Critical Diaspora Studies, as well as the history of science and technology, political science and political economy, international studies, literature, film, and sociology.
Readings may include works by Ruha Benjamin, Audre Lorde, Harry Braverman, Benedict Anderson, David Harvey, Edward Said, Mary L. Gray, Octavia Butler, and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o.
What is a Person? Humans, Corporations, Robots, Trees
MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Siraganian, Lisa
Gilman 208
Fall 2025
Knowing who or what counts as a person seems straightforward, until we consider the many kinds of creatures, objects, and artificial beings that have been granted—or demanded or denied—that status. This course explores recent debates on being a person in culture, law, and philosophy. Questions examined will include: Should trees have standing? Can corporations have religious beliefs? Could a robot sign a contract? Materials examined will be wide-ranging, including essays, philosophy, novels, science fiction, television, film. No special background is required.
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What is a Person? Humans, Corporations, Robots, Trees AS.300.402 (01)
Knowing who or what counts as a person seems straightforward, until we consider the many kinds of creatures, objects, and artificial beings that have been granted—or demanded or denied—that status. This course explores recent debates on being a person in culture, law, and philosophy. Questions examined will include: Should trees have standing? Can corporations have religious beliefs? Could a robot sign a contract? Materials examined will be wide-ranging, including essays, philosophy, novels, science fiction, television, film. No special background is required.
Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Instructor: Siraganian, Lisa
Room: Gilman 208
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 4/19
PosTag(s): CES-LSO, CES-ELECT, MSCH-HUM
AS.300.405 (01)
Illness across Cultures: The Ethics of Pain in Literature and Film
T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
El Guabli, Brahim
Gilman 208
Fall 2025
Although fundamentally grounded in human existence, Illness, pain, and suffering are also cultural experiences that have been depicted in literature and film. The way different cultures relate to and convey pain is embedded in the cosmogonic ideas each society holds about suffering and its outcomes. Reading through different literary texts from different parts of the world and drawing on movies that portray varied experiences of illness, this course aims to help students think about illness and its ramifications in a more transcultural way in order to understand how illness functions across different geographic, climatic, political, and social conditions. The students will also gain a better understanding of the causes of pain, its symptoms, and the different manners in which the authors and filmmakers whose works we will study mediate it to their readers and viewers. From basic traditional potions to hyper-modern medical technologies, illness also mobilizes different types of science across cultures and social classes. By the end of the course, students will develop an ethics of reading for illness not a as monolithic condition but rather as an experience that has unique cultural codes and mechanisms that need to be known to better understand it and probably treat it.
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Illness across Cultures: The Ethics of Pain in Literature and Film AS.300.405 (01)
Although fundamentally grounded in human existence, Illness, pain, and suffering are also cultural experiences that have been depicted in literature and film. The way different cultures relate to and convey pain is embedded in the cosmogonic ideas each society holds about suffering and its outcomes. Reading through different literary texts from different parts of the world and drawing on movies that portray varied experiences of illness, this course aims to help students think about illness and its ramifications in a more transcultural way in order to understand how illness functions across different geographic, climatic, political, and social conditions. The students will also gain a better understanding of the causes of pain, its symptoms, and the different manners in which the authors and filmmakers whose works we will study mediate it to their readers and viewers. From basic traditional potions to hyper-modern medical technologies, illness also mobilizes different types of science across cultures and social classes. By the end of the course, students will develop an ethics of reading for illness not a as monolithic condition but rather as an experience that has unique cultural codes and mechanisms that need to be known to better understand it and probably treat it.
Days/Times: T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: El Guabli, Brahim
Room: Gilman 208
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 2/14
PosTag(s): CDS-GI, MSCH-HUM
AS.225.410 (01)
Theater and Philosophy
T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Lichtenberg, Drew
Krieger Laverty
Spring 2026
This course focuses on a powerful current in theater and thought from ancient works to the modern day: plays that self-consciously use the means of theater, such as a play-within-the-play, to represent the world. This type of play, along with its close relative, the Dream Play, traces its origin more to Plato and his motif of the Theatrum Mundi (the theater of the world/the world as theater) than to Aristotelian mimesis (the imitation of reality), and poses an alternative to the realist tradition. An ancient, alternate modality, this non-realistic line is also a modern one, recurring throughout history. By the 20th century, this “secret smuggler’s path” becomes a dominant language for theater itself, posing an alternate dialectics, an alternate metaphysics, an alternate hermeneutics for our ability to understand reality as well as illusion. This course—which lies at the intersection of both disciplines—will be cross listed between Theatre Arts and Philosophy. We will read plays from across histories as well as philosophical and theoretical texts, unearthing surprising correspondences in the two overlapping (Shakespeare would say "undistinguishable") fields.
