ENROLL

Yaron Klein

Yaron Klein

It is difficult to overstate Arab scientists' contribution to science. A translation movement from Greek, Persian and Sanskrit into Arabic initiated in the eighth century, led to centuries of innovative scientific investigation, during which Arab scientists reshaped science in a variety of disciplines: from mathematics to astronomy, physics, optics and medicine. Many of their works entered Latin and the European curriculum during the Renaissance. In this reading course we will explore some of the achievements and thought processes in pre-modern Arabic scientific literature by reading selections from several seminal works. We will examine these in the cultural contexts in which they emerged and to which they contributed, and reflect on modern Western perceptions of this intellectual project. Readings and class discussions will be in both Arabic and English.

Prerequisite: Arabic 206 or equivalent

Sidney K. Robinson

This course will focus upon the emergence of a novel aesthetic approach to landscape design: the Picturesque. During the eighteenth century, the British landscape became the scene of a new way to design the land according to models of a loosened, irregular, composition in contrast to previous rigid geometries that sought to improve nature’s waywardness. Not only gardens but books also took up the call for liberty against tyranny and for the natural against the artificial without giving up convention altogether.

Jessica Keating

This course examines European artistic production in Italy, Spain, France, and the Netherlands from the end of the sixteenth century through the seventeenth century. The aim of the course is to interrogate how religious revolution and reformation, scientific discoveries, and political transformations brought about a proliferation of remarkably varied types of artistic production that permeated and altered the sacred, political, and private spheres. The class will examine in depth select works of painting, sculpture, prints, and drawings, by Caravaggio, Bernini, Poussin, Velázquez, Rubens, and Rembrandt, among many others.

Kathleen Ryor

A garden is usually defined as a piece of land that is cultivated or manipulated in some way by humans for one or more purposes. Gardens often take the form of an aestheticized space that miniaturizes the natural landscape. This course will explore the historical phenomenon of garden building in Japan, with a special emphasis on how cultural and religious attitudes towards nature contribute to the development of gardens in urban and suburban environments. In addition to studying historical source material, students will be required to visit garden sites on a weekly basis.

OCS ARTH Kyoto Program

Kathleen Ryor

Reading assignments followed by an independent project related to Japanese gardens. Linked to the work done in Art History 268, this course requires an in-depth study of a particular style of Japanese garden design and its history.

OCS ARTH Kyoto Program

Kathleen Ryor

This course will consist of a series of lectures focusing on topics such as Shintoism, Buddhism, architecture and environmental issues, etc. In addition to the lectures, there will be related field trips beyond those required for Art History 268.

OCS ARTH Kyoto Program

Cherif Keita

Born as a response to the colonial gaze and discourse, African cinema has been a deliberate effort to affirm and express an African personality and consciousness. Focusing on the film production from West and Southern Africa since the early fifties, this course will entail a discussion of major themes such as colonialism, nationalism and independence, and the analysis of African symbolisms, world-views, and their links to narrative techniques. In this overview, particular attention will be given to the films of Ousmane Sembène, Souleymane Cissé, Mweze Ngangura, Zola Maseko, Oliver Schmitz, Abderrahmane Sissako and many others.

Extra Time Required

Mihaela Czobor-Lupp

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

Shaohua Guo

In translation

Kathryn L Steed

The Classical Greek world, with its system of independent city-states, saw the development of unprecedented political structures and a flowering of art, literature, and philosophy, all in the midst of almost constant military conflict. The Greeks are credited with inventing tragedy, democracy, science, and rhetoric (among other things), but their history is both complex and contested. This course examines the period from 750 to 399 B.C.E. and addresses fundamental questions about the development of Greek political, military, and social systems; the conflict between common Greek and local identities; and how we can use limited sources to reconstruct the past.

Faress Bhuiyan

Prerequisite: Economics 110 and 111

Susan Jaret McKinstry

Two exceptional groups of artists changed aesthetic and cultural history through their writings, art, politics, and lives. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood began in 1847 when art students united to create “direct and serious and heartfelt” work; the Bloomsbury group began with Cambridge friends sharing their insistence on aesthetic lives. Critics said the PRB “extolled fleshliness as the supreme end of poetic and pictorial art,” and the Bloomsbury Group “painted in circles, lived in squares and loved in triangles.” We will study Dante Rossetti, Holman Hunt, John Millais, William Morris, Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster, Roger Fry, Vanessa and Clive Bell.

Kofi Owusu

Arnab Chakladar

There has been a rich history of immigration to England from its colonies from the very beginning of the colonial period. And in the twentieth century writers from England's (ex) colonial possessions have reshaped our understanding of English identity and literature. Beginning in the 1950s and progressing to the present, this class will study a number of these writers and in particular their representation of the city of London. Readings include Sam Selvon, V.S. Naipaul, Salman Rushdie, Monica Ali, Zadie Smith and Hanif Kureishi. There will also be film and television screenings as well as other visual and musical materials.

