Topics course. There is increasing evidence of epigenetic phenomena influencing the development of organisms and the transmission of information between generations. These epigenetic phenomena include the inheritance of acquired morphological traits in some lineages and the apparent transmission of RNA caches between generations in plants, animals and microbes. This seminar explores emerging data on epigenetics and discusses the impact of these phenomena on evolution. Participants will write an independent research paper on a topic of their choice.

Topics course. What does it mean to belong ? to a city, a nation, a global community ? from an anthropological perspective? How do passports, blood tests, border checkpoints, and voting ballots produce and reinforce ideas about citizenship? How are global movements of people and capital transforming notions of belonging? How does globalization challenge conventional understandings of citizenship as a particular relationship to a nation-state? This seminar considers the political, cultural and economic dimensions of citizenship and belonging.

This course considers the unique perspectives, techniques and theories that anthropology offers for understanding the visual world. We focus both on the production of visual materials (photographs and films, in particular) by anthropologists, as well as the anthropological analysis of visual artifacts produced by other people. We will consider the historical (particularly colonial) legacies of visual anthropology as well as its current manifestations and contemporary debates.

An introduction to formal analysis and tonal harmony, and a study of pieces in the standard repertory. Regular exercises in harmony. Prerequisite: ability to read standard pitch and rhythmic notation in treble and bass clefs, major and minor key signatures, time signatures, and to name intervals. (A placement test is given before the fall semester for incoming students). One fifty-minute ear training section required per week, in addition to classroom meetings. Sections are limited to 20.

Topics course. This course examines the experiences of Jewish women in al-Andalus and North Africa from the Middle Ages until today. Discussions will focus on Jewish women?s literary and cultural contributions to predominantly Muslim societies, primarily in the western Mediterranean. Students will also be invited to think critically about concepts such as "tolerance" and "dhimma," as well as what it means to be a woman and a religious minority in mostly-Muslim countries.  Course taught in Spanish.  Prerequisite: SPN 220 or above, or permission of the instructor.

Topics course. A quest for the self and its relation to otherness through a one-poem per class approach. Readings in Modern and Contemporary works by poets from both sides of the ocean, complemented by the study of related music and visual art. We will examine the consequences of political exile as a journey to the unknown (Jimenez, Cernuda, Cortazar, Neruda, Alberti) as well as the voluntary exile of the artist in search of a new aesthetic identity (Dario, Lorca, Vallejo).

By permission of the department, normally for senior majors.

Topics course. This intermediate language course will develop facility in oral expression, reading and writing, through the media of poetry, music, plays, and performance art. Enrollment limited to 18.  Prerequisite: POR100Y or the equivalent.

This course applies a sociological lens to understanding inequality in American higher education. We examine how the conflicting purposes of higher education have led to a highly stratified system of colleges and universities. We also address the question of how student?s social class, race, ethnicity and gender affect their chances of successfully navigating this stratified system of higher education. Finally, we examine selected public policies aimed at minimizing inequality in students? access to and success in college. Prerequisites: SOC 101 and permission of the instructor.

Topics course. Advanced study of a major Russian literary text. Translation into Russian of various works.  Students will eventually translate texts of their liking, with a possible public reading at the end of the semester.  Pre-requisite: Intermediate Russian or permission of the instructor.