Fall 2015 THEAT-282-01: Rehearsal and performance of a new adaptation and World Premiere production of Washington Irving's classic tale of horror, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, directed by Noah Tuleja. October 22-25, 2015Fall 2015 THEAT-282-02: Rehearsal and performance of No Exit December 3-6, 2015 Spring 2016 THEAT-282-01: Rehearsal and performance of Fefu and Her Friends--Feb. 25-28, 2016 Spring 2016 THEAT-282-02: Rehearsal and performance of Hereafter--April 14-17, 2016

This reading and writing-intensive course draws upon the intellectual traditions of African American, African, and African diasporic studies in order to explore the connections and disjunctures among people of African descent. While the course pays attention to national, regional, and historical contexts, it asks this question: what do African descended people have in common and when and how are their experiences and interests different?

This course will explore several ways by which to integrate digital techniques with printmaking by hand. Using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, students will incorporate digital methods to develop their imagery but ultimately will print their final work using traditional processes. Students will learn the basics of each technique before moving onto those using digital intervention. Processes will include using photo emulsion for screen printing, digitally cut vinyl as an acid resist for intaglio and laser-printed pronto plates for lithography.

This seminar will discuss patterns and variations of human sexual behavior and the likely role that evolution has played in shaping some of these patterns. We will discuss the evolution of sex, gender differences, principles of sexual selection, physiology, cultural differences in sexual behavior, mating systems, etc. We will follow a recently published book on this topic, and add readings from the primary literature.

This course will focus on biological systems that push the limits of structural and physiological possibility. For example, midges flap their wings at up to 1000 Hz; bar-headed geese migrate over Mount Everest; deep-sea fish withstand pressures near 300 atmospheres; certain frogs can allow their body temperatures to drop below 0 degrees Celsius. Through readings and discussions we will explore the diverse mechanisms that underlie how organisms reach extreme levels of performance and survive in extreme environments.

We will study the structure, function and evolution of the diversity of structures that allow vertebrates to perform basic functions such as locomotion. We will connect the functions with day-to-day challenges for vertebrates, and we will discuss functional disruption such as disease and trauma. In lab we will dissect fresh-frozen and formaline-preserved vertebrates. A willingness to work with such preserved material is critical to success in class. Students are expected to work in groups during class time, as well as read the required chapters before class.

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?