'Every society is held together by systems of interpersonal and institutional communication. This course examines the nature of communication codes, including those based on language (speaking and writing) and those based on visual images (art, advertising, television). To understand communication in its social and historical dimensions, we study the psychological and cultural impact of media revolutions and then look at ways communication systems manipulate individual consciousness. Illustrative examples are drawn from Western and non-Western societies.'

'How does the city figure into struggles over who we are and who we want to be? Pinnacle of civilization and cultural vibrancy, or zone of social decadence and future catastrophe? Thinking through enduring myths of idyllic pasts and imagined futures, this course explores figures of the urban as a matter of changing economic and ecological relations. Arguments about the production of nature under urbanization will be drawn from ethnographic research as well as urban history, political ecology, science studies, and other approaches.

'Not all about claims imply the same kind of about. Do scientific inquiries answer to a different kind of about question than the arts, literary criticism or political rhetoric? Paintings depict and writing describes, what does music do? Express? Do a religious icon, a realistic painting and an abstract painting involve the same kind of depicting, just different subject matters and styles, or does intent also make a difference? What is that difference, and how do I describe it? Do the answers to my questions apply equally at different times in history and in other cultures?

'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.'

'This seminar covers the social history of punishment, beginning with the birth of the prison in the late eighteenth century and continuing to the present. Emphasis on the shift in philosophy from public to private punishment, prison reform movements, and the death penalty.'

'In this critical survey of the main theoretical perspectives in contemporary sociology, we focus specifically on structural functionalism, symbolic interactionism, critical theory, feminism, and postmodernism. Besides gaining familiarity with these alternative perspectives, we try to identify the main axes of theoretical dispute in sociology and discuss the problems of evaluating and resolving conflict between theories.'

'In this class we will investigate questions of power and inequality as they relate to class, race, gender and their various intersections. We will learn some of the foundational theories in the fields of inequality, intersectionality, gender, and race studies. In addition, we will read empirical work from various methodological perspectives, which highlight the theoretical approaches we will explore.'

'This course explores the intersection of theoretical knowledge and the implementation of development in the field. We will cover the relationship of sociological and anthropological theory building to fieldwork. Our goal is to understand how theories of development work on the ground, and therefore we will examine case studies to analyze the challenges of development in African rural communities. Overall, the course will prepare students to answer questions such as what is development as a theoretical design.'

'This course examines instances of organized collective action in social, historical, and empirical contexts, from the labor movement of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to the new social movements of today. We also explore various forms of unstructured protest, such as riots and demonstrations.'