Author: kdwyer6

ETHICS AND TOLSTOY / REES 408/605 / STEVEN SHANKMAN 

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) is one of the greatest and most influential masters of the novel. The Russian literary classics of the nineteenth century, including the fiction of Tolstoy, made a profound impression on Emmanuel Levinas (1906-1995), perhaps the greatest modern philosopher on the nature of ethical obligation and its relation to what it means to be human. We will carefully read Tolstoy’s shorter fiction as well as his final novel, Hadji Murád, paying special attention to what Tolstoy’s fiction has to say about ethics understood in Levinas’s sense: my inescapable responsibility for a unique and irreplaceable other. We will read Ethics and Infinity, a reasonably accessible and brief series of interviews with Levinas, and we will look for connections between Tolstoy’s fiction and Levinas’s thought.

GREEK AND ROMAN EPIC / CLAS 301 / MARY JAEGER

The field of classics embraces Greek and Roman culture from the prehistoric to the medieval periods. This class focuses on analysis of the heroic tradition and epic themes in the Homeric poems, the works of Hesiod, and the Aeneid. Emphasis on literary criticism and intellectual history.

ETHICS / PHIL 102 / CAROLINE LUNDQUIST 

The fundamental assumption behind this course is that reading, writing, thinking and talking about ethics can help us to become better people, live richer, more meaningful lives, and inspire us to work together to improve our world. Hence the chief purpose of this course is to foster an ongoing engagement with meaningful ethical questions.
We will begin by examining a selection of potential “threats” to ethics, including relativism, egoism, false consciousness and moral luck, and then consider whether or to what extent moral theories can help mitigate those threats and guide our ethical thinking. Along the way, we will consider numerous questions that have historically posed, and continue to pose, serious challenges to ethical philosophers and philosophical laypeople alike. We end by applying our tentative beliefs and conclusions to a selection of contemporary moral issues.

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.

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION / CAS 407/507 / KATIE DWYER 

This course will explore concepts in intercultural understanding as well as build skills in conflict resolution, cross-cultural work, coalition building, and individual self-reflection. We will examine both the broad frameworks for discussing cultural differences as well as thinking through the ways identity and context influence our experience of the world and our encounters with one another. Conflict resolution theories and skills will be a focus. We will also discuss intercultural encounters in a variety of specific contexts, including education, the workplace, and in humanitarian efforts. We will ground these concepts in our own experiences, and include real-world applications in our own lives.

RACE AND ETHNICITY AND THE LAW / ES 452/552 / MICHAEL HAMES-GARCIA 

This independent reading course will focus on race and urban policing. We will consider developments around community policing and civilian review in cities like New York and Los Angeles and the history of policing in Baltimore and Chicago. We will also look at the role of policing internationally, at the U.S. border, and in colonial spaces like Puerto Rico and Hawai’i. Of particular interest will be the relationships between policing agencies and communities of color.​ This course has a reading and conference format, relying exclusively on written exchanges between students and the professor. It satisfies an upper-division ES elective requirement for Ethnic Studies majors and minors and also counts toward the General Social Science major with a focus in Crime, Law, and Society.

ANTHROPOLOGY: CULTURE AND PSYCHOLOGY / ANTH 410 / DIANE BAXTER 

Culture and Psychology (Psychological Anthropology) is the sub-field of cultural anthropology that focuses on the relationships between cultural and psychological fields. It poses a variety of questions, such as: how does culture impact individual psychology? What is the “self” and how is identity formed? Is there such a thing as “human nature,” and, if so, what were/are the forces that have created it? How does emotion arise? What is the relationship between culture and mental health and illness?In this course, we will begin by examining basic principles and core controversies in psychological anthropology. We will then explore three major areas in psychological anthropology: self/selves/identity; emotion; and mental illness. Our readings include two excellent books: Disciplined Hearts which focuses on identity, colonial history, and loneliness among the Flathead Indians, and Saints, Scholars, and Schizophrenics, a study of family, development, and mental illness in rural Ireland.

TOLSTOY’S SHORT AND LATER FICTION / CAS 407/507 / STEVEN SHANKMAN 

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) is one of the greatest and most influential masters of the novel. The Russian literary classics of the nineteenth century, including the fiction of Tolstoy, made a profound impression on Emmanuel Levinas (1906-1995), perhaps the greatest modern philosopher on the nature of ethical obligation and its relation to what it means to be human. We will carefully read Tolstoy’s shorter fiction as well as his final novel, Hadji Murád, paying special attention to what Tolstoy’s fiction has to say about ethics understood in Levinas’s sense: my inescapable responsibility for a unique and irreplaceable other. We will read Ethics and Infinity, a reasonably accessible and brief series of interviews with Levinas, and we will look for connections between Tolstoy’s fiction and Levinas’s thought.