This service learning course surveys social science research, literary texts and film media on Cuban, Dominican and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. Historic and contemporary causes and contexts of (im)migration, settlement patterns, labor market experiences, demographic profiles, identity formations and cultural expressions are considered. Special attention is paid to both inter- and intra-group diversity, particularly along the lines of race, gender, sexuality and class. Students are required to dedicate four (4) hours per week to a local community-based organization.

An introduction to classical and contemporary approaches to class relations, status and social inequality. Topics include Marxian and Weberian analysis, social mobility, class consciousness, class reproduction, and the place of race and gender in the class order. Enrollment limited to 35. Prerequisite: SOC 101.

Research Seminar. In this advanced methods course, we study feminist empirical approaches to psychological research. The first part considers several key feminist empiricist philosophies of science, including positivist, experiential and discursive approaches. The second part focuses on conceptualizations of gender-beyond difference-based approaches-and their operationalization in recent empirical articles. The capstone is an application of feminist perspectives on psychological science to a group research project in the domain of health and well-being.

This seminar discusses research on the neurocognitive basis of autism spectrum disorders, considering genetic, neuroscientific, psychological and linguistic factors in their etiology and characterization. Topics include the history of the diagnosis, the incidence of the disorders, cross-cultural conceptions of autism, studies of the underlying neural mechanisms, and the cognition and language of children with ASD. Prerequisites: One of EDC 235, PSY 216, or PSY 253, or permission of the instructor.

Topics course. The seminar considers contemporary work on the relationship between language and thought, including the recent rise in "Neo-Whorfianism" or cross-cultural work on whether the language we speak influences the way that we think, also the relationship of concepts and linguistic labels, and on the potential role of syntax on conceptions of events. Prerequisites: at least one of PSY 120, PSY 160, PSY/PHI 209, PSY/PHI 213, PHI 236,  PHI 262, or permission of instructor.

This colloquium is concerned with the psychological processes underlying political phenomena. The course is divided into three sections: Leaders, Followers and Social Movements. In each of these sections, we examine how psychological factors influence political behavior, and how political acts affect individual psychology. This is a special presidential election year edition of the course! Prerequisites: PSY 100, PSY 202. Enrollment limit of 25 students.

The course is designed to address the needs of both second language learners (those who completed Elementary Russian) and heritage students (who speak Russian at home). Students practice all four language modalities: reading, listening, writing and speaking. The course incorporates a variety of activities that are based on a range of topics, text types and different socio-cultural situations. Authentic texts (poems, short stories, TV programs, films, songs and articles) are used to create the context for reviewing and expanding on grammar, syntax and vocabulary. This is a full-year course.

The four-skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) introduction to the Russian language with the focus on communicative skills development. Major structural topics include pronunciation and intonation, all six cases, all tenses and verbal aspect. By the end of the course, students are able to sustain conversation on basic topics, write short compositions, read short authentic texts, as well as develop an understanding of Russian culture through watching, discussing and writing on movies, short stories, folk tales and poems. This is a full-year course.

Why is Russian literature so timeless and powerful? What can we learn from the Russian "cursed questions" surrounding the nature of life, death, love, creativity, spirit? We explore these questions through an introduction to major texts of the 19th-century Russian literary tradition, including works by Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Chekhov, examined in their social and historical contexts.

Topics course. In this course, we introduce students to the social practices, spaces and networks that defined 17th- and 18th-century France, politically and culturally, from the height of the Ancien Regime up to the French Revolution. We also expose students to digital humanities methods and theories, combining the study and praxis of these approaches. As a jointly-taught, cross-campus course, students at Smith and Wellesley share a common syllabus and engage in parallel assignments.