Graduate Courses

The following humanities courses are open to graduate students from all departments. Please contact the instructor and/or department directly with any questions.
African American Studies | Anthropology | Art History | Art Theory and Practice | Chicago Field Studies | Classics | Communication Studies | Comparative Literary Studies | English | French and Italian | Gender Studies | German | History | Musicology | Performance Studies | Philosophy | Political Science | Radio, Television, and Film | Religious Studies | Slavic Languages and Literatures | Sociology | Theatre

FALL 2012

African American Studies

AfAmSt 440-0-20: Black Historiography
Martha Biondi
Tuesdays, 2-5 pm

AfAmSt 480-0-20: Graduate Topics in African American Studies
Freedom, Colonialism and Democracy
Sylvester Johnson
Thursdays, 2-5 pm

Freedom is arguably the single most important concept in modern history. The idea plays an especially central role in the cultural and historical imaginary in Africa and the African diaspora because of the modern history of Black slavery and colonialism. This course will provide graduate students in African American studies and interested students from other departments the opportunity to examine freedom as a genealogical concept that has been especially shaped by Black slavery and Western colonialism. The seminar combines theoretical approaches with specific historical attention to four regions: Haiti, Brazil, South Africa, and the United States. We will study freedom as a genealogical concept shaped through the linkage of Christian freedom and chattel slavery; the concept of freedom in black religious and political responses to domination; racialization processes aimed to administer freedom in a racially white body politic; and black movements of reform and revolution that sought self-determined polities and multi-racial democracy. Unlike the treatment of freedom and democracy in traditional courses, this one aims to interpret freedom and its linkage to democracy and colonialism by treating Black political and social movements as primary data.

Anthropology

ANTH 401-4: The Logic of Inquiry in Anthropology: Linguistic Anthropology
Shalini Shankar
Tuesdays, 1-4 pm

Advanced introduction to linguistic anthropology for beginning graduate students in anthropology. Required class materials: Basso, K. (1996) Wisdom Sits in Places. Albuquerque: U of NM Press. Blount, B. ed. (1995) Language, Culture and Society. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland. Duranti, A. (1997) Linguistic Anthropology. New York: Cambridge University Press. Kulick, D. (1992) Language Shift and Cultural Reproduction New York: Cambridge University Press. Haeri, Niloofar. (2002) Sacred Language, Ordinary People. Palgrave Press. Hoffman, Katherine (2008) We Share Walls: Language, Land, and Gender in Berber Morocco. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. Shankar, Shalini (2008) Desi Land: Teen Culture, Class, and Success in Silicon Valley. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

ANTH 470: History of Anthropological Theory
Robert Launay
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4:30-5:50 pm

This course will attempt the impossible--to survey the development of anthropological theory in a single quarter. Needless to say, it will not and cannot be exhaustive. Instead, it will focus on the careful scrutiny of a few primary sources by prominent individuals who have contributed to the development of the discipline, but who will also be taken as "representative" of various historical trends. The first part of the course will rapidly outline the prehistory of the discipline and focus more extensively on the notion of evolution central to 19th century social theory. The second part of the course will deal with the individual contributions of three "founding fathers": Marx, Durkheim and Weber. The final part of the course will cover a few of the numerous trends of 20th century cultural anthropology.

ANTH 490: Topics in Anthropology: Human Population Biology
William Leonard
Thursdays, 1-4 pm

This course will provide an overview of current theory, methods and research directions in human population biology. The course will specifically focus on the influence of ecological and social factors on various aspects of human biological variation. The adaptation concept will first be presented, discussed and critiqued. We will then examine the history of the field of human biology/adaptability, highlighting how early landmark studies have shaped current research directions in the field. Finally, we will explore how adaptation to different ecological stressors (temperature, solar radiation, high altitude, diet/nutrition, and lifestyle changes) promotes human biological diversity. The central theoretical issue is that of natural selection in human populations: how has it operated in the past, and what is the evidence for ongoing selection and adaptation in humans today?

ANTH 490: Topics in Anthropology: Mapping Space, People and Place
Mark Hauser
Mondays and Wednesdays, 1-2:20 pm

This course is concerned with the method, theory, and practice underlying spatial analysis using tools such as GIS in understanding human landscapes in the past and present. We will focus on the kinds of data, methods of analysis, and frames of interpretation of landscapes in the past and present. In this course students will be exposed to underlying theories of space in the interpretation of ancient and modern landscapes and gain practical experience collecting and analyzing spatial data in the context anthropological research. While case studies will be drawn from a variety of contexts in archaeology it is relevant to anyone who wishes to analyze data about and within the spatial and temporal contexts of the research they are conducting.

Art History

ART HIST 401: Methods and Historiography of Art History
Robert Linrothe
Fridays 2-5 pm

ART HIST 410: Studies in Ancient Art: Ornament
Ann Gunter
Mondays 2-5 pm

What is ornament, and how do we describe and analyze it? What are some of the current scholarly approaches to exploring major traditions of ornament in various geographical and cultural spheres? This course offers the opportunity to engage with central texts in the study of ornament, including works by G. Semper, A. Riegl, and E. H. Gombrich, and to discuss examples drawn in particular from the ancient to Late Antique Mediterranean world and its neighbors in the Near East and Central Asia. Topics include plant, animal, and geometric ornament; ornament and writing; and the relation between ornament and architecture.

