W.E.B. DuBois was one of the Twentieth Century's most important intellectual and political figures. His writings, which span from the turn of the century until the Civil Rights era, are still some of the most quoted, referenced, and anthologized. This course will examine the public and private life of DuBois, through a critical evaluation of his contributions as an organizer, race theorist, cultural critic, political journalist, public intellectual, and family man. How did DuBois impact the study of global black experiences? How might he fit within a Black Radical Tradition? What was/is the impact of his ideas on race and race leadership? To what degree can we consider him an American intellectual? And finally, how are DuBois' ideas applicable to the contemporary political environment? This course will engage these and other critical questions through close readings of published and unpublished writings by and about DuBois during his day and long after.

Recent decades have seen unprecedented changes in the economic landscape of most developing nations. This course examines the gendered sites, processes and consequences of some of these changes: the spread of neoliberalism, the increased hold of globalization, the growing rampancy of economic and political crises, war and humanitarian disasters, and increasing disillusionment with the erstwhile promises of development. Using the entry point of gender, we will not only revisit age-old issues such as the international and intra-household division of labor, unequal access to resources, the impact of welfare cuts, economic crisis, and the feminization of migration, but also expand our analysis to new sites of upheaval such as the milieu of globalization, post-conflict and post-socialist transitions, environmental change, and popular movements for change/resistance. Throughout the course, the close nexus between economic, social and cultural processes will be explored. The course is appropriate for students interested in working in the area of international development, and for those concentrating in social science who would like an advanced introduction to the growing literature on gender in global development.

This course is designed as a broad exploration of social and political change in South Asia, with special focus on India and Pakistan. Instead of in-depth study, this course aims to provide a broad sweep of vital aspects of South Asian culture, economy and polity from a historical perspective. It is built around the insight that history is constantly evoked in modern South Asia as a political resource, to aid in formation of identities and for blatant political use. Instead of a narrative history, this course will focus on key concepts and historical figures that continue to have present significance. Some key concepts taken up for study will be caste difference, religious plurality and rival nationalisms. Special attention will be paid to how the region's experience of colonialism and the epistemic violence of colonial knowledge continues to shape its present.  This course is designed to give complete beginners a basic literacy in matters South Asian while enabling those who have already engaged with some aspect of South Asian studies to address gaps in their knowledge.

Assignments:

Assignments include reading, writing, class presentations and project-based work.  I expect readings to be done thoughtfully and critically before the class date for which each assignment is listed as discussion is largely based on the readings.  Students will be expected to participate in and occasionally run discussions. 

Readings and Textbooks:

All articles are available online through the course web site (under Readings and in the daily Syllabus).  You should make copies of the readings and bring them with you to class the day we are discussing them. 

The textbooks for this course will be primarily used to provide background information and preliminary introduction to concepts and debates. Students are expected to read them in conjunction will the more in-depth readings provided on the course website (moodle).

1. Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal, Modern South Asia: history, culture, political economy, (2nd Edition), Routledge, 2004. (Must buy)

2. Barbara D. Metcalf and Thomas R. Metcalf, A Concise History of Modern India (2nd or 3rd edition). 

3. Ramachandra Guha, India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy, (any edition).

Written Assignments:  All written assignments are due for online submission on Moodle, within the specific date and time listed. I do not accept late papers without prior permission.  Papers must be typed, double-spaced and proofread, with page numbers.  You should always spell-check and proofread your assignments before turning them in.

The question of how to resist, survive and challenge retaliatory violence directed against African American communities has always been central to the history of African descendents in the U.S. The extent to which the active role of women has been central to this history has been rarely acknowledged. This course will explore the struggles of African American women to defend the integrity of their own bodies; these struggles include the fight against everyday insults embedded in the daily indignities of Jim Crow; the efforts of enslaved women to protect themselves and their children, as well as collective organizing against rape and sexual harassment in the early and mid-twentieth century. One example we will explore is the story of Margaret Garner, the real life, nineteenth century heroine whose story was the inspiration for Toni Morrison's Beloved. We will also explore recent scholarship that centers the fight to protect the integrity of black women's bodies and reshapes how we understand African American social movements. Course materials will include biographies, fiction, interviews and social movement studies.

The relationship of girls' empowerment to education has been and continues to be a key feminist issue. Second wave liberal feminism, for instance, strove to make schools more equitable places for girls, demanding equal access and resources for girls and boys in schools and the elimination of discrimination specifically impacting girls. Yet the relationship of gender inequality and schooling is a complicated and contentious site of research and policy. In this course we will examine how various feminist perspectives have defined and addressed the existence of gender inequality in American schools. By analyzing research, pedagogies, policies and programs developed in the past few decades to address gender inequality and schooling, students should complete the course with a complex view of feminism and how these different, and at times contradictory, perspectives have contributed to the debates around educational inequality and the design of educational reform.

