Sociology

Sophomore and Above, Seminar—Fall

This course will explore issues of identity and difference, locality and community, through the lens of space and place. Engaging with recent scholarly work in the fields of sociocultural anthropology, migration studies, ethnic studies, sociology, geography, architecture, and literature, we will seek to decode sociospatial arrangements to understand structures and processes of exclusion and marginalization. At the same time, we will observe how material realities and linguistic discourse shape people’s navigations through space, and how efforts at placemaking create sites of collective identity, resistance, belonging, and recognition. We will ask questions such as: how should we understand notions of displacement, transborder identifications, or longings for homeland as they play out for Sierra Leonean Muslims in Washington, DC, Ecuadorian immigrants in Italy, or Indigenous Latin American migrants in California and Wyoming? How does “talk of crime” instantiate racial segregation in a Brazilian favela? What boundaries are created by gated communities in places like San Antonio, Texas and Mumbai, India? How does public policy police green spaces to restrict access by people who are unhoused in San Diego? What should we make of “placeless” spaces or states, such as those instantiated through technologies like social media, radio, or meditative practice? Posed in a wide range of ethnographic contexts, our efforts to puzzle through these issues will require attention to the ways in which space and place are spoken, embodied, gendered, racialized, and (il)legalized. We will likewise attend to the politics and ethics of decolonizing scholarship on space and place and to the meanings of an engaged anthropology that leans towards social justice.

Faculty

• Deanna Barenboim

Open, Small Lecture—Spring

In 1596, Elizabeth Tudor wrote to lord mayors of major English cities that there were “of late divers blackamoores brought into this realm, of which kind of people there are already here to manie ... those kinde of people should be sente forth of the land.” A common myth about Great Britain is that it was a homogeneously white nation until Jamaicans and South Asians arrived in Britain after World War II. Another myth is that there were no slaves held in Britain. As the above quotation indicates, free Black people were already settled there in the 16th century; and they were already the object of scapegoating for increasing poverty in the land at that time. The 17th century brought African slaves to Britain and, by the 19th century, the great ports of London, Bristol, Cardiff, and Liverpool were populated by West Africans (free and unfree); Lascars (Muslim sailors from east of the Cape of Good Hope); and seamen from Shanghai and Guangzhou, who created the first European Chinatown in the London Docks. In this course, we will investigate the multiracial nature of Great Britain from the Tudor era to the late 20th century. We will consider temporal moves between free and unfree lives and the role of free Africans in the abolition movement. Articulations of race, class, gender, and sexuality will be central, particularly as they play out in family formations and economic activities, including the rise of labor unions. We will wrestle with the absence of people of color in discourses about the British past and with constructions of racist stereotypes, particularly in the 19th century, such as scientific racism and the trope of the Chinese opium den. Finally, we will engage with cultural explosions in music (reggae, ska, two-tone, raga, punk), film (Bend It Like Beckham, My Beautiful Laundrette, Young Soul Rebels), scholarly writing (Paul Gilroy, Stuart Hall, Hazel Carby, Catherine Hall), and creative writing (Lemn Sissay, Jackie Kay, Linton Kwesi Johnson)—to name but a few—created by second-, and third-, generation children of Commonwealth immigrants particularly as they articulate with antiracism movements. Our class materials will be multidisciplinary (anthropology, history, literature) and multimedia.

Faculty

• Mary A. Porter

Sophomore and Above, Seminar—Spring

This course asks how contemporary immigration shapes individual and collective identity across the life course. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach that bridges cross-cultural psychology, human development, and psychological anthropology, we will ask how people’s movement across borders and boundaries transforms their senses of self, as well as their interpersonal relations and connections to community. We will analyze how the experience of immigration is affected by the particular intersections of racial, ethnic, class, gender, generational, and other boundaries that immigrants cross. For example, how do undocumented youth navigate the constraints imposed by “illegalized” identities, and how do they come to construct new self-perceptions? How might immigrants acculturate or adapt to new environments, and how does the process of moving from home or living “in-between” two or more places impact mental health? Through our close readings and seminar discussions on this topic, we seek to understand how different forms of power—implemented across realms including state-sponsored surveillance and immigration enforcement, language and educational policy, health and social services—shape and constrain immigrants’ understanding of their place in the world and their experience of exclusion and belonging. In our exploration of identity, we will attend to the ways in which immigrants are left out of national narratives, as well as the ways in which people who move across borders draw on cultural resources to create spaces and practices of connection, protection, and continuity despite the disruptive effects of immigration.

