ENROLL

Kevin A Wolfe

What does the “post-colonial” mean? And, how does a colonized subject become decolonized? In this course we will engage the literary and theoretical production of formerly colonized subjects from parts of Africa and the Caribbean, as we seek to determine what the post-colonial imagination might look like. The emphasis will be on close readings of works which emerge from the crucible of the Black Atlantic’s “encounter” with European and American colonialism.

Held for Class of 20

Zaki Haidar

Held for Class of 20

Jessica Keating

Held for Class of 20

Jessica Keating, Meghan Tierney

Kathleen Ryor

This course will survey art and architecture in China from its prehistoric beginnings to the end of the nineteenth century. It will examine various types of visual art forms within their social, political and cultural contexts. Major themes that will also be explored include: the role of ritual in the production and use of art, the relationship between the court and secular elite and art, and theories about creativity and expression.

Ken Abrams

This course will examine key developments in Czech visual art and architecture from the early medieval to the contemporary periods. Slide-based lectures will be supplemented by visits to representative monuments, art collections, and museums in Prague.

OCS Cross Cultural Psychology in Prague

Carol Donelan

Extra Time Evening Screenings

Jay Beck

Prerequisite: Cinema and Media Studies 296 required winter term

Extra Time Required

Stephanie Cox

Held for Class of 20

Stacy Beckwith

How have Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel shaped their senses of personal and collective identity since the early twentieth century? We will explore mental pictures of the land, one's self, and others in a selection of Israeli Jewish and Palestinian short stories, novels, and films. We will also explore some of the humanistic roots of U.S. involvement in Israeli-Palestinian relations today, particularly in the realm of American initiated bi-cultural youth camps such as Seeds of Peace. Students will enrich our class focus by introducing us to perspectives on Israel/Palestine in their home countries or elsewhere. In translation.

Held for Class of 20

Tun Myint

Prerequisite: Students must have participated in an off-campus study program (Carleton or non-Carleton)

Alex Knodell

The material worlds of the ancient Romans loom large in our cultural imagination. No other civilization has made as direct a contribution to our own political system or to its physical vestiges of power and authority. From the architecture of the state to visual narratives of propaganda, Roman influence is ubiquitous in the monuments of western civilization. But what were the origins of the Romans? Their innovations? Their technical, artistic, and ideological achievements? How are they relevant today? This course explores these questions and more through the archaeology of the eternal city and beyond.

Faress Bhuiyan

Prerequisite: Economics 110 and 111

Elizabeth McKinsey

Held for Class of 20

Jeremy P DeAngelo

What remains of the beliefs of the pre-Christian Norse and Celts represent some of the stranger and more obscure elements of Western tradition. Preserved thanks to the literacy which was brought by the new religion that extinguished it, the mythology of the Irish, Welsh, and Icelanders left a legacy that reveals itself in surprising places in our modern world. This course studies works such as the Prose and Poetic Eddas, The Mabinogi, and The Táin to explore myths as the products of environment and culture and examine the problems of transmission inherent to Christian descriptions of pagan belief.

Arnab Chakladar

In this course we will study the majority of the oeuvre of Zadie Smith, a writer who stands at the intersections of a number of traditions of literary study as traditionally construed. All the novels will be read along with some short stories and much of her critical essays and other non-fiction work. We will read the growing body of criticism on her work as well and analyze the ongoing development of one of the major writers of our time.

Prerequisite: One ENGL foundations and another 6 credit English course

Paul Petzschmann

Held for Class of 20

Ken Abrams

OCS Cross Cultural Psychology in Prague

Cathy Yandell

Keep up your French while learning about current issues in France, as well as world issues from a French perspective. Class meets once a week for an hour. Requirements include reading specific sections of leading French newspapers, (Le Monde, Libération, etc.) on the internet, and then meeting once a week to exchange ideas over coffee with a small group of students.

Prerequisite: French 204 or equivalent

Cathy Yandell

Incorporating the tools of film analysis, this course focuses on such questions as controversial historical moments, postcolonial culture, immigration, gender/ genre, and contemporary French society. It also attempts to answer the following questions: how does French cinema reflect, contradict, or create cultural norms? What in a particular historical moment incites the production of a particular film and catapults it to fame? In what ways does film provide another medium through which to “read” French culture?

