Course descriptions

In most of the world, multiple therapeutic traditions co-exist, sometimes symbiotically and at others competitively. Many societies have radically different ideas and practices concerning health, the body and disease than in the US. And these ideas and practices are contested both within these societies and between different societies in an emerging global world. In this writing seminar, we will examine several contested topics within the field of medical anthropology in Haiti, Ghana, Eastern Europe, Japan, India, Southern Africa and the US: holistic versus ontological approaches towards disease, the politics of suffering, religious healing and contestation, the meaning(s) of organ donation, biomedicine under conditions of poverty, female circumcision, the ethics of clinical trials in the developing world, and finally, HIV/AIDS. This course is designed to improve students? writing skills via peer review, multiple drafts and revisions of essays, and midterm and final portfolios.

Interactions among people today increasingly occur around and through the use of goods and services purchased from powerful companies, from iPhones to NFL games. But academics and cultural critics stridently disagree about the precise effects of widespread consumption on social life and culture. These analysts offer starkly different assessments of the degree of influence producers hold over consumers, the possibility of resisting or escaping the consumer marketplace, the effects of consumerism on the cohesiveness of communities, and the role that consumption plays in class divisions. Using an open-minded anthropological approach, this writing seminar will critically consider the core assertions made by these authors. Students will be encouraged to develop their opinions and will learn to formulate their own concise and convincing written arguments about the nature of society in the age of consumer capitalism.

Interactions among people today increasingly occur around and through the use of goods and services purchased from powerful companies, from iPhones to NFL games. But academics and cultural critics stridently disagree about the precise effects of widespread consumption on social life and culture. These analysts offer starkly different assessments of the degree of influence producers hold over consumers, the possibility of resisting or escaping the consumer marketplace, the effects of consumerism on the cohesiveness of communities, and the role that consumption plays in class divisions. Using an open-minded anthropological approach, this writing seminar will critically consider the core assertions made by these authors. Students will be encouraged to develop their opinions and will learn to formulate their own concise and convincing written arguments about the nature of society in the age of consumer capitalism.

This course examines legal systems in their social and cultural contexts to consider differential notions of justice and ethics across cultures. We will examine the ways in which laws both structure and are circumvented by everyday practices, and consider instances of the marginalization of the law, paying particular attention to informal economic and political arrangements. In this course we will interrogate concepts of corruption, transparency, and regulation.

As a physical intoxicant, alcohol is often seen as producing predictable behavioral effects. As such, in American society, its use is strictly prescribed: in some contexts, drinking is condemned, while in others it is celebrated. But anthropological studies have revealed that alcohol consumption exhibits tremendous global variety. This writing seminar will bring a cross-cultural approach to the examination of alcohol use. The role of drinking in social interactions will be explored. The influence of alcohol consumption in shaping gender relations will be analyzed. We will examine how intoxication is exhibited in different societies, and debate whether drunkenness is a chemical reaction or a culturally shaped practice. Finally, we will tackle the issue of alcohol abuse: is alcoholism as we know it present in all societies, and how is it treated by different cultures? By engaging with anthropological readings, students will learn to write clearly and convincingly about this scholarly topic.

How does archaeology support or refute the historical narratives found in the Old Testament of the Bible and contemporary texts? For example, does the available material evidence support a united kingdom of Israel ruled by Saul, David, and Solomon? Was monotheism the really dominant religious practice during the Iron Age, as the Book of Kings indicates? Underlying these specific questions is the larger debate between history and archaeology. That is, do historical sources ?speak? more about the past than material objects, or do material remains present a more ?objective? perspective? Although these questions drive the content of the course, emphasis will be placed upon the development of critical reading and writing skills through drafting, peer review, and synthesis. Students will compose several exercises in reasoning and produce a short research paper in stages.

Impressionism today is still a subject of public fascination?drawing crowds to museums, garnering millions of dollars at auctions?but when the new style of painting emerged toward the end of the nineteenth century, it garnered only criticism rather than praise. What was it about Impressionism, with its soft brushstrokes and vivid colors, which critics and the public alike found so alarming? Why were these paintings of modern life considered meaningless, no more substantive than wallpaper? And why did some critics go so far as to label Impressionists as diseased, suffering from some sort of mental or physical malady (if not both)? This course will examine the origins and evolution of Impressionism with a focus on the artist Claude Monet in particular. In addition to situating the painter?s oeuvre within the artistic, social, and cultural milieu in which he worked, we will also trace the development of his work, from depictions of the leisure activities of the modern middle-class in the 1870s to the series paintings two decades later.

From Charlie Chan to Jet Li, blackface to Black Power, popular film has recorded our changing ideas about and obsessions with "others." By examining films across a spectrum of genres and from a range of time periods, we will explore how visual media has reflected, influenced, or constructed categories of race, nationality, gender, and sexuality. Students will draft a series of short critical essays, engage in peer review and class workshops, and work on progressive revision. This course will culminate in a research project addressing cinema and identity.

This writing seminar will explore a range of economic, psychological, and sociological perspectives on the free market. Readings will include Howard Mark?s new book, The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor as well as articles and excerpts by Adam Smith, Warren Buffett, John Maynard Keynes, and Karl Marx. Using our market-oriented discussions as context, you will have the opportunity throughout this course to develop your skills in argumentation, reasoning, and audience awareness. During the first half of the semester you will complete several short exercises designed to give you practice in classic rhetorical strategies; the second half is structured around developing a functional research writing process, which will help you to excel in other Penn classes as well as in your future career. As a final project, you will write an involved research paper extending from an issue presented in Milton Friedman?s Free to Choose: A Personal Statement.

Many diseases once considered a death sentence have become manageable thanks to medicines that were discovered and developed in the U.S. Yet as the power of the pharmaceutical industry grows, new questions arise about the scientific and business ethics of manufacturing medicines. This seminar will explore current debates about drug development and marketing while helping you to hone your critical writing skills. Does direct-to-consumer advertising put more information in the hands of patients or encourage unnecessary drug use? Should pharmaceutical companies receive patent protection as a way to promote innovation? In weighing these questions, we will draw on academic research, journalism, and opinion pieces to get a range of perspectives. Throughout, we will practice many of the writing skills critical to success in business and the professions, including rhetorical strategies for organizing ideas and persuading readers.

