Download Religion, Race and Culture Global Perspectives Gender and Sexuality

At Brandeis, you are encouraged to learn about a wide variety of human societies, cultures, and countries and about causes and consequences of differences among
racial, ethnic, religious, and other groups. Listed below are a sampling of the Spring 2017 courses that address these issues; we hope that you will consider including
some of them in your studies. They are grouped under “Gender and Sexuality,” “Religion, Race, and Culture,” and “Global Perspectives,” though naturally many of
the courses intersect these groupings. For additional course offerings, please refer to the registrar’s website: www.brandeis.edu/registrar/
Religion, Race and Culture
AAAS 102A: African Cinema
Explores the foundation and development of
African cinema in the context of African history,
culture and politics. Examines issues of social
change, gender, class, tradition, and modernization
through various African cinematic genres. (nw ss)
S. Hassan
Th 2:00-4:50 PM
AMST 147B: Bestsellers in American Culture
Considers what makes a book popular at a
particular moment in history – or put differently,
how the hopes, fears, needs, anxieties, and
longings expressed in a particular book reveal and
reflect the personal, cultural, and historical
experiences of the people who made the book
popular. (ss)
R. Gordon
M,W 5:00-6:20 PM
HIST 129A: Women in Christianity: A
Transnational Modern History
Examines the social and cultural history of women in
Christianity in the modern period. We will cover the
"lived religion" of women within the 3 main branches
of Christianity on 6 continents. (ss)
A. French
T,Th 5:00-6:20 PM
HIST 152A: American History, American
Literature
Readings and discussions on the classical literature of
American history, the great books that have shaped
our sense of the subject. (ss)
I. Campbell
T,Th 3:30-4:450 PM
JAPN 140A: The World of Early Modern
Japanese Literature
A survey of the most celebrated works of literature
from Japan's early modern period (1600-1868).
Explores a wide range of genres, including fiction,
travelogues, memoirs, dramatic forms such as the
puppet theater and kabuki, as well as poetry. All
readings available in English translation. (hum nw)
M. Fraleigh
T,Th 6:30-7:50 PM
LALS 144B: Mapping Latino Boston
This course explores Latino, Caribbean, and Hispanic
migration in the greater Boston area. Visualization of
history and culture are carried out through
photography, the production and analysis of digital
maps, narratives constructed from interviews and
mapping data. (ss)
L. Brown
M,W,Th 1:00-1:50 PM
NEJS 2A: Understanding Judaism: An
Introduction
Topics to be discussed include: the People of the
Book; the rabbinic tradition; the Jewish calendar; the
prayer book; life-cycle of the individual; Christianity,
Islam, and the Jews; from anti-Judaism to antiSemitism; Holocaust; the land of Israel and the Jews;
Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist
Judaism; American Jewry; Jewish geography. (hum)
D. Ellenson
T,Th 2:00-3:20 PM
NEJS 3A: Religions of Abraham: Judaism,
Christianity, Islam
An introduction to the three major religions
originating in the Near East: Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam. Areas of focus include historical
development, sacred texts, rituals, and interpretive
traditions. (hum)
J. Decter
T,F 9:30-10:50 AM
NEJS 128A: Introduction to Christianity
An introduction to Christian beliefs, liturgy, and
history. Surveys the largest world religion: from
Ethiopian to Korean Christianity, from black
theology to the Christian right. Analyzes Christian
debates about God, Christ, and human beings. (hum)
B. Brooten
M, W 3:30-4:50 PM
NEJS 135A: The Modern Jewish Experience
Themes include Enlightenment, Hasidism,
emancipation, Jewish identity in the modern world
(acculturation and assimilation), development of
dominant nationalism in Judaism, Zionism, European
Jewry between the world wars, Holocaust, the
creation of the State of Israel, and contemporary
Jewish life in America, Israel, and Europe. (hum)
E. Sheppard
M, W 2:00-3:20 PM
NEJS 176B: Jewish Graphic Novels
Examines the complex genre of the Jewish graphic
novel. Explores Jewish artists' use of graphic
narratives to grapple with issues of acculturation,
trauma, and identity. Special focus on the
reconfiguration of Jewish gender identities. (hum)
E. Kellman
T, Th 3:30-4:50 PM
NEJS 195A: Muhammad: Life, Teachings, and
Legacy
Studies the life of Muhammad based upon the
earliest biographical accounts and the academic
analyses in both Islamic and non-Islamic sources,
accompanied by an examination of his legacy in
different aspects of Islam, such as Shi'ism and
Sufism. (hum)
S. Laher
T, Th 5:00-6:20 PM
RECS 135A: Russian Short Fictions: The Art of
Narrative
Focuses on the great tradition of the short story as
practiced by Russian/Russian Jewish writers and
the connection and divisions among them. This
genre invites extreme stylistic and narrative
experimentation ranging from the comic to the
tragic, as well as being a vehicle for striking
expressions of complex social, philosophical, and
religious themes. (hum)
R. Miller
M,W 2:00-3:20 PM
RECS 150A: Russian and Soviet Cinema
Examines the Russian/Soviet cinematic tradition
from the silent era to today, with special attention
to cultural context and visual elements. Film
masterpieces directed by Bauer, Eisenstein,
Vertov, Parajanov, Tarkovsky, Mikhalkov, and
others. Weekly screenings. (hum)
D. Powelstock
T,Th 2:00-3:20 PM
Global Perspectives
AAAS 122A: Politics of Southern Africa
Study of clashing nationalisms, alternative patterns of
development, and internationalization of conflict in
southern Africa. The political economy of South
Africa in regional context and its effect on the
politics of its neighbors, particularly Angola,
Mozambique, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. (nw ss)
W. Nyangoni
T 6:30-9:20PM
AAAS 146B: African Icons
From Walatta Petros, a 17th century Ethiopian nun
turned anticolonial agitator to Afrobeat pioneer Fela
Kuti, this course introduces a range of iconic figures
in Africa's history to students who also acquire the
investigative and analytical skills associated with
sound historical research and writing. (nw ss)
C. Ray
T, F 9:30-10:50AM
AAAS 162A: Assassination: A History of 20th
Century Africa
Examines the assassinations of a range of different
political, cultural, and activist figures, such as
Patric Lumumba, Steve Biko, and Ken Saro-Wiwa,
and assesses the social, political, economic, and
cultural implications and legacies this particular
form of murder has had on twentieth-century
Africa. (nw ss wi)
C. Ray
T, F 11:00-12:20 PM
AAAS/FA 74B: Introduction to African Art
Survey of the visual artistic traditions of Africa.
