ENROLL

Daniel Williams

In this course, we examine the ways that race structures difference and inequality in non-U.S. contexts with varying degrees of racial “diversity.” As a construct fundamentally grounded in white supremacy through encounters between Europe and its “Others,” race from its inception has been a global construct for organizing and stratifying human difference. Yet the specific ways that race is constructed varies across societies, with ethnicity and other related concepts of difference substituting for race. Foundational to this course will be how the notions of blackness and whiteness figure into the creation of racial categories, boundaries, and inequalities. Course topics include skin color stratification, “colorblindness,” ethnicity and nationhood, migration and citizenship, media representations, anti-blackness as a global phenomenon, transnational and global flows of racial ideas and categories, and social movements for racial justice.

Jay Beck

This course introduces students to the basic terms, concepts and methods used in cinema studies and helps build critical skills for analyzing films, technologies, industries, styles and genres, narrative strategies and ideologies. Students will develop skills in critical viewing and careful writing via assignments such as a short response essay, a plot segmentation, a shot breakdown, and various narrative and stylistic analysis papers. Classroom discussion focuses on applying critical concepts to a wide range of films. Requirements include two screenings per week. Extra time.

Sophomore Priority. Extra Time required for screenings

Waitlist for Juniors and Seniors: CAMS 110.WL0 (Synonym 64211)

Carol Donelan

In this course we survey four or more Hollywood film genres, including but not limited to the Western, musical, horror film, comedy, and science-fiction film. What criteria are used to place a film in a particular genre? What role do audiences and studios play in the creation and definition of film genres? Where do genres come from? How do genres change over time? What roles do genres play in the viewing experience? What are hybrid genres and subgenres? What can genres teach us about society? Assignments aim to develop skills in critical analysis, research and writing.

Sophomore Priority Extra Time, Evening screenings

Waitlist for Juniors and Seniors: CAMS 186.WL0 (Synonym 65592)

Jason Decker

An interdisciplinary examination of issues concerning the mind and mental phenomena. The course will draw on work from diverse fields such as artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, philosophy, linguistics, anthropology, and neuroscience. Topics to be discussed include: the mind-body problem, embodied cognition, perception, representation, reasoning, and learning.

Kathleen Galotti

Cross-listed with PSYC 232. An introduction to the study of mental activity. Topics include attention, pattern recognition and perception, memory, concept formation, categorization, and cognitive development. Some attention to gender and individual differences in cognition, as well as cultural settings for cognitive activities. A grade of C- or better must be earned in both Psychology/Cognitive Science 232 and 233 to satisfy the LS requirement.

Prerequisite: Psychology 110, Cognitive Science 100, Cognitive Science 130 or instructor permission; concurrent registration in Cognitive Science 233.

CGSC 233 required. Cross listed with PSYC 232.

Trish Ferrett, Chris Calderone

A mixed class/lab course with one four hour laboratory per week and weekly discussion/problem sessions. In class, the principles of kinetics will be developed with a mechanistic focus. In lab, experimental design and extensive independent project work will be emphasized.

Prerequisite: Chemistry 224 and 233 and Mathematics 120

Chris Calderone, Trish Ferrett

A mixed class/lab course with one four hour laboratory per week and weekly discussion/problem sessions. In class, the principles of kinetics will be developed with a mechanistic focus. In lab, experimental design and extensive independent project work will be emphasized.

Prerequisite: Chemistry 224 and 233 and Mathematics 120

Trish Ferrett, Chris Calderone

A mixed class/lab course with one four hour laboratory per week and weekly discussion/problem sessions. In class, the principles of kinetics will be developed with a mechanistic focus. In lab, experimental design and extensive independent project work will be emphasized.

Prerequisite: Chemistry 224 and 233 and Mathematics 120

Chris Calderone, Trish Ferrett

A mixed class/lab course with one four hour laboratory per week and weekly discussion/problem sessions. In class, the principles of kinetics will be developed with a mechanistic focus. In lab, experimental design and extensive independent project work will be emphasized.

