>> Other courses of interest
Please be sure to consult with the Director of Graduate Studies or the Director of Undergraduate Studies for advice on choosing these courses, to ensure that they are properly credited.
ANTHROPOLOGY
ANTH V2100: Muslim Societies
Oguz Erdur
An examination of religion and society not limited to the Middle East. A series of Muslim societies of various
types and locations will be approached historically and contextually to
understand their family resemblances and their differences, their distinctive
mechanisms of coherence and their patterns of contestation. Major Cultures Requirement: Middle Eastern Civilization List
A.
ANTH V3978: Dialogic Imagination in Opera
M
E Combs-Schilling (Enrollment limit to to 25 students)
Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor via email at: mec3. Must state year
and major and why you with to join the class. Priority given to upper class
anthropology and music majors. Submit e-mail "Request for Admittance
Form" obtained from mec3@columbia.edu. Students must attend operas outside
class time. Drawing on theories of Bakhtin and Eco, analyzes the production
logic of three opera performances in terms of communication media utilized; the
class, status and gendered perspectives mobilized; and the devices used to
engage or distance the audience. Performance rather then musicological angles
stressed.
ART HISTORY &
ARCHAEOLOGY
AHIS G8061: Masquerade: Rhetoric/Theory/Practice
Zoe S
Strother
This
seminar will explore masquerade, one of the oldest of the world's visual arts,
drawing on critical works in art history, literary criticism, philosophy,
theatre, and anthropology. We will study how Western theories about "the
mask" have shaped the literature on African masquerading but our ultimate
goal is to open up new questions about African practice inspired by
arguments on cross-dressing, minstrelsy, the "uncanny," and the
"carnivalesque."
AHIS G8653: The Bauhaus in America
Marco
De Michelis
This seminar focuses on architects, designers, and theorist
associated with the Bauhuas School who relocated to the United States after 1933 and
radically transformed many domains of architectural practice in this county.
Focus will be on Gropius, Moholy-Nagy, and Mies van der Rohe.
AHIS G8710: Abstract Art & Its Legacies in Latin
America
Alexander Alberro
This seminar will consider the impact of
abstract art on practices of painting, sculpture and architecture in Latin America in the mid-twentieth century. Particular
attention will be placed on the various ways in which artists in Latin America
appropriated elements of the form of abstraction known as Concrete art, only to
break with them on their way to developing new art movements. We will begin
with an overview of the recent literature on abstract art. Then we will
investigate the ways in which the Constructivist and Neo-Plasticist
avant-gardes explored the possibilities of abstract art in the second and third
decades of the century. This will set the stage for the second part of the
course, which will study the history of nonrepresentational art, first in the
Rio de la Plata region in the 1940s, and then in Brazil and Venezuela in the
1950s and 1960s. Emphasis will be placed on the ways in which these
developments overlapped with each other, as well as on the impact they might
have had on European and North American art. The third part of the course will
examine the contributions of Latin American abstract artists on the development
of kinetic and optical art in Europe in the mid-twentieth century, as well as
the effect of these modes of art practice on late modern and contemporary art.
EAST ASIAN LANGUAGES
AND CULTURES
EAAS W4557: Envisioning the SnowLand: Film and TV in
Tibet and Inner Asia
Robert J Barnett
A study of film and television
production in Tibet,
comparisons with cinema and TV in Mongolia,
Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia. The course will
look at the ways state, nation, culture, and politics are constructed at
different times through film and other visual media. Major Cultures
Requirement: East Asian Civilization List B only when
paired with ASCE V2365 Introduction to East Asian Civilization: Tibet.
GERMANIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES
GERM W4265: Divided Selves: Jews In Modern German
Culture (In English)
Mark M Anderson
This course
will examine the contested notion of a 'German-Jewish symbiosis' in German
literature and culture from the Enlightenment to the Holocaust. Works by
Salomon Maimon, Fichte, Chamisso, Meyerbeer, Heine, Auerbach, Kafka, Benjamin
and Scholem.
HISTORY
HIST W4779: Africa
and France
Gregory Mann
This course endeavors to
understand the development of the peculiar and historically conflictual
relationship that exists between France, the nation-states that are
its former African colonies, and other contemporary African states. It covers
the period from the 19th century colonial expansion through the current 'memory
wars' in French politics and debates over migration and colonial history in Africa. Historical episodes include French participation
in and eventual withdrawal from the Atlantic Slave Trade, emancipation in the
French possessions, colonial conquest, African participation in the world wars,
the wars of decolonization, and French-African relations in the contexts of
immigration and the construction of the European Union. Readings will be drawn extensively from
primary accounts by African and French intellectuals, dissidents, and colonial
administrators.However, the course offers neither a collective
biography of the compelling intellectuals who have emerged from this
relationship nor a survey of French-African literary or cultural
production nor a course in international relations. Indeed, the course
avoids the common emphasis in francophone studies on literary production and
the experiences of elites and the common focus of international relations on
states and bureaucrats. The focus throughout is on the historical development
of fields of political possibility and the emphasis is on sub-Saharan Africa.