Many diseases once considered a death sentence have become manageable thanks to medicines that were discovered and developed in the U.S. Yet as the power of the pharmaceutical industry grows, new questions arise about the scientific and business ethics of manufacturing medicines. This seminar will explore current debates about drug development and marketing while helping you to hone your critical writing skills. Does direct-to-consumer advertising put more information in the hands of patients or encourage unnecessary drug use? Should pharmaceutical companies receive patent protection as a way to promote innovation? In weighing these questions, we will draw on academic research, journalism, and opinion pieces to get a range of perspectives. Throughout, we will practice many of the writing skills critical to success in business and the professions, including rhetorical strategies for organizing ideas and persuading readers.

It is rare that a film truly changes American cinema, but Alfred Hitchcock?s Psycho did. Before Psycho, Hollywood cinema was a secret ad for the American dream--a wide blue sky, a Western hero, American global power, and a happy end. After Psycho, audiences--and Hollywood--knew the dream was over. With the Hitchcock film as its center, this course explores the extraordinary impact of Psycho on popular film and culture, from its release to the present. Hollywood recognized that a film about killing could make a killing at the box office, but Psycho is also among the most studied film in cinema history. Is there a bigger blockbuster on the academic balance sheets? Students will also have an opportunity to analyze, discuss, and write about how film theory--feminism, formalism, and psychoanalysis--has taken up residence at the Bates Motel.

By now we all know that the devil wears Prada--a canny move, and one probably suggested by his stylist. The fact that the devil's designer has become common knowledge testifies to the long and complicated relationship shared between fashion and film. In this seminar, we will look at several aspects of that relationship: haute couture in film, fashion and the construction of visible identities, and disguise through dress. Students should expect regular writing in the form of rhetorical exercises, blog posts, and peer reviews, film viewing assignments, as well as a longer, final research project.

How do you rig races so your team wins, make your neighbors' crops fail while yours flourish, compel that shopkeeper?s daughter to love you? The ancient Greeks and Romans had spells, amulets and charms for all these purposes, and many more. In this class we will explore the place and practice of magic in the ancient world. What were the Greeks and Romans reaching out to in their efforts to control the world around them, and how did they imagine it worked? The magician?s art was a source of tensions and controversies that gives us a glimpse into the hopes and fears of Classical antiquity. Studying how magic was portrayed in the literary sources as well as the spells and tablets themselves, we will think about magic?s relationship to the religious, political and social contexts in which it was used.

Greek tragedy is famous for dwelling on some of the most horrific aspects of human violence: incest, cannibalism, and murder are regular topics. Women?s participation in these unspeakable acts was particularly terrifying, as it was a complete rejection of the docility and compliance that were expected of a good daughter, wife or mother. In this class, we will explore the women of tragedy and examine the actions they take in the face of the extreme situations in which they find themselves. How can we make sense of these women?s choices, and what can these narratives tell us about the world of ancient Athens in which they were produced?

Greek tragedy is famous for dwelling on some of the most horrific aspects of human violence: incest, cannibalism, and murder are regular topics. Women?s participation in these unspeakable acts was particularly terrifying, as it was a complete rejection of the docility and compliance that were expected of a good daughter, wife or mother. In this class, we will explore the women of tragedy and examine the actions they take in the face of the extreme situations in which they find themselves. How can we make sense of these women?s choices, and what can these narratives tell us about the world of ancient Athens in which they were produced?

The surviving plays of Roman comic playwright Plautus are a treasure trove of wit, wordplay, and an almost Vaudevillian hilarity. They also provide a fascinating window through which to glimpse the everyday experiences and concerns of the ancient Romans, via Plautus' sensitive treatment of themes like friendship, foreign policy, and the (mis)treatment of slaves and prisoners of war. In this course, we will read two of Plautus' plays in translation, along with selected secondary readings, taking time along the way to explore how comedy makes us laugh?and how it makes us think. (Part 1 of 2 part Critical Writing Sequence for LPS BA candidates)

Shakespeare has been widely proclaimed to be the greatest playwright in the English language, and Hamlet his masterpiece. In this course, we are going to investigate why and how Hamlet came to occupy its exalted position in the English canon. Did Shakespeare really, as one famous critic has claimed, ?invent the human,? using his hero to show us a new form of self-reflection and psychological complexity? Or have a series of historical coincidences conspired to set the play and its protagonist on a pedestal? We will first (this is a critical writing seminar, after all!) focus on what kinds of figurative language and rhetorical strategies make Hamlet ? both the character and the play ? so compelling. Then we will turn to performance history and criticism to try to understand why later texts, from Freud?s Interpretation of Dreams to Disney?s The Lion King, have so often evoked Shakespeare?s dense and difficult tragedy.

Shakespeare has been widely proclaimed to be the greatest playwright in the English language, and Hamlet his masterpiece. In this course, we are going to investigate why and how Hamlet came to occupy its exalted position in the English canon. Did Shakespeare really, as one famous critic has claimed, ?invent the human,? using his hero to show us a new form of self-reflection and psychological complexity? Or have a series of historical coincidences conspired to set the play and its protagonist on a pedestal? We will first (this is a critical writing seminar, after all!) focus on what kinds of figurative language and rhetorical strategies make Hamlet ? both the character and the play ? so compelling. Then we will turn to performance history and criticism to try to understand why later texts, from Freud?s Interpretation of Dreams to Disney?s The Lion King, have so often evoked Shakespeare?s dense and difficult tragedy.

Through the work of Leonardo da Vinci--artist, inventor, engineer, scientist--we will examine the relationship between art and science. Da Vinci embodied the Renaissance man whose genius is not limited to a single subject. In the first half of the semester, you will read and write about about Leonardo's life, work, and historical context. We will focus in particular on his impact on art and science, as we explore the forgotten links between these disciplines. In the second half of the course, you will immerse yourself in a research project focused on an assigned book about da Vinci. Throughout, we will be considering the elements that make up the genius of this fascinating and important historical figure.

Often the most successful art exhibitions are extraordinary collaborations between artists and curators. In this seminar, we will take up the question, "What makes a great exhibition?" Some would argue that the star quality of the artist (or the discovery of a new artist) is the most important factor, while others point to the community that the exhibition serves, the size and design of the exhibit, the nature of media used, or the quality and tone of the didactic materials. While the seminar focuses on sharpening your academic and professional writing, you will also get some exposure to writing in this profession, from close readings of art works, to wall texts, handouts, and press releases. We will also visit a few art exhibitions to study presentation styles and analyze the effectiveness of various techniques--visual, textual, and organic. Along the way, we will be developing our understanding and our different views of what makes a great exhibition.