ART HIST 450: Studies in Nineteenth-Century Art: Art History and Animal Studies
Stephen Eisenman
Thursdays 2-4:50 pm

In the past 20 years, there has been an enormous expansion of the fields of ethology, animal history and animal rights, and the concurrent rise of "posthumanism", a philosophical doctrine associated with Foucault, Derrida, Latour, Harraway and others. The former domains have made enormous contributions to our understanding of human/animal relations, speciesism, and animal cognition (including Theory of Mind.) But the originality of the latter set of ideas is far less certain -- many of its basic tenets seem to have been anticipated by Enlightenment authors such as Rousseau, La Mettrie, John Oswald, Joseph Ritson, Percy Shelley, Darwin and others. The course will look at the development of art from roughly 1750 to 1950 in the light of this philosophical tradition, and the evolution of what may be called the "class struggle" between human and animal.

ART HIST 460: Studies in Twentieth-Century Art: Soviet and Aesthetics
Christina Kaier
Wednesdays 2-5 pm

Socialist Realism was declared the official mode of Soviet aesthetic culture in 1934. Though it has been dismissed within the totalitarian model as propaganda or kitsch, this seminar will approach it from the perspective of its aesthetics. By this we mean not only its visual or literary styles, but also its sensory or haptic address to its audiences. Our premise is that the aesthetic system of Socialist Realism was not simply derivative or regressive, but developed novel techniques of transmission and communication; marked by a constant theoretical reflection on artistic practice, Socialist Realism redefined the relationship between artistic and other forms of knowledge, such as science. Operating in an economy of art production and consumption diametrically opposed to the Western art market, Socialist Realism challenged the assumptions of Western artistic discourse, including the concept of the avant-garde. It might even be said to offer an alternate model of revolutionary cultural practice, involving the chronicling and producing of a non-capitalist form of modernity. The seminar will focus on Soviet visual art, cinema and fiction during the crucial period of the 1930s under Stalin (with readings available in translation), but we welcome students with relevant research interests that extend beyond these parameters. Course meetings will be divided evenly between the campuses of Northwestern University and the University of Chicago.

Art Theory and Practice

ART 422: Studio Art
Jeanne Dunning
Mondays 4-6:50 pm

ART 425: Special Problems in Art
Judy Ledgerwood
Tuesdays 4-6:50 pm

Chicago Field Studies

CFS 495: Civic Engagement and Graduate Education
Ellen Knutson
Mondays, 3-6 pm

Classics

No courses listed for graduate students this quarter

Communication Studies

COMM ST 405: Seminar in Persuasion
Michael Elwood Roloff
Mondays, 11-1:50 pm

COMM ST 415: Seminar in Rhetorical Criticism
Dilip Gaonkar
Mondays, 2-4:50 pm

COMM ST 440: Seminar in Interpersonal Communication
Michael Elwood Roloff
Wednesdays, 11-1:50 pm

COMM ST 455: Current Issues in Audience Studies
James Webster
Mondays, 2-4:50 pm

This course offers a survey of different traditions in audience studies, reflecting the literature in social science and cultural studies. Particular emphasis is placed on understanding digital media use and how audiences are constructed as markets and publics.

COMM ST 488: Topics in the History of Information and Communication Technology
Jennifer Light
Wednesdays, 2-4:50 pm

The history of information and communication technology has attracted attention from scholars across a variety of disciplines—communication and media studies, library and information science, history of technology, education, science and technology studies, computer science, sociology, history, business, engineering, geography, political science, architecture and planning, art history, and the list goes on! This course, recognizing that no single scholarly tradition has a lock on the study of ICT history, seeks to introduce students to prominent voices across fields. The class centers on several topics that have brought together researchers in multiple disciplines for discussion and debate. As an introduction to the fields and methods of historical research on information and communication technology, the course requires no previous exposure to the subject. However, students who would like to use the class to continue research on a historical project-in-progress are welcome.

COMM ST 525-20: Seminar: Problems in Communication Studies: Labeled Peoples
Paul Howard Arntson
Wednesdays, 6-8:50 pm

COMM ST 525-21: Seminar: Problems in Communication Studies: Theory and Practice
Noshir Contractor
Tuesdays, 6-9 pm

COMM ST 525-22: Seminar: Problems in Communication Studies: Introduction to Cultural Studies
C. Riley Snorton
Tuesdays, 2-4:50 pm

COMM ST 525-23: Seminar: Problems in Communication Studies: Introduction to Rhetoric
Jasmine Cobb
Wednesdays, 2-4:50 pm

Comparative Literary Studies

COMP LIT 410: Theories of Literature
Jorge Coronado
Tuesdays, 2-5 pm

The course has the following goals: 1. To introduce students to a coherent body of literary and cultural theory in Latin American and Iberian writing. 2. To familiarize students with the ways in which literary and cultural theorists construct their objects of study. 3. To train students in the application of these theoretical and critical models to literary and cultural texts. 4. To examine the geopolitical and historical formation of all theory and criticism. In order to achieve these goals, and in the full conscience of our limited time and knowledge, we will take a selective view of theoretical and critical discourse over the modern period and particularly in the 20th century. After introducing and discussing the notion of theory, we will group texts so that our discussions may illuminate both a common conceptual inheritance as well as their at times acute divergences. We will read articles or essays and chapters taken from the works listed in the sample syllabus. We will ask questions such as: What sort of suppositions does theory take for granted? How does theory construct the cultural and social objects from which it supposedly arises? What factors give a specific theoretical discourse its shape? Finally, what is theory good for? We will consider these questions primarily in light of both literary and cultural production, in Latin America and elsewhere.