HIST W4928: Comparative Slavery and Abolition in the
Atlantic World
Natasha J Lightfoot
This seminar
investigates the experiences of slavery and freedom among African-descended
people living and laboring in the various parts of the Atlantic World. The
course will trace critical aspects of these two major, interconnected
historical phenomena with an eye to how specific cases either manifested or
troubled broader trends across various slaveholding societies. The first half
of the course addresses the history of slavery and the second half pertains to
experiences in emancipation. However, since the abolition of slavery occurs at
different moments in various areas of the Atlantic World, the course will
adhere to a thematic rather than a chronological structure, in its examination
of the multiple avenues to freedom available in various regions. Weekly units
will approach major themes relevant to both slavery and emancipation, such as racial
epistemologies among slaveowners/employers, labor regimes in slave and free
societies, cultural innovations among slave and freed communities, gendered
discourses and sexual relations within slave and free communities, and slaves'
and freepeople's resistance to domination. The goal of this course is to
broaden students' comprehension of the history of slavery and freedom, and to
promote an understanding of the transition from slavery to freedom in the Americas
as creating both continuities and ruptures in the structure and practices of
the various societies concerned.
HIST G8930: Approaches to International and Global History
Adam
McKeown
How do international and global perspectives
shape and conceptualization, research, and writing of history? Topics include
approaches to comparative history and transnational processes, the relationship
of local, regional, national, and global scales of analysis, and the problem of
periodization when considered on a world scale.
HIST G8301: Empire, State and Nation in the Modern World
Mark
Mazower
This graduate seminar offers a comparative approach to the problem of
modern empire and its decline and transition into a world of nation-states. It
begins by exploring the conceptual and ideological vocabulary of empire itself,
and then surveys a variety of 19th century empires, focusing on their guiding
political philosophies, their institutional reformation along lines of faith
and/or ethnicity and the impact upon them of two world wars. The imperial models
considered include the British, French, Ottoman, Habsburg, Russian and German
variants. Theories of nationalism and internationalism, and the process of
decolonisation are also discussed, as is the meaning of empire in the
contemporary world. Students must be prepared to read widely across a range of
diverse historical case-studies.
ITALIAN
ITAL G4490: A Stray Branch of Laurel: Venice and Literary Modernity
Paolo Valesio
In the enormously broad context of what has been called the “eternal
pilgrimage” to Italy, even when concentrating on a single city does not
by itself guarantee a specific focus --especially when examining a city
as culturally, historically, and spiritually rich as Venice.
To at least partially solve this problem, this course concentrates on
the modern period (from the late 18th century to today) and focuses on
two dialectic contrasts: that between the public domain (strategically
powerful historically visions) and the private dimension (intricacies
of everyday emotions); and the contrast between the Italian and the
foreign literary observer. The arc of the course begins with the period
of elegance and decadence of the Serenissima in the late 18th century
and concludes with the case of a contemporary novelist writing between
Venice and the United States. Authors read in the course will include: Goethe, Voltaire, Giacomo
Casanova, Ugo Foscolo, Frederick Rolfe, Camillo Boito, Henry James,
Gabriele d’Annunzio, F. T. Marinetti, P. M. Pasinetti, and others.
MIDDLE EAST AND ASIAN LANGUAGES
AND CULTURES
HSME G4941: Constitutionalism, Ataturk and Reza Shah
Nader Sohrabi
The emergence of modern Turkey and Iran has been linked to two strong
figures of Ataturk and Reza Shah. Depicted as "men of order," they
have been held responsible for the major transformations associated with the
rise of the modern nation states of Turkey
and Iran.
This course critically examines the legacy of these two leaders by placing them
within the long term history of social and political transformations in the
Ottoman Empire and Iran
in the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Particular emphasis will be
placed on the relationship between the emergence of these leaders and the
constitutional movements that preceded them. Of interest here is the degree to
which they were in continuity with, a reaction to, or a break from these
movements. Of further interest is the creation of modern citizenship,
authoritarianism, commitment to constitutionalism, radical reforms from above,
rise of the middle class, social and political programs directed toward
homogenization, and republicanism.
PHILOSOPHY
PHIL G4601: Philosophical Texts in French
Katalin
Makkai (Prerequisites: Equivalent of two years of college
French)
A close reading and translation of sections from French philosophical
texts with emphasis on the special problems of translating philosophical prose.
Texts for Fall 2006: Descartes, Discours de la méthode, Les Passions de l'âme,
Pascal, Pensées (selections).
PHIL G4600: Philosophical Texts in German
Frederick Neuhouser
Careful reading and translation of a classic
German philosophical text to be chosen by the course participants in
consultation with the instructor. Emphasis on the special problems of
translating philosophical prose.
PHIL G6801: Aesthetics and Politics
Lydia Goehr
A detailed investigation of 19th- and/or 20th-century intersections between
philosophy and the arts. Especially suited to students who have taken G4050. Topics vary but include censorship and persecution;
cultural work in the public sphere; commitment and autonomy.
POLITICAL SCIENCE
POLS G4461: Latin American Politics
Scott B Martin
Comparative theoretical and empirical analysis of political
development and regime change in the region through close study of the
interrelated nature of polity, society, and economy in selected cases. Major Cultures Requirement: Latin American Civilization List
B.
POLS G4626: Global Justice & Democracy
Jean L Cohen
Traditionally theories of justice and democracy have assumed the
sovereign state as the relevant context and referent. Today many issues and
claims of injustice transcend the sovereign state as do the regulatory
responses to them. What is the appropriate context of justice today and how can
claims to sovereignty, political autonomy, and self determination mesh with
human rights claims and demands for global justice? Is it meaningful to speak
of global democracy? How does the globalisation of law and politics affect
domestic democracy? This course will consider the relevant literature on these
questions.
RELIGION
RELI V3870: Inquisitions, New Christians, and Empire
Jonathan Schorsch
This course will explore the Spanish and
Portuguese inquisitions of the early modern era. We will investigate the
inquisitions from a variety of perspectives: the history of Christianity and
some of its "unauthorized" permutations; the relevant history and religious
culture of Judeoconversos, Moriscos, Afroiberians, magical practitioners;
normativization and control of sexuality; historical ethnography; and the
anthropology and/or sociology of institutions.
RELI G6503: Readings
from the Sephardic Diaspora
Jonathan Schorsch
(Prerequisites: Instructor's Permission)
In this seminar we will devote ourselves
to a close reading (in Hebrew) of excerpts from some seminal texts to have come
out of the diaspora of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews in the centuries after
their expulsion or flight. Alongside the primary texts, a series of secondary
works (in English) will provide pertinent background. These scholarly works
will contextualize our authors/texts from the perspective of history, sociology
and religious studies.
RELI G8850: Comparative Scriptural Exegesis
Alan
Segal (Prerequisites: Instructor's Permission, Knowledge of Hebrew)
Comparative study of texts in the Jewish and
Christian traditions.
SOCIOLOGY
SOCI G4030: Sociology of Language
Harrison
White
Use of language by actors in social contexts, called
"discourse" in English, is the central topic. It concerns the
establishment and reproduction of social relations of all sorts, as well as
reference to other environments. Discourse grows into, and out of, various
sublanguages across social networks, amid struggles for domination and
identity.
SOCI G6200: International Migration
Yinon Cohen
Guided by migration theories, we will discuss past (especially
the 1840-1920 period) and current patterns of migration in various parts of the
world. We start with theories and empirical studies of immigrants' social
assimilation and integration, and then discuss immigrants' skills and their
labor market assimilation, a topic that has been at the center of the
immigration debate in the US
in the past 20 years. In this context we will examine both first and second
generation immigrants, as well as issues of citizenship, transnationalism and
exclusion.
SPANISH AND
PORTUGUESE
SPAN W3330: Introduction to the Study of Hispanic Cultures
Four
Sections: Jesus Rodriguez-Velasco, Paloma Duong, Maria J Ferrari, Adam L
Winkel [Prerequisites: Spanish 3300 (formerly Spanish 3332)]
The
course constitutes a wide-ranging consideration of cultural production with a view
to making students aware of its historical and constructed nature. Students
will explore concepts such as language, history and nation; culture (national,
popular, mass, and high); the social role of literature; the work of cultural
institutions; globalization and migration; and the discipline of Cultural
Studies. The course is divided into weekly units that address these subjects in
turn, and through which students will also acquire the fundamental vocabulary
for the analysis of cultural objects. The course gives students the conceptual
framework with which to engage in the study of Hispanic culture in Spanish 3349
and Spanish 3350. This course is required for the major and the
concentration in Hispanic Studies.
SPAN W3468: Cuba
and the United States
Gustavo Perez-Firmat (Prerequisites: Spanish W3349 or Spanish W3350 or instructor's permission)
For nearly two centuries,
Cuba and the United States have been linked by what William McKinley in 1899
termed "ties of singular intimacy," a long-lived but contentious
relationship that has produced misunderstandings, disappointments, embargos,
/embarques/ and, every once in a while, a military invasion. Through the
analysis of representative texts of various kinds -- verbal, visual, musical --
this course will study the imprint of Cuba on American culture, as well that of
America on Cuban culture, in order to the determine the modes of intimacy that
bind (and separate) the two countries and cultures. Conducted in Spanish.