Prerequisite: French 204 or equivalent

Extra Time required

Cathy Yandell

Incorporating the tools of film analysis, this course focuses on such questions as controversial historical moments, postcolonial culture, immigration, gender/ genre, and contemporary French society. It also attempts to answer the following questions: how does French cinema reflect, contradict, or create cultural norms? What in a particular historical moment incites the production of a particular film and catapults it to fame? In what ways does film provide another medium through which to “read” French culture?

Prerequisite: French 204 or equivalent

Extra Time required

Scott Carpenter

Prerequisite: One French course beyond French 204 or instructor permission

1st 5 weeks

Scott Carpenter

Prerequisite: One French course beyond French 204 or instructor permission

2nd 5 weeks

Mary Savina, Nancy Braker

Reading and discussion of sources about Tasmanian natural history, human history and geology, including the geologic and biologic inheritance from Gondwana, the influence of aboriginal culture on the landscape, and current conservation issues. Students will plan field research and excursions for winter break and develop formal proposals for projects. This course is part of the OCS winter break program, involving two linked courses in fall and winter terms. This course is the first in the sequence.

Winter Break OCS in Tasmania

Sigi Leonhard

How do we define humans? How are we, for example, different from intelligent machines? This seminar focuses on beings who push the limits of what it means to be human, such as monsters, robots, and cyborgs. Through a discussion of works by German authors and filmmakers, alongside influential texts from other traditions (ranging from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner), we will explore how these stories react to changing notions of humanity in the face of rapid technological and scientific progress. All readings, discussion, and coursework will be in English.

Held for Class of 20, In translation

Sigi Leonhard

This class brings together diverse voices--journalists, philosophers, and political scientists, as well as authors and filmmakers--in order to trace Germany’s contested development to a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society. Starting with the “guest worker” program of the 1960s to the ongoing refugee crisis, Germans have asked themselves “What is ‘deutsch’?” We will explore Germany’s rich history of negotiating national identity through public discourse, including topics such as German-Turkish relations, Jewish emigration after the Cold War, and the role of Islam in modern Germany. We will focus on refining students’ reading skills: We will survey works from a variety of genres, expand our vocabulary, and explore different layers of German writing through contextualization, translation, analysis and discussion. We will hone our reading strategies for works of fiction and non-fiction, discuss the pros and cons of various (online) dictionaries, and review relevant grammar topics.

Prerequisite: German 204 or equivalent

David Tompkins

This course examines the often fraught, complicated relationship between music and politics from the mid-nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth. Our field of inquiry will include all of Europe, but will particularly focus on Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union. We will look at several composers and their legacies in considerable detail, including Beethoven, Wagner, and Shostakovich. While much of our attention will be devoted to "high" or "serious" music, we will explore developments in popular music as well.

Held for Class of 20

Thabiti Willis

This course explores how Africans have remembered and retold their own history in the colonial and post-colonial contexts (nineteenth-twenty-first centuries). Students will examine memories of origin, the slave trade, conversion, and colonialism as well as of personal and communal triumphs and tragedies. Both long-standing historical texts like praise-names and rituals and modern texts like journals, court records, and letters will be explored. What is the relationship between the historical medium and the memory? Drawing from select cases in West, East and South Africa, students will come to understand the rich and varied history of Africa's creative expression. 

Held for Class of 20

Austin Mason

Why did barbarians invade? Traders trade? Pilgrims travel? Vikings raid? Medieval Europe is sometimes caricatured as a world of small villages and strong traditions that saw little change between the cultural high-water marks of Rome and the Renaissance. In fact, this was a period of dynamic innovation, during which Europeans met many familiar challenges—environmental change, religious and cultural conflict, social and political competition—by traveling or migrating to seek new opportunities. This course will examine mobility and migration in northern Europe, and students will be introduced to diverse methodological approaches to their study by exploring historical and literary sources, archaeological evidence and scientific techniques involving DNA and isotopic analyses.

Held for Class of 20

Victoria Morse

In the 1340s, the Black Death swept through the Middle East and Europe, killing up to a third of the population in some areas. How can we understand what this catastrophe meant for the people who lived and died at the time? In this seminar, we will examine the Black Death (primarily in Europe) from a range of perspectives and disciplines and through a range of sources. We will seek to understand the biological and environmental causes of the disease, therapies, and the experience of illness, but also the effects of the mortality on economic, social, religious, and cultural life.