Prerequisite: Chemistry 224 and 233 and Mathematics 120

Jordan Rogers

Histories of the classical world often focus on the cultures of Greece and Rome, situated on the northern shores of the Mediterranean. But what can we discover if we ‘flip’ our map of the Mediterranean, putting African perspectives on top? In this class, we will engage with the artistic, literary, and archaeological evidence left to us by the Mediterranean societies of classical Africa, as well as the ways in which these societies are depicted by Greek and Roman sources. Topics covered include ancient Egypt, the colonial “middle ground” of North Africa, and other African cultures on the Mediterranean periphery.

Jenny Bourne

Prerequisite: Economics 111

Aaron Swoboda

This course focuses on the empirical analysis of housing prices, quantities, supply, demand, and related policy. Specific areas of study include: market trends in housing prices over time and space, hedonic analysis of local amenities like schools, parks, or pollution, differential effects of housing policy, segregation, migration, and many others depending on student interests. Class time is a mix of journal article discussion, empirical lab exercises, and other individual and small group activities aimed at helping students write an independent research prospectus. Throughout, we'll pay special attention to issues of research integrity, the open science movement, and causal inference research methods.

Prerequisite: Economics 329, 330, and 331, or instructor permission

Victor Almeida

The seminar will explore contemporary approaches to the analysis of the macroeconomy and financial markets. Topics include tests of canonical, micro-founded models of household, investor, and firm behavior; the analysis of business cycles and the dynamic response of the macroeconomy to exogenous shocks; proximate and fundamental theories of long-run growth across countries; and the design and effects of stabilization policies. Students will also be exposed to empirical methods suited for the causal analysis of cross-sectional, time series, and panel data.

Prerequisite: Economics 329, 330 and 331 or instructor permission

Prathi Seneviratne

This seminar focuses on empirical analysis of topics in the economics of inequality. Specific areas of study depend on student interest and may include: labor markets; earnings gaps across gender, race, sexual orientation, disability, and immigrant status; labor-market discrimination; gender inequality in different countries and regions; immigration and the role of cultural transmission; and family decision-making. Class time is primarily devoted to discussion of peer-reviewed journal articles, theory and application of advanced econometric techniques, and student-led presentations.

Prerequisite: Economics 329, 330 and 331 or instructor permission

Jeff Snyder

Sophomore Priority

Waitlist for Juniors and Seniors: EDUC 110.WL0 (Synonym 64663)

Constance Walker

“Poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought”—Audre Lorde.  In this course we will explore how poets use form, tone, sound, imagery, rhythm, and subject matter to create works of astonishing imagination, beauty, and power. In discussions, Moodle posts, and essay assignments we’ll analyze individual works by poets from Sappho to Amanda Gorman (and beyond); there will also be daily recitations of poems, since the musicality is so intrinsic to the meaning.

George Shuffelton

Novels share some key attributes with acts of terrorism. Both focus our attention on questions of plot, responsibility, and effect. Both often ask us to question how a person's character or background influences unanticipated subsequent events. Like terrorists, many novelists hope their work will draw attention to forgotten causes and influence public opinion through a combination of shock and sympathy. This course will explore a few of the many novels dedicated to terrorism, whether from the perspective of perpetrators, victims, or authorities. The reading list will include examples from Britain, America, and South Asia.  

Gregory Hewett

You will work in several genres and forms, among them: traditional and experimental poetry, prose fiction, and creative nonfiction. In your writing you will explore the relationship between the self, the imagination, the word, and the world. In this practitioner’s guide to the creative writing process, we will examine writings from past and current authors, and your writings will be critiqued in a workshop setting and revised throughout the term. 

Sophomore Priority

Waitlist for Juniors and Seniors: ENGL 160.WL0 (Synonym 64689)

Timothy Raylor

Jessica Leiman

The eighteenth and early nineteenth century saw the rise of the Gothic, a genre populated by brooding hero-villains, vulnerable virgins, mad monks, ghosts, and monsters. In this course, we will examine the conventions and concerns of the Gothic, addressing its preoccupation with terror, transgression, sex, otherness, and the supernatural. As we situate this genre within its literary and historical context, we will consider its relationship to realism and Romanticism, and we will explore how it reflects the political and cultural anxieties of its age. Authors include Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, Matthew Lewis, Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, and Emily Bronte.

