Here are the classes I'm taking this semester ma sha Allah:
Concepts In Social And Cultural Analysis
This course is designed and intended as a gateway to all majors in the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis (SCA). It is organized around readings of key primary and secondary texts that illuminate the development of modern categories of social and political thought, institutions and social movements. In lectures and through close reading and discussion, we will be developing an inventory of important concepts that are foundational to the ways we have come to think about social life in modernity: capitalism, property, class, race, nation, society, city, corporation, state, colony, gender, culture, democracy and poverty. In this way, the course explores the intersections among social epistemologies (the diversity of ways of knowing the social world), lines of power (forms of empowerment/disempowerment in social life) and struggle (historically specific forms of social and political mobilization).
Writing Seminar II: Immigration and Identity
In this course we will examine the complex and varying experiences of recent immigrant populations. We will explore the perspectives of immigrants who see themselves as outsiders and the experiences of immigrants who see themselves as insiders within a relocated immigrant ethnic culture. We will consider what these perspectives show us about belonging and alienation, about being part of a group or being the “Other.” This course asks: What does it mean to be an immigrant today? What logistical, legal, emotional and psychological issues does it entail? What differences are there between 20th century immigrants' experiences and the lives of 21st century transnational immigrants? We will read and discuss fictional accounts drawn from actual immigrants' experiences and will supplement these with numerous historical, anthropological, autobiographical, literary critical and journalistic works. Students will write several essays throughout the semester, which will prepare them for the final research paper. Readings may include fiction by Samuel Selvon, Jamaica Kincaid and Jhumpa Lahiri, in addition to theoretical and historical texts by Benedict Anderson and Roger Daniels, among others, as well as social criticism by Barbara Ehrenreich.
Imagining the Middle East
This course looks at historical and contemporary representations of the Middle Eastern cultures and societies in the modern Western imaginary. We will examine shifting representations of the Middle East in pre- and post-enlightenment European political and intellectual discourses, Western literary texts and travel literature, and contemporary US popular culture (films, advertising, thrillers, spy novels, romance fiction, etc.). We will also consider the interrelationship between popular cultural representations and the manner in which the Middle East is conceptualized in the academy and in "high culture" in general (e.g., theorized as Orientalism). It is an assumption of the course that a "post colonial" framework is key to interpreting not only the Middle East, but also the “West.”
Modern America
This course examines the history of the United States from the Civil War to the present. During this period the United States came to play an increasingly significant role on the world stage, notably in late 19th century imperialism, the global depression, two world wars, the Cold War, and the global “War on Terror.” This course pays particular attention to world historical themes that marked this period, including industrialization, population growth, citizenship, science and technology, urbanization and suburbanization, and the exploitation of natural resources. By situating America within a global context, we will examine ideas such as American exceptionalism and the rise and eventual dominance of the U.S. in the global sphere. This course will also incorporate the study of culture, race, class, and gender into a new globalized survey of Modern America.
This course examines the history of the United States from the Civil War to the present. During this period the United States came to play an increasingly significant role on the world stage, notably in late 19th century imperialism, the global depression, two world wars, the Cold War, and the global “War on Terror.” This course pays particular attention to world historical themes that marked this period, including industrialization, population growth, citizenship, science and technology, urbanization and suburbanization, and the exploitation of natural resources. By situating America within a global context, we will examine ideas such as American exceptionalism and the rise and eventual dominance of the U.S. in the global sphere. This course will also incorporate the study of culture, race, class, and gender into a new globalized survey of Modern America.
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