Faculty

• Deanna Barenboim

Open, Seminar—Year

How can movement inform critical analysis? What can dancing teach us about the workings of our world? In this seminar, we will begin with an extended reading/exploration of Alice Walker’s collection of poems, Hard Times Require Furious Dancing (2010) as entry into the multiple layers of meaning and complexity that movement can convey, pointing to the ways in which we move and are moved as individuals and as collectives. Readings from fields including dance, performance, literary criticism, feminism, science fiction, cultural studies, ethno-ecology, and activism, as well as examples of live and recorded performance events (formal and informal) will serve as inspiration for seeing, thinking, conversing and writing throughout the year. Students’ multiple histories and perspectives will illuminate vigorous examination of these materials. Class activities will include reading, writing, discussion, presentation, and accessible movement practices, as well as viewing art and film images. Assignments will build upon class activities, with opportunities to work with partners and small groups. For yearlong conference projects, supported through biweekly individual conferences, each student will develop one or more substantive lines of inquiry connected to our subject matter. Conference projects may draw upon various disciplines, including those within humanities and creative arts. The aim of this course is to expand our recognition of movement and dancing as essential aspects of existence, and to sharpen our use of the unique theoretical potentials inherent in this study to enliven adjacent studies as well.

Faculty

• Peggy Gould

First-Year Studies—Year

We live in the world of monopoly capitalism—a market economy dominated by big rent-seeking corporations with immense political and economic power domestically and internationally. What economic methods and theories are suited for understanding the historical development, current turbulence, and future tendencies of monopoly capitalism? We will engage in a series of critical conversations about various schools of economics and their logics of economic policy-making, in order to gain a well-rounded and holistic understanding of the business of global monopoly capitalism and its economic, social, and political ills. How did the financial market get so big? Why do artificial intelligence and manufacturing robots have to replace human work? How will global monopoly capitalism evolve socially, economically, and politically? And many other questions. Students will encounter not only the so-called “standard” economics and business thinking, but also a plurality of classical political economists such as Smith; Ricardo and Mill and their descendants; feminist economists; critical management scholars; the old and new institutionalists; the Marxian and Keynesian challengers; contemporary behavioral economists; and so on. Biweekly in fall, students will alternate between individual conferences with the instructor and small-group activities. Biweekly in spring, students will meet with the instructor for individual conferences. 

Faculty

• An Li

First-Year Studies—Year

The 2024 Presidential Election result will have far-reaching implications for economic, social, and environmental policies. It will also be significant in terms of the future of American democracy and social wellbeing. In this course, we will situate current economic and political challenges in a theoretical and historical context by drawing on insights from difference schools of thought in economics as well as other disciplines such as law, politics, sociology, and history. Some of the key questions to be addressed are as follows: How can the central debates in political economy help us understand some of the unprecedented challenges we face, such as new gilded age style wealth concentration and power, economic insecurity, and the climate crisis? Why is the study of history a central methodological priority for many economists and why not so for others? Why do people distinguish between “regulation” and laissez-faire and is this a false dichotomy? What is the history of industrial and social policy in the United States and other countries? How do we understand the relationship between political and corporate power and the “rule of law” with regard to market outcomes? What is Project 2025 and how can we understand its theoretical basis and implications? These and others will be some of the questions that we will be tackling throughout the course of the year, thereby ensuring that students develop a solid foundation to the fundamental debates in economic theory and policy and understand the key role of methodology in the study of political economy. Finally, the goal is to ensure that students develop the ability to critically engage scholarly work in economics. In fall until mid-semester, students will meet weekly with the instructor for individual conferences; thereafter through spring, individual conferences will be biweekly.