Is capitalism the best economic system for meeting human needs? Can microeconomic theory help us figure out what to do about climate change? Will macroeconomic theory get us out of the recession? In this course, we will use these questions to frame the study of our economic system and the theories most often used to explain its workings. In the first part of the class, we will assess the merits and problems of capitalism as a system for producing and distributing goods and services. To contextualize the study of capitalism, we will learn about economic systems that have preceded it and economic thinkers that have theorized about it. In the second part of the class, we will study neoclassical microeconomic theory and its contributions to our understanding of how goods are--and should be--produced and distributed. We will ask whether these theories can help us understand climate change, perhaps the greatest economic and environmental challenge of our time. In the third part of the class, we will study neoclassical and Keynesian macroeconomic theory, assessing its usefulness in understanding and alleviating the current economic crisis. Theory introduced in parts two and three correspond to that taught in introductory level courses in micro- and macroeconomics and will prepare students for intermediate level work in both fields.

In this class we will study the history and relationship of Zionism and Palestinian nationalism. We will examine the origins of both movements and the history of their conflict. Significant attention will be given to the conflict over Palestine which culminated in the establishment of Israel in 1948 as well as the half-century of war, protest and occupation which followed. We will read primary and secondary sources from many perspectives, and will view films and other materials.

***Please download the syllabus/reading list and assignment guide below!

This course will explore the intersections of law, medicalization and deviance, and the ways in which social control and regulation operate through and are mediated by them. In this exploration, we will devote particular attention to both the disruption and maintenance of social norms, utilizing the lenses of gender and sexuality, race, class and ability, and the ways in which contemporary politics have played out these debates. Topical issues to be explored may include women's health issues, sexuality, immigration, HIV/AIDS, eugenics, and medical marijuana. Students will be encouraged to engage critically with readings and come prepared to make connections between readings, topics, and current events.

This course will explore the organizing efforts of African-Americans during the twentieth century. We will examine activism in both rural and urban sites and in cross-class, middle-class and working-class organizations. The readings will provide critical perspectives on how class, educational status, and gender shape the formation, goals, leadership styles and strategies of various movements. Some of the movements include the lobbying and writing of Ida B. Wells, the cross-regional efforts of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and the post-WWII radical union movement in Detroit and the local 1199 hospital workers union movement in New York. By extending our exploration over the course of the twentieth century, we will trace the development of various organizing traditions and consider their long-term impact on African-American political activism and community life. A perspective that consistently engages the ways in which African Americans respond and locate themselves within larger global transformations will provide an important frame for our discussions.

This course will examine American public education as an institution in the context of a multicultural society. Students in the class will analyze the complex and conflicting social, political and economic conditions from which educational policies and practices emerge. The organization of the readings, discussions and class projects will explore how discourses of race, ethnicity, class, gender and sexuality enliven contradictory framings of public education as both a site hope as well as a site of conflict, tension and oppression. This course will serve as a starting point for analyzing educational practices, policies, and theoretical concepts in a critical sociological manner. By addressing debates around educational funding, multicultural education, school (de)segregation, language and culture, community-school relationships, the meaning of democratic education, the regulation of bodies in school spaces, significant and on-going attention will given to how education discourses have been, and continue to be, constructed through the working of power in relationship to knowledge. Students enrolling in the course will be required to participate in a community based learning project in addition to class meetings.

What is Buddhist economics? How does it compare to modern, mainstream economic and capitalist thought? Existing economic systems do not seem to be sustainable, for the planet or for the majority of people in the world. Based on the philosophy of utilitarianism, mainstream economics claims to seek the greatest good for the greatest number. In theory, this approach sounds appealing, but in practice it translates to producing and consuming as much stuff as possible, without regard to who does and does not get to participate. Buddhism offers a different philosophy and set of potential economic practices, seemingly more suitable for environmental and social sustainability. In this course, we will critically compare different economic systems and philosophies, exploring interpretations and practices, grounding them in socio-economic and political contexts, and how they deal with issues of socio-political power and social justice. We will use case studies to compare and contrast how value is assigned, and how abstract economic ideas may be put into practice and what obstacles they face. We will explore different forms of development, from the international model and various alternative approaches. Why do most countries in the world subscribe to a Western notion of economics and its set of values? Could a Buddhist economic model provide greater well-being for more people? Is a Buddhist economics possible?

