An exploration of the stories black authors tell about themselves, their communities, and the nation as informed by time and place, gender, sexuality, and class. African American perspective themes such as art, childhood, sexuality, marriage, alienation and mortality, as well as representations of slavery, Reconstruction, racial violence and the Nadir, legalized racism and segregation, black patriotism and black ex-patriots, the optimism of integration, and the prospects of a post-racial America.

Our ability to create and maintain meaningful social connections tells us that we are not alone; it reminds us that we are connected to something larger, a community, a group of people willing to celebrate our triumphs and help us cope during difficult times. Emphasizing the principles of participation, connection, and collaboration, this course explores how various traditionally marginalized people form their own cultural communities and develop a sense of reciprocal belonging through the creation (and independent distribution) of stories, poems, spoken word poetry, comics and zines.In spite of intersectional obstacles such as the lack of political power, access to resources and economic opportunities, these communities may find it possible to redefine their place in society by demonstrating originality, resilience, and talent.

What are myths and why do we tell them? What powers do myths have? We will tackle these questions by looking at the enduring and fascinating myths from ancient Greece and Rome. In addition to studying how they shaped ancient societies, we will also look at their modern influence and reflect upon the power that myths still hold in our contemporary world. Taught in English.

Examination of key works by writers of the African Diaspora. Relationship among black people across multiple geographic spaces; Africa, the Caribbean, the United States, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Specific historical, cultural, and literary contexts; themes such as gender, sexuality, migration, slavery, freedom, and equality. Readings may include literary texts (fiction, poetry, drama), music and film. All readings in English, but drawn from multiple languages of the black diaspora, including English, Spanish, French and Portuguese.

Comparative study of literature through selected literary works from several non-Western cultures, viewed cross-culturally in light of particular social, political, and economic perspectives.

Comparative study of selected works by women writers of several countries, exploring points of intersection and divergence in women's literary representations.

Comparative study of several North, South, and Central American cultures with a focus on the specificities, similarities, and divergences of their literary and cultural texts.

Explore American literary traditions in a variety of poetic and narrative forms and in diverse historical contexts, ranging from colonization to the Civil Rights Movement and beyond. Genres examined in this course might include lyric poems, travel narratives, gothic short fiction, slave narratives, and science fiction. Emphasis on developing skills of literary interpretation and critical writing, while attending to the place of race, class, gender, and sexuality in American literary culture. Authors may include Phillis Wheatley, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Frederick Douglass, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Baldwin, and Toni Morrison, among others.

An exploration of the stories black authors tell about themselves, their communities, and the nation as informed by time and place, gender, sexuality, and class. African American perspective themes such as art, childhood, sexuality, marriage, alienation and mortality, as well as representations of slavery, Reconstruction, racial violence and the Nadir, legalized racism and segregation, black patriotism and black ex-patriots, the optimism of integration, and the prospects of a post-racial America.

Examines the poetry, prose, and theater of Latinx communities in the United States from their origins in the Spanish colonization of North America to their ongoing development in the 21st century. Considers how authors use literary form to gain insight into human experience, including mortality, religious belief, gender and sexuality, war and peace, family, language use, scientific inquiry, cultural tradition, ecology, and labor. Also studies how Latinx literary traditions have shaped and been shaped by broader currents in American literature, as well as what connections exist between Latinx literature and social and artistic developments in other parts of the world, particularly Latin America and the Caribbean. Authors may include Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, Eulalia Perez, Juan Nepomuceno Seguin, Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton, Jose Marti, Arthur A. Schomburg, Jesus Colon, Julia de Burgos, Cesar Chavez, Ariel Dorfman, Gloria Anzaldua, Junot Diaz, and Cristina Garcia.

An exploration of arguably the most complex, profound, and ubiquitous expression of human experience. Study through close reading of significant forms and conventions of Western poetic tradition. Poetry's roots in oral and folk traditions and connections to popular song forms.

Exploration of drama through a consideration of plot, narrative flow, analytical flow, staging, performance, manuscript and printing history, text and textual change over time, and interpretation. Plays will be approached as public attempts to understand what it means to be alive.

Explores literary and cultural expressions by women and their receptions within a range of historical periods and genres. Topics such as what does a woman need in order to write, what role does gender play in the production, consumption, and interpretation of texts, and to what extent do women comprise a distinct literary subculture. Interpretation of texts will be guided by feminist and gender theory, ways of reading that have emerged as important to literary studies over the last four decades.

