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Things expose relations in and between societies that inform the past. As Arjun Appadurai argues, "even though from a theoretical point of view human actors encode things with significance, from a methodological point of view it is the things-in-motion that illuminate their human and social context." In this course, we will mobilize early modern things to explore what inanimate objects reveal about the animate world. We will study the social significance and cultural value of such things to look at and beyond their materiality. In particular, we will examine objects such as clothing from England, earthenware from the Italian peninsula, featherwork from the New World, and carpets from the Ottoman Empire to rethink how such things construct biography, impact memory, produce ambiguity, and dictate taste.

0.5 units

Dana Katz, Joshua C. Taylor Professor of Art History and Humanities

Tuesdays, 6:00–7:30 p.m.

What is taught in the natural sciences, and why? What should be taught? What best supports science learning, and how can we make it more equitable and inclusive? STEM Education Research takes a scientific approach to answering questions like these, integrating knowledge of the natural sciences with methods widely used in the natural and social sciences. In this course, we will examine how discipline-specific knowledge about science education is generated, and what implications this knowledge has for improving STEM learning and student outcomes. In this course we will critically evaluate the evidence about STEM teaching and learning, assessing scholarly claims by considering their methodological and analytical strengths and limitations. Through this, we will discuss well-established evidence-supported practices for science teaching and learning, context-specific factors that can cause these practices to fail to support learning, and systemic and societal barriers that complicate STEM course reforms.

0.5 units

Nicole James, Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Wednesdays, 5:40–7:10 p.m.

The Indian Ocean has been a site of cultural exchange across continents for several millennia, but it has often been marginalized from discussions of modernity based on Euro-American and trans-Atlantic models. What does it mean to be modern in the context of the Indian Ocean, a region crisscrossed by multiple empires, competing religions, and movements of migrants, merchants, slaves, pilgrims and soldiers?  How have individuals and communities in the Indian Ocean been framed by larger transnational processes like colonization, decolonization, slavery, trade, migration, and displacement? How do the non-Western sources of globalization and transnationalism in the Indian Ocean provide modes for thinking about alternative experiences of modernity? Using literature as the primary mode of thinking, this course will consider the ways in which the unique history of circulation of people, objects and ideas in the Indian Ocean shape ideas of modernity distinct from those developed in the West. This course will draw on readings from literary studies, history, anthropology, philosophy, and critical race studies, to form a contextually informed approach to the study of the literature from the region. The course aims to rethink major concepts associated with modernity such as nation, diaspora, cosmopolitanism, and globalization in relation to the categories of race, gender, ethnicity, caste and religion in the Indian ocean context.

0.5 units

This course will explore the biochemistry, cell biology, neurobiology, and the societal impacts of the opioid receptor. We will track how a receptor is made, how it is transported in the cell, and how it functions with regards to pain and sedation. We will then discuss the origins of the opioid pandemic starting from a historical perspective transitioning to how it affects the economy, race relations, and the society at large. In order to do so, we will read primary literature pulling from cell biology/neurobiology, sociology, and economics to taking a holistic, interdisciplinary approach.

0.5 units

 

How are relationships - relationships between friends, spouses, lovers, children and parents, fellow citizens, soldiers and commanders, students and teachers - like or unlike commercial transactions? And what, in fact, characterizes commercial transactions? In Classical Athens these were especially pressing questions, since Athenian society had been transformed by monetization, which provided a new conceptual framework for thinking about social relationships and obligations, and put pressure on traditional understandings. The great literary forms of this period - tragedy, comedy, the Socratic dialogue - reflect and respond to this conceptual pressure, and this course will explore both the process of monetization and how Classical Athenian intellectuals responded to the questions it raised by interrogating different kinds of relationship in works such as Euripides' Medea, Sophocles' Antigone, Aristophanes' Knights, Xenophon's Memorabilia and Plato's Republic.

0.5 units

 

0.5 units

Christian Kroll, Associate Professor of Spanish and Humanities

Tuesdays, 6:00–7:30 p.m.

In this course, we shall focus on the short story which, in its brevity, brings into sharp focus the workings of craft. We shall revel in fiction’s powers to enchant and delight. We shall bask in the performance of language and explore what Jean-Paul Sartre meant when he said, “Every sentence is a risk.” We will devote time primarily to the analysis and discussion of participants’ creative work, which will serve as the main mode of instruction for refining our craft. We shall supplement these with diverse readings from writers such as Karen Russell, NoViolet Bulawayo, Jorge Luis Borges, Ling Ma, Ted Chiang and Morgan Thomas, among others. Other elements to be discussed towards the end of the course include the practice of revision, successfully getting into a writing routine, and sending work out for publication.

 

A course on gender and health in the history of Islam through a focus on Muslim bodies. The course begins with a study of the various dimensions, expressions, and status of what it has meant--and what it can mean--to be gendered a Muslim "man," "woman," or non-binary person: from the ideas found in scriptural sources, later legal interpretations, and historical and contemporary transformations. Conceptions of embodiment and sensation in mystical poetic traditions will also be covered. Students will then study how legacies from religious ideals of the past are implicated in contemporary discourses and practices related to health and medical care. Students will explore issues related to bridging Muslim understandings of gender with best practices in health care, as well as the ethical reasoning behind gendered healthcare. Finally, students will explore a number of case studies on complicated and often controversial issues such as abortion, gender-affirming care (including surgery), sex positive movements, and death.