Nancy Cho

Adriana Estill

The last few years have placed Latinx communities under siege and in the spotlight. The demands of the census and new policies around immigration mean that who counts as Latinx and why it matters has public visibility and meaning. Simultaneously, the last few years have seen an incredible growth of new literary voices and genres in the world of Latinx letters. From fictional and creative nonfiction accounts of detention camps, border crossings, and asylum court proceedings to lyrical wanderings in bilingualism to demands for greater attention to Afrolatinidad and the particular experiences of Black Latinxs--Latinx voices are rising. We will engage with current literary discussions in print, on twitter, and in literary journals as we chart the shifting, developing terrain of Latinx literatures. 

Pierre Hecker

Cross-listed with ENGL 144

Gregory Smith

Prerequisite: One prior 6-credit English course

Peter Balaam

Prerequisite: One English Foundations course and one prior 6 credit English course

Not open to first year students.

Constance Walker

Mass protests, police brutality, reactionary politicians, imprisoned journalists, widespread unemployment, and disease were all features of the Romantic era in Britain as well as our own time. We will explore how its writers brilliantly advocate for empathy, liberty, and social justice in the midst of violence and upheaval. Readings will include works by Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Keats, Percy and Mary Shelley, and their contemporaries.

Prerequisite: One English foundations course and one other 6 credit English course

Arnab Chakladar

Authors from the colonies and ex-colonies of England have complicated our understandings of the locations, forms and indeed the language of the contemporary English novel. This course will examine these questions and the theoretical and interpretive frames in which these writers have often been placed, and probe their place in the global marketplace (and awards stage). We will read a number of major novelists of the postcolonial era from Africa, South Asia, the Caribbean and the diaspora as well as some of the central works of postcolonial literary criticism.

Prerequisite: One English foundations course and one additional 6 credit English course

Gregory Hewett

In this workshop, students choose to write poems from a broad range of forms, from sonnets to spoken word, from ghazals to slam, from free-verse to blues. Over the ten weeks, each poet will write and revise their own collection of poems. Student work is the centerpiece of the course, but readings from a diverse selection of contemporary poets will be used to expand each student’s individual poetic range, and to explore the power of poetic language. For students with some experience in writing poetry, this workshop further develops your craft and poetic voice and vision.

Prerequisite: English 160, 161, 263, 265, 270, 271, 273, Cinema and Media Studies 271, 278, 279, Cross Cultural Studies 270 or Theater 246

Kofi Owusu

This seminar focuses on fictional masterpieces published since 2005. We will map out the threads of multiple storylines and track the variety of voices and dialects in Verghese's Cutting for Stone, Adichie's Americanah, and James's A Brief History of Seven Killings. The heft and scope of these three long narratives will be complemented by shorter, but equally multilayered, ones including Danticat's Claire of the Sea Light, Selasi's Ghana Must Go, Mengestu's The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, and Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

Prerequisite: English 295 and one 300-level English course

Colleen Carpenter

Through close readings of contemporary and classic environmental memoirs, this course explores the connections between nature and identity; race, belonging, and landscape; and memory, justice, and hope. Issues of environmental justice and injustice will serve as a key interpretive lens for approaching the texts. Authors include Robin Wall Kimmerer, Aldo Leopold, Terry Tempest Williams, and J. Drew Lanham. 

Sarah Titus

This course focuses on understanding the plate tectonics paradigm and its application to all types of plate boundaries. We will explore the historical development of the paradigm, geophysical tools used for imaging the structure of the Earth and determining plate motions, and possible driving mechanisms of this global system. Students will independently explore a particular tectonic plate in detail throughout the term. Laboratories included.

Prerequisite: One introductory (100-level) Geology course.

Sophomore Priority

Waitlist for Juniors and Seniors: GEOL 220.WL4 (Synonym 64786)

William North

In Late Antiquity (200-800 CE), certain men and women around the Mediterranean and beyond came to occupy a special place in the minds and lives of their contemporaries: they were known as holy men and women or saints. What led people to perceive someone as holy? What were the consequences of holiness for the persons themselves and the surrounding societies? When they intervene in their worlds, what are their sources of authority and power?  How did these holy figures relate to the established institutions--secular and religious--that surrounded them?  Working with a rich array of evidence, we will explore themes such as asceticism, embodied and verbal pedagogy, wealth and poverty, work, marginality, cultural difference, and protest/resistance. We will journey from the lands of Gaul, Italy, and Spain to North Africa and Egypt and the Holy Land, to Armenia and the Fertile Crescent.

