This course explores the political/social meaning of gender and sexuality from the nineteenth century in the East Asian context. What did womanhood mean in neo-Confucian regimes? Why did gender emerge as a significant category in various social discourses, including anarchism, Marxism, and nationalism? How did certain types of women such as good wives and wise mothers, sexy modern girls, and socialist iron women emerge as (un)desirable models in these societies? How did women become historical agents or social victims during imperialist wars and economic development?

During the last two decades, China has emerged as a world superpower, transforming her image from a poverty-stricken communist country. The Communist Party itself has led the nation's development of a capitalist economy, in contradiction to its official ideology. How can we understand this historical irony? Was Chinese communism, together with world Marxism, defeated by capitalism? What can China's experience with socialism tell us today?

This course explores the political/social meaning of gender and sexuality from the nineteenth century in the East Asian context. What did womanhood mean in neo-Confucian regimes? Why did gender emerge as a significant category in various social discourses, including anarchism, Marxism, and nationalism? How did certain types of women such as good wives and wise mothers, sexy modern girls, and socialist iron women emerge as (un)desirable models in these societies? How did women become historical agents or social victims during imperialist wars and economic development?

Bread and circuses (panem et circenses) was a catchphrase in the Roman empire that described the political strategy of controlling an unruly populace through free bread and public entertainment.

This seminar explores the potentially novel entanglements of 'race', 'nation' and 'gender' through the increasing transnationalization of scientific and medical practices, the mobility of practitioners and consumers, and the mobilization of scientific and medical knowledge by individuals and communities, as well as governmental and civil society organizations.

This seminar explores the potentially novel entanglements of 'race', 'nation' and 'gender' through the increasing transnationalization of scientific and medical practices, the mobility of practitioners and consumers, and the mobilization of scientific and medical knowledge by individuals and communities, as well as governmental and civil society organizations.

Climate change presents a global public health problem, with serious health impacts predicted to manifest in varying ways in different parts of the world. Through this course, we will investigate these health effects which include increased respiratory and cardiovascular disease, injuries and premature deaths related to extreme heat, weather, and other disaster events, and changes in the prevalence and geographical distribution of food- and waterbourne illnesses and other infectious diseases.

Human population is expected to surpass nine billion in the next century. As our population grows, so will our need for food. Land available to grow food will not increase and degrading environmental conditions will make adequate food production on this land increasingly difficult. We will focus on the challenges to meet the nutritional needs of a growing population as well as look at some of the possible solutions for the future from a scientific standpoint. These challenges/solutions will be investigated at both the world and local (northeast United States) scales.

Humans are increasing the amount of pollutants in the environment, particularly through the burning of fossil fuels and other industrial practices. This course will investigate the pollutants that cycle through the atmosphere. Key pollutants covered will include nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, carbon compounds, particulate matter, mercury, and ozone. We will investigate where the pollutants come from, their presence in the environment, and the biological effects of these pollutants.

Is beauty useless, or does art serve a purpose? With the rise of literacy, accessibility, and democratization post-industrialization, this question gained new political and economic valence. This course combines readings in aesthetic philosophy with literary works to investigate art in a society of consumption. Does art merely preserve the old or can it disrupt economies of sufficiency? We will look at the politics of representation in the Western tradition that privileges certain bodies and ignores others.