How have ancient and modern Jewish thinkers imagined the body, its purposes, and the diversity of embodied forms and experiences? In this course, students explore these themes through a range of textual case studies related to creation, ability and disability, appearance, gender and sexuality, aging, death, birth, and love. Through texts drawn from the full range of Jewish religious literature, we will also get to know some of the major Jewish textual corpora and the cultural contexts in which they developed.

This course examines the many different kinds of texts within the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) including stories, legal codes, prophecies, proverbs, and poetry. We'll situate these texts in the context of the historical periods in which they were written and uncover the religious and political worldviews they articulate.

How have ancient and modern Jewish thinkers imagined the body, its purposes, and the diversity of embodied forms and experiences? In this course, students explore these themes through a range of textual case studies related to creation, ability and disability, appearance, gender and sexuality, aging, death, birth, and love. Through texts drawn from the full range of Jewish religious literature, we will also get to know some of the major Jewish textual corpora and the cultural contexts in which they developed.

Introduces the analysis of cultural diversity, including concepts, methods, and purposes in interpreting social, economic, political, and belief systems found in human societies.

Introduces the analysis of cultural diversity, including concepts, methods, and purposes in interpreting social, economic, political, and belief systems found in human societies.

Introduces the analysis of cultural diversity, including concepts, methods, and purposes in interpreting social, economic, political, and belief systems found in human societies.

Introduces the analysis of cultural diversity, including concepts, methods, and purposes in interpreting social, economic, political, and belief systems found in human societies.

Introduces the analysis of cultural diversity, including concepts, methods, and purposes in interpreting social, economic, political, and belief systems found in human societies.

Since the mid-nineteenth century, Americans have viewed Japan as the Orient's most exotic and mysterious recess, alternately enticing and frightening in its difference. Intense economic relations and cultural exchange between Japan and the U.S. have not dispelled the image of Japanese society and culture as fundamentally different from our own. In this course, we will strive for greater understanding of shared experiences as well as historical particularities. Issues covered may vary from one semester to another, but frequently focus on work, women, minorities, and popular culture.

We shop for our food, for our clothes, for our colleges. We purchase cars, manicures, and vacations. It seems that there is little that cannot be bought or sold. But we also give and receive gifts, exchange favors, 'go dutch' in restaurants, and invite friends for potlucks. This course examines exchange systems cross-culturally, in order to understand their cultural significance and social consequences.