Fulfills the Writing Requirement The late 1800s-early 1900s was a rich period of time both in science and the arts. New ideas and discoveries were flooding the cultural environment in ways that inspired both artists and scientists. Although Einstein and Picasso never met or knew of each other's work, the social, scientific and intellectual milieus in which they lived led each to ideas in science and art which forced us to dramatically reconsider the very nature of reality. This course will explore the cultural and intellectual environments of the late 1800s, the lives of two revolutionary thinkers and the nature of their creativity, and how and why the revolutionary concepts E=mc2 and Cubism came within two years of each other in the early 1900s.

Cars. Quilts. Clocks. Shoes. The title of this course signifies the stakes in our material world: things, all things, matter. They represent some thing to someone, whether financial, emotional, ethical, or magical. As a discipline, the study of things constitutes material cultural studies. Critical analyses of manmade material objects inform our understanding of cultures and societies, past and present. Things thus matter to scholars in anthropology, aesthetics, philosophy, art history, cultural studies, literary studies, sociology, and so on. In this course, we will focus upon American things in American contexts, exploring the scholarship about a range of objects, including a vintage cigarette lighter, Brillo box, corset, and telephone. Ultimately, each student will research and write a paper about some-thing that matters to her.

Since Ellen DeGeneres' stunning coming out in 1997 -- in real life as well as in her eponymous sitom -- gay characters on prime-time television have become part of the cultural mainstream. ?Will & Grace? drew huge ratings on NBC. "Queer as Folk" and "The L Word," both featuring gay and lesbian characters, were cult hits on premium cable. Today, ABC's "Modern Family" and Fox's "Glee" include "out-and-proud" gay characters. How did gays become part of the television zeitgeist? Where do they go from here? In this course, we will examine the evolution of gay characters from laughable stereotype to folkloric icon, and what that reveals about us.

Political scientist Robert Kagan claims that ?Americans are from Mars and Europeans are from Venus.? Is it true? No doubt, the early 21st century has found Europeans and Americans seeking to define themselves as distinct from one another. This course provides an opportunity to write critically about European and American self-definitions. Was the Iraq War a watershed event in transatlantic relations, as some have proposed? Is the ?Europeanization of America,? or conversely, the ?Americanization of Europe,? a paranoid projection, a real social process, or a catchphrase in a wider cultural discussion? What does it mean when the British historian Timothy Garton Ash tells readers of the German weekly Der Spiegel that ?Obama is a European?? Using recent political disputes, together with demographics-based arguments that have provided rhetorical fodder for debates about ?us? and ?them,? students will have the opportunity to evaluate basic positions and reach their own conclusions.

Since Ellen DeGeneres' stunning coming out in 1997 -- in real life as well as in her eponymous sitcom -- gay characters on prime-time television have become part of the cultural mainstream. Along with ?Ellen,? we will study ?Will & Grace;? "Queer as Folk" and "The L Word;" and "Modern Family" and "Glee." How did gays become part of the television zeitgeist? Where do they go from here? In this course, we will examine the evolution of gay characters from laughable stereotype to folkloric icon, and what that reveals about us.

Through online communities, social networking, blogs, and its other uses, the internet has unsettled many of our means of social connection. Concerns that life ?online? has replaced ?real? life, that online connections are inauthentic, or that digital technology is endangering privacy are all common. In this writing seminar, rather than separating the online from the off-, we will consider how people integrate digital technologies into their daily lives and relationship practices. Moving beyond optimism and despair, we will sort through how our relationships are both disrupted and enhanced by the digital: How are people using new media to create new forms of community? What are the consequences of internet-mediated communication for the development and maintenance of relationships? Using scholarship in critical information theory and internet studies, the goal of this course is to help you develop as a writer by improving your knowledge of rhetoric, reasoning, research, and synthesis.

Some argue that the internet has transformed politics by expanding the influence of citizens in political decision making, opening up new venues for political news and information, and changing the way political campaigns organize. Yet the impact digital technologies are having on political life remains uncertain. Are new technologies fostering citizen access and ushering in new forms of political participation? Or are these technologies simply reinforcing long-held patterns, degrading political discourse, and further segmenting public life? In this class our goal will be to sift through the hype, myths, and cautionary tales regarding the ?democratization? of politics and write more critically about new media and democracy. Using scholarship in internet studies, the primary goal of this course is to help you develop as a writer by improving your knowledge of rhetoric, reasoning, research, and synthesis.

Today Zen may be associated with vague qualities like calm or wisdom. It may call up ideals of sharp focus or spontaneity. And it may stand for Japanese culture in general, or even East Asia as a whole. How did Zen develop into this abstraction, from its origins in Indian Buddhism? In this class we will look into the range of its traditions. We will go back to early texts, reading from sutras, treatises, poetry, and collections of koan. And we will study recent scholarship on the meanings and functions of Zen. Through this survey of sources and disputes, we will form some answers to questions about what Zen truly is, and maybe some new questions.

As the "Paris of the East" and the "Pearl of the Orient," Shanghai has long been a source of inspiration for artists throughout China, Asia, and the world. Depending on the time and place, it has symbolized either the decaying East or the decadent West, Red China or global capitalism. But how does the Shanghai we experience on the page and the screen, with its grand skyline, glamorous dance halls, and explosive riots, relate to the city where millions of people just go about their daily lives? Our class discussion and critical essays will go beyond the neon lights to explore the ways in which imagination and lived experience interact in one most alluring cities of the twentieth century.In doing so, we will consider how works of fiction and film have shaped our perception of Shanghai, as well as the city's own past, present, and future. Readings in translation, no knowledge of foreign languages required.

In 1859, Wilkie Collins serialized his suspense novel, The Woman in White. The novel's blend of murder, madness, and intrigue generated immediate popularity, effectively launching the genre that would be called the ?sensation novel.? In this course, we will investigate Collins' novel and its blend of gripping plot and memorable characters, including the surprisingly modern heroine, Marian, and the villainous Count Fosco, considered the prototype for a line of archvillains that includes Sherlock Holmes' rival Professor Moriarty. We will also examine the novel's most striking formal feature, its organization into a series of first-person narratives presented as testimony. We will explore the questions of evidence and authority that the novel raises through these testimonies. Branching out from the text, we will consider modern film adaptations and the enduring appeal of this tale of desperate intrigue and heroic vigilantism.