COMP LIT 413: Comparative Studies in Theme: Romanticism: East and West
Clare Cavanagh
Thursdays, 11-1:50 pm

COMP LIT 488: Special Topics in Comparative Literature
Jorg Kreienbrock
Mondays, 2-4:50 pm

The challenge of early German Romanticism to traditional ideas of literature, language, and representation has not diminished throughout the last two centuries and made it spectral reappearance in such diverse disciplines as deconstruction, psychoanalysis, or political theory. This course offers a historical-intellectual survey of German Romanticism and its reception in the 19th and 20th century. To this purpose we will read some of the most influential poetical and theoretical texts of early to late Romanticism. Authors such as Friedrich Schlegel, Novalis, Ludwig Tieck, Achim von Arnim, Clemens Brentano, Adelbert von Chamisso, and E.T.A. Hoffmann will be juxtaposed with the reception, translation, and transformation of their thought in literature, philosophy, and critical theory. Our readings will trace the persistence of Romantic ideas and tropes like irony, reflection, criticism, and the fantastic in authors such as Heine, Poe, Kierkegaard, Baudelaire, Benjamin, de Man, and Nancy/Lacoue-Labarthe.

English

ENG 410: Introduction to Graduate Study
Laurie Shannon
Thursdays, 10:30-1:30 pm

ENG 411: Studies in Poetry
Poetics of Post 1975 Black Aesthetics
Ivy Wilson
Wednesdays, 2-5 pm

ENG 435: Studies in Seventeenth-Century Literature
Milton
Regina Schwartz
Tuesdays, 6-9 pm

ENG 455: Studies in Victorian Literature
Plot, Character, and Evolutionary Logic
Jules Law
Mondays, 2-5 pm

What kind of statement is it to assert that a character is acting instinctively?   What does it mean—for a narrator or a critic--to give an "evolutionary" explanation for a particular character’s behavior or practice?  What does it mean to say that people or cultures "inherit," or are determined by, instincts?  How does an instinct picture its object?  Are we speaking metaphorically or literally?  In what sense are children “destined” to be like their parents (or ancestors)?  Is this something logically certain, or is it a narrative we make of the facts?  This course will be an exercise in reframing some of the claims of evolutionary psychology--an enormously influential strain in our contemporary popular and intellectual culture--through a critical reading of evolutionary thought in its original historical milieu (the Victorian era in Britain).  From its very inception, evolutionary science was interwoven with literary concepts and concerns:  what is "character"?  how are things "plotted"?  what is a plausible "narrative"?  how conjectural are "beginnings" and "ends"? to what extent can we regard various manifestations of the natural world as a set of "analogous" phenomena?  Throughout the course we will ask how the conjectural stories that comprise evolutionary thinking (often referred to as "reverse engineering") differ from the kinds of conjectures that comprise literary and literary-critical thinking.  Our central premise will be that the relationship of hard-wiring to human behavior is a figurative one. We will read three types of texts: classic Victorian novels by George Eliot and Thomas Hardy which take up the "nature-nurture" debate; Victorian "evolutionary" writing; and contemporary debates on evolutionary psychology by prominent social scientists and philosophers.

ENG 471: Studies in American Literature
Betsy Erkkilä
Tuesdays, 2-5 pm

The period between 1830 and 1860 was a time of massive social transformation, reformist zeal, and political crisis—a time when the fiction of the American union was breaking up as the linked issues of race, class, gender, capital, technology, imperial expansion, and war exposed major contradictions in the ideology of the American republic.  Not coincidentally, these years corresponded with the period of immense literary creativity that F. O. Matthiessen called the “American Renaissance” in American Renaissance: Art and Expression in the Age of Emerson and Whitman (1941).  This book not only defined a period and a canon (Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman); it also set the critical and evaluative terms within which future readings and interpretations of American literature would occur.  This course will focus on a selection of antebellum writings as a means of examining the critical and theoretical revolution that has taken place over the past few decades against the critical methodology, evaluative terms, canonical writers, readings, and texts, and the “boundaries” set in place by F. O. Matthiessen’s now classic study. 