Extra Time Required

Annette Igra

Rebecca Brueckmann

This course treats the struggle for racial justice from World War II through the 1960s. Histories, journalism, music, and visual media illustrate black and white elites and grassroots people allied in this momentous epoch that ranges from a southern integrationist vision to northern Black Power militancy. The segregationist response to black freedom completes the study.

Seungjoo Yoon

How did China become a global player in the market economy? This course surveys Chinese business history in the recent past focusing on the origins of industrial development in China, agrarian “involution” and famine, vernacular commercialism, and arguments about China’s economic divergence from and convergence with the rest of the world. Historical examples are drawn from enterprises that produced salt, medicine, cotton textile, machine tools, electricity, automobiles, and the iPhone. Students will pick one of them and write a historical biography of a businessperson, an economic thinker, a company, or an entrepreneurial activity (e.g., operating department stores or advertising companies).  

Extra Time Required

Annette Igra

Was the Progressive Era progressive? It was a period of social reform, labor activism, and woman suffrage, but also of Jim Crow, corporate capitalism, and U.S. imperialism. These are among the topics that can be explored in research papers on this contradictory era. We will begin by reading a brief text that surveys the major subject areas and relevant historiography of the period. The course will center on the writing of a 25-30 page based on primary research, which will be read and critiqued by members of the seminar. 

Brooke Okazaki

Western music, especially classical music, is often called a “dead” genre. Part of this has to do with its associations with wealth, its aging audience base, and its seeming loftiness. But is this music really dead? In this class we will explore the history of Western music, with classical music as a starting point, but will examine the numerous ways music functions throughout cultures to tell different kinds of stories. We work from the assumption that no music (or art in general) is apolitical; because of this it behooves us to examine the ways the music of the past is deployed in service of social and political values today, whether it is to convince us to buy pizza or to incite revolution.

Brooke Okazaki

We all watch movies, whether it’s in a theater, on television, a computer, or a smartphone. But we rarely listen to movies. This class is an introduction to film music and sound. The course begins with a module on how film music generally works within a narrative. With this foundation, the course then concentrates on the role film music and sound play in shaping our understanding of the film’ stories. Over the course of the term, students will study a variety of films and learn about theories of film music and sound. Class assignments include a terminology quiz, cue chart, and a short comparative essay. The course will culminate in a final project that may take the form of a term paper or creative project.

Extra Time Required

Hope Sample

This course provides a survey of contemporary issues in feminist philosophy as well as a selection of feminist theories of gender. For the latter, we will cover intersectional theory, narrative theory, and feminist theories of embodiment, among others. For the former, we will attempt to answer the following kinds of questions in this course: How does feminism interact with nationalism? How do categories of gender, sex, sexuality, race, nationality, and class affect our willingness to attribute knowledge or epistemic authority to others? How does the application of these categories affect our awareness of the social spaces that we inhabit? How do we know our sexual orientation? What is oppression? Should gender impact custody decisions? How does the criminal justice system reinforce structures of oppression? This course will ask students to analyze feminist arguments that support diverse answers to these questions and more.

Daniel Groll

Is there a key to a happy and successful human life? If so, how do you acquire it? Ancient philosophers thought the key was virtue and that your chances of obtaining it depend on the sort of life you lead. In this course we’ll examine what these philosophers meant by virtue and how they understood its implications for your everyday life. We will situate the ancient understanding of virtue in the context of larger questions of metaphysics (the nature of being and reality), psychology, and ethics, as they arise in foundational works from Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics.

Huan Gao

Sophomore Priority

Waitlist for Juniors and Seniors: POSC 120.WL0 (Synonym 65075)

Adam Le

Mihaela Czobor-Lupp

Tun Myint

Brian F Harrison

Campaigns and elections are the cornerstones of our democracy. Formally, they are the way we select our elected officials; informally they tell us a lot about the American ethos, the preferences of particular demographics, and the future direction of our country. The course will draw from scholarship in political psychology, political behavior and participation, and public opinion and will examine American campaigns and elections through three lenses: the institutional structures that guide them; the candidates and voters that participate in them; and the political scientists who study them. 