Long before the first Sherlock Holmes story saw print, Edgar Allan Poe created what are widely believed to be the first detective stories with three tales of the eminently eccentric genius, Auguste Dupin: ?The Murders in the Rue Morgue,? ?The Mystery of Marie Roget,? and ?The Purloined Letter.? Combining all the blood and gore of the trashiest horror flick with the cerebral language of chess, puzzles, and codes, Poe?s mysteries have equally far flung legacies. These range from texts thought of as the highest forms of art, such as the stories of Jorge Luis Borges, to those with a slightly less academic reputation?the Law & Order franchises, for instance. This course will explore both these lasting influences and the detective stories? fascinating intersections with Poe?s other works, tracing how his larger interests in horror, paranoia, science, race, and the law culminate in these tales of brutal violence and perfect reason.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published by L. Frank Baum in 1900, tells a story that has been revised and retold countless times since. The primary goal of this course will be to provide historical context for Baum?s original story with an emphasis on its most notable adaptation, MGM?s 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz. Arguably, the film has replaced the book as the most influential version to which adaptations have since responded. In thinking through the film?s cultural impact, we will look at subsequent takes on the story including The Wiz (1978), featuring Diana Ross as Dorothy and Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow; the Broadway Musical Wicked (2003) based on the novel by Gregory Maguire; and the Sci Fi Channel miniseries Tin Man (2007). To aid us in reassembling historical contexts for these adaptations, we will also read Alissa Burger?s The Wizard of Oz as American Myth: A Critical Study of Six Versions of the Story, 1900-2007.

This course will explore the work of Rita Dove who served as U.S. Poet Laureate from 1993-1995. Selecting works from across her expansive oeuvre, we will examine how she handles themes of isolation, race, gender, and memory. This class will also discuss Dove?s representation of particular moments in American history, such as Rosa Parks? refusal to vacate her seat on a Montgomery Bus, or the mysterious shadows haunting the voice of Billie Holiday. This course offers several avenues of inquiry into the contemporary poet?s work; students will have the opportunity to investigate topics ranging from the role/roll of jazz in the poems to how Dove?s cosmopolitanism, moving in diverse circles around the world, informs her art. Using selected texts from Dove?s corpus, we will begin to craft an understanding of her unique position in the African American poetic tradition.

At once terrifying and fascinating, monsters captured the perennial interest of medieval authors and audiences. They emerge in medieval literature as villainous threats to civilized culture, bearing bodies that defy human definition. In this class, we will think about the representation of monsters both in terms of their bodies and their relationship to the cultural imaginaries that produced them. In Beowulf, we will ask: how is the monstrosity of Grendel imagined differently than his nefarious mother; and how do we understand their engagement with the brutish hero Beowulf? We will explore various examples of monstrous bodies, both male and female, and what they tell us about how the cultural center imagined and contended with its relationship to the mysterious realm beyond the pale. In addition to Beowulf, we will read the short, but compact, late medieval romance Sir Gowther, and brief excerpts from The Wonders of the East, Mandeville?s Travels, and the Alliterative Morte Arthure.

While George Orwell is best known for his wildly popular Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, this course takes up Orwell?s nonfiction in order to examine his documentary realism. Orwell?s European wandering comes at an important historical moment, the cusp of the Second World War. We will examine the range of opinions and voices he represents through his writing, sometimes heavily satirical, sometimes movingly sentimental. Orwell runs through a gamut of burning issues of the period -- unemployment, poverty, imperialism, middle class complacency -- whose urgency seems clear yet is complicated by the writer?s rhetoric. We will sample three key pieces of nonfiction -- Down and Out in Paris and London, The Road to Wigan Pier and the revolutionary Homage to Catalonia -- to tease out Orwell's complex literary and political affiliations. We might also occasionally dip into some short fiction or essays to better understand the global pressures of the period.

World War I changed the world as drastically and profoundly as any war in history. In that first major war of the 20th century, nations learned the harrowing lesson of how the modern age would challenge every long-held assumption about war's role in global politics. Novelists of that era found the subject of war compelling in its moral complexity and human impact. This course examines the perspectives of important novelists who have written on the conscience of war, the individual and collective human drive to justify, understand, or simply cope with the devastating effects of war. Novels will include Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell To Arms, Erich Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, and Robert Graves' novelistic memoir Goodbye to All That. As in all writing seminars, students will write and revise several short essays, participate in numerous writing exercises, produce a research-based writing sequence, and prepare a portfolio of writing samples over the course of the semester.

The term "Comic Art" today encompasses many types of expression with one thing in common: words and pictures working together to tell a story. Originating, some say, hundreds of years ago, but taking off in modern form in the early twentieth century, comic art has been used to tell jokes, weave tales of fantasy and adventure, make political and social commentary, and much more. And in the last two or three decades, the study of Comic Art has blossomed into a lively academic discipline. This Seminar is an inquiry into what defines Comic Art, how it functions, and what modern audiences can derive from it. We will read examples of the art, from comic strips to graphical novels and anime, spanning more than a hundred years, and we?ll also read scholarly literature on the subject. Students will write and revise several short essays, participate in numerous workgroup writing exercises, produce a research-based writing sequence, and prepare midterm and final portfolios of their work.

After hearing Allen Ginsberg read ?Howl? for the first time, City Lights publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti remarked that he had ?never seen a world like that before.? Fifty years later, ?Howl? (?I have seen the best minds of my generation destroyed my madness, starving, hysterical, naked?) has sold over 1 million copies, and its author and his lines, are embedded in both the literary cannon and popular culture. Though many poems are celebrated by writers and taken to task by critics, ?Howl? was also put on trial for obscenity by the San Fransisco Juvenile Department in 1957. Using Jason Schinder?s ?The Poem That Changed America: Howl 50 Years Later? and ?Howl on Trial: The Battle for Free Expression? as our guides, we?ll take up questions of obscenity, expression, and cultural capital. We will ask how and why a poem might, as Schinder writes, enact a "loosening of breath," which influences individuals, a public, and, the nation.

Recent black American writers and filmmakers have come to critique the unfulfilled promises of prosperity that convinced millions of African Americans to migrate North throughout much of the 20th century. In this course, we will examine what it means to be black in the city, focusing on two texts, John Edgar Wideman's Philadelphia Fire, and the recent critically successful film, Precious. We will explore how black urban experience has been represented in these post-Civil Rights works of fiction and film. What do these depictions of black life tell us about the relationship between African Americans and urban modernity? How do issues of gender, class, and race intersect when thinking about the place of African Americans in an urban social landscape?