French

FRENCH 410: Studies in Medieval Literature
Fictions of the Grail
Scott Hiley
Wednesdays, 3:30-5:50 pm

FRENCH 493: Topics in Literary Theory
Writing the Literary
Nasrin Qader
Thursdays, 3:30-5:50 pm

Gender Studies

GNDR_ST 405: Advanced Feminist Theory
Tessie Liu
Tuesdays, 2-4:50 pm

GNDR_ST 490: Topics in Gender Studies
Rethinking Reproduction in Feminist Theory
Nicola Beisel
Wednesdays, 2-4:50 pm

Feminist theorizing in the 1970s focused on motherhood as a locus of women's oppression. Three decades later, the category "woman" has been deconstructed and feminist theory focuses more on sexuality than reproduction. But Focus on the Family's simultaneous attack on gay marriage and abortion, as well as the intimate legal relationship beween the Supreme Court decisions Lawrence and Roe, suggests that we might want to revisit the place of reproducing children in what Gayle Rubin called "the sex/gender system." This course will reconsider earlier feminist theorizing in light of advances in both feminist and queer theory, with the goal of illuminating contemporary debates about "family values."

German

GERMAN 402: History of Literary Criticism
Romanticism and its Discontents
Jorg Kreienbrock
Mondays, 2-4:50 pm

History

HST 405: Seminar in Historical Analysis
Material Histories
Ken Alder
Wednesdays, 2-4:50 pm

HST 410: General Field Seminar in American History
Caitlin Fitz
Thursdays, 2-4:50 pm

This course is an introduction to the history and historiography of early America, from the colonial period through the early United States. Drawing from classic accounts as well as from more recent scholarship, students will hone their abilities to identify, assess, and develop historical arguments, methodologies, and interpretative frameworks. Topics to be addressed include contact and encounters, slavery, the Atlantic world, empire, religion, labor, and revolutionary and founding politics.

HST 430: General Field Seminar in European History: 1450-1700
Constituting an Archive
Ed Muir
Mondays, 3-5:50 pm

This seminar is designed to acquaint graduate students with the most significant historical works and the important historical issues in Early Modern European History between circa 1400 and 1800. The course is part of the essential preparation for a graduate field examination in European history. Major topics will include the social and intellectual origins of the Italian Renaissance, the development of modern political thought and diplomacy, the urban foundations of the Protestant Reformation in Germany and Switzerland, the scientific revolution, the historical anthropology of peasant societies and the urban poor, ideas of kingship and absolutism, the Enlightenment and French Revolution, the rise of England, and the social history of women and gender.

HST 450: General Field Seminar in African History
Jonathon Glassman
Wednesdays, 10-12:20 pm

HST 492: Topics in History
The U.S. Empire
Daniel Immerwahr
Tuesdays, 2-4:50 pm

Musicology

MUSICOL 439: Seminar in Music and Gender
Linda Austern
Mondays and Wednesdays, 11-12:20 pm

This course will focus on some of the many intersections between music and ideas of gender and sexuality in Europe and its colonies during the sixteenth-, seventeenth- and eighteenth centuries, or from the High Renaissance through the Age of Enlightenment. We will consider late twentieth- and twenty-first century histories and theories of gender and sexuality, particularly of the period in question, but also some key ideas that are particularly applicable to early modern constructs of the body, selfhood, and gender identity. Scholarly readings will be drawn from the full range of music disciplines, social history, gender studies, and the history of medicine; primary documents will include not only every genre of music from the era, but also music theory treatises, conduct books, medical manuals, educational treatises, legal documents, archival materials, and literary sources. Since this is a seminar, students will have ample opportunity to work independently on areas of interest throughout the quarter.

 

MUSICOL 440: Introduction to Music Bibliography
Bernard Dobroski

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9-9:50 am

MUSICOL 490: Musicology Colloquium
Linda Austern

Thursdays, 3:30-6 pm

Performance Studies

PERF_ST 410: Studies in Performance
Staff
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12-1:50 pm

PERF_ST 515: Seminar: Problems in Performance Studies
Asian American Aesthetics and Performance
Joshua Chambers-Letson
Tuesdays, 2-4:50 pm

This course will ground students in the field of Asian American performance and current practices in Asian American aesthetic criticism. We will study foundational and emergent texts in the field, alongside key works of cultural production representing and produced by Asian Americans from the era of Asian Exclusion into the contemporary period of the global War on Terror. Performance will be broadly construed to include performance art, theater, popular music, dance, comedy, and digital performance. Theorists studied may include Lisa Lowe, Esther Kim Lee, Karen Shimakawa, Josephine Lee, Kandice Chuh, Jean-Luc Nancy, Nitasha Sharma, Dorrine Kondo, Eng-Beng Lim, Shawn Metzger, Rey Chow, Jacques Rancière, Lucy Mae San Pablo Burns, and Christine Bacareza Balance. Artists studied may include Yoko Ono, Michio Ito, Velina Hasu Houston, Frank Chin, Ping Chong and Company, Margaret Cho, Hasan M. Elahi, Denise Uyehara, Ma-Yi Theater Company, Jessica Hagedorn, and Das Racist. Previous knowledge of Asian American performance and history is not necessary.

