INTRODUCTION TO CHINESE NARRATIVE / CHN 410 / STEPHEN DURRANT
In this class, we will examine the Chinese narrative tradition, focusing attention on three different works that span approximately 2200 years: the Zuo Tradition, dating from roughly 320 BCE; the early Ming dynasty (1368-1644) novel Three Kingdoms, sometimes referred to as Romance of the Three Kingdoms; and the early twentieth century stories of Lu Xun, particularly his provocative novella “The Real Story of Ah Q,” arguably the most important piece of Chinese narrative written in the past 150 years. While this limited survey will hardly give you an adequate taste of the many varieties of narrative across the long course of Chinese literary history, it does allow us to dip into the “beginnings” of three very different and interconnected periods in this long history.
CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY / GEOG 444/544 / SHAUL COHEN
How do we understand the concept of “culture”? What factors contribute to cultural difference, what does that mean in the world, and why is it important? This course approaches culture as a set of evolving and overlapping processes, rather than as something that is fixed in time and place. It will explore the power relations that are part of cultural, and affect people based on who they are (or who they are told that they are) and where they are. Cultural Geography gives us tools to examine the ways culture is produced and practiced in different communities, societies, and scales. The class will draw upon a wide range of readings and experiences, and students will engage in dialogue about the worlds they live in, the cultures they are part of, and the ways that they interact with power and place.
READING INEQUALITY IN AMERICA THROUGH THE LENS OF ETHNOGRAPHY / SOC 410 / ELLEN SCOTT
This country was founded on principles of inequality, despite aspirations otherwise stated in the Constitution. In the generations since, the fundamental inequalities based on race, gender and class, as well as other bases of difference and identity, remain foundational to our society. While the way social inequality is exercised and enforced has changed, the fact of our society being built on a bedrock of inequality has persisted, and class inequality is greater now than at any time in the history of this nation. In this course, we will read about the structures and experiences of race, gender and class inequality in the United States through ethnographies, sociological sources that rely on in-depth, rich data to examine complex social conditions.