Held for Class of 20

Brendan LaRocque

This seminar will examine the wide array of nationalist movements which struggled for independence from colonial rule in South Asia. Most prominent among these was the anti-colonial struggle led by Mohandas K. Gandhi. In this course we will examine the historical forces and the people which comprised these socio-political movements, in an effort to understand the complex and intriguing ways in which Gandhi's movement intersected, combined, and conflicted with other nationalist trends. Topics including the role of political violence and non-violence, conceptions of masculinity and femininity, caste, class, and race will also form part of our material.

Held for Class of 20

Thabiti Willis

David Tompkins

David Tompkins

This course is a supplement in German for History 250, Modern Germany, and will meet once weekly. Open to students who have completed German 103 or who have intermediate or advanced skills in German. Speaking in German, we will discuss German language primary sources, including documents, music and film clips.

Prerequisite: German 103 or equivalent

Amna Khalid

The objective of this course is to analyse the historical institutions, practices and traditions that define the position of women in India. We consider the various ways in which the trope of the Goddess has been used for and by Indian women in colonial and post-colonial India; the colonial state's supposed rescue of Indian women; the position and role of European women in colonial India; how women's bodies come to embody and signify community honor and become sites of communal contest. We explore the making of Mother India; the connection between nation, territory and the female form; and the ways in which women have been represented in history as well as Indian cinema. 

Amna Khalid

At the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947 India and Pakistan, two new nation states emerged from the shadow of British colonialism. This course focuses on the political trajectories of these two rival siblings and looks at the ways in which both states use the other to forge antagonistic and belligerent nations. While this is a survey course it is not a comprehensive overview of the history of the two countries. Instead it covers some of the more significant moments of rupture and violence in the political history of the two states. The first two-thirds of the course offers a top-down, macro overview of these events and processes whereas the last third examines the ways in which people experienced these developments. We use the lens of gender to see how the physical body, especially the body of the woman, is central to the process of nation building. We will consider how women’s bodies become sites of contestation and how they are disciplined and policed by the postcolonial state(s).

Scott Carpenter, Trish Ferrett, Stacy Beckwith

How can we understand a refugee crisis in Europe, the health and environmental effects of a sulfide-ore mine in Minnesota, or destruction of archeological sites in the Middle East? Complex topics like these require multiple specialists working across disciplines. IDSC 398 invites students with advanced (typically Comps-level) skills to develop a team-based project dealing with a regional, national, or international issue that has global significance. Projects are shaped in consultation with the seminar leaders, but are largely independent. Typically separate from departmental Comps. Normally done over three consecutive terms starting in the Fall. For more, see https://apps.carleton.edu/collab/gei/.

Prerequisite: Instructor Permission

Noboru Tomonari

This course is a study of major works of modern fiction in Japan and their recent adaptations in manga. We will pay particular attention to cultural, aesthetic, and ideological aspects of Japanese literature in the twentieth century and to the relationship between the text, the author, and the society. We will also read their adaptations in manga. Manga has become the most popular literary medium during the last century and we will consider the relationship between modern Japanese literature and manga. This class requires no prior knowledge of Japanese language, literature, manga, or culture.

Extra Time Required

Megan E Sarno

A general overview of art music practices in the European tradition from the medieval period to the present. Students will encounter representative examples from the major style periods-Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Modern, and contemporary classical. Genres include chant, the madrigal, opera, symphony, and chamber music. Listening assignments introduce students to the music, and reading assignments explain relationships between music and politics, society, and the other arts. Ability to read music not required.  

Prerequisite: No prerequisite: the ability to read music is not necessary

Gao Hong

Prerequisite: Previous experience in a music ensemble, Chinese Musical instruments or instructor permission

Jay Johnson

Prerequisite: Music 199 and/or instructor permission

Sarah R Jansen

Philosophical traditions founded in ancient times continue to the present day and are an exciting part of our philosophic past. Ancient philosophers tend to differ from contemporary philosophers in the dazzling breadth and systematicity of their philosophies and in their efforts to live (not just think) philosophically. This sampling of ancient philosophy will include some of the choicest Greek, Roman and Chinese classics, with special emphasis on goodness and human nature (especially as these relate to human sympathy and affinity), the natural world and cosmos (especially whether and how goodness is “written in” to the world), challenges to materialism and purposelessness in nature, ideal governance and civic responsibility.

Bryan R Daves

Sophomore Priority

Waitlist for Juniors and Seniors: POSC 120.WL0 (Synonym 45318)

Hicham N Bou Nassif

Mihaela Czobor-Lupp

Politics can be defined as struggle for power. However, what power means is neither self-evident nor a non-controversial issue. The course explores different definitions of power, its difference from violence and force, as well as the extent to which criticism, resistance, and freedom are intrinsic components of power. Special attention will be given to the relationship between power and revolution, especially to the difficulty of turning revolutionary violence into political representation. In the attempt to answer these questions we will read texts by Arendt and Foucault and will consider the concrete examples of the French, Soviet, and Iranian Revolutions.

Tun Myint

Hicham N Bou Nassif

Alfred Montero

Tun Myint

Extra time (films)

Ken Abrams

Prerequisite: OCS Cross-Cultural Studies in Praque

OCS Cross Cultural Psychology in Prague

Noah Salomon

The Muslim prophet Muhammad has been the object of both curious fascination and vociferous debate from the era in which he lived until today. This course will examine both Muhammad’s life in Arabia in the sixth and seventh centuries and his global afterlife: that is, how and why Muhammad has become both a source of inspiration and consternation for billions around the world. Through careful attention to the various genres in which this life has been remembered and reactivated within the Islamic tradition, we will spend a portion of the term inhabiting an alternative scholarly tradition, which nevertheless will come to shed light on the limits and possibilities of our own processes of inquiry and critical thinking. Though looking at the life of the Prophet Muhammad as an object of debate, we will come to hone our own self-awareness of the rhetorical strategies we employ in argument-making, examining the role of contemporary historical and political contexts on how we construe truth.

Held for Class of 20

Kristin Bloomer

From its beginnings, Christianity has been concerned with the making of new persons and worlds: the creation of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. It has also maintained a tight relationship to power, empire, and the making of modernity. In this course we will investigate this relationship within the context of colonial projects in the Americas, Africa, India, and the Pacific. We will trace the making of modern selves from Columbus to the abolition (and remainders) of slavery, and from the arrival of Cook in the Sandwich Islands to the journals of missionaries and the contemporary fight for Hawaiian sovereignty.

Held for Class of 20

Anna Dotlibova

Prerequisite: Russian 205 or permission of the instructor

Janell Rothenberg

Sophomore Priority.

Waitlist for Juniors and Seniors: SOAN 110.WL0 (Synonym 45541)

Janell Rothenberg

Is the environmental movement making progress? Do responsible products actually help local populations? Is international AID alleviating poverty and fostering development? Today there are thousands of programs with sustainable development goals yet their effectiveness is often contested at the local level. This course explores the impacts of sustainable development, conservation, and AID programs to look beyond the good intentions of those that implement them. In doing so we hope to uncover common pitfalls behind good intentions and the need for sound social analysis that recognizes, examines, and evaluates the role of cultural complexity found in populations targeted by these programs.

Prerequisite: The department strongly recommends that Sociology/Anthropology 110 or 111 be taken prior to enrolling in courses numbered 200 or above

Jose Cerna-Bazan

Prerequisite: Spanish 204 or equivalent

Silvia Lopez

Prerequisite: Spanish 204 or equivalent

Humberto Huergo

Participation in Carleton OCS Madrid Program

Becky Boling

In Translation

Humberto Huergo

This course offers a fresh look of Spain's current political and economic life. Discussion topics include the rise of Podemos and the new Spanish political scene, the Catalan separatist movement, political corruption, illegal immigration, and the role of the European Union.

Prerequisite: Spanish 205 or higher

Participation in Carleton OCS Madrid Program

Humberto Huergo

Prerequisite: Spanish 205 or equivalent

Participation in Carleton OCS Madrid Program

Humberto Huergo

Prerequisite: Spanish 205 or above

Participation in Carleton OCS Madrid Program

Jose Cerna-Bazan

Prerequisite: Spanish 205

Meera Sehgal

Michelle V Rowley

Caribbean Queer Matters invites students to think about the complexities, contradictions and activist possibilities of gender non-conforming and same-gender desiring individuals in the English-speaking Caribbean. The course will serve as an incubator where students will develop the skills to understand and analyze these non-U.S. contexts, all the while foregrounding attention to the local, regard for difference and a commitment to issues of justice. The course will draw on a range of genres and disciplinary vantage points. Students will engage film, biographical narratives, music, critical texts, poetry, as well as the fields of Caribbean Studies, Women's Studies, Critical Race and LGBT Studies.