PERF_ST 515: Seminar: Problems in Performance Studies
Performance and Pedagogy
Elondust Johnson
Mondays, 2-5 pm

This graduate seminar will explore issues of teaching performance studies. We will pay close attention to how teaching performance studies provides a unique opportunity to engage questions of ethics, political efficacy, race, class, gender, sexuality, regionalism, and power that are specific to the performance studies classroom. The seminar will also provide an opportunity for students to develop their own pedagogical style through mock lectures, syllabi development, and performance critique. Required Readings: Alexander, et. al. Performance Theories in Education Dolan, Jill Geographies of Learning Gallop, Jane Pedagogy: The Question of Impersonation Kumar, Amitava Class Issues: Pedagogy, Cultural Studies & Public Sphere Stuckey & Wimmer Teaching Performance Studies Tusmith & Reddy Race in the College Classroom: Pedagogy and Politics

PERF_ST 518: Seminar: Problems in Research
Ramon Rivera-Servera
Tuesdays, 2-4:50 pm

This course will introduce incoming graduate students to the field of performance studies, lay out the milestones they must meet in their graduate careers, prepare students for Master's and Dissertation research and writing, including documentation and argumentation.

Philosophy

PHIL 401: Proseminar (first year Philosophy grad students only)
Jennifer Lackey
Wednesdays, 4-6:50 pm

PHIL 410: Seminar: Special Topics in Philosophy
Reasoning and Rationality
Andrew Koppelman
Wednesdays, 2-4:50 pm

Is private property one of the rights of man? What is the basis of property rights - are they purely an artifact of positive law, a necessary condition of human freedom, a historical entitlement that it is wrong to disturb, a stratagem for maximizing economic efficiency, or something else? What does any particular basis entail about the specific shape of property rights? We will explore these questions while comparing the various proffered answers with the regime of property rights that are actually established in contemporary American law.

PHIL 422: Studies in Modern Philosophy
Decartes
Baron Reed
Tuesdays, 4-6:50 pm

Descartes is a pivotal figure in the history of western philosophy. He is often considered the first Modern philosopher, the most important leader of the "new philosophy" that replaced the Scholastic aristotelianism of the Medieval era. Perhaps more than anyone else, Descartes has presented the questions that continue to shape the way we now engage in philosophy (e.g., is knowledge possible? what is the nature of the mind? how can it interact with material objects? what is the proper method for philosophy?). Although most contemporary philosophers reject Descartes' views, his influence on them is still profound. In this course, we will examine Descartes' philosophical system in depth, both to understand its place in historical context and to evaluate its current relevance.

PHIL 423: Studies in Contemporary Philosophy
Philosophy of Language
Michael Glanzberg
Thursdays, 4-6:50 pm

In The German Ideology, Marx and Engels argue that morality, religion, and other ideological phenomena, are not independent causal factors in history but follow in some sense from the development of material production and intercourse. The foundations of modern sociological theory were developed in dialogue with a certain reading of Marx's historical materialism and involved an attempt to challenge his account of the role of political and ideological factors in the maintenance of social structures and in the explanation of historical change. In this course, we will examine the philosophic issues raised by these theories of history. We will start by examining G.A. Cohen's masterful reconstruction of Marx's theory of historical materialism and the marxological and philosophical controversies it gave rise to. We will then turn to several classic texts by Durkheim and Weber in order to assess both why they rejected historical materialism and what they intended to put in its place. We will spend particular attention to their alternative accounts of the role of moral and religious values in the transition to modernity.

PHIL 461: Seminar in Social and Political Theory
European Social Thought
Mark Alznauer
Tuesdays, 1-3:50 pm

Political Science

POLI_SCI 403: Intro to Probability and Statistics
Georgia Kernell
Mondays, 2-4:50 pm

This course is designed to teach students the basics of single variable calculus, probability, set theory, random variables, and hypothesis testing. The course prepares students for the next class in the statistics sequence: 405, Linear Models. The only prerequisite is to have taken the ALEKS exam and online learning module if necessary.

POLI_SCI 404: Practicum in Political Analysis
Andrew Roberts
Mondays, 9-11:50 am

This course will assist students in completing their second-year papers. It will also discuss issues related to professional development.

POLI_SCI 410: American Political Institutions and Behavior
James Druckman
Fridays, 9-11:50 am
This course provides an introduction to the evolution and current state of the academic literature on American Politics. The course emphasizes breadth over depth (although time constraints prevent us from examining all areas of American politics). The first part of the course focuses on political behavior, while the second part emphasizes political institutions. Students are expected to come to class prepared to discuss, in detail, all of the assigned readings. Students may be asked to present assigned readings without prior notice. In so doing, be prepared to discuss main themes, contributions, problems, and unanswered questions. Additionally, each week a few students will be assigned the task of writing brief discussion papers that summarize the readings and identify weaknesses and unresolved questions (no more than 2 pages). Papers should be e-mailed to all class members by 12:00PM each Saturday. There will be a final examination with questions similar to those asked on the comprehensive exam. The course grade will be determined as follows: class participation (30%), the short papers (20%), and the final exam (50%).

POLI_SCI 450: Contemporary Theory and Research in Comparative Politics
Jeffrey Winters
Thursdays, 9-11:50 am

Comparative Politics covers a range of issues spanning the entire globe (including the US, even if it is treated as a separate field). This seminar will expose students to some of the foundational works in Comparative. The concepts, theories, and analyses contained in these readings will provide essential building blocks for students to pursue further reading on their own and in other courses in comparative politics and political economy.

