Representations of wastelands in literature typically revolve around ideas of emptiness, desolation, and depravity. But is any land ever really empty? Think of colonization. Entire continents have been declared vacant...
How did capitalism emerge, expand and transform daily life in North America over the past 500 years? In this course, students will gain an in-depth understanding of how North America turned from a minor outpost of the Atlantic economy...
In this course, students will watch, analyze, discuss and write about a series of documentary films tied to movements for social justice; they will also work in teams over the course of the semester to produce their own short issue-based documentaries...
This course considers the relationships between systems of human injustice and environmental issues—including industrial disasters, ocean acidification, and resource extraction. We examine...
Domestic work, according to labor activist Ai-jen Poo, is “the work that makes all other work possible,” yet the people who clean, cook, and care are so often invisible and undervalued. Because domestic labor takes place within the...
We do not sing alone. On land, four kinds of animals produce songs or calls: birds, frogs, mammals and insects. Some of these (and fish) also do so underwater. The principal sounds such animal species make are signaling...
This course is an introduction to Africans through African languages and cultures. The course explores how sub-Saharan Africans use language and cultural production to understand, organize, and transmit indigenous...
Why does the Mexico-U.S. border continue to be a space for debate and controversy? This course examines how the creation of the U.S.-Mexico border in 1848 shaped modern Mexican society from the nineteenth century to our present. For many, the border served (and serves) as a protective barrier from poverty, violence, and,...
Magic had long been an integral part of how people made sense of the world around them, but between 1450 and 1750 some 80 to 100,000 people (mostly women) were executed under charges of witchcraft in western Europe alone. During the same period, a...
Why is it easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism? As we witness the effects of global warming, species loss, economic inequality, and gendered and racialized violence, it is indeed hard to imagine that...
This course focuses on the history and phenomenology of African peoples’ religious experiences in the Americas. The historical and social processes that led to the emergence of African diasporic religions in Latin America and the Caribbean will form...
This course introduces students to the theory and practice of cultural resistance in colonial and post-colonial contexts. The course offers an overview of key concepts, questions, and debates in postcolonial studies, including identity and...
Global Ethnic Politics or Dominance and Difference: Ethnic Politics in Comparative Perspective is an advanced undergraduate reading and writing seminar on ethnic politics and social stratification....
The seminar examines the historical development of religion in Nigeria and explores its intersection with ethnic identity, culture, and society in pre-colonial, colonial, and contemporary periods. The course provides an understanding of various...
