The N-word is the great symbol of white supremacy in the United States. When spoken by African Americans, it emerges as a powerful symbol of anti-racist politics, verbal protest and artistic expression. What does the N-word really mean? How does it create a firestorm in certain contexts, but not others? In this interdisciplinary course, students explore history, film, literature, music and political debate to look closely at the histories of race and racism in the U.S.

This is an advanced research seminar in which students work closely with archival materials from the Sophia Smith Collection and other archives to explore histories of resistance, collective action and grassroots organizing among domestic workers in the United States, from the mid-18th century to the present. Domestic work has historically been done by women of color and been among the lowest paid, most vulnerable and exploited forms of labor.

An introduction to major developments and interactions among people in Europe and Asia before modernity. The Silk Roads, long distance networks that allowed people, goods, technology, religious beliefs and other ideas to travel between China, India and Rome/Mediterranean, and the many points in between, developed against the backdrop of the rise and fall of steppe nomadic empires in Inner Asia. We examine these as interrelated phenomena that shaped Eurasian encounters to the rise of the world-conquering Mongols and the journey of Marco Polo.

Topics course: 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.” Permission of the instructor is required.

Topics course: This course aims to understand the political implications of the Big Data era through a focus on how data has corresponded with power throughout history, from ancient times to today. We will consider how new data sources and technologies have driven significant social change, such as through the development of statistics (“science that serves the state”) for taxation and government census, surveillance practices for policing and national security, classification for anti-poverty programs, and data security regulations.

Topics Course: As national politics becomes increasingly polarized and dysfunctional the states have become a central focus for many groups to affect policy change. This seminar focuses on major topics in State Politics research including, direct democracy, the spread of policies, and the growth of political reforms, and the role of public opinion in determining state policies. Students complete research papers on a state politics topic of their choice. Prerequisite: a 200-level course in American government.

Thomas More penned his novel Utopia in 1516, and in 1868 John Stuart Mill coined 'dystopia' as the antithesis of More's idyllic vision. But the word utopia literally translates as "nowhere land." This course will explore the question how the exploration of "what could be" has been and remains a central focus in the work of much of political theory.

What is democracy? We begin with readings of Aristotle, Rousseau and Mill to introduce some issues associated with the ideal of democratic self-government: participation, equality, majority rule vs. minority rights, the common good, pluralism, community. Readings include selections from liberal, radical, socialist, libertarian, multiculturalist and feminist political thought. Not open to first-year students.