POLI_SCI 452: Democratization
Edward Gibson
Thursdays, 2-4:50 pm

This course examines classic and contemporary debates about processes of democratization.

POLI_SCI 461: Ancient and Medieval Political Thought
Classical Political Theory
Sara Monoson-Burns
Wednesdays, 2-4:50 pm

POLI_SCI 468: Problems in Democratic Theory
Politics, Ethics, Aesthetics
Bonnie Honig
Tuesdays, 2-4:50 pm

Problems in Democratic Theory: Politics, Ethics, Aesthetics. The first 2 weeks will be on Tocqueville's Democracy in America. working with some themes drawm from that text, Then we will turn to some recent work in democratic theory, assessing so-called turns to ethics and aesthetics from a democratic theory perspective. Topics will include humanism, the sensorium, agency, power, inequality and more. Texts will be by authors such as William Connolly, Stephen Greenblatt, Davide Panagia, Jane Bennett, James Martel and Jodi Dean. Requirements for the class are regular attendance, preparation and a book review or reader's reports on 2-3 essays due at the end of term.

POLI_SCI 484: Comparative-Historical Social Science Workshop
Ann Shola Orloff
Bruce Carruthers
Fridays, 3-5 pm

Comparative-historical sociology involves the examination of social structures and events across societies and historical time. In its simplest form, parallel events or social structures in two societies are examined. In its more complex variants, a range of similarities and differences across many societies may be studied. The goal of comparative-historical sociology is to unite differences and similarities in a single, comprehensive framework in order to make sense of diversity in social forms and historical outcomes.

POLI_SCI 490: Special Topics in Political Science
Interpretive Methods in the Study of Politics
Ian Hurd
Wednesdays, 9-11:50 am

This graduate seminar provides an overview of interpretive methodologies for research on politics. It considers interpretive strategies for addressing research questions that involve the constitution of social and political phenomena, the power of discourse, problems of human reflexivity, the dialectics of meaning and action, and other features that complicate methods based on dependent and independent variables. It also addresses debates about science, explanation, causation, qualitative and quantitative research, and other issues in political-science methods. The class will use examples from literature in international relations, but students will be encouraged to pursue their own research projects using the resources of the course.

POLI_SCI 490: Special Topics in Political Science
International Law and International Politics
Karen Alter-Hanson
Tuesdays, 9-11:50 am

This seminar examines contemporary scholarship regarding international law. International law is a growth area of international relations. Scholars and practioners recognize that international law and international legal institutions are increasingly important in international politics. The study of international law is also an intellectual arena for theoretical innovation. International law is a place to study the interaction of material and normative forces, and a place where one can employ all of the newest methods and approaches in political science. The new international law scholarship is being built in an unusually interdisciplinary fashion. We will be reading work that builds on economic theories, sociological theories, and traditional international relations approaches. We will also be examining questions of broad interest within political science, philosophy and sociology-- the social construction and influence of norms in international affairs, the importance of murky issues like legitimacy and fairness in shaping public perceptions and actor behavior, and how institutions of international law including international treaties and international courts implicitly and explicitly shape the international political process and state behavior.

Radio/Television/Film

RTVF 426: Global Media
Exile, Diaspora, and Transnational Cinemas
Hamid Naficy
Thursdays, 1:4:50 pm
Cinema has been global from the start and throughout its history displaced artists have made films that enriched the cinemas of both their homeland and adopted lands. These expatriate, exile, émigré, postcolonial, and transnational films and videos are usually discussed under the rubric of "national cinemas" "auteurism," or "genre cinema." The purpose of this course, however, is to problematize these concepts and to explore these films made since World War II on their own terms as products of a particular [dis]location of their makers in time and place and in social life and cultural discourse. It will examine the extent to which these films constitute a new mode of production and an "accented" style, an accent that signifies and signifies upon both placement and displacement.

RTVF 475:  Grad Prod Workshop
Debra Tolchinsky
Wednesdays, 12-2 pm

In 475, participating graduate students will gain familiarity with the key components of filmmaking by viewing, creating, and critiquing media. Questions considered will include: What do we want to express and why? Who is our audience? How can visual components be controlled and manipulated? What happens when particular sounds and images are juxtaposed? What are the issues that arise as you go from the written page to pre-production to production to post-production? Note: For graduate students, this is the prerequisite class for other advanced production courses in the department.

RTVF 561:  Foundations of Writing for the Screen and Stage
David Tolchinsky
Wednesdays, 3-5:50 pm

Students in this intensive workshop will learn transportable storytelling concepts fundamental to artistic expression on the screen and stage. They will learn how core concepts of character, structure, plot, theme and tone apply within existing media and how, in a rapidly-expanding technological universe, they will continue to apply to all media yet-to-come.

Religious Studies

RELIGION 481: Classical Theories of Religion
Cristina Traina
Thursdays, 2-5:00 pm

This course covers the emergence of the field of religious studies by exploring its early theorists and their impact. Authors covered include but are not limited to Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Emile Durkheim, William James, Rudolf Otto, Mircea Eliade, E.B. Tylor, and Ludwig Feuerbach. Students will give brief presentations on resources they have prepared for common use and will write a final paper.