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Theater and Philosophy AS.225.410 (01)
This course focuses on a powerful current in theater and thought from ancient works to the modern day: plays that self-consciously use the means of theater, such as a play-within-the-play, to represent the world. This type of play, along with its close relative, the Dream Play, traces its origin more to Plato and his motif of the Theatrum Mundi (the theater of the world/the world as theater) than to Aristotelian mimesis (the imitation of reality), and poses an alternative to the realist tradition. An ancient, alternate modality, this non-realistic line is also a modern one, recurring throughout history. By the 20th century, this “secret smuggler’s path” becomes a dominant language for theater itself, posing an alternate dialectics, an alternate metaphysics, an alternate hermeneutics for our ability to understand reality as well as illusion. This course—which lies at the intersection of both disciplines—will be cross listed between Theatre Arts and Philosophy. We will read plays from across histories as well as philosophical and theoretical texts, unearthing surprising correspondences in the two overlapping (Shakespeare would say "undistinguishable") fields.
Days/Times: T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Lichtenberg, Drew
Room: Krieger Laverty
Status: Open
Seats Available: 2/10
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.213.446 (01)
Nature and Ecology in German Literature and Thought
T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Gosetti, Jennifer Anna
Spring 2026
Nature and Ecology in German Literature and Thought examines the representation of the natural world and ecological thinking in literary works and aesthetic theory from the 18th to the 20th centuries. Themes include the aesthetics of nature, poetic reverence for nature, anthropocentric depictions of nature, the thematization of landscape, the representation of animal life and environment, the impact of technology, urbanization, and industrialization on our sense of nature. Readings may include works from poetry, novels, or short fiction and fairy tale, as well as philosophy and theory. Readings may include poetry by Goethe, Novalis, Hölderlin, Rainer Maria Rilke, and WG Sebald, fairy tales or Märchen by the brothers Grimm, and fiction by Adalbert Stifter, Wilhelm Raabe, Franz Kafka, Thomas Mann, Horst Sternn and Christa Wolf, along with theoretical works by Goethe, Kant, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Jakob von Uexküll, Hans Jonas, and Gernot Böhme, and contemporary German ecocriticism. The course is taught in English with texts in English translation; German speakers will be invited to use original texts.
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Nature and Ecology in German Literature and Thought AS.213.446 (01)
Nature and Ecology in German Literature and Thought examines the representation of the natural world and ecological thinking in literary works and aesthetic theory from the 18th to the 20th centuries. Themes include the aesthetics of nature, poetic reverence for nature, anthropocentric depictions of nature, the thematization of landscape, the representation of animal life and environment, the impact of technology, urbanization, and industrialization on our sense of nature. Readings may include works from poetry, novels, or short fiction and fairy tale, as well as philosophy and theory. Readings may include poetry by Goethe, Novalis, Hölderlin, Rainer Maria Rilke, and WG Sebald, fairy tales or Märchen by the brothers Grimm, and fiction by Adalbert Stifter, Wilhelm Raabe, Franz Kafka, Thomas Mann, Horst Sternn and Christa Wolf, along with theoretical works by Goethe, Kant, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Jakob von Uexküll, Hans Jonas, and Gernot Böhme, and contemporary German ecocriticism. The course is taught in English with texts in English translation; German speakers will be invited to use original texts.
Days/Times: T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Gosetti, Jennifer Anna
Room:
Status: Open
Seats Available: 7/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR, ENVS-MINOR
AS.300.401 (01)
Comparative Late- and Post-Cold War Cultures in China, the USSR, and Beyond
W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Hashimoto, Satoru; Schmelz, Peter John
Gilman 208
Spring 2026
This course invites students to explore culture in the late and post-Cold War world from a broader perspective by surveying literature, thought, cinema, art, and music in Chinese and Soviet (and post-Soviet) societies from the 1980s to the present. How did Chinese and Soviet (and post-Soviet) intellectuals reconfigure, reform, and/or reinvent their cultures as they re-embraced or debated ideas of freedom, democracy, and globalization? How did they grapple with the legacies of their socialist and even pre-socialist pasts as they entered new eras of reforms? How did reform movements adopt different forms and strategies in different parts of the USSR and in the Sinophone world? What kinds of negotiations took place between various centers and peripheries within and around these regions? What can we learn from their cultural endeavors about the promises, contradictions, and discontents of the post-Cold War world, as we witness the rise of a so-called “new cold war” and revisionist coalitions against globalization today? In this co-taught course, specialists in Sinophone and Soviet cultures and their legacies will guide students in reading and discussing representative works from the 1980s onward from a comparative perspective. Readings include the film Hibiscus Town, Cui Jian, Yu Hua, Ge Fei, Can Xue, Mo Yan, Yan Lianke, and Ng Kim Chew, as well as the film Russian Ark, Viktor Tsoi, Komar and Melamid, Aka Morchiladze, Oksana Zabuzhko, and Serhiy Zhadan. No prerequisites. All course materials will be provided in English translation or with English subtitles.
