This course introduces students to the fundamentals of bookbinding, artists' books and zines. A variety of book structures and skills will be demonstrated, discussed and used throughout the semester. Throughout the course students will develop a basic understanding of what a book is, where it fits in contemporary art practice as well as its historical context. Students will use the technical bookbinding skills discussed to create a series of both one-of-kind artists' books as well as a small edition of zines.

Students in this course will expand their artistic practices by making work that is purposefully unlike anything they have made before. In one project, students might develop a fictional artist and then create work from different stages of that artist's career. In another, students might generate hybrid paintings that merge drastically different styles into a new pictorial language. Ultimately, stepping outside of oneself will be explored as a means of personal transformation and artistic growth.

The course will begin with an investigation of the proto-racial and religious categories through which Europeans in the early modern era understood human difference. From there, we will trace how these notions were re-conceptualized in the centuries following the encounter between Europeans, Africans, and the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas. As we examine this history -- including the emergence of slavery, eugenics, mestizaje, and Liberation Theology -- we will pay particular attention to how interwoven racial and religious hierarchies were both constructed and resisted.

Many new religious movements have advocated for women occupying unlikely roles of service and leadership. This course analyzes the intersection of religious alterity and gender equity. Primarily focusing on twentieth and twenty-first century new religions, the course considers how select women have shaped and transformed the structures of religions on the margins.

This course examines contemporary Asian American film and visual culture through the lens of cultural recovery, self-invention, and experimentation. Focusing primarily on film and photography, we will explore issues of race and visuality, Hollywood orientalism, memory and postmemory, and racial impersonation and parody. Students will engage with a variety of theoretical and critical approaches. Artists may include Nikki S. Lee, Margaret Cho, Tseng Kwong Chi, Jin-me Yoon, Justin Lin, Binh Dahn, Richard Fung, Mira Nair, Deepa Mehta, and Alice Wu.

RNA is believed by many to have been the first macromolecule to evolve. In a hypothesized "RNA world," RNA would have simultaneously served the roles of carrying genetic information and catalyzing chemical reactions within early cells. The past three decades have been a renaissance for RNA biology, as researchers have uncovered the critical role RNA plays in eukaryotic and bacterial gene regulation and defense, as well as the potential for RNAs to perform catalysis.

RNA is believed by many to have been the first macromolecule to evolve. In a hypothesized "RNA world," RNA would have simultaneously served the roles of carrying genetic information and catalyzing chemical reactions within early cells. The past three decades have been a renaissance for RNA biology, as researchers have uncovered the critical role RNA plays in eukaryotic and bacterial gene regulation and defense, as well as the potential for RNAs to perform catalysis.

Intergroup Dialogue engages individuals and groups in facilitated small group processes to explore difficult issues to develop shared meaning across lines of difference, and generate opportunities for collaborative action. This course is designed to give students both a theoretical and practical foundation in the awareness, knowledge and skills needed to effectively plan, facilitate and evaluate Intergroup Dialogues.

In a culturally and socially diverse society, discussion about issues of difference, conflict and community are needed to facilitate understanding between social/cultural groups. In this intergroup dialogue, students will actively participate in two days (16 hours) of semi-structured, face-to-face meetings with students from other social identity groups. Students will learn from each others' perspectives, read and discuss relevant reading material, and explore their own and other groups' experiences in various social and institutional contexts.

At a time when rapidly rising food prices are causing distress, starvation and food riots around the world, we will focus our enquiry on the creation of markets for food and the industrialization of agriculture. What changed when food become a commodity traded over long distances? What changed when food began to be produced using industrialized methods? What are the social consequences of these transformations? What was the role of colonial rule in the loss of food security in Africa? What factors explain famine, and people's responses to it?