Greg Marfleet

An introduction to research method, research design, and the analysis of political data. The course is intended to introduce students to the fundamentals of scientific inquiry as they are employed in the discipline. The course will consider the philosophy of scientific research generally, the philosophy of social science research, theory building and theory testing, the components of applied (quantitative and qualitative) research across the major sub-fields of political science, and basic methodological tools. Intended for majors only.

Prerequisite: Statistics 120, 230, 250, (formerly Mathematics 215, 245, 275), AP Statistics (score of 4 or 5) or Psychology 200/201 or Sociology/Anthropology 239

Brian F Harrison

According to the 2020 U.S. Census, roughly 328.2 million people live in the United States. Of that population, 63% live in one of 19,500 “incorporated places,” defined as a city, town ,village, or borough with legally-prescribed limits, powers, and functions. However, three-quarters of incorporated places have fewer than 5,000 people; 42% have fewer than 500 people. In fact, only 40% of all cities have a population of 50,000 or more in 2019, yet nearly 39% of the U.S. population live in those cities. A majority of human social, political, and economic interactions now happen in urban areas (like the Twin Cities) but a significant portion of American life is experienced in smaller towns (like Northfield). Utilizing established social theories, critical thinking skills, and common research techniques, we will learn how to bolster our understanding of both rural and urban phenomena, policies, and processes, addressing topics like political, racial, and class polarization; intolerance; health care; housing, development, and zoning, and transportation. Through field visits to and speakers from both the Twin Cities and Northfield, we will chart the urban/rural political divide to provide a richer understanding of politics and policy in all corners of the United States.

Kathleen Galotti

Cross-listed with CGSC 232. An introduction to the study of mental activity. Topics include attention, pattern recognition and perception, memory, concept formation, categorization, and cognitive development. Some attention is given to gender and individual differences in cognition, as well as cultural settings for cognitive activities. A grade of C- or better must be earned in both PSYC/CGSC 232 and 233 to satisfy the LS requirement.

Prerequisite: Psychology 110, Cognitive Science 100, Cognitive Science 130 or permission of the instructor.; Requires concurrent registration in Psychology 233.

PSYC 233 required. Cross listed with CGSC 232.

Cross-listed with CGSC 232.00

Kristin Bloomer

How can we best understand the role of religion in the world today, and how should we interpret the meaning of religious traditions--their texts and practices--in history and culture? This class takes an exciting tour through selected themes and puzzles related to the fascinating and diverse expressions of religion throughout the world. From politics and pop culture, to religious philosophies and spiritual practices, to rituals, scriptures, gender, religious authority, and more, students will explore how these issues emerge in a variety of religions, places, and historical moments in the U.S. and across the globe.

Kambiz GhaneaBassiri

This course aims to introduce students to the Qur’an as the sacred text of Islam. It assumes no background in Islamic Studies nor does it introduce students to the religion of Islam. Rather it familiarizes students with one of the most widely read, dynamic, and influential texts in human history. Topics in the course include the history of the Qur’an and its codex, the Qur’an’s literary style and structure, its references to other religions, its commentarial tradition, and its roles and significance in Muslims’ devotional, social, and political lives.

Asuka Sango

Jonathan H Dickstein

This course introduces students to the history of the South and East Asian religious ethic of nonviolence (ahiṃsā). We will discuss nonviolence and vegetarianism in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain traditions, including critical perspectives from inside and outside of those traditions. The course will explore the philosophical and cultural aspects of nonviolence, with a focus on its relationship to karma, self-purification, animal welfare, and food practices. We conclude by examining modern deployments of the ethic in charged discourses concerning agriculture, nationalism, environmental destruction and conservation, and social justice.

Jonathan H Dickstein

As the inevitable conclusion of every human existence, our lives are profoundly shaped by death. Consequently, we are all in the process of approaching death—both our own and that of others. This course examines the stunning variety of ways in which humans have approached death and mortality throughout history and across the globe. We will (1) develop a vocabulary of human mortality and death that will allow us to (2) illuminate the structural and functional continuities/discontinuities present across human approaches to death and (3) think critically about mortality and death as we approach them in our own lives.