Universal happiness would make the world a paradise, wouldn?t it? Aldous Huxley?s dystopian classic, A Brave New World, depicts the dark side of universal happiness. In this fictional world, biotechnology has made all physical and psychological pain obsolete?even childbirth is unnecessary. Instead of paradise, however, this world is a nightmare in which citizens must sacrifice intellectual freedom and true intimacy for their pain-free lives. Written between the two World Wars, A Brave New World forecasts technological innovations and cultural shifts that continue to strike readers as both bizarre and uncannily familiar. In this course, students will explore Huxley?s Brave New World, the cultural contexts that inspired it, and its influence on contemporary dystopian films and novels, such as the 1997 sci fi thriller Gattaca and the recent Hunger Games trilogy.

Universal happiness would make the world a paradise, wouldn?t it? Aldous Huxley?s dystopian classic, A Brave New World, depicts the dark side of universal happiness. In this fictional world, biotechnology has made all physical and psychological pain obsolete?even childbirth is unnecessary. Instead of paradise, however, this world is a nightmare in which citizens must sacrifice intellectual freedom and true intimacy for their pain-free lives. Written between the two World Wars, A Brave New World forecasts technological innovations and cultural shifts that continue to strike readers as both bizarre and uncannily familiar. In this course, students will explore Huxley?s Brave New World, the cultural contexts that inspired it, and its influence on contemporary dystopian films and novels, such as the 1997 sci fi thriller Gattaca and the recent Hunger Games trilogy.

After hearing Allen Ginsberg read ?Howl? for the first time, City Lights publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti remarked that he had ?never seen a world like that before.? Fifty years later, ?Howl? (?I have seen the best minds of my generation destroyed my madness, starving, hysterical, naked?) has sold over 1 million copies, and its author and his lines, are embedded in both the literary cannon and popular culture. Though many poems are celebrated by writers and taken to task by critics, ?Howl? was also put on trial for obscenity by the San Fransisco Juvenile Department in 1957. Using Jason Schinder?s ?The Poem That Changed America: Howl 50 Years Later? and ?Howl on Trial: The Battle for Free Expression? as our guides, we?ll take up questions of obscenity, expression, and cultural capital. We will ask how and why a poem might, as Schinder writes, enact a "loosening of breath," which influences individuals, a public, and, the nation.

For 400 years, Shakespeare?s plays have reached new audiences through publication, performance, and adaptation into different media. Using Romeo & Juliet as a case study, this course will ask why Shakespeare?s plays continue to be reworked into so many different forms. What is adaptation? What exactly is being adapted?a story, a text, a performance? Do adaptations challenge our ideas about Shakespeare, or do they validate them? We will explore answers to these questions by analyzing Romeo & Juliet?s enduring themes of love and vengeance alongside its carefully nuanced language before turning to a series of recent adaptations, including West Side Story and the Royal Shakespeare Company?s Twitter project Such Tweet Sorrow. In studying what adaptations do with Shakespeare?s play, we will ask whether they help us to see the original in a new light, or whether they use it as raw material to make statements about the time and place of their own creation.

In 1855, Walt Whitman?s Leaves of Grass was revolutionary poetry with something to say about everything: writing, philosophy, language, sexuality, religion, war, citizenship, bodies, brains, books, etc. Alternately described as ?the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed? and ?a mass of stupid filth,? Whitman?s work inspires both love and loathing in readers. We will spend the semester with Whitman exploring his writing process. We will think through questions like: Who was/is Whitman?s desired audience? Why did Whitman, ?the ultimate reviser,? produce new editions of Leaves of Grass throughout his life? What was he trying to achieve by writing these poems? Students themselves will write and revise several short exercises, participate in collaborative group work, engage in guided and independent research reading, and eventually produce a research essay about Leaves of Grass as the capstone of their final writing portfolios.

The s at the end of the course title is not a typo; it is an attempt, rather, to register the intriguing fact that Jane Austen?one of the most discussed novelists ever?has meant many different things to many different people. There is something about Austen?s novels that compels her readers to speak in extremes. For instance, the famous literary critic Harold Bloom calls her ?immortal,? an expert on human nature. Yet Mark Twain found Austen so narrow that he was moved to declare it ?a great pity that they allowed her to die a natural death.? And, whereas Victorian novelist Charlotte Bronte thought Austen wholly ignorant of the human passions, our era regards her most famous novel as ?one of the greatest love stories of all time? (to quote Universal Studios)! In this writing seminar, students will receive extensive instruction in college-level reasoning and writing while investigating the endless paradoxes within both Jane Austen?s work and the voluminous commentary thereon.

Susan Sontag writes, "Photography has become one of the principal devices for experiencing something, for giving an appearance of participation." We pose for photographs, take them, hang on to them -- in pockets, albums, frames, on computers -- we give them away, post them, edit them, destroy them. They may memorialize the dead or strangers, your lost love or your last meal. They may structure your narratives of experience, along with experiences you have never had. But, why, and what difference does it make? In this class, we will think about the relationship between photographs and reality, place, time, and personhood. What are the ethics of viewing? In encountering these questions, we will read artists and thinkers on the significance of photographic images that populate the world around us

Sorcery, sex, a shipwreck?The Tempest has it all. Critics have long speculated that the dangerous and enchanted world of possibility Shakespeare created in this play, first performed just 4 years after the founding of the Jamestown colony in Virginia, is based on collective fantasies about America. In this ?brave new world? magical beings frolic, monsters lurk, and political exiles become powerful rulers. This compelling tale of exploration, vengeance, and redemption has inspired many fanciful adaptations, including the classic sci fi film The Forbidden Planet and the romantic comedy Shakespeare in Love. Its representation of slavery and rebellion has also made the play a rallying point for artists seeking to critique colonial regimes in their adaptations of the tale. In this course, students will become experts on The Tempest and its afterlives as they write about the play and its adaptations and engage the many critical debates they have inspired.

The term "Comic Art" today encompasses many types of expression with one thing in common: words and pictures working together to tell a story. Originating, some say, hundreds of years ago, but taking off in modern form in the early twentieth century, comic art has been used to tell jokes, weave tales of fantasy and adventure, make political and social commentary, and much more. And in the last two or three decades, the study of Comic Art has blossomed into a lively academic discipline. This seminar is an inquiry into what defines Comic Art, how it functions, and what modern audiences can derive from it. We will read examples of the art, from comic strips to graphical novels and anime, spanning more than a hundred years, and we?ll also read scholarly literature on the subject. Students will write and revise several short essays, participate in numerous workgroup writing exercises, produce a research-based writing sequence, and prepare midterm and final portfolios of their work.

