This course provides a general, introductory survey of African social and cultural history from approximately the end of World War II to the present. In doing so, the course will look beyond the formal political maneuvering of elite figures, focusing instead on the many and competing ways in which a broad array of African actors engaged the changing political and social contexts in which they lived. As such, key themes of the course such as anticolonialism, decolonization, development, and HIV/AIDS will serve as lenses into a range of perspectives on life in an independent Africa.

The course uses magic as a case study for exploring cultural transmission in the Middle Ages. We begin by examining Germanic and Greco-Roman occult traditions, and the way in which the medieval synthesis of these cultures effects understandings of the occult. The course follows the influence of the Arabic and Hebrew influences on western occultism of the High Middle Ages, and flowering of the Renaissance magical tradition. The course challenges and reshapes some of our basic understandings about Medieval society.

The history of the Romans and other Mediterranean peoples from the first to the early fifth centuries A.D. With Emperor Augustus, the traditional Republican form of rule was reshaped to accommodate the personal rule of an Emperor that governed a multiethnic empire of 50 million successfully for several centuries. Imperial Rome represents the paradigmatic classical empire that many later empires sought to emulate. We trace how this complex imperial society evolved to meet different challenges.

This course serves as an introduction to the study of History and to what historians do. It is a requirement for the History major. At the root of this course is the question of what is history and what it means to study history. Key questions driving the course are: Is history simply the study of the past? What is the past’s connection to the present? Is it even necessary to make such connections to the present and what is lost and gained in making such connections? Enrollment limited to 40.

How do we represent pandemics? How do these representations implicate science, politics and society? The prevalent ‘contagion’ frame is a story about seeing the microbe as the enemy, erasing or downplaying human agency and practices (especially the expansion into new ecosystems), and affirming epidemiology and medical science as the only solution. The frame carries over into politics and culture and provides a way to translate the science of contagious disease into social terms that influence the public and also public policy.

An introduction to different genres of prose and poetry in the Classical period, with attention to linguistic differences over time and region. Readings will be chosen from works such as Herodotus' History of the Persian War, the poetry of Solon the wise Athenian lawmaker, the philosophical dialogues of Plato, the Athenian courtroom speeches of Lysias, the tragedies of Euripides. Prerequisite: three semesters of Greek or permission of the instructor.

A yearlong introduction to ancient Greek through the language of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, the two 8th-century epics that represent the culmination of a long and rich tradition of oral poetry. The ancients regarded these poems as unparalleled masterpieces; the great tragedian Aeschylus called his own plays "crumbs from Homer's table," and both epics have endured over the millennia and are still alive and relevant. Identity, love, seduction, loyalty, the tension between individualism and community, between home and adventure -- these are some of the very human issues the Odyssey explores.

This seminar examines central questions in African American political thought: freedom and domination; power, powerlessness, and subjectivity; inclusion, exclusion and autonomy; the meaning of race and its relationship to citizenship, democracy, and nationhood; and political action, resistance, and emancipation.

What is the political significance of nature? In this seminar we shall engage this question through a critical analysis of readings in classic and contemporary environmental political thought with special emphasis on the political relationship between human beings and nature. Topics to be considered include wilderness conservation, political ecology, environmental justice, and more. The question which emerges through these readings, which is in the background of the entire course, is whether we might find a democratic and just response to the challenges of the climate crisis.

The seminar identifies and analyzes the sources and patterns of conflict and cooperation among Asian states and between Asian and Western countries in the contemporary period. The course concludes by evaluating prospects for current efforts to create a new “Asia Pacific Community.” Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required.