Faculty

• Jamee Moudud

Sophomore and Above, Seminar—Fall

Feminist economics arose as a critique of the androcentric and Eurocentric assumptions underlying mainstream, neoclassical economics. But over the past 30 years, feminist economics has developed into a coherent economic perspective that acknowledges and investigates power differentials in both the home and the market on the basis of race/ethnicity, gender, class, sexual orientation, nation, and disability status. Feminist economics takes seriously the crucial economic impact of caring labor, both paid and unpaid, in the home and the broader community. And it proposes alternate measures of economic success that emphasize bodily integrity, human agency, sustainability, and human rights. We will begin this course with a brief exploration of the historical context for the development of feminist economics; i.e., the rise of feminist movements in both the developed world and the Global South. We will then examine the differences between feminist and mainstream neoclassical economics by examining questions such as: What do we mean by “the economy”? Do transactions and activities have to be monetized to be “economic”? How is caring labor, both paid and unpaid, conceptualized in economics and how does the performance of this labor impact one's status in both the labor market and the household? The answers to these and similar questions will help us to reconceptualize economics to take account of all of the labor necessary to reproduce both individuals and social/economic structures. Finally, we will apply this reconceptualized, feminist vision of economics to questions of economic policy. We will examine a number of case studies including: a) the persistence of occupational segregation and wage differentials by gender and race and policies to mitigate these inequalities; b) the impact of domestic violence and other forms of non-market coercion on economic outcomes; c) the impact of reproductive control (or the lack thereof) on the economic trajectories of both individuals and societies; d) the (re)conceptualization and measurement of economic development and growth. In addition to class participation, requirements for the seminar will include frequent short papers on the readings, leading class discussions (in pairs), and participation in group presentations. In lieu of a traditional conference project, students may choose a service-learning project and an accompanying placement journal. Possible service-learning placement sites include a domestic violence shelter, a local LGBT support and advocacy organization, a reproductive rights group, and an organization advocating for the rights of domestic workers.

Faculty

• Kim Christensen

Intermediate, Seminar—Fall

Modern capitalist institutions are dynamic, complex, and unstable economic, political, and cultural systems that are constantly evolving. In this course, students will learn a new behavioral approach to microeconomics and how it can be applied to understanding today’s economic, financial, political, and environmental challenges and crises. We will depart from traditional microeconomics, which revolves around finding and analyzing a theoretically perfectly efficient steady state, but treats all unexpected economic disturbances and turbulence as anomalies caused by external shocks. Instead, we will target real-world, complex, open-ended situations in which interactions among heterogeneous people and social groups create internal shocks that can destabilize economic, business, and financial systems and drive them towards different pathways, including post-capitalist possibilities.

Faculty

• An Li

Open, Small Lecture—Year

This course on business history will situate business in its social and political contexts. At the core of the course is the argument that the economy is embedded in the political society and is thus subject to historical change. The study of business cannot be separated from politics and political struggle, which determine how society is legally constructed in any given moment in history. Thus, what is of often called “private enterprise” sits on a contextually determined set of power relations which shape and are in turn shaped by current legal institutions. Challenging the idea, common to conventional discourse, that economies can be more or less regulated, this course will focus on the politics of business regulation, which in some contexts has produced socially progressive outcomes and in others regressive ones. Regulation is ubiquitous and subject to variation given changed circumstances due say to an economic crisis, new technologies, global competition, socio-political pressures etc. In this course, the nature and politics of business regulation will be studied in different national and historical contexts, involving countries in the Global South (e.g. Mauritius, Chile, Brazil, the Indian state of Kerala, South Africa etc.) and the Global North (e.g. United States, Sweden, Germany, etc.). It will address a wide range of topics that include: (a) slavery, cotton, banking, and property rights in early American industrialization; (b) legal struggles between corporations and society over constitutional rights (e.g. what brought about the landmark Supreme Court case, Citizens United v. FEC (2010)?); (c) corporations and colonialism (e.g. the British East India Company, the Virginia Company, etc.); (d) business regulation during the post-Civil War Reconstruction Period; (e) late industrialization and social well being; (f) using the United States and Sweden as case studies, the construction of welfare states and workers’ attempts to secure social and economic rights; and (g) the history of the relationship between business associations and anti-democratic politics, including the links between Silicon Valley technolibertarians and digital capitalism (i.e. artificial intelligence and crypto currencies). At a theoretical level, the study of business history will be grounded in debates in microeconomics, theories of business investment and pricing, and the relationship between law, politics, history, and economics. This course will be of interest to students who wish to understand contemporary social and political challenges in a theoretically and historically informed way.