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Comparative Late- and Post-Cold War Cultures in China, the USSR, and Beyond AS.300.401 (01)
This course invites students to explore culture in the late and post-Cold War world from a broader perspective by surveying literature, thought, cinema, art, and music in Chinese and Soviet (and post-Soviet) societies from the 1980s to the present. How did Chinese and Soviet (and post-Soviet) intellectuals reconfigure, reform, and/or reinvent their cultures as they re-embraced or debated ideas of freedom, democracy, and globalization? How did they grapple with the legacies of their socialist and even pre-socialist pasts as they entered new eras of reforms? How did reform movements adopt different forms and strategies in different parts of the USSR and in the Sinophone world? What kinds of negotiations took place between various centers and peripheries within and around these regions? What can we learn from their cultural endeavors about the promises, contradictions, and discontents of the post-Cold War world, as we witness the rise of a so-called “new cold war” and revisionist coalitions against globalization today? In this co-taught course, specialists in Sinophone and Soviet cultures and their legacies will guide students in reading and discussing representative works from the 1980s onward from a comparative perspective. Readings include the film Hibiscus Town, Cui Jian, Yu Hua, Ge Fei, Can Xue, Mo Yan, Yan Lianke, and Ng Kim Chew, as well as the film Russian Ark, Viktor Tsoi, Komar and Melamid, Aka Morchiladze, Oksana Zabuzhko, and Serhiy Zhadan. No prerequisites. All course materials will be provided in English translation or with English subtitles.
Days/Times: W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Hashimoto, Satoru; Schmelz, Peter John
Room: Gilman 208
Status: Open
Seats Available: 9/18
PosTag(s): CES-LSO
AS.300.400 (01)
Anti-nostalgia in Literature and Film
TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
Jerzak, Katarzyna Elzbieta
Gilman 208
Spring 2026
I looked for home elsewhere, and was confident of finding none which I should relish less than the one which I was leaving.
Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Caught between Paradise Lost and the Promised Land, between a yearning for utopia and the menace of dystopia, humans seem prone to nostalgia. Originally defined as a disease, nostalgia in literature has functioned both in space and in time. If Romanticism codified certain forms of literary nostalgia, it only follows that anti-nostalgia comes later, maturing in modern exilic and science-fiction works. Both notions lose their raison d’être without the concept of home, be it a place, a temporal home of childhood, or a future home. In the seminar we will analyze modern expressions of anti-nostalgia, from Stendhal’s revulsion towards his hometown of Grenoble, through various accounts of precluded return, to a poisoned, mangled return. Disappointment, disillusionment, even horror accompany anti-nostalgia. Shock and trauma pervert a sense of belonging into disgust and fear. While nostalgia is lyrical, anti-nostalgia can be violent and bitter or passive and indifferent. We will study works of prose (Stendhal, Kafka, Bunin, Lem, Lispector, Márai, Bobowski) and poetry (Szymborska, Grynberg) as well as film (Nadav Lapid, Paweł Łoziński). Our secondary sources will include Jean Starobinski, Vladimir Jankélévitch, Jean Baudrillard, and Jora Vaso.
×
Anti-nostalgia in Literature and Film AS.300.400 (01)
I looked for home elsewhere, and was confident of finding none which I should relish less than the one which I was leaving.
Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Caught between Paradise Lost and the Promised Land, between a yearning for utopia and the menace of dystopia, humans seem prone to nostalgia. Originally defined as a disease, nostalgia in literature has functioned both in space and in time. If Romanticism codified certain forms of literary nostalgia, it only follows that anti-nostalgia comes later, maturing in modern exilic and science-fiction works. Both notions lose their raison d’être without the concept of home, be it a place, a temporal home of childhood, or a future home. In the seminar we will analyze modern expressions of anti-nostalgia, from Stendhal’s revulsion towards his hometown of Grenoble, through various accounts of precluded return, to a poisoned, mangled return. Disappointment, disillusionment, even horror accompany anti-nostalgia. Shock and trauma pervert a sense of belonging into disgust and fear. While nostalgia is lyrical, anti-nostalgia can be violent and bitter or passive and indifferent. We will study works of prose (Stendhal, Kafka, Bunin, Lem, Lispector, Márai, Bobowski) and poetry (Szymborska, Grynberg) as well as film (Nadav Lapid, Paweł Łoziński). Our secondary sources will include Jean Starobinski, Vladimir Jankélévitch, Jean Baudrillard, and Jora Vaso.
Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
Instructor: Jerzak, Katarzyna Elzbieta
Room: Gilman 208
Status: Open
Seats Available: 1/12
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.300.102 (01)
Great Minds
TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Marrati, Paola
Gilman 219
Spring 2026
This course offers an introductory survey of foundational authors of modern philosophy and moral and political thought whose ideas continue to influence contemporary problems and debates. The course is taught in lectures and seminar discussions. Authors studied include Plato, René Descartes, Immanuel Kant, Karl Marx, Virginia Woolf, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Iris Murdoch, James Baldwin, Cora Diamond, Judith Butler, Kwame A. Appiah and others.
×
Great Minds AS.300.102 (01)
This course offers an introductory survey of foundational authors of modern philosophy and moral and political thought whose ideas continue to influence contemporary problems and debates. The course is taught in lectures and seminar discussions. Authors studied include Plato, René Descartes, Immanuel Kant, Karl Marx, Virginia Woolf, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Iris Murdoch, James Baldwin, Cora Diamond, Judith Butler, Kwame A. Appiah and others.
Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Instructor: Marrati, Paola
Room: Gilman 219
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/25
PosTag(s): INST-PT, CES-ELECT
AS.300.216 (01)
Heart Matters
TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Ender, Evelyne
Gilman 208
Spring 2026
Translated from the French, Maylis de Kerangal’s award-winning The Heart reads like a brilliant and moving contemporary medical novel. This course is designed to explore the broader critical, ethical, and philosophical questions that this literary work, which is based on an accident, pursues. Built like a mosaic, our text will prompt discussions on such topics as the meaning and forms taken by “tragedy”, body/mind issues, trauma and its spaces (especially the ER and the ICU), the existential challenges and experiences that shape the collective hospital environment beyond its visible protocols and instruments. A close reading of this book along different paths will help us focus on the ethical, humanistic dilemmas faced in world of modern, highly advanced medical procedures. While its readers must face the darker, mysterious places of human suffering, these are inseparable from compassionate, generous, and sometimes heroic actions that spread collectively across the story. You will be asked to read other texts, as a fuller grasp of what is at stake (scientifically and humanely speaking) in this book, calls for a context, which will be provided by historical research and allusions scattered across our fictional text. Our seminar will thus also explore a long history of beliefs and of piecemeal anatomical or clinical discoveries about the heart that can help us understand the place held by this organ across cultures as well as in our imaginations. One or two guests familiar with the ER will bring us closer to the medical aspects of The Heart. Also planned for this course is the viewing of the film inspired by the book. NB this course fulfills is designed to fulfill the "text" requirement for our minor in CTL.
×
Heart Matters AS.300.216 (01)
Translated from the French, Maylis de Kerangal’s award-winning The Heart reads like a brilliant and moving contemporary medical novel. This course is designed to explore the broader critical, ethical, and philosophical questions that this literary work, which is based on an accident, pursues. Built like a mosaic, our text will prompt discussions on such topics as the meaning and forms taken by “tragedy”, body/mind issues, trauma and its spaces (especially the ER and the ICU), the existential challenges and experiences that shape the collective hospital environment beyond its visible protocols and instruments. A close reading of this book along different paths will help us focus on the ethical, humanistic dilemmas faced in world of modern, highly advanced medical procedures. While its readers must face the darker, mysterious places of human suffering, these are inseparable from compassionate, generous, and sometimes heroic actions that spread collectively across the story. You will be asked to read other texts, as a fuller grasp of what is at stake (scientifically and humanely speaking) in this book, calls for a context, which will be provided by historical research and allusions scattered across our fictional text. Our seminar will thus also explore a long history of beliefs and of piecemeal anatomical or clinical discoveries about the heart that can help us understand the place held by this organ across cultures as well as in our imaginations. One or two guests familiar with the ER will bring us closer to the medical aspects of The Heart. Also planned for this course is the viewing of the film inspired by the book. NB this course fulfills is designed to fulfill the "text" requirement for our minor in CTL.
Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Instructor: Ender, Evelyne
Room: Gilman 208
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/12
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.300.412 (01)
Indigenous Ecologies: Thinking with Indigenous Worldviews
T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
El Guabli, Brahim
Shaffer 303
Spring 2026
Indigenous people represent an important share of planet Earth’s inhabitants. Totaling almost 500 million people in the entire world, Indigenous people speak a variety of languages, produce knowledge in their mother tongues, and have deep connections to their lands and cultures. However, neither their demographic significance nor their long histories spared them the tragedies of settler colonialism and its aftermaths of dispossession, exclusion, and segregation. Since the early twentieth century, Indigenous people have been at the helm of a Global Indigeneity Movement that has mobilized both scholarship and activism in search of a better world. Despite their best efforts, the rich histories of indigenous activism, environmental practices, and cultural production as well as the worldviews they sustain remain confined to very limited circles. Building on the notion of "indigenous ecologies," which spans a wide range of approaches and fields, this course will interrogate some of the salient questions related to activism, literature, translation, extraction, environmentalism, and social justice from the perspective of Indigenous creators. Students will engage with materials produced by Indigenous thinkers, filmmakers, activists, and academic scholars to gain a deeper understanding of indigeneity across cultures and continents as well as the myriad critical ways in which its proponents approach pressing issues that face Indigenous peoples from myriad perspectives and positionalities.
×
Indigenous Ecologies: Thinking with Indigenous Worldviews AS.300.412 (01)
Indigenous people represent an important share of planet Earth’s inhabitants. Totaling almost 500 million people in the entire world, Indigenous people speak a variety of languages, produce knowledge in their mother tongues, and have deep connections to their lands and cultures. However, neither their demographic significance nor their long histories spared them the tragedies of settler colonialism and its aftermaths of dispossession, exclusion, and segregation. Since the early twentieth century, Indigenous people have been at the helm of a Global Indigeneity Movement that has mobilized both scholarship and activism in search of a better world. Despite their best efforts, the rich histories of indigenous activism, environmental practices, and cultural production as well as the worldviews they sustain remain confined to very limited circles. Building on the notion of "indigenous ecologies," which spans a wide range of approaches and fields, this course will interrogate some of the salient questions related to activism, literature, translation, extraction, environmentalism, and social justice from the perspective of Indigenous creators. Students will engage with materials produced by Indigenous thinkers, filmmakers, activists, and academic scholars to gain a deeper understanding of indigeneity across cultures and continents as well as the myriad critical ways in which its proponents approach pressing issues that face Indigenous peoples from myriad perspectives and positionalities.
When is an action just an accident--and when should it be called intentional? What about a double murder that is planned to look accidental … but goes very wrong in practice? And who is responsible in these situations? This course explores these and other fascinating stories of planned actions, accidents, and unintended consequences. Reading and watching twentieth-century literature and movies, we will follow a range of different creators as they think about what an intentional action is and is not, and how accidents impact how we understand our world. What can these works tell us about how we intend, act, or make meaning at the limits of our control? Texts will include films by Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, and Justine Triet, and fiction by Kate Chopin, Flannery O’Connor, Richard Wright, James Cain, and Patricia Highsmith.
×
Acting by Accident in Literature and Film AS.300.222 (01)
When is an action just an accident--and when should it be called intentional? What about a double murder that is planned to look accidental … but goes very wrong in practice? And who is responsible in these situations? This course explores these and other fascinating stories of planned actions, accidents, and unintended consequences. Reading and watching twentieth-century literature and movies, we will follow a range of different creators as they think about what an intentional action is and is not, and how accidents impact how we understand our world. What can these works tell us about how we intend, act, or make meaning at the limits of our control? Texts will include films by Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, and Justine Triet, and fiction by Kate Chopin, Flannery O’Connor, Richard Wright, James Cain, and Patricia Highsmith.
Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Instructor: Siraganian, Lisa
Room: Gilman 208
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/18
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.371.152 (01)
Digital Photography I
W 2:00PM - 5:00PM
Caro, Christiana
The Centre 318
Spring 2026
This studio art course will introduce students to the basic techniques and applications of fine art photography using digital technology. Emphasis will be placed on DSLR camera functions, image manipulation with Adobe Creative Cloud, and digital inkjet printing. Throughout the semester, students will engage in classroom critiques and discussions to aid their dialogue on art and their understanding of photographic imagery. In this course, creative exploration will be fostered through the visual language of photography. DSLR film cameras are available on semester loan. Attendance in first class is mandatory.
×
Digital Photography I AS.371.152 (01)
This studio art course will introduce students to the basic techniques and applications of fine art photography using digital technology. Emphasis will be placed on DSLR camera functions, image manipulation with Adobe Creative Cloud, and digital inkjet printing. Throughout the semester, students will engage in classroom critiques and discussions to aid their dialogue on art and their understanding of photographic imagery. In this course, creative exploration will be fostered through the visual language of photography. DSLR film cameras are available on semester loan. Attendance in first class is mandatory.