Who should care for the old, the sick, the unemployed, the poor? Is this a collective responsibility, to be fulfilled by government as it promotes the general welfare of the nation? Or is this an individual, personal responsibility: each adult responsible for his or her own welfare, with private charity picking up those who fall through the holes of a tattered safety net? This is the axis around which U.S. social welfare policy has turned since the early 20th century. For the last 30 years we have seen government policy move inexorably to the individual responsibility side of the debate. The state has been shifting responsibility for coping with the risks of aging, sickness, unemployment, and poverty to the individual, while relying increasingly on the private market to actually provide services. The results have not been pretty. Why this has occurred, who suffers and benefits, what are the institutional forces behind this trend, what are the prospects for change - these are the central questions to be explored in this course. We will look closely and critically at the history and politics of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, Unemployment Insurance, Workers' Compensation, and supplemental income programs. Students will work collaboratively to develop alternative approaches to these issues of social welfare policy.

In this course, we will use the method of critical ethnography to explore food as a system that connects individuals and communities, both locally and globally. Students will carry out a multi-sited ethnographic research project that begins with a question about food, whether about production and consumption, culture and identity, health and environment, memory and desire, community and activism. Students will "follow the food" wherever their questions take them-from table to market to factory to farm-and be guided through the process of posing ethnographic questions, conducting fieldwork and interviews, writing fieldnotes and other forms of ethnographic documentation, and engaging throughout in the critical, reflexive act of interpretation and writing. As part of the Luce Grant on Asian Studies and the Environment, this course will focus on global food chains across the Pacific and students are encouraged to explore connections between U.S. and Asia in their own projects.

Professor and activist Angela Davis recently asked "Are prisons obsolete?" And Grier and Cobb once noted "No imagination is required to see this scene as a direct remnant of slavery." Since the 1980s state and federal authorities have increasingly relied on the costly and unsuccessful use of jails and prisons as deterrents of crime. This upper division course will grapple with ideas of incarceration and policing methods that contribute to the consolidation of state power and how it functions as a form of domestic warfare. This course takes a close look at how race (especially), but also class, gender, age and background intersect in shaping attitudes and perceptions towards incarceration and often determine who is incarcerated and who is not. While a number of individuals and organizations continue to push for prison abolition, dependence on advance methods of incarceration persists. As such, we will analyze the historic and contemporary tensions between incarceration and ideals of democracy, citizenship, family, community and freedom. Topics will include: criminalization, racial profiling, surveillance, and police brutality. This course will also acquaint students with many of the active local and national reform and abolition initiatives. It is expected that students have taken an introductory African American Studies or a U.S. history course prior to enrolling in this course. This course may include a community engagement component, site visit, or field trips.

This 200 level course will introduce students to methods and technologies in the digital humanities. Through readings, discussions and lab sessions to work hands on with emerging technologies tools, students will learn about the major issues digital humanists face, how to evaluate technologies to pursue new types of questions, and how scholarly communication is evolving. Students will write traditional papers, engage in debates within and about the digital humanities, and build a small scale digital project.

Clinical psychology offers many understandings of what psychotherapy is and how it works. There are many models of therapy to choose from, but how does one choose? In this course we will explore what psychotherapy is from multiple perspectives with the intention on developing a moral and ethical framework through which psychotherapeutic practice can be critically understood. Through this exploration we will examine how shifting cultural values, the reform of the health care system, and other social factors define this healing practice. Prerequisite: Prior undergraduate background in psychology.

Mass Man, Mass Movements, Mass Culture: Europe In The Era Of Classical Modernity: Although we talk readily of "postmodernism," do we really know what "modernism" was about? Never did change seem to be as dramatic and rapid as in the first half of the twentieth century. Leftists and rightists, avant-gardists and traditionalists alike, spoke of the age of the masses, characterized by conscript armies and political mass movements, mass production of commodities, and mass media. The European "great powers" achieved domination over the globe, only to bleed themselves white in wars that devastated the continent physically and psychologically, weakened the colonial empires, and undermined faith in progress itself. The real victors were two rival systems of modernity: American consumer capitalism and Soviet communism. Although the age witnessed great violence and despair, it also brought forth great hopes and achievements in social thought, the arts, and technology, many of whose effects we are still pondering.

This course is for Division III students who are in their final semester and whose projects are based on ethnography, interviewing, oral history, community-engaged research, and other participatory methodologies. The course will be organized around students' Division III projects and will focus on writing as a critical juncture in the research process when questions of interpretation and representation loom large. We will begin by considering some interpretive strategies and writing choices that may help students find the forms needed to write within and across the communities that comprise their research. Students will be responsible for presenting their Division III work-in-progress several times during the semester and for providing written and verbal feedback on one another's work.