This seminar will provide an understanding of the language learning process and will help students to develop strategies to increase their ability in learning a second language. Students will be encouraged to reflect critically on language learning issues through a variety of topics such as different theories of second language acquisition, individual factors considered to play a role in acquiring a language -- aptitude, motivation, age, personality, learning styles, etc.

This seminar will explore the development of the relationship between music and drama in Europe from its beginnings in classical Greece to the first public performances of opera in the 1630s. We will hear, see and read selected works along the way. These plays, rituals and entertainments will be our texts for the semester. We will discuss and write about such issues as the relationship between words and music, the interaction between music and the visual component of these works (dance, costumes, sets, acting) and the social, political and economic contexts of these texts.

From the middle ages to the present day, witches have evoked both fear and fascination. Their fellowships (real or fantastic) challenged the prevailing power structures of church and state patriarchies and upset the ordered precepts of the modern world. This seminar offers an overview of the history of witchcraft in Atlantic cultures, with special attention to the early modern British and American colonial eras.

In this course, we will study the three most celebrated French female saints: Jeanne d'Arc, Thérèse de Lisieux and Bernadette de Lourdes. Their stories are similar: ordinary young women to whom extraordinary things happened, who became symbols of France and inspired a rich verbal and visual iconography. Yet they are profoundly different: Joan was a warrior, Thérèse a memoirist, Bernadette a visionary.

This course studies the films of Pedro Almodovar, European cinema's favorite bad boy turned acclaimed auteur. On the one hand, students learn to situate films within the context of contemporary Spanish history (the transition to democracy, the advent of globalization, etc.) in order to consider the local contours of postmodern aesthetics. On the other hand, the films provide a springboard to reflect on larger theoretical and ethical debates. For instance, what can a weeping transvestite teach us about desire? What happens when plastic surgery and organ transplants become metaphors?

Recent cultural histories of imperialism--European as well as U.S.--have illuminated the workings of race and gender at the heart of imperial encounters. This course will examine the United States' relationship to imperialism through the lens of such cultural histories. How has the encounter between Europe and America been remembered in the United States? How has the cultural construction of 'America' and its 'others' called into play racial and gender identities? How have the legacies of slavery been entwined with U.S. imperial ambitions at different times?

What is Latina Feminism? How does it differ from and/or intersect with "other" feminisms? In this seminar, we will explore the relationship between Latina feminist theory, knowledge production, and social change in the United States. This interdisciplinary course explores Latina feminism in relation to methodology and epistemology through a historical lens. This will help us to better understand how Latina feminist approaches can inform our research questions, allow us to analyze women's experiences and women's history, and challenge patriarchy and gender inequality.

This course presents an opportunity for students to apply gender theory to practice and synthesize their work in gender studies. Connections between the academy and the community, scholarship and social action will be emphasized. Students will arrange for a placement at a non-profit organization, business, or institution that incorporates a gender focus. A weekly seminar with other students provides a structured reflection forum to analyze experience and methods.

Health is about bodies, selves and politics. We will explore a series of health topics from feminist perspectives. How do gender, sexuality, class, disability, and age influence the ways in which one perceives and experiences health and the access one has to health information and health care? Are heteronormativity, cissexism, or one's place of living related to one's health status or one's health risk?

We will read a number of key feminist texts that theorize sexual difference, and challenge the oppression of women. We will then address queer theory, an offshoot and expansion of feminist theory, and study how it is both embedded in, and redefines, the feminist paradigms. This redefinition occurs roughly at the same time (1980s/90s) when race emerges as one of feminism's prominent blind spots. The postcolonial critique of feminism is a fourth vector we will examine, as well as anti-racist and postcolonial intersections with queerness.