Investigates the different forms of visual art in
relation to their historical and socio-cultural
context. Symbolism and complexity of Africa’s
visual art traditions explored through analysis of
myth, ritual, cosmology, and history. (ca nw ss)
S. Hassan
T, Th 5:00-6:20PM
ANTH 131B: Latin America in Ethnographic
Perspective
Examines issues in contemporary Latin America and
the Spanish Caribbean from the perspective of
sociocultural anthropology, based primarily on books
and articles drawing on long-term ethnographic
research. (ss wi)
E. Ferry
T,Th 2:00-3:20 PM
CHIN 136B: Chinese Modernism in
International Context
Examines the origins, recurrences, and
metamorphosis of modernistic styles and
movements in twentieth-century Chinese literature,
film, fine art, and intellectual discourses. (hum nw)
P. Wang
T, F 11:00-12:20 PM
ENG 127B: Migrating Bodies. Migrating Texts
Beginning with the region's representation as a
tabula rasa, examines the textual/visual
constructions of the Caribbean as colony,
homeland, paradise, Babylon; and how the region's
migrations have prompted ideas about evolution,
hedonism, imperialism, and diaspora. (hum nw)
F. Smith
M, W 3:30-4:50 PM
FA 77B: 20th Century and Contemporary Latin
American Art
This course is a selective survey of the outstanding
figures and movements that have made significant
contributions to the history of Latin American art.
Special focus will be on Mexican, Argentinean,
Brazilian, Venezuelan and Cuban artists. (ca nw)
J. Falconi
T, Th 3:30-4:50 PM
HIST 66A: History of South Asia (2500 BCE1971)
Introduces South Asian history from the earliest
civilizations to the independence of India, Pakistan,
Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Surveys the formation of
religious traditions, the establishment of kingdoms,
empires, colonialism and its consequences, and postindependence political/economic development. (nw
ss)
G. Sreenivasan
M, W 2:00-3:20PM
HIST 133B: Rights and Revolutions: History of
Natural Rights
An examination of the doctrine of national rights, its
significance in the contemporary world, its historical
development, and its role in revolutionary politics.
The English and French Declarations of 1689, 1776,
and 1789 will be compared and contrasted. (ss wi)
M. Hulliung
M, W, Th 10:00-10:50AM
HIST 185A: The China Outside China: Hong
Kong, Taiwan, and Diaspora in the Making of
Modern China
Studies the history of the Chinese outside Mainland
China, from Hong Kong and Taiwan to Siberia and
Africa, 15th century to present day. Ambivalence to
ancestral homelands made these communities
valuable agents of transnational exchange and
embodiments of Chinese modernity. (nw ss wi)
X. Hang
T, Th 2:00-3:20 PM
Gender and Sexuality
NEJS 115B: Gender, Sexuality and the Bible
The Bible’s depiction of gender, relationships, and
social values in narrative, poetry, and law. Topics
include the legal status of women, masculinity,
prostitution, and how particular readings of the
biblical text have shaped modern ideas about gender
and sexuality. (hum)
J. Vayntrub
M, W, Th 1:00-1:50 PM
NEJS 166A: Carnal Israel: Exploring Jewish
Sexuality from Talmudic Times to the Present
Explores the construction of Jewish sexuality from
Talmudic times to the present. Themes include
rabbinic views of sex, niddah, illicit relations,
masculinity, medieval erotic poetry, Ashkenazi
and Sephardic sexual practices, sexual symbolism
in mystic literature; the discourse on sex, race, and
nationalism in Europe; debates about masculinity,
sexual orientation, and stereotypes. (hum)
C. Freeze
T, F 11:00-12:20PM
SOC 115A: Masculinities
Men's experiences of masculinity have only
recently emerged as complex/problematic. This
course inquires into concepts, literature, and
phenomenology of framings of masculinity. (ss)
G. Fellman
T, Th 3:30-4:50PM
SOC 121B: Religion, Gender, and Sexuality in
America: A Sociological Approach
Provides an introduction to the broad sociological
studies of religion, gender, and sexualities; it
considers in depth how people's religious
communities, practices, and identities both inform
and are informed by gender and sexuality. (ss)
M. Clendenen
M, W, Th 1:00-1:50PM
SQS 6B: Sexuality and Queer Studies
Examines cross-cultural and historical perspectives
on sexual meanings, experiences, representations,
and activist movements within a framework forged
by contemporary critical theories of gender and
sexuality. (hum ss)
T. King
M, W 2:00-3:20 PM
SQS 126A: Trans(gress)ing the ‘Normal’:
Transgender and Sex/Gender Nonconforming
Lives
Introduces the interdisciplinary field of
transgender studies. Social, cultural, political and
historical changes will be our focus in order to
gain a deeper insight into the formation and
circulation of "transgender" as a category, as well
as into transgender lives, identity and politics.
(ss)
A. Zengin
T, Th 5:00-6:20 PM