Participation in Carleton OCS London Program

Tsegaye Nega

Paul Petzschmann

Eva Posfay

This course seeks to deepen students' knowledge of contemporary French culture through a pluridisciplinary approach, using multimedia (books, newspaper and magazine articles, videos, etc.) to generate discussion. It will also promote the practice of both oral and written French through exercises, debates, and oral presentations.

Prerequisite: French 204 or equivalent

Requires participation in OCS Program: French and Francophone Studies in Paris

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

Sophomore Priority

Waitlist for Juniors and Seniors: FREN 210.WL0 (Synonym 46603)

Cathy Yandell

The idea of the Seven Deadly Sins (the source of all vices) captured the medieval western imagination and continues to inspire diverse writers, artists, filmmakers, and graphic novelists to the present day. Through La Fontaine’s fables, Maupassant’s Carmen (and Bizet’s eponymous opera), the African tales of Amadou Koumba, Camus’s The Stranger, and Julie Mazoh’s graphic novel, Blue is the Warmest Color, this course explores literary and filmic representations of such vices as pride, envy, and lust. Interrogating the presence and power of these categories in both historical and contemporary culture, the course also develops students’ skills in analysis, writing, and discussion in French.

Prerequisite: French 204 or equivalent

Eva Posfay

Home of some of the finest and best known museums in the world, Paris has long been recognized as a center for artistic activity. Students will have the opportunity to study art from various periods on site, including Impressionism, Expressionism, and Surrealism. In-class lectures and discussions will be complemented by guided visits to the unparalleled collections of the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, the Centre Pompidou, local art galleries, and other appropriate destinations. Special attention will be paid to the program theme.

Prerequisite: French 204 or the equivalent

Requires participation in OCS Program: French and Francophone Studies in Paris

Eva Posfay

In this course, students will explore the historical, cultural, social, and religious traces of Islam as they have been woven over time into the modern fabric of French society. Through images drawn from film, photography, television, and museum displays, they will discover the important role this cultural contact zone has played in the French experience. The course will take advantage of the resources of the city of Paris and will include excursions to museums as well as cultural and religious centers.

Prerequisite: French 204 or the equivalent

Requires participation in OCS Program: French and Francophone Studies in Paris

Eva Posfay

Through literature, cultural texts, and experiential learning in the city, this course will explore the development of both the "Frenchness" and the hybridity that constitute contemporary Paris. Immigrant cultures, notably North African, will also be highlighted. Plays, music, and visits to cultural sites will complement the readings.

Prerequisite: French 204 or the equivalent

Requires participation in OCS Program: French and Francophone Studies in Paris

Christine Lac

Learn what language can do for you when you use techniques that express ideas with clarity, convince readers and listeners, and create a sense of style. Beyond basic grammar, you will work on various strategies to enliven your writing and speaking and to communicate more effectively with a given audience. Sample projects in the course may include translations, subtitling, blogging, academic and creative writing, and formal oral presentations. Required for the major in French and Francophone Studies, and recommended for all advanced students.

Prerequisite: One French course beyond French 204 or permission of instructor

Eva Posfay

Through literature, cultural texts, and experiential learning in the city, this course will explore the development of both the "Frenchness" and the hybridity that constitute contemporary Paris. Immigrant cultures, notably North African, will also be highlighted. Plays, music, and visits to cultural sites will complement the readings.

Prerequisite: French 230 or beyond or instructor permission

Requires participation in OCS Program: French and Francophone Studies in Paris

Cherif Keita

This course examines the main aspects of social change in the area formerly covered by the medieval Empire of Mali, through anthropological texts, oral narratives, novels, films and both traditional and modern music. Some of the writers, film directors and musicians who will be studied are: Amadou Kourouma, Massa Makan Diabaté, Amadou Hampaté Bâ, Souleymane Cissé, Cheick O. Sissoko, Salif Keita, and others. Conducted in French.

Prerequisite: French 200-level course or equivalent

Extra Time Required, evening films

Juliane Schicker

In this course, we survey significant developments in German-language culture, broadly defined, from the Enlightenment to the twentieth century. Students of all disciplines and majors are invited to receive an overview of the culture of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, starting in the 1750s and tracing its impact into the present time. The course is based on literature, film, music, language, history, habits, news, etc., and surveys major figures, movements, and their influence on the world’s civilization. The course encourages critical engagement with the material at hand and provides the opportunity to compare it with the students’ own cultural background. In translation.

In Translation

Sigi Leonhard

In this course, students will read and discuss a number of new works from the German-speaking countries that deal with important contemporary issues--the pressures of growing up and finding a job in uncertain economic times, the catastrophe of 9/11, the ever-present theme of finding love, immigrant perspectives, the challenges of aging, etc. We will examine novels and stories that deal with these topics, but also articles in magazines (Der Spiegel, Die Zeit, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) and films, trying to understand how various genres and media differ in their approaches to our themes. At the center of our discussion there will thus be the question of what forms of expression a society finds for the formulation of its most urgent challenges, and how these texts take part in the public debate.

Prerequisite: German 204 or the equivalent

David Tompkins

Janet Polasky

An exploration of women’s lives in Europe from 1700 to the present. We will focus on changes in women’s work before and after the industrial revolution, women as revolutionaries in 1789, 1848, and 1871, and campaigns for women’s rights. Why did Virginia Woolf say it was worse “perhaps” to be locked in than to be locked out? Why did Bertolt Brecht’s character known simply as "the mother" take up the flag of revolution in Russia in 1905? We will investigate these questions from the Early Modern era to the European Union through a variety of sources: philosophical treatises, novels, plays, and political tracts, as well as historical monographs.

Seungjoo Yoon

Amna Khalid

This is an introductory survey course; no prior knowledge of South Asian History required. The goal is to familiarize students with some of the key themes and debates in the historiography of modern India. Beginning with an overview of Mughal rule in India, the main focus of the course is the colonial period. The course ends with a discussion of 1947: the hour of independence as well as the creation of two new nation-states, India and Pakistan. Topics include Oriental Despotism, colonial rule, nationalism, communalism, gender, caste and race. 

William North

Through site visits, on-site projects, and readings, this course explores the ways in which people in Italy from late antiquity through the thirteenth century sought to communicate political, religious, and civic messages through combinations of words, images, objects, and structures. What are the "arts of power and piety" and when and why are they used? How do people use spaces and images to educate, to challenge, to honor, to remember, or to forget? How can materials create and transmit meaning and order? How do people combine creativity and tradition to maintain and enrich the worlds they inhabit?

OCS Rome Program

Victoria Morse

Prerequisite: Enrollment in OCS program

OCS Rome Program

William North, Victoria Morse

This course examines travel as an occasion for investigation, encounter, and reflection and as an opportunity to document and communicate these observations of people and place. Through select readings drawn from a range of disciplines and genres, travel accounts, and ongoing discussion of their own travel experiences, students will seek better to understand the traveler as observer and recorder of other peoples and places. The course will also examine the nature of public memory and commemoration and the role of travelers as audiences for sites of memory. As part of the course, students will maintain their own travel journals, prepare several reflections, and contribute to the Program Blog.

Prerequisite: Enrollment in OCS program

OCS Rome Program

Janet Polasky

Students in this course will investigate social conflicts, political struggles, and protest movements from the Age of Revolution, 1776-1848 ranging over four continents. We will read pamphlets from the Dutch Patriot Revolution, eye witness accounts of slave insurrections in the Caribbean, novels and plays describing/provoking changes in families on both sides of the Atlantic, and newspaper articles written by Karl Marx. We will compare histories of revolutions on both sides of the Atlantic, including the newest research on West Africa and Latin America.

Austin Mason

David Tompkins

Seungjoo Yoon

Amna Khalid

Thabiti Willis

This course explores the nature of Christian mission in West, Central, and East Africa and its complex encounters with practitioners of Islam, other Christian sects, and indigenous religious traditions in modern Africa. Using scholarship and primary sources such as oral traditions, missionary writings, vernacular publications, newspapers, and ethnographic fieldnotes, we will focus on understanding religious encounter in a variety of case studies: the Akan in the Gold Coast (Ghana), the Hausa in Nigeria, the Bantu in Zambia, and the Maasai in Tanzania as well as Atlantic-Creoles in Angola and the Kongo.

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

Mariko Kaga

This course explores Japanese food culture: its history, variety of ingredients, influence from other cultures, and other topics. We will examine what has created "washoku=Japanese cuisine," what "bento" means to Japanese people, and different ideas about food among cultures, etc. Students are expected to take the initiative in exploring Japanese food culture, find what interests them, and share their findings in class. The purpose of the course is to encourage students to think about Japanese food culture in Japanese, rather than to purely study language, grammar and vocabulary. Students are expected to research for their compositions and class presentations, and experiment with the Japanese food experience.

Prerequisite: Japanese 206 or equivalent

Jose Cerna-Bazan

Prerequisite: Spanish 204 or the equivalent

OCS Peru Program

Jorge Brioso

Gao Hong

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

Jay Johnson

Prerequisite: Music 199 and/or instructor permission

Issam Rafea

Directed by Syrian oud player and composer Issam Rafea, Dayton Hudson Distinguished Visiting Artist in Spring 2017. The ensemble will introduce participants to Arab music and its modal system (maqamat) by exploring traditional and modern repertoir. All instrumentalists are welcome to register. No previous experience with Middle Eastern music necessary. 

Douglas B Marshall

Bryan R Daves

Sophomore Priority

Waitlist for Juniors and Seniors: POSC 120.WL0 (Synonym 46055)

Greg Marfleet

Alfred Montero

FLAC

Hicham N Bou Nassif

Tun Myint

Extra Time (Films)

Asuka Sango

Shana Sippy

Whether seen on TV screens or in history books, the horror of war, genocide, terrorism, communal violence, and land disputes often prompts the question: is religion the problem? Conversely, one may point to the peaceful aspirations and non-violent social movements that have been led by religious leaders, and motivated by religious philosophies and impulses and ask: can religion be the solution? This course will explore the complex, and sometimes paradoxical roles religious ideas, practices, communities, and leaders play in both the perpetuation and cessation of violence. Case studies will be drawn from Hindu, Muslim, and Jewish conflicts in recent history.

Kristin Bloomer

Laura Goering

An introduction to the works of Dostoevsky. Readings include Poor Folk, Notes from the Underground, and The Brothers Karamazov. Conducted entirely in English.

Prerequisite: No prerequisites and no knowledge of Russian literature or history required.

1st 5 weeks In translation

Laura Goering

Readings and discussion of texts by Dostoevsky in the original Russian. Requires concurrent registration in Russian 266.

Prerequisite: Russian 205 or the equivalent, requires concurrent registration in Russian 266

In Russian

Laura Goering

Close reading and discussion of Tolstoy's magnum opus. Conducted entirely in English.

Prerequisite: No prerequisites and no knowledge of Russian literature or history required.

2nd 5 weeks, In translation

Laura Goering

Reading and discussion of Tolstoy's War and Peace in the original Russian. Requires concurrent registration in Russian 267.

Prerequisite: Russian 205 or the equivalent. Concurrent registration in Russian 267

In Russian

Anna Dotlibova

Prerequisite: At least 6 credits at the level of Russian 330 or higher or instructor permission

Janell Rothenberg

Sophomore Priority.

Waitlist for Juniors and Seniors: SOAN 110.WL0 (Synonym 45580)

Pamela Feldman-Savelsberg

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

Jerome Levi

Why is genocide particularly associated with modernity? What is the difference between ethnocide, genocide, and other forms of mass violence? Can there be genocide without the intent to commit genocide? What are the ethical implications of relativism and limits to state sovereignty? How can genocide be prevented? This course considers these and related questions though the lens of the field’s foundational thinkers, such as Raphael Lemkin, Hannah Arendt, Primo Levi, and Zygmunt Bauman, and focuses on specific cases of genocide, including those of indigenous peoples (with emphasis on Native America), Armenia, Stalin’s Terror, the Holocaust, Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Kosovo.

Pamela Feldman-Savelsberg

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

Jorge Brioso

Prerequisite: Spanish 204 or equivalent

Silvia Lopez

Prerequisite: Spanish 204 or equivalent

Humberto Huergo

“Exiles" —claims Palestinian exile Edward Said— "are always eccentrics who feel their difference as some sort of orphanhood while defending zealously their refusal to belong.” This course examines four different moments in the history of Spanish exile: the mass expulsion of Jews in 1492, that of moriscos (Moors converted to Christianity) in 1609, the Liberal exile in 1823, and the Republican exile at the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939.

Prerequisite: Spanish 204 or equivalent

Jorge Brioso

In 2014 Obama and Castro simultaneously announced the end of an era: the Cold War. This announcement was a turning point for one of the most influential and symbolically important political movements in Latin America: The Cuban Revolution. We will study the political and historical background that sustained this revolution for over fifty years. We will read historical, political, philosophical, and cultural texts to understand this process and the fascination that it commanded around the world. We will also examine the different exoduses that this revolution provoked and the exile communities that Cubans constructed in different parts of the world.

Prerequisite: Spanish 205 or above

Silvia Lopez

This course will focus on letters and their significance as acts of symbolic and material exchange, as objects that bear the mark of the bodily act of writing, and as a staging of the scene of writing itself. We will study different types of letters (love letters, prison letters, literary letters, letters imbedded in other texts, fictional letters, epistolary novels, etc.), but always as the site of production of a modern and gendered self. Texts by Simón Bolívar, Manuela Sáenz, Rosa Luxemburg, Simone de Beauvoir, André Gorz, Pedro Salinas, Marina Tsvetaeva, Boris Pasternak, Paul Celan, Ingeborg Bachmann, Elena Poniatowska, Alan Pauls and Alfredo Bryce Echenique.

Prerequisite: Spanish 205 or above

Shana Sippy