Days/Times: W 2:00PM - 5:00PM
Instructor: Caro, Christiana
Room: The Centre 318
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 0/10
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.300.414 (01)
Comparative Thought: Pass-words Across Zhuangzi, Thoreau, and Heidegger
T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Bennett, Jane; Culbert, Jennifer
Gilman 208
Spring 2026
Exploration of key terms, such as “action,” “uncertainty,” and “change,” as they resonate across the works of three authors, each associated with a different tradition of thought: Zhuangzi (ancient Daoism), Thoreau (American transcendentalism), and Heidegger (German phenomenology).
×
Comparative Thought: Pass-words Across Zhuangzi, Thoreau, and Heidegger AS.300.414 (01)
Exploration of key terms, such as “action,” “uncertainty,” and “change,” as they resonate across the works of three authors, each associated with a different tradition of thought: Zhuangzi (ancient Daoism), Thoreau (American transcendentalism), and Heidegger (German phenomenology).
Days/Times: T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Bennett, Jane; Culbert, Jennifer
Room: Gilman 208
Status: Open
Seats Available: 3/5
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.360.306 (01)
Computational Intelligence for the Humanities
TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Messner, Craig A
Bloomberg 168
Spring 2026
This course introduces substantial machine learning methods of particular relevance to humanistic scholarship. Areas covered include standard models for classification, regression, and topic modeling, before turning to the array of open-source pretrained deep neural models, and the common mechanisms for employing them. Students are expected to have a level of programming experience equivalent to that gained from AS.360.304, Gateway Computing, AS.250.205, or Harvard’s CS50 for Python. Students will come away with an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of different machine learning models, the ability to discuss them in relation to human intelligence and to make informed decisions of when and how to employ them, and an array of related technical knowledge.
×
Computational Intelligence for the Humanities AS.360.306 (01)
This course introduces substantial machine learning methods of particular relevance to humanistic scholarship. Areas covered include standard models for classification, regression, and topic modeling, before turning to the array of open-source pretrained deep neural models, and the common mechanisms for employing them. Students are expected to have a level of programming experience equivalent to that gained from AS.360.304, Gateway Computing, AS.250.205, or Harvard’s CS50 for Python. Students will come away with an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of different machine learning models, the ability to discuss them in relation to human intelligence and to make informed decisions of when and how to employ them, and an array of related technical knowledge.
Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Instructor: Messner, Craig A
Room: Bloomberg 168
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/10
PosTag(s): COGS-COMPCG, MSCH-HUM
AS.300.418 (01)
The Modernist Novel: James, Woolf, and Joyce
Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Ong, Yi-Ping
Gilman 208
Spring 2026
In this course, we will survey the major works of three of the greatest, most relentless innovators of the twentieth century – Henry James, Virginia Woolf, and James Joyce – who explored and exploded narrative techniques for depicting what Woolf called the “luminous halo” of life.
×
The Modernist Novel: James, Woolf, and Joyce AS.300.418 (01)
In this course, we will survey the major works of three of the greatest, most relentless innovators of the twentieth century – Henry James, Virginia Woolf, and James Joyce – who explored and exploded narrative techniques for depicting what Woolf called the “luminous halo” of life.
Days/Times: Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Ong, Yi-Ping
Room: Gilman 208
Status: Open
Seats Available: 10/20
PosTag(s): CTAL-CONCEPT, CTAL-TEXT
AS.300.501 (01)
Independent Study
Jerzak, Katarzyna Elzbieta
Spring 2026
Undergraduate student having directed work with a specific faculty.
×
Independent Study AS.300.501 (01)
Undergraduate student having directed work with a specific faculty.
Days/Times:
Instructor: Jerzak, Katarzyna Elzbieta
Room:
Status: Approval Required
Seats Available: 3/3
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.300.508 (01)
Honors Seminar
Ong, Yi-Ping
Spring 2026
The Honors Seminar is a mandatory component of the Honors Program in Humanities, which offers qualified undergraduates the possibility of pursuing an independent research project in their Junior and Senior years in any humanistic discipline or combination of disciplines: intellectual history, comparative literature, philosophy, critical theory, psychoanalysis, religion, film, etc., as well as points of intersection between the arts and the sciences. Sophomores who plan to study abroad in their Junior year should also consider applying to the Program. In the 2024-2025 academic year, the Seminar will focus on a close reading of Coetzee's Elizabeth Costello and associated texts, which will serve as a point of departure for discussion on the relation between different intellectual disciplines and the idea of the humanities.
