An introduction to literary and cultural theory with an emphasis on twentieth century and contemporary thought. We will focus on crucial questions that have focused, and continue to focus, critical debate. These questions may include representation, subjectivity, ideology, identity, difference, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, and nation. Throughout we will be particularly interested in the ways in which language and form mediate and construct social experience.

This course examines the discursive relationship between race and law in contemporary U.S. society. Readings examine the ways in which racial bodies are constituted in the cultural and political economy of American society. The main objective is to explore the rules and social practices that govern the relationship of race to gender, nationality, sexuality, and class in U.S. courts and other cultural institutions. Thinkers covered include W.E.B. DuBois, Kimberle Crenshaw, Derrick Bell, and Richard Delgado, among others.

This course offers an appraisal of the core questions and theoretical frameworks of the past two decades. It covers the relationship of fieldwork to theory building, new trends in anthropological analysis, and critical examinations of the uses and abuses of anthropological data.

This course examines notions of person and self across cultures, with specific reference to the social construction and experience of cultural identities. Discussions focus on issues of gender, race, ethnicity, and the values of individuality and relationality in different cultures.

This seminar focuses on contemporary anthropological scholarship concerned with the varieties of sexual expression in diverse cultural settings. We will read ethnographic accounts of sexual ideologies and the politics and practices of sexuality in Brazil, Japan, Native North America, India, and elsewhere. We will examine anthropological theories of sexuality with an emphasis on contemporary issues, including performance theory, 'third gender' theories, sexual identity formulation, and techniques used by various societies to discipline the body.

Biocultural aspects of disease and healing are examined through case studies of nonindustrialized societies, including the relationship between malaria and sickle cell anemia in West Africa and ritual cannibalism, AIDS, and a degenerative nervous-system disorder (kuru) in highland New Guinea. This course surveys the cultural construction of suffering and healing, the medicalization of human social problems, and inequities in the distribution of disease and therapy.

This course emphasizes further development of contextual reading, writing, and speaking skills in German. Focus on strategies that help students learn vocabulary and use grammatical structures in appropriate ways. Discussion of a variety of texts and genres, as well as exploration of topics such as immigration and social justice. Frequent writing assignments and speaking opportunities.