Examines science and technology through the lens of British and American literature, primarily between 1800 and the present. Readings from early natural and experimental philosophers of the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment. How literary works represent the ethics of science and technology; beneficial developments of science, and also heavy toll of industrialization. Writers studied may include Francis Bacon, Mary Shelley, Charles Darwin, H.G. Wells, Albert Einstein, Aldous Huxley, Richard Feynman, Philip K. Dick, Octavia Butler, Michael Frayn, and Tom Stoppard.

Origins of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), with attention to literary formations, archaeology, and social-political settings. Explorations of major questions, including who wrote the Bible, and when; relationships of the biblical tradition to the mythology and religious structures of ancient Israel's near eastern neighbors; and dynamics of politics, religious leadership, and law.

A study of literary and cultural expressions of queer and trans identities, positionalities, and analytics through an exploration of literature, art, and media. We will examine historical and political power relations by considering the intersections of sexuality and gender with race, class, nation, and disability. Topics include the social construction and regulation of sexuality and gender, performance and performativity, intersectionality, and the relationship between aesthetic forms and queer/ trans subjectivity. Our interpretations will be informed by queer and trans theories.

What is the thread weaving through an animated visualization of economic data in a popular newspaper, an indie text-based videogame, a saucy twitter bot spitting out haikus, and an interactive digital essay? Storytelling--using whatever is at hand to communicate with audiences in evocative and connected ways. Combining technical and textual analysis with their own experiments in digital composition, students will learn to use new media techniques for the interpretation, creation, and dissemination of both critical and imaginative writing. From branching narratives to hypertext media and video games, to more recent developments in machine-generated poetry, XR, and embodied and location-based narrative, the methods and materials in this introductory course link creative expression and analysis of texts to contemporary conversations about social difference, representation, interface, and computation.

Introduction to cultural and textual analysis of selected readings from various genres in French literature. Taught in French.

Introduction to cultural and textual analysis of selected readings from various genres in French literature. Taught in French.

Introduction to the university, the different fields of the arts and humanities, and the history of how the university and the humanities have evolved across the world from ancient times to the present. Primary emphasis on reading and discussion of literary artifacts to assess the meaning and social status of the arts and humanities in the past and their personal and social value for the future.

Jewish identity can be framed in terms of ethnicity, culture, and religious practice, but also in terms of more contemporary social constructions including social action, political engagement, and intellectual pursuit. In the context of such diverse social and individual frames, what does it mean to identify Judaism as a religion? Attention to Jewish society in historical and global perspective will provide a backdrop for a particular focus on contemporary Jews in the United States and Israel.

Origins of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), with attention to literary formations, archaeology, and social-political settings. Explorations of major questions, including who wrote the Bible, and when; relationships of the biblical tradition to the mythology and religious structures of ancient Israel's near eastern neighbors; and dynamics of politics, religious leadership, and law.

Provides students with a unique exploration of cultural products produced by a diverse array of Jewish creators of literature, comedy and film. The texts, films, and performing arts touch on the central social, economic, and cultural issues of Jews during the ages, and up to the 21st century. This course will explore Jewish creativity throughout history, as well as the Jewish encounter with modernity as a whole. We will be diving into prominent creators such as Tiffany Haddish, Larry David, Sholem Aleichem, Adam Sandler, S. Y. Abramovitsch, Judd Apatow, Philip Roth, Amy Schumer, I. B. Singer, Ben Stiller, Franz Kafka, Dan Levy, and others. Examining their creations will open a window to the diverse methods of construction of modern Jewish identities.

A study of literary and cultural expressions of queer and trans identities, positionalities, and analytics through an exploration of literature, art, and media. We will examine historical and political power relations by considering the intersections of sexuality and gender with race, class, nation, and disability. Topics include the social construction and regulation of sexuality and gender, performance and performativity, intersectionality, and the relationship between aesthetic forms and queer/ trans subjectivity. Our interpretations will be informed by queer and trans theories.

What are myths and why do we tell them? What powers do myths have? We will tackle these questions by looking at the enduring and fascinating myths from ancient Greece and Rome. In addition to studying how they shaped ancient societies, we will also look at their modern influence and reflect upon the power that myths still hold in our contemporary world. Taught in English.