×
Honors Seminar AS.300.508 (01)
The Honors Seminar is a mandatory component of the Honors Program in Humanities, which offers qualified undergraduates the possibility of pursuing an independent research project in their Junior and Senior years in any humanistic discipline or combination of disciplines: intellectual history, comparative literature, philosophy, critical theory, psychoanalysis, religion, film, etc., as well as points of intersection between the arts and the sciences. Sophomores who plan to study abroad in their Junior year should also consider applying to the Program. In the 2024-2025 academic year, the Seminar will focus on a close reading of Coetzee's Elizabeth Costello and associated texts, which will serve as a point of departure for discussion on the relation between different intellectual disciplines and the idea of the humanities.
Days/Times:
Instructor: Ong, Yi-Ping
Room:
Status: Approval Required
Seats Available: 10/10
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.360.305 (01)
Introduction to Computational Methods for the Humanities
TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Lippincott, Tom; Sirin Ryan, Hale
Bloomberg 168
Spring 2026
This course introduces basic computational techniques in the context of empirical humanistic scholarship. Topics covered include the command-line, basic Python programming, and experimental design. While illustrative examples are drawn from humanistic domains, the primary focus is on methods: those with specific domains in mind should be aware that such applied research is welcome and exciting, but will largely be their responsibility beyond the confines of the course. Students will come away with tangible understanding of how to cast simple humanistic questions as empirical hypotheses, ground and test these hypotheses computationally, and justify the choices made while doing so. No previous programming experience is required.
×
Introduction to Computational Methods for the Humanities AS.360.305 (01)
This course introduces basic computational techniques in the context of empirical humanistic scholarship. Topics covered include the command-line, basic Python programming, and experimental design. While illustrative examples are drawn from humanistic domains, the primary focus is on methods: those with specific domains in mind should be aware that such applied research is welcome and exciting, but will largely be their responsibility beyond the confines of the course. Students will come away with tangible understanding of how to cast simple humanistic questions as empirical hypotheses, ground and test these hypotheses computationally, and justify the choices made while doing so. No previous programming experience is required.
Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Instructor: Lippincott, Tom; Sirin Ryan, Hale
Room: Bloomberg 168
Status: Canceled
Seats Available: 12/12
PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM
AS.305.288 (01)
The Aesthetics of Resistance
TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Todarello, Josh
Krieger 307
Spring 2026
This course surveys the stories and storytellers of key moments of resistance or revolution, such as the 1848 Revolutions, the Haitian Revolution, the 1968 Student Movement, Occupy, Arab Spring, and Women Life Freedom. We will critically examine how such moments are, or become, narratives and how, as such, they may or may not acquire afterlives. To this end we will investigate a variety of materials, produced from a variety of points of view: the press, participants, observers, commentators, instigators, theorists, and those reconstructing the events after the fact as histories or fictions. Key themes include notions of personhood, citizenship, solidarity, equality, and futurity, as well as the aesthetics of how social uprisings are represented in a variety of media. Readings might include texts by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Alejo Carpentier, C.L.R James, Peter Weiss, Manuel Puig, Carlos Fuentes, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Audre Lorde, Joshua Clover, and others.
×
The Aesthetics of Resistance AS.305.288 (01)
This course surveys the stories and storytellers of key moments of resistance or revolution, such as the 1848 Revolutions, the Haitian Revolution, the 1968 Student Movement, Occupy, Arab Spring, and Women Life Freedom. We will critically examine how such moments are, or become, narratives and how, as such, they may or may not acquire afterlives. To this end we will investigate a variety of materials, produced from a variety of points of view: the press, participants, observers, commentators, instigators, theorists, and those reconstructing the events after the fact as histories or fictions. Key themes include notions of personhood, citizenship, solidarity, equality, and futurity, as well as the aesthetics of how social uprisings are represented in a variety of media. Readings might include texts by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Alejo Carpentier, C.L.R James, Peter Weiss, Manuel Puig, Carlos Fuentes, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Audre Lorde, Joshua Clover, and others.
Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Instructor: Todarello, Josh
Room: Krieger 307
Status: Open
Seats Available: 3/15
PosTag(s): CDS-SSMC
AS.377.274 (01)
Philosophy of History and Science in Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace
TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Juharyan, Victoria
Krieger 180
Spring 2026
This course is a study of philosophy of history and science primarily through a reading of Leo Tolstoy’s works and his epic War and Peace (1863-69). Over seven years, Tolstoy wrote a massive work that he refused to call a novel—but what was it? War and philosophy are more vital to it than peace or love stories. We entertain the idea that Tolstoy's radical ideas on narrative have a counterpart in his radical ideas on history, causation, freedom and necessity, catastrophe, commitment, and the formation of a moral self. To frame War and Peace and our discussions of philosophy, we will read Jeff Love’s studies on Tolstoy’s use of calculus for the development of his philosophy of history, “Tolstoy’s Integration Metaphor from War and Peace” by Stephen T. Ahearn as well as excerpts from philosophers like Plato, Kant, and Hegel that Tolstoy addresses in his writings. We will also study shorter works by Tolstoy, fictional and non-fictional, written before and after War and Peace, which attempt to answer huge questions with succinct definitions free of irony or reservation: What is war? courage? human experience? family? love? art? faith? death? freedom? Before War and Peace, Tolstoy poses these questions covertly and searchingly. After 1880 he answers them overtly and categorically—so much so that no authoritative text was safe. In this context, we will also read Tolstoy’s philosophical works Confession (1882), On Life (1888), and Isaiah Berlin’s The Hedgehog and the Fox: An Essay on Tolstoy's View of History.
