'In no other culture has literature occupied the central role it enjoyed in nineteenth-century Russia. Political, social, and historical constraints propelled Russian writers into the roles of witness, prophet, and sage. Yet, far from being limited to the vast, dark 'Big Question' novels of legend, Russian literature offers much humor, lyricism, and fantasy. We will focus on the Russian novel as a reaction to western European forms of narrative and consider the recurring pattern of the strong heroine and the weak hero.

'In-depth review of grammar topics and expansion of vocabulary with the goal of developing communicative proficiency. Readings include short stories, poetry, and newspaper articles. Students watch Russian films and discuss them orally and in writing. Classes are conducted mostly in Russian.'

'A four-skills (understanding, speaking, reading, and writing) introduction to the Russian language with a focus on aural-oral training. Major topics include: pronunciation and intonation, all cases, basic conjugation patterns and tenses, and verbal aspect. The textbook, Beginner's Russian, includes an interactive website of diverse oral and written exercises, music and video clips.'

'The four-skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) introduction to the Russian Language with the focus on communicative skills development. Major structural topics include pronunciation and intonation, all six cases, basic conjugation patterns, and verbal aspect. By the end of the course the students will be able to initiate and sustain conversation on basic topics, write short compositions, read short authentic texts and comprehend their meaning, develop an understanding of the Russian culture through watching films and listening to songs.'

'Martin Buber famously wrote that we must read the Bible 'as though it were something entirely unfamiliar, as though it had not been set before us ready-made.' Whether you come to the Bible from within a faith tradition or not, this course will ask you to do just that. We'll take a text that for more than 2,000 years has stood at the heart of the Western tradition and ask how we can approach that text today, from the place where you stand. What does it mean to read a sacred text? How has it been read by people situated both within and at the margins of Western culture?

'This course explores such contested political concepts as democracy, power, nationalism, freedom, identity, alienation, civil society, and the public sphere - as those concepts have been interpreted by diverse currents of political thought.This fall we will examine the idea of conservatism, focusing on the intellectual legacy of Edmund Burke, Leo Strauss, and Ayn Rand, as well as the political writings of contemporary conservatives and the platforms of popular tendencies such as the Tea Party movement.'

'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.'

'When and how did the notion of 'development' emerge and spread? Why does nearly every country now aspire to it? What stigmas and hierarchies does the term 'under-development' imply? Throughout Latin America, such language proves problematic not only as a material reality but also as a framework for understanding place, time, and selfhood.

'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.'

'An introduction to some of the great critical voices of the nineteenth century. We will explore the ideas of such mutinous thinkers as Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, focusing on the style as well as the substance of their works and the circumstances that provoked them to write and/or that their writings helped provoke. The course will highlight the tension between appearance and reality, the dialectic of domination and subordination, and the place of reason and irrationality in social life.'