Honored with the Nobel Prize for his ?important literary production, which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our time,? Albert Camus has also earned deep affection from many of his readers. He combines in his writing an immense capacity for expressing suffering with a hunger for being alive; his work takes on issues ranging from existential anxiety and practical struggles around social injustice, to the vagaries of weather. In this course we will read and study Camus as a writer who relied not just on philosophical methods, but on storytelling and rhetoric to give shape to his thoughts and experiences. Using David Sprintzen?s Camus: A Critical Examination as a guide, we will practice the elements of critical writing, reading, and revision" in a community that brings together the rigors of hard thought and the pleasures of prose.

Dante's "Divine Comedy" has not lost its excitement, humor, dramatic adventure or sheer imaginative delight in the seven centuries since its composition. We will read the Commedia, exploring Dante's intricately patterned text both as a masterpiece of literature and a model of engaged argumentative writing, in which Dante responded to the debates of his own age. Dante's masterful understanding of his contemporary audience enabled him to pen a work that still appeals to readers today, offering a model for successful writing in any age. As we craft our own persuasive arguments, we will attend to the rhetorical feats and distinct voices of Dante's sinners, devils, saints, and real historical figures. The form of this class will emulate Dante's own development as a young writer, for by exchanging, reading, and responding to each others' work in successive drafts of short pieces, we too will develop our own "sweet new style" of writing.

Before Romeo and Juliet, before Lancelot and Guinevere, Heloise and Abelard were the ultimate real-life star-crossed lovers, shocking twelfth-century Paris with their passion. Their love affair resulted in a child, a clandestine marriage, and then forced separation and retreat into monastic seculsion. We will read letters between Abelard and Heloise later in life, as well as the recent discovery of love letters from the early days of their relationship. Heloise and Abelard?s writings will prompt comparison with other short texts, ranging from Elizabeth Barrett Browning?s sonnets to medieval satires on university life, which also deal with enduring problems of professional and personal life that still fuel debate today. Inspired by their example, we will undertake our own integration of persuasive writing and personal style. Whether you ultimately find yourself more persuaded by Abelard?s interpretation of their doomed love affair or Heloise?s, in this course you will learn more about how to convince audiences with your own well-reasoned, passionate arguments.

In post-World War II New York City, poets and painters mixed and conversed and the arts flourished. We will focus on one poet, Frank O'Hara (1926-1966) and one painter, Andy Warhol (1928-1987). The poet O'Hara was also the Museum of Modern Art painting curator, and the painter Warhol was also a graphic designer, filmmaker, and writer. We will immerse ourselves in these artists? underground itineraries; we will follow their meanderings around the city and among the changing, televised, cinematic mediascapes -- the everyday objects, the banter of devoted friends, the glamour, buildings, music, and commerce. Though seemingly offhand and casual, O?Hara?s LUNCH POEMS and Warhol?s early films and paintings have had an enormous impact on culture, serving perhaps as the prequel to reality television, twitter and blogs. We will consider their work as mass-produced objects, explore their contexts and influences, and ponder the shocks and delights generated by their aesthetics.

Winston Churchill controlled how future generations perceived the history that he participated in by researching and writing the history himself. As we explore his political life, which encompassed the great events of the first half of the 20th century, we will consider what lessons his writing might hold for us in terms of developing voice and style and the ability to make persuasive arguments. Churchill is a particularly interesting person to study as a writer because he tailored his work to many different audiences using many different genres. He was a journalist, a biographer, an essayist, a writer of great speeches that rallied a nation in crisis, and an historian who wrote definitive accounts of the two world wars and the intervening period, which stand as monuments to his literary success. We will critique selected works from all of these categories and analyze interpretations of Churchill?s writing by other leading historians.

Winston Churchill controlled how future generations perceived the history that he participated in by researching and writing the history himself. As we explore his political life, which encompassed the great events of the first half of the 20th century, we will consider what lessons his writing might hold for us in terms of developing voice and style and the ability to make persuasive arguments. Churchill is a particularly interesting person to study as a writer because he tailored his work to many different audiences using many different genres. He was a journalist, a biographer, an essayist, a writer of great speeches that rallied a nation in crisis, and an historian who wrote definitive accounts of the two world wars and the intervening period, which stand as monuments to his literary success. We will critique selected works from all of these categories and analyze interpretations of Churchill?s writing by other leading historians.

By almost all modern accounts, the encounter of 1492 was a cataclysmic event. Civilizations collided, shattering worlds on both sides of the Atlantic. Literary remnants can help us understand how some contemporary Europeans and Americans themselves understood the collisions of 1492, and the tremors that continued well beyond that year. What worlds did they think were lost, and which ones could they envision reshaping? How did their venerated texts and traditions mediate the relationship between the two? In this course we will examine memoirs, ethnographic histories, speculative utopias, and captivity narratives that disclose some of their answers. Through regular writing exercises and a final essay, we will evaluate how a variety of subjects employed old sources of knowledge to observe and formulate prospects for a new world, then as much as now.

The 1950s saw the largest international propaganda campaign that the United States had ever undertaken in peacetime. In an effort to win over the hearts and minds of people, it engaged the Soviet Union in a contest for economic superiority by using the ?soft power? of consumer products. But why did the United States believe that it could win the Cold War simply by offering a better standard of living? To understand how everything from the space program to the kitchen sink became weapons in the East-West conflict, this course examines cultural diplomatic strategies and their everyday artifacts: design exhibitions, consumer products, and advertisements. Divided Germany, the hot spot of the Cold War at the heart of Europe, will serve as a focal point to explore the connections between diplomacy and private consumption in the 1950s. Based on short readings and in-class discussions, students will compose short written exercises, peer-review texts, and produce a research-based paper for their final portfolio.

The mere mention of 1968 conjures up images of rebellious students facing off against police. At the end of a tumultuous decade, which saw a nuclear arms race and the escalation of the Vietnam War, students in Chicago, Paris, West Berlin, and Prague protested political conditions and demanded social and cultural reforms. But what exactly enraged young people around the world and led them to the streets to challenge authority? This course examines the politics, protest strategies, and youth culture of the student movement against the backdrop of the global Cold War. We will devote special attention to the historical significance of student movements: was the 1968 protest a watershed moment, or did domestic unrest perpetuate the status quo of the Cold War? Exploring textual and visual sources about 1968 dissent, students will write and revise several short essays, participate in class discussions, and produce a research-based paper for their final portfolio.

