The finest journalists are professors to the people. They educate citizens so as to facilitate reasoned, fact-based dialogue on subjects as diverse as politics, poverty, war, science, and the arts. We will look at journalism's role in the culture as well as some of its failings and foibles. Students will try their hand at writing about an event, a person and an issue using the reporter's skills of interviewing, research, and thoughtful analysis to produce snapshots of the world inside and outside the College gates. Curiosity leads. Mastery follows.

This course probes the characteristics of imperial rule, as well as the differences between one empire and another. The course asks: What are empires, and what animates them - economic exploitation, power politics, and/or cultural commitments? How do empires impose and maintain their authority, and what is their impact on centers and provinces, and on elites and the common people? How do empires deal with the heterogeneous peoples, religions, races, and cultures they conquer and incorporate into their fold?

What is the role of memory in transnational Anglophone literature? How does recollection aid the creation of continuity in narratives that extend across geographic or cultural borders? This course considers themes such as trauma, nostalgia, introspection, and myth in relation to contemporary representations of colonialism, cosmopolitanism, expatriation, and diaspora. We will read novels, memoirs, and poems from the last half-decade by authors from all over the world, including Nabokov, Rushdie, Ishiguro, Ondaatje, and others.

This course offers practice in the fundamentals of dramatic structure and technique. Weekly reading assignments will examine the unique nature of writing for the theatre, nuts and bolts of format, tools of the craft, and the playwright's process from formulating a dramatic idea to rewriting. Weekly writing assignments will include scenework, adaptation, and journaling. The course will culminate in the writing of a one-act play. Each class meeting will incorporate reading student work aloud with feedback from the instructor and the class.

In a world of diminishing resources, the complex balance of the global food supply calls into question issues of justice and human values. Why is it that certain groups of people suffer disproportionately from food scarcity and contamination? How do we ensure affordable, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food for all in the face of overconsumption, climate change, and population growth? We will study a diverse range of contemporary media as we engage in critical discussion of the production, distribution, and consumption of food.

Familiarizes students with oral and written discourses in reading, writing, and speaking. Students focus on in-depth analyses of writing and speaking patterns in current newspaper and magazine articles. Thematic foci include Germany's Soziale Marktwirschaft, Germany's responsibilities and political and economic agenda within the European Union, and Germany's political and economic ties to Asia. Material based on most recent articles, news reports, and debates.

This seminar is designed to explore the nature of our field of inquiry in theory and practice. 1) All students read texts exploring such questions as: What does German Studies mean? What is interdisciplinary work? What role does literature play in culture studies? What is the relationship between language and the construction of culture? Why learn German vis a vis 'global English'? What meanings have been attributed to the terms 'culture' and 'civilization'?

How do multinational corporations, interest groups, NGOs, and social movements engage in world politics? In exploring this question, this course provides an introduction to the study of transnationally operating non-state actors and transnational social movements. First, we will look at the influence of movements on inter-state relations and on inter-national organizations. Second, we will investigate their increasing involvement in global governance.

This course explores the relationship between law and religion through a comparative study of eight countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, Israel, and India. It focuses on the role of religion in the constitutional law of these countries, both in the text of constitutional documents and in judicial interpretation of these texts. Starting with an analysis of the religion clauses in the First Amendment of the U.S.

This seminar explores European politics from a transnational comparative perspective. It explores what kind of supranational entity the European Union is in the context of theories of international organization. Second, it considers public debates through methods of discourse analysis: How do European leaders, journalists, and engaged citizens or protesters define and 'frame' democracy and social justice in comparison to American or Middle Eastern ones?