What can stories about Buddhists teach us about Buddhism, and what can they teach us about ourselves and the human condition? This course explores Buddhist thought and practice through the lens of fiction, as it is portrayed and represented in literature and film. Each week we will focus on a single Buddhist theme through two different media (one film and one novel), considering it through a variety of perspectives, voices, and cultural contexts.

This course explores the relationship between Buddhism and the environment, considering how Buddhist beliefs and practices can help us better understand and respond to the climate crisis. We will ask such questions as: Is there room for science and religion in eco-activism? What are the risks of including religious ethics in secular activist movements? Is there such a thing as "Buddhist ethics"? What can meditation and mindfulness actually accomplish?

This course explores the idea of "the self" and "the subject" by reading autobiographical and memoir writing by Black authors. Through an engagement with some criticism on the role of slavery in staffing the sense of self-possession accorded to the individual subject, we will think together about how autobiographical forms of writing function in the tradition of black thought and letters.

Starting with Ancient Rome, familial ties always played a strong role in Italian society. This course examines the concept of family through the centuries and through cultural, literary and historical changes. We will cover the Roman family, the idea of family in the Risorgimento, the Fascist family, the modern and post-modern family, Michela Murgia's idea of queer family, and more. Authors and directors include Murgia, Boccaccio, Goldoni, Manzoni, De Filippo, Franchi, Sfinge, Saraceno, Visconti, Scola.

In this course, we study the most pressing ethical concerns relating to emerging technology and envision novel policy solutions to address them. Existing regulatory and policy instruments are often unable to provide sufficient oversight for emerging technology. Can legal anti-discrimination doctrine address biased algorithmic decision-making systems? How does generative artificial intelligence challenge traditional ways of thinking about intellectual property? Do we have rights over the personal data that private firms collect about us?

Caligula was a god (or so he thought); Nero fiddled while Rome burned; Commodus dressed as a gladiator and fought man and beast in the arena. The historical tradition of Rome is replete with stories about eccentric and insane emperors whose scandalous reigns raise questions about the nature of the emperor's power and his role in administering the empire.

Caligula was a god (or so he thought); Nero fiddled while Rome burned; Commodus dressed as a gladiator and fought man and beast in the arena. The historical tradition of Rome is replete with stories about eccentric and insane emperors whose scandalous reigns raise questions about the nature of the emperor's power and his role in administering the empire.

What should we do? How should we live our lives? What do we owe to ourselves and to others? Which actions are right, which are wrong, and how can we tell the difference? What things are good? Can we give principled answers to questions like these, or is it just a matter of opinion? We will think critically about such questions and some key theoretical approaches to answering them. We will also consider vexing contemporary moral issues with an eye to whether these theories can guide our actions.

Learning to make and making to learn - this course challenges students to engage in both by being situated in the Fimbel Maker & Innovation Lab. Hands-on introductory activities provide the surprisingly minimal level of comfort and background required to produce prototypes of interactive technology products. These tangible experiences are leveraged to prompt students to reflect on factors and strategies that impact effective learning.

This course will read queer and disability theory both as separate histories and as interlaced projects that resist normative life chronologies, genders, sexualities, productivities, and bodily shapes. Particular attention will be given to questions of embodiment, race, political activism, and relationality. This last category-how we relate to ourselves and to others-will be explored through queer and disability theory's understanding of neurodivergent mindbodies and their nonconforming sorts of feelings and times.