The mere mention of 1968 conjures up images of rebellious students facing off against police. At the end of a tumultuous decade, which saw a nuclear arms race and the escalation of the Vietnam War, students in Chicago, Paris, West Berlin, and Prague protested political conditions and demanded social and cultural reforms. But what exactly enraged young people around the world and led them to the streets to challenge authority? This course examines the politics, protest strategies, and youth culture of the student movement against the backdrop of the global Cold War. We will devote special attention to the historical significance of student movements: was the 1968 protest a watershed moment, or did domestic unrest perpetuate the status quo of the Cold War? Exploring textual and visual sources about 1968 dissent, students will write and revise several short essays, participate in class discussions, and produce a research-based paper for their final portfolio.

In the 20th century, as Western musical genres multiplied and technology made possible the wide distribution of recordings, both classical and popular musicians became increasingly outspoken in their criticism and defense of stylistic decisions. This course will examine the writings of composers (e.g. Stravinsky, Schoenberg); performers (Leonard Bernstein, Miles Davis, Frank Zappa); and academics who were also serious amateur musicians (Theodor Adorno, Roland Barthes). Their arguments and observations offer compelling models for debate, especially considering that the aesthetic issues they raise have never been resolved. Alongside relevant readings we will discuss and write about the many musical performances now available via YouTube. Students will be able to try their hand at critical arguments of their own, plus summaries, reviews, and experiments in style. Fulfills Part I of the 2-part LPS Writing Requirement.

Political discourse is filled with claims from the right, left, and center that certain things -- however undesirable -- are not a matter for the criminal law. Some claim that individuals should not be punished for failure to carry health insurance. Some argue that drug use is a personal choice that ought not land people in jail. And, while most think that hate crimes are loathsome, a diverse group of legal theorists find hate crime legislation quite objectionable. In this writing seminar, we will bring philosophical thinking to bear on questions about the purpose and scope of the criminal law: What activities should be regulated by the State? What activities should be punished within the criminal law? What is the point of punishment? Is punishment ever justified? Who is allowed to punish? Students will defend philosophical arguments in short essays, give a courtroom-style oral argument, create a research project, and develop a writing portfolio.

This seminar will examine the morality of launching and waging war. Assigned readings will introduce three prominent ethical viewpoints for addressing issues surrounding the morality of war: realism, pacifism, and just war theory. Weighing the differences between these viewpoints, we will explore the fundamental question of when, if ever, waging war can be morally justified. We will also consider which actions are morally permissible when waging war and which actions should be forbidden. Through a series of short writing exercises, and drawing on the work of both historical and contemporary philosophers, we will also address more specific moral issues surrounding war and warfare. What constitutes aggression and what is the proper response to it? How does the principle of noncombatant immunity affect how belligerents can wage war? What are the moral obligations of belligerents in a war?s aftermath?

Europe has faced a daunting economic crisis. Saudi Arabia is ruled by a king and no women have the right to vote. The United States has troops around the globe. Famine and violence have ravaged countries like Darfur and Somalia for years. Within a country, we tend to think that a common set of rules and rights governs everyone in that country. Questions in global justice centrally concern whether actors in the international arena have similar rights, duties and obligations towards one another. How should we address conflicts between countries with fundamentally different ideologies? What if another people?s ideology seems wrong or intolerant? As a strong, wealthy nation, does the United States have an obligation to help suffering nations? If so, how much does the U.S. have to help? In this class, we will explore these issues through works by John Rawls and Kok-chor Tan. Students will take a stand on issues by writing and revising papers using reasoned arguments.

The heightened concern about environmental issues, from global warming to the extinction of species, brings with it an influx of pressing ethical questions. The two fundamental questions that we will address in this seminar are: what ethical obligations do humans have to the environment and why? These questions, in turn, generate a range of subsidiary questions: Does the environment have intrinsic value? Do we have duties to nonhuman animals? To ecosystems? To future generations of humans? How can we achieve environmental justice? We will consider these questions against the backdrop of various ideological perspectives such as utilitarianism, deep ecology, ecofeminism, and social ecology. The aim of the assignments for this course is to help students to develop critical writing skills. As such, students will draft and revise short persuasive essays, participate in peer reviews, and prepare midterm and final portfolios of their work.

The heightened concern about environmental issues, from global warming to the extinction of species, brings with it an influx of pressing ethical questions. The two fundamental questions that we will address in this seminar are: what ethical obligations do humans have to the environment and why? These questions, in turn, generate a range of subsidiary questions: Does the environment have intrinsic value? Do we have duties to nonhuman animals? To ecosystems? To future generations of humans? How can we achieve environmental justice? We will consider these questions against the backdrop of various ideological perspectives such as utilitarianism, deep ecology, ecofeminism, and social ecology. The aim of the assignments for this course is to help students to develop critical writing skills. As such, students will draft and revise short persuasive essays, participate in peer reviews, and prepare midterm and final portfolios of their work.

Standard moral theories provide clear rules for right conduct, but they tend to exclude a critical role for the emotions or for the concrete details of human experience. As a result, they can be difficult to apply in real life. In this seminar, we will try to bridge this gap by exploring the rich complexity of lived morality through the lens of literature. Does literature, with its intense focus on characters' emotions and experiences, have a distinctive capacity to illustrate elements of moral decision-making that escapes philosophical writing? Or does this attention to detail just cloud the picture? We will read excerpts from philosophical texts by Aristotle, Mill, Kant, and Nussbaum; and from various novels such as Twain?s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Morrison?s Beloved, and Melville?s Billy Budd. Assignments will include short persuasive essays, peer review, and a research project on a contemporary moral philosophical work.

What makes America a democracy? In the early 19th century, the French scholar, Alexis de Tocqueville came to America to study its new form of government ? democracy ? in order to understand what makes a democratic society different from an aristocratic, tyrannical or colonial one. Tocqueville observed that democracy requires a particular set of civic instititions as well as ideas and habits that foster participation and debate among citizens. In the 21st century, both the bureaucratic might of the federal government as well as the influence of large corporate interests in politics far exceed what existed in Tocqueville's time. In this course, we will read Tocqueville's classic text, Democracy in America, as a guide to interpreting contemporary American society. Students will be expected to read current scholarship on the state of American democracy, specifically focusing on the 2012 Presidential Election cycle.