Kambiz GhaneaBassiri

Sufism broadly refers to a complex of devotional, literary, ethical, theological, and mystical traditions in Islam. More specifically, it refers to the activities associated with institutionalized master-disciple relationships, which define the paths through which Muslims have sought experiential knowledge of God. In both the broad and narrow sense of Sufism, love has been a prominent means of Sufi self-representation. In this course, we will explore the ideas and practices semantically associated with love in the Sufi tradition and analyze the ways in which these ideas and practices have both shaped and been shaped by individual lives, religious institutions, and socio-cultural contexts.

Colin McLaughlin-Alcock

Anthropology is the study of all human beings in all their diversity, an exploration of what it means to be human throughout the globe. This course helps us to see ourselves, and others, from a new perspective. By examining specific analytic concepts—such as culture—and research methods—such as participant observation—we learn how anthropologists seek to understand, document, and explain the stunning variety of human cultures and ways of organizing society. This course encourages you to consider how looking behind cultural assumptions helps anthropologists solve real world dilemmas.

Sophomore Priority.

Waitlist for Juniors and Seniors: SOAN 110.WL0 (Synonym 64838)

Elizabeth Trudeau

Sociology is an intellectual discipline, spanning the gap between the sciences and humanities while often (though not always) involving itself in public policy debates, social reform, and political activism. Sociologists study a startling variety of topics using qualitative and quantitative methods. Still, amidst all this diversity, sociology is centered on a set of core historical theorists (Marx/Weber/Durkheim) and research topics (race/class/gender inequality). We will explore these theoretical and empirical foundations by reading and discussing influential texts and select topics in the study of social inequality while relating them to our own experiences and understanding of the social world. 

Sophomore Priority.

Waitlist for Juniors and Seniors: SOAN 111.WL0 (Synonym 64840)

Daniel Williams

Inequalities and identities are well understood yet too often disconnected from the context of space and place. In this class, we discuss the ways that neighborhoods and cities are sites of inequality as well as identity. Neighborhoods are linked to the amount of wealth we hold; the schools we attend; the goods, services, and resources we have access to; and who our neighbors are. Neighborhoods are also spaces where identities and community are created, claimed, and contested. They can also be sites of conflict as they change through gentrification or other processes that often reflect inequalities of power, resources, and status. In this course, special attention will be paid to how race, gender and sexuality, and immigration shape inequalities and identity in neighborhoods and cities. This course will also include an academic civic engagement component, collaborating with local communities in Minnesota.

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

Annette Nierobisz

Both the U.S. and global populations are trending toward a world with far fewer young people than ever before. So, what does it mean to grow up in a rapidly aging society? This course explores age, aging, and its various intersections with demographic characteristics including gender, sexuality, race, and social class. We situate age and aging within the context of macro-structural, institutional, and micro-everyday realms. Some topics we will examine include: media depictions and stereotypes; interpersonal relationships and caregiving; the workplace and retirement; and both the perceptions and inevitable realities of an aging population.

Wes Markofski

Many thinkers have contributed to the development of sociology as an intellectual discipline and mode of social inquiry; however, few have had the influence of Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, and Max Weber. This course focuses on influential texts and ideas generated by these and other theorists from sociology’s “classical era,” how these texts and ideas are put to use by contemporary sociologists, and on more recent theoretical developments and critical perspectives that have influenced the field. 

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

Pamela Feldman-Savelsberg

This course explores different genres of writing and different audiences for writing in the social sciences, focusing particular attention on scholarly articles published in professional journals in sociology and anthropology. To that end, students both analyze sociological and anthropological articles regarding commonalities and differences in academic writing in our two sister disciplines. Students work on their own academic writing process (with the help of peer-review and instructor feedback). The writing itself is broken down into component elements on which students practice and revise their work.

Prerequisite: Completion of Sociology/Anthropology 240 or submission of a topic statement in the preceding spring term and submission of a comps thesis proposal on the first day of fall term. Senior Sociology/Anthropology major or instructor permission

Andrew Carlson

Throughout history, theatrical performance has been both a reflection of cultural values and a platform for envisioning social change. In this course, students will examine many of the traditions that inform contemporary understandings of theatre, including Greek tragedy, commedia dell’arte, Japanese Noh, Sanskrit drama, Realism, Brechtian theatre, and the Theatre of the Oppressed. Students will also study the history of theatre in the United States by examining blackface minstrel performance, African American drama, and the role of theatre in the social movements of the twentieth century. Class sessions will combine lecture, discussion, embodied exercises, and performance of historical texts.