×
Philosophy of History and Science in Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace AS.377.274 (01)
This course is a study of philosophy of history and science primarily through a reading of Leo Tolstoy’s works and his epic War and Peace (1863-69). Over seven years, Tolstoy wrote a massive work that he refused to call a novel—but what was it? War and philosophy are more vital to it than peace or love stories. We entertain the idea that Tolstoy's radical ideas on narrative have a counterpart in his radical ideas on history, causation, freedom and necessity, catastrophe, commitment, and the formation of a moral self. To frame War and Peace and our discussions of philosophy, we will read Jeff Love’s studies on Tolstoy’s use of calculus for the development of his philosophy of history, “Tolstoy’s Integration Metaphor from War and Peace” by Stephen T. Ahearn as well as excerpts from philosophers like Plato, Kant, and Hegel that Tolstoy addresses in his writings. We will also study shorter works by Tolstoy, fictional and non-fictional, written before and after War and Peace, which attempt to answer huge questions with succinct definitions free of irony or reservation: What is war? courage? human experience? family? love? art? faith? death? freedom? Before War and Peace, Tolstoy poses these questions covertly and searchingly. After 1880 he answers them overtly and categorically—so much so that no authoritative text was safe. In this context, we will also read Tolstoy’s philosophical works Confession (1882), On Life (1888), and Isaiah Berlin’s The Hedgehog and the Fox: An Essay on Tolstoy's View of History.
Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Instructor: Juharyan, Victoria
Room: Krieger 180
Status: Open
Seats Available: 26/48
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.371.152 (03)
Digital Photography I
F 2:00PM - 5:00PM
berger, phyllis Arbesman
The Centre 318
Spring 2026
This studio art course will introduce students to the basic techniques and applications of fine art photography using digital technology. Emphasis will be placed on DSLR camera functions, image manipulation with Adobe Creative Cloud, and digital inkjet printing. Throughout the semester, students will engage in classroom critiques and discussions to aid their dialogue on art and their understanding of photographic imagery. In this course, creative exploration will be fostered through the visual language of photography. DSLR film cameras are available on semester loan. Attendance in first class is mandatory.
×
Digital Photography I AS.371.152 (03)
This studio art course will introduce students to the basic techniques and applications of fine art photography using digital technology. Emphasis will be placed on DSLR camera functions, image manipulation with Adobe Creative Cloud, and digital inkjet printing. Throughout the semester, students will engage in classroom critiques and discussions to aid their dialogue on art and their understanding of photographic imagery. In this course, creative exploration will be fostered through the visual language of photography. DSLR film cameras are available on semester loan. Attendance in first class is mandatory.
Days/Times: F 2:00PM - 5:00PM
Instructor: berger, phyllis Arbesman
Room: The Centre 318
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 0/10
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.371.152 (02)
Digital Photography I
F 10:00AM - 1:00PM
berger, phyllis Arbesman
The Centre 318
Spring 2026
This studio art course will introduce students to the basic techniques and applications of fine art photography using digital technology. Emphasis will be placed on DSLR camera functions, image manipulation with Adobe Creative Cloud, and digital inkjet printing. Throughout the semester, students will engage in classroom critiques and discussions to aid their dialogue on art and their understanding of photographic imagery. In this course, creative exploration will be fostered through the visual language of photography. DSLR film cameras are available on semester loan. Attendance in first class is mandatory.
×
Digital Photography I AS.371.152 (02)
This studio art course will introduce students to the basic techniques and applications of fine art photography using digital technology. Emphasis will be placed on DSLR camera functions, image manipulation with Adobe Creative Cloud, and digital inkjet printing. Throughout the semester, students will engage in classroom critiques and discussions to aid their dialogue on art and their understanding of photographic imagery. In this course, creative exploration will be fostered through the visual language of photography. DSLR film cameras are available on semester loan. Attendance in first class is mandatory.