Faculty

• Jamee Moudud

Sophomore and Above, Seminar—Spring

In this course, we will explore the economic, political, and cultural factors that have contributed to the rise of authoritarianism in the United States and abroad. We will begin with a detailed examination of the current economic context; i.e., the crisis of neoliberal, globalized capitalism and its impact on various strata of the United States population. Next, we will examine several political economic perspectives on the rise of authoritarianism, including works by such theorists as Hobsbawm, Poulantzas, Gramsci, Paxton, and Gessen. We will examine Ehrenreich and Foer’s theories of the “professional managerial class” and recent reporting on techno-radicals to explore the class interests and adversaries of the current U.S. regime. We will discuss the contributions of patriarchal ideologies and institutions to the reproduction of hierarchical, gendered practices within homes and public institutions. We will examine the contributions of discriminatory immigration law and the histories of institutionalized racism to current immigration policies. Finally, using the works of, among others, McAlevey and Nakagawa, we will discuss ways to defend democratic communities and resist authoritarianism. Requirements will include frequent, short papers on the readings and co-leading class discussions. In lieu of individual conference papers, students will be asked to form small groups to investigate, write, and present on the rise of authoritarianism in another country or the history of an authoritarian movement (such as the KKK) within the United States. Possibilities may also exist for service-learning placements.

Faculty

• Kim Christensen

Intermediate, Seminar—Spring

When Keynes published The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money in 1936, he proposed a new, non-laissez-faire, realistic macroeconomic framework to stabilize the economy, control inflation, and promote full employment. However, since the 1970s, macroeconomics has experienced “decades of intellectual regress” and the current “post-real macroeconomics” says things that are “inconsistent with the facts.” In this course, we will depart from this “post-real macroeconomics.” We will learn a post-Keynesian approach that takes structural inequality, risk, uncertainty, and human irrationality seriously. We will learn how the post-Keynesian approach is better suited for understanding real economic tendencies and financial troubles under the current stage of monopoly capitalism, such as uncontrollable inflation, wage stagnation, financialization, economic polarization, growing indebtedness, and so on.

Faculty

• An Li

Open, Small Lecture—Fall

As the desire to engage in individual and collective efforts toward sustainable and climate-change mitigating solutions increases, this workshop offers an opportunity for students to explore the multiple ways in which “sustainability” can be fostered and developed at an institution like Sarah Lawrence College. Students will work in small groups on a variety of projects and produce research and educational material that can lead to concrete and actionable proposals for the College and our community to consider. Students will determine their own areas of interest and research, from energy and water-usage monitoring to composting solutions, recycling/reusing and consumer sobriety, landscaping choices, pollinators and natural diversity, food growing, natural and human history of the land, and community collaborations, to name a few. As part of their project efforts, students will engage with College administrators who are actively working toward sustainable solutions, as well as students, staff, and faculty groups such as the Warren Green vegetable garden, the Sarah Lawrence Interdisciplinary Collective on the Environment (SLICE), and the Sustainability Committee. We will also explore the possibility of writing grants in coordination with other actors at the College. Most of the course work will happen during class time. Skills in areas of any expertise are welcome, from environmental science to writing to visual and studio arts—but any interest in issues of sustainability and a strong sense of dedication will suffice.

Faculