Sex and sexuality are frequently at the forefront of innovation in media and technology, from the beginnings of photography, film, and video to the rise of the internet, artificial intelligence, and big data. Combining critical frames from Media Studies and Sexuality Studies, this seminar investigates what happens when media and sexuality intersect. We will ask how media and technology bolster new forms of sexual expression, communication, and embodiment. And, at the same time, we will examine how emerging technologies enable new modes of social regulation and surveillance.

Sex and sexuality are frequently at the forefront of innovation in media and technology, from the beginnings of photography, film, and video to the rise of the internet, artificial intelligence, and big data. Combining critical frames from Media Studies and Sexuality Studies, this seminar investigates what happens when media and sexuality intersect. We will ask how media and technology bolster new forms of sexual expression, communication, and embodiment. And, at the same time, we will examine how emerging technologies enable new modes of social regulation and surveillance.

Born in 1923 in Senegal, the writer-filmmaker Ousmane Sembène is one of the few witnesses of the three significant periods in the contemporary history of so-called Francophone Africa: the colonial period, the struggle for political and economic independence and the effort to shake off the yoke of neocolonialism through the rehabilitation of the continent's cultural heritage. This course devoted to his work aims to explore the great events of his life, his involvement in European left movements, his coming to writing and especially the dominant features of his film.

This course focuses on French women writers of philosophy. We start with the existentialism of Simone de Beauvoir, author of the founding text of second wave feminism, Le deuxième sexe. We'll consider écriture féminine with the French Feminism triad Hélène Cixous, Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray, as an antecedent of contemporary écriture inclusive.

Water is not simply a natural biophysical element that flows neutrally through landscapes. In this course, we will focus on the political, ecological, and historical dimensions of human water use in a changing climate. Throughout the course, we will examine ways in which water crises are produced and play out at various scales, ranging from the macro (global) to the micro (household) and human body. We will begin by strengthening our foundational understanding of water resources and laws that affect distribution, quality, use, and sustainability.

This course examines various strategies of literary representation through a variety of genres, including such traditional literary forms as the novel, lyric poetry, drama, and autobiography, as well as other cultural forms, such as film. Particular attention is given to student writing; students are expected to write a variety of short essays on selected topics. Though the themes of specific sections may vary, all sections seek to introduce students to the terminology of literary and cultural discourse.

This course examines various strategies of literary representation through a variety of genres, including such traditional literary forms as the novel, lyric poetry, drama, and autobiography, as well as other cultural forms, such as film. Particular attention is given to student writing; students are expected to write a variety of short essays on selected topics. Though the themes of specific sections may vary, all sections seek to introduce students to the terminology of literary and cultural discourse.

For roughly 1000 years Ashkenazi Jewish culture has existed in exile. Since these stateless people were living in diaspora, without a sovereign territory, the Yiddish language itself became a symbolic homeland. This course will explore how some Yiddish-speaking Jews embraced their stateless existence not as a historic tragedy but as a revolutionary form of identity called diaspora nationalism. We will explore Yiddish cultural identity through literature, music, film, and politics.

Our understanding of the fossil record is critical for today, as it helps us to comprehend the current state of the planet and its inhabitants. Using a variety of tools and techniques, this course will provide you with a one semester apprenticeship in paleontological science. We will examine the morphology, evolution, survivorship, paleogeography and ecological relationships of ancient organisms. Our subjects will include plants, invertebrate animals, and vertebrate animals, with examples ranging from the Precambrian to the Pleistocene.

Since the 1950s, the pharmaceutical industry -- one of the world's largest economic sectors and a core constituent of globalized corporate power -- has built a transnational empire that controls not only gender, sex, health, food chains, science, politics, stock markets, and private/public distinctions, but has completely changed what it means to be human or animal. We will study these transformations, and how pharmocracy produces knowledge through experimentation on impoverished humans and animals.