SPAN W3540: Introduction to Spanish Linguistics
Valeria
Belloro (Prerequisites: Spanish W3349 or W3350 or instructor's permission)
The course is conceived as
an introduction to the different levels of linguistic analysis, organized
around the following questions: What kind of sounds do we use when speaking
Spanish, and how can we describe them? When these sounds combine into
meaningful sequences, what kind of meanings do they express? According to which
rules can we combine words to form grammatical Spanish sentences? How are sentences
combined into a text or discourse? How does the communicative context affect
the structure of sentences? In what ways are language, thought and culture
related?
SPAN W3991: Senior Seminar: Nature and Sacredness in the Iberian
Worlds
Alessandra Russo (Prerequisites: Senior major
or concentrator status)
During the Iberian expansion throughout the four parts
of the world (Africa, Asia, America,
and Europe) in the XVIth and XVIIth centuries,
specific materials were used by local artists to represent Christian
sacredness. Feathers from Mexico; ivories, shells, and silk from Asia (India,
Japan, Philippines, or China); wood from Brazil; silver and pigments of the
Andes (Peru); or local stones (the red tezontli in New Spain) forged Christian
objects, monuments, statues, portable triptychs, chalice-covers, ecclesiastical
miters and chasubles. In this seminar, we will explore what these materials and
their images reveal of the relationship between nature and sacredness in the
Iberian worlds. How did the variety, beauty, and uniqueness of these natural
materials represent a perfect allegory of the Iberian domination itself, and of
its spiritual foundations? How did other distinct concepts of sacredness and
creation intervened in the production of these objects? Beyond the particular
case studies analyzed in the seminar (through original written and visual
sources), students will be introduced to key theoretical readings on the
literature of art, on the anthropology of nature, and to the most recent historiographic
debates in the field of Iberian and Colonial studies. Final papers dealing with
objects housed in New York collections
(Hispanic Society, Brooklyn
Museum, Metropolitan
Museum of Art, etc.) and on their documentation will be particularly welcome.
SPAN W3992: Senior Seminar: Travesting Transitions
Alberto
Medina (Prerequisites: Senior major or concentrator status)
Both in Spain and Latin America,
different processes of political transition to democracy took place from the
end of the seventies to the beginning of the new Century. Those changes in the
public sphere were simultaneous to the development of new models of
subjectivity. A new political environment required a new set of "practices
of everyday life". In that context, sexual identities that had been
repressed and marginalized by authoritarian regimes gained visibility and the
possibility of political articulation as well as cultural expression. Literary
texts written in that context often developed the analogies and permeability
between the public and the private sphere using the metaphor of the body to
question the transformation of the nation. The new historical reality is
perceived as a battle field, a "theatre of operations" for visibility
and identity construction by alternative models of subjectivity.
But very soon the political and cultural establishment sees the
"marketing" potential of those new developments. The integration of
the margins in an official narrative of progress will often be a privileged
icon of modernization and an effective means to reduce radical opposition.
Figures like Pedro Almodóvar in Spain
or Jaime Bayly in Perú are no longer considered marginal but rather privileged
signifiers of the national identity.
The complexity of that move from the margin to the center is an
extraordinary index to question the ambiguities of the political and cultural
transformations taking place in those countries.
Authors to be studied in the course include Pedro Lemebel (Chile), Jaime Bayly (Perú), Eduardo Mendicutti (Spain), Pedro Almodóvar (Spain), Luis Zapata (México), Leonardo Padura (Cuba), Pedro Juan Gutiérrez (Cuba), Néstor Perlonguer (Argentina).
SPME W4200: The Andalusian Symbiosis: Arabs and the
West
Patricia Grieve and Muhsin Al-Musawi
The course
closely examines the cultural symbiosis between Arab Muslims and Christian
Europeans during the eight centuries of their coexistence in Andalusia.
Through a critical reading of an appropriately chosen set of texts, translated
into English from Arabic, Latin, Spanish and other Iberian dialects, students
will study the historical, literary, linguistic, religious, artistic,
architectural, and technological products that were created by the remarkable
symbiosis that took place in Andalusia.
SPAN G6301: Fictional Foundations: Puerto Rico
and the Spanish Empire (1808-1898)
Wadda Rios-Font
Puerto Rico did not, like most other
Spanish-American colonies, attain independence in the aftermath of Napoleon's
1808 invasion of Spain.
Together with Cuba,
it remained part of the ailing empire through the Spanish-American War (1898).
Throughout this period, patriotic feeling was channeled chiefly through the
currents of asimilismo-which sought complete political and
administrative equality with peninsular Spanish provinces-, and autonomismo,
which recognized a special situation demanding self-rule within a loose
national unity. This course examines the character and role of early Puerto
Rican letters in the formulation of a discourse of identity, in light of
continuing Spanish rule and continuing personal and collective relations with
the metropolis.