Slavic Languages and Literatures

SLAVIC 405: Russian Teaching Methodology
Elisabeth Elliott
Tuesdays, 11-1:50 pm

SLAVIC 411: Proseminar
Romanticism: East and West
Clare Cavanagh
Thursdays11-1:50 pm

Romanticism and the Nation-State It is only Byron I read, and I throw away any books written in another spirit, because I detest lies. --Adam Mickiewicz, letter to Franciszek Malewski (1822) what is he? Just an apparition, a shadow, null and meaningless, a Muscovite in Harold's dress, a modish second-hand edition . . . --from Aleksandr Pushkin, Eugene Onegin (tr. Charles Johnston) forgive me also that I didn't fight like Lord Byron for the happi- ness of captive peoples that I watched only risings of the moon and museums --from Zbigniew Herbert, "Prayer of Mr. Cogito, Traveler" (tr. John and Bogdana Carpenter) Slavic Proseminar Romanticism and the Nation-State: Byron, Pushkin, Mickiewicz This course is an introduction to methodological and critical issues in graduate literary studies by way of three figures who changed the shape of modern European literature, George Lord Byron (1788-1824), Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855), and Aleksandr Pushkin (1799-1837). Byron's impact on European Romanticism generally was tremendous, and, as Peter Cochran notes, his "influence got more powerful the more endangered freedom of action and expression became": "In countries with assured national identities and complacent convictions about their past and future . . . his power over poets waned rapidly" (Cambridge Companion to Byron, p. 255). Both Pushkin and Mickiewicz were profoundly influenced by Byron, whom they read, at least initially, in French prose translations; and their shared admiration for the English writer helped to shape their own friendship, forged during the years of Mickiewicz's imposed exile in Russia. In the seminar we will read key texts from the vast secondary literature on Byron to examine recent Anglo-American approaches to literary studies; to test their applicability to the very different literary traditions of Poland and Russia; and to challenge the critical and theoretical vocabulary in Slavic and Anglo-American Romantic scholarship alike. We will also address key topoi in the Romantic movement generally (the Romantic hero, Romantic nature, Orientalism, nation, politics, prophecy) by way of works in multiple genres: lyric, drama, narrative poem, novel. All works will be available in translation; Slavic students will be expected to read Russian texts in the original. Polish texts will be available in both Russian and English translation. Questions of literary and cultural translation will form part of our discussion.

SLAVIC 437: Russian Poetry
The Poema
Ilya Kutik
Wednesdays 3-5:50 pm

Sociology

SOCIOL 400: Introduction to Statistics and Statistical Software
Quincy Stewart
Wednesdays, 10-12:50 pm

Social scientists use quantitative methods to explore and test hypotheses, describe patterns in survey and census data, analyze experimental findings, and dynamically model social relations among individuals and groups. The aim of this course is to introduce students to the basic concepts of quantitative methods as they relate to social research, and lay the foundation for more advanced graduate-level courses in multiple regression, regression models for categorical dependent variables, event-history analysis, etc. Students in the course will learn to: use graphs, tables, and measures of central tendency and spread to summarize data; explain random sampling using probability concepts; explain what a sampling distribution is and give a rudimentary explanation of its role in inferential statistics; calculate and explain confidence intervals; test hypotheses about means, proportions, and pairs of means and proportions; test the hypothesis of independence in a contingency table; compute and interpret correlations and regressions for pairs of variables; and use Stata statistical software to perform basic statistical analysis.

SOCIOL 406-1: Classical Theory in Sociological Analysis
Wendy Griswold
Tuesdays, 2-4:40 pm

Marx and Weber: comparison and contrasts of their theories. Also, theorists such as Lukacs and Gramsci, who combine elements from both.

SOCIOL 406-2: Modern Theory in Sociological Analysis
Wendy Espeland
Mondays, 9:30-12 pm

This class investigates modernity. It includes selections that illustrate how various thinkers have conceived of what it means to "be modern" or "post-modern," critiques of modernity that have profoundly shaped our images of it, and skeptics who challenge the idea of modernity. It also includes sections that investigate in detail what I call "mechanisms" of modernity: procedures, devices, approaches or strategies that people adopt or promulgate in their efforts to be rational, manage uncertainty and conflict, or attain efficiency in various institutional arenas. Readings will include works by Michel Foucault, Larraine Daston, Anthony Giddens, Bruno Latour, Jurgen Habermas, James Scott and Ted Porter, among others.

SOCIOL 476-0-20: Topics in Sociological Analysis
Political Sociology
Monica Prasad
Mondays, 2-5 pm

Political sociologists study the influence of social forces on formal politics, as well as politics in non-formalized settings. We will study several of the classic debates within political sociology, including on the influence of business interests in capitalist democracies, on how social cleavages influence vote choice, and on how to define power. This course focuses on areas of political sociology that do not overlap with other courses offered in the department.