What makes America a democracy? In the early 19th century, the French scholar, Alexis de Tocqueville came to America to study its new form of government ? democracy ? in order to understand what makes a democratic society different from an aristocratic, tyrannical or colonial one. Tocqueville observed that democracy requires a particular set of civic instititions as well as ideas and habits that foster participation and debate among citizens. In the 21st century, both the bureaucratic might of the federal government as well as the influence of large corporate interests in politics far exceed what existed in Tocqueville's time. In this course, we will read Tocqueville's classic text, Democracy in America, as a guide to interpreting contemporary American society. Students will be expected to read current scholarship on the state of American democracy, specifically focusing on the 2012 Presidential Election cycle.

Would cultivating a citizenry of Socratic questioners be a bane or a boon to a democratic society? James Madison maintained that ?had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would have been a mob.? Cornel West, on the other hand, asserts that a large-scale resuscitation of Socratic interrogation is vital if American democracy is not to wither on the vine like that of ancient Athens. We will use West?s Democracy Matters as a springboard to examine a variety of claims about Socratic questioning in the public sphere, including whether it serves as a constructively critical and dissident practice, and thus an antidote to democratic backsliding, or as a practice that subverts democratic mechanisms. Along with regular writing assignments to discover and articulate their views, students will pursue their own interests in the subject through individualized `Socratic outreach projects.?

Would cultivating a citizenry of Socratic questioners be a bane or a boon to a democratic society? James Madison maintained that ?had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would have been a mob.? Cornel West, on the other hand, asserts that a large-scale resuscitation of Socratic interrogation is vital if American democracy is not to wither on the vine like that of ancient Athens. We will use West?s Democracy Matters as a springboard to examine a variety of claims about Socratic questioning in the public sphere, including whether it serves as a constructively critical and dissident practice, and thus an antidote to democratic backsliding, or as a practice that subverts democratic mechanisms. Along with regular writing assignments to discover and articulate their views, students will pursue their own interests in the subject through individualized `Socratic outreach projects.?

To many curious-minded religious seekers in the West, Sufism remains one of the most attractive features of Islam. Indeed, among the educated public, awareness of particular luminaries of the Sufi path (such as the Persian poet Rumi) is rather high. This strongly suggests that Sufism, commonly understood as the ?mystical? dimension of Islam, has achieved a degree of respect and esteem in the public eye. But why is this so? What is it about Sufism in particular that produces the warm reception that it has received both in the public sphere and in the scholarly community? Situating our study of classical Sufi thought alongside a careful consideration of the role of the Western academy in delineating Sufism as an object of scholarly inquiry, we will explore some of the possible answers to this line of questioning and try to determine what it is about Sufism ? and perhaps ?mystical? traditions in general ? that attracts attention, in the East and West, now and in the past.

There is a sense that America is deeply divided: Red States vs. Blue States, the 99% vs. the 1%, ?real? Americans vs. latte drinking snobs. Pundits casually discuss a culture war raging in America today over social issues such as abortion and gay marriage with two clearly defined and opposing sides. Academics, on the other hand, disagree about whether or not a culture war exists in America. What unites and divides us as Americans? Does a culture war exist in America? How have understandings of the sources of polarization shifted over time? In this writing seminar, students will grapple with these questions to critically analyze discourse about unity and discord in American public life from the news media and the political speeches of Pat Buchanan, Sarah Palin, Barack Obama, and others.

Japan?s earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis; Hurricane Katrina; the HIV/AIDS pandemic?global phenomena that have produced catastrophic human suffering and trauma. In this seminar we will explore the central paradox of emergency aid: how the ethical urgency to reduce universal suffering collides with resource scarcity thus limiting the scope and potential of humanitarian relief. We will consider the underlying social, political, economic and cultural conditions that magnify disasters, and examine how disasters expose the fault lines of embedded social inequality. We will also attend to ways in which disasters are represented, exploring the repercussions of the 24 hour news cycle that consign disasters to public spectacle and reproduce cultural stereotypes of victims. This course will offer students the opportunity to improve their written skills as they analyze cases of disasters and their aftermath through reasoning exercises and a research paper written in stages.

Japan?s earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis; Hurricane Katrina; the HIV/AIDS pandemic?global phenomena that have produced catastrophic human suffering and trauma. In this seminar we will explore the central paradox of emergency aid: how the ethical urgency to reduce universal suffering collides with resource scarcity thus limiting the scope and potential of humanitarian relief. We will consider the underlying social, political, economic and cultural conditions that magnify disasters, and examine how disasters expose the fault lines of embedded social inequality. We will also attend to ways in which disasters are represented, exploring the repercussions of the 24 hour news cycle that consign disasters to public spectacle and reproduce cultural stereotypes of victims. This course will offer students the opportunity to improve their written skills as they analyze cases of disasters and their aftermath through reasoning exercises and a research paper written in stages.

When we are sick, we visit the doctor expecting a diagnosis and cure. But what if you are told you are not sick, or that there is no known cause for the symptoms you describe, or that your sickness is due to your personal habits and lifestyle? In this class, we will examine medical controversies--most specifically, cases of environmental illness or toxic exposure--and the questions that they raise about medical knowledge, health care, and social power in the U.S. Can patients and social activists challenge medical authority? Does institutional medicine function as an instrument of social control? By examining research on contested illnesses such as those attributed to industrial exposure or Gulf War syndrome, as well as the social movements that have formed to challenge medical responses to these conditions, we will explore one of the core debates in medical sociology: can medicine be a space of negotiation and pluralism, or does it reinforce existing disparities in our society?

X-rays. Ultrasounds. PET scans. fMRIs. Medical images are a growing part of the way patients and practitioners alike in the U.S. make sense of the human body, health, and illness. In this course we consider how images came to be central to medical practice over the course of the twentieth century, and we consider the multiple uses and meanings surrounding medical images today. The course focuses on images of the human brain, in particular, and the way in which images of the brain promise to reveal much about who we are as individuals, societies, and as a species. Joseph Dumit's ethnography, Picturing Personhood (2003) guides our discussion of these important, ubiquitous, and occasionally controversial images. This course should appeal to students interested in connections between science, medicine, technology, and society. With a focus on developing reasoning and research skills, drafting, and providing peer feedback, assignments will include short exercises and a final research paper.