This course introduces students to a range of primary sources from Latin America c. 1500-2000. Examining sources such as diaries, letters, essays, manuals, and political manifestos, members of the class will gain experience interpreting historical texts by placing them in their context. The course offers students a window into Latin American history through the close study of texts written by conquistadors, poets, nuns, and guerrilla fighters, among others. These sources touch on themes including colonial rule, independence and nation-building, and revolution, among other topics.

Examination of the causes and consequences of secession and the American Civil War. Exploration of the triumphs and failures of Reconstruction. Study of the memory of slavery, Lost Cause ideology, and Confederate memorialization. Emphasis on engaging with the experience of war through the emotions and the senses. Significant themes of race and gender with emphasis on the African American experience of slavery and emancipation. Enrollment limited to 40. (E)

A critical introduction to government regulation of employment and to legal theories of freedom and justice in the workplace.

The study of Supreme Court decisions, documents and other writings dealing with Constitutional theory and interpretation. Special attention is given to understanding the institutional role of the Supreme Court. Not open to first-year students.

From the earliest Chinese poetry to the latest Arabic Internet novels, comparative literature makes available new worlds—and “newly visible” old worlds. To become “world-forming,” one must realize one’s belonging to a given world or worlds, as well as one’s finitude. To rethink the relationship between literature and world, each section of this course focuses on a given genre, movement or theme. Through topics such as “Epic Worlds,” ”The Short Story” and “Literature and Medicine,” we consider the creation of worlds through words. May be repeated once with a different topic.

Topics course: As representations of queer subjectivities has left the largely coded citations of the closet, they have come to rely on discursively complex and intersectional forms of representation that at once exceed, and rely on, queer cultures, communities, and even subjects. Queer visual culture has long offered a way for queer subjects to both represent, and come to understand, who they are and how meaning is inscribed onto and through [their] bodies.

Topics course: Unlike Mendel’s round or wrinkled peas, many biological traits exhibit more than two distinct forms. Quantitative genetics allows the study of continuously varying traits through statistical models that incorporate interactions between multiple genetic loci and the environment. Ongoing improvements in high-throughput DNA sequencing are revealing genetic mechanisms underlying human traits, such as predisposition to disease.

Topics course: What was the Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries? Did a revolution even occur? If it did, was it really revolutionary? If it occurred, what forces produced it? How did the boundaries of “science,” which was known as “natural philosophy,” change during this time period? Readings are drawn from primary and secondary sources.

A laboratory course designed to complement the lecture material in 332. Advanced techniques used to study the molecular biology of eukaryotes are learned in the context of a semester-long project. These methods include techniques for studying genomics and gene expression including: CRISPR, RNA interference, DNA sequence analysis, RT-PCR, genomics, bioinformatics and others. Enrollment limited to 16. Prerequisite: BIO 332 (should be taken concurrently) and BIO 231.

Each musical tradition is best explained and understood by its own system of theory. This course introduces four musical traditions and their corresponding theories: Tuvan Throat Singing, Dagomba Dance Drumming, Javanese Gamelan, and Hindustani classical music. Topics include theory fundamentals, listening methods, compositional approaches, and aesthetics. Learning about these traditions will open doors to new modes of listening and to hearing familiar music in a brand new way.(E)