SOCIOL 476-0-21: Topics in Sociological Analysis
Civil Society
Albert Dale Hunter
Mondays, 2-4:30 pm

This course explores a number of different meanings and perspectives of the once-again popular concept of "civil society." Specifically, it traces its emergence from the 18th-century Scottish Enlightenment to its transplantation in America and current issues about the role of the state in relation to civil society. This includes issues about the role of voluntary associations and the observations of de Tocqueville about their importance for maintaining democracy, and the debate over the decline of US voluntary participation a la Putnam. We will compare differ types of voluntary organizations that make up the non-profit, "third sector": philanthropic, political, religious, local community and self-help, and explore such issues as civil liberties versus security, the separation of church & state, private versus public, individual versus community, and consensus versus conflict. Finally, the course explores the concept of "civility" as a code of interpersonal behavior and the micro-macro link between civility and civil society. Throughout, the course will highlight a comparative empirical approach of US vs. other societies, particularly the UK.

SOCIOL 476-0-22: Topics in Sociological Analysis
Professional Writing Seminar
Gary Fine
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11-12:20 pm

This seminar is for graduate students who wish to extend their scholarly writing skills and who wish to learn more about techniques of reading scholarly texts. We will discuss both reading and writing for graduate students. Students should enroll with a paper that they seek to submit to a referred journal. During the quarter, we will analyze the theory and practice of reading and writing, and students will revise their papers into article-form through assignments designed not only to assist in the revision of the paper but to provide preparation for article writing in the social sciences.

SOCIOL 476-0-23: Topics in Sociological Analysis
Atrocities: Collective Representations
John Hagan
Wednesdays, 6-8:30 pm

Themes: Sociology of collective representations, social science of atrocities, legal interventions, and collective representations. Focus: Darfur, Rwanda, Balkan Wars. Method: reading scholarly literature as analysis and cases of representation; hand-on examination of legal documents, media reports and policy statements. This is a teaching collaborative, co-taught via ITV technology with Joachim Savelsberg at University of Minnesota.

SOCIOL 480: Introduction to the Discipline
Gary Fine
Thursdays, 9-11 am

SOCIOL 490: Research: Second-Year Paper
Gary Fine
Thursdays, 9-11 am

SOCIOL 576-0-20: Topics in Sociological Analysis
Workshop: Culture and Society
Wendy Griswold
Thursdays, 3:30-5:30 pm

The Culture and Society Workshop is an interdisciplinary workshop for advanced graduate students and faculty whose research involves the connections between culture and society. New members are always welcome. For more information, you can contact student coordinator Stacy Lom or faculty director Wendy Griswold.

SOCIOL 576-0-21: Topics in Sociological Analysis
Workshop: Applied Quantitative Methods
Christine Perchesky and Jason Seawright
Mondays, 5:30-7 pm

The Applied Quantitative Methods Workshop is primarily a forum for graduate students to present work in progress using quantitative methods. The workshop also has occasional didactic presentations on methods. Students of all levels of knowledge are encouraged to attend.

SOCIOL 576-0-22: Topics in Sociological Analysis
Workshop: Ethnography
Gary Fine
Tuesdays, 5-6:30 pm

The Ethnography Workshop is open to graduate students and faculty who are interested in the broad range of participant observation, field observations, and ethnographic methods. As a sociological method, ethnography refers to the qualitative description of human behavior, based on intensive fieldwork. This method offers a rich and finely-textured account of social life and culture in particular social systems, based on close observations and interviews. Ethnography embraces the idea that a social system depends on the meanings of behaviors as they are enacted within a local context.

SOCIOL 576-0-23: Topics in Sociological Analysis
Comparative-Historical Social Science Workshop
Ann Shola Orloff
Bruce Carruthers
Fridays, 3-5 pm

Comparative-historical sociology involves the examination of social structures and events across societies and historical time. In its simplest form, parallel events or social structures in two societies are examined. In its more complex variants, a range of similarities and differences across many societies may be studied. The goal of comparative-historical sociology is to unite differences and similarities in a single, comprehensive framework in order to make sense of diversity in social forms and historical outcomes.

SOCIOL 576-0-24: Topics in Sociological Analysis
Workshop: Urban/Community
Albert Dale Hunter
Wednesdays, 5-6 pm

The Urban Studies workshop focuses on cities as both a subject of inquiry and the framing context for a variety of social phenomena. These include the natural and built environment, networks of interaction and institutional structures, and the symbolic and cultural meanings constructed and constraining urban life. Spatial scales range from local communities to metropolitan areas and the global system of cities. Temporal scales range from historical issues of urbanizing populations to contemporary issues of political/economic development and patterns of inequality. Methods range from quantitative analysis of census data to local urban ethnographies. Graduate students are encouraged to present their own research, along with occasional invited speakers.

Theatre

THEATRE 420: Collaboration: Contemporary Drama
Ana Kuzmanic, Joseph Appelt, Jr., Michael Rohd, and Todd Rosenthal
Mondays, 8-10:50 am

THEATRE 451: Seminar in Advanced Directing
Jessica Thebus
Mondays, 8-10:50 am

THEATRE 462: Advanced Studies in Lighting Design
Staff
Mondays, 11-1:50 pm

THEATRE 463: Advanced Studies in Scenic Design
Staff
Mondays, 11-1:50 pm

THEATRE 464: Advanced Studies in Costume Design
Ana Kuzmanic and Linda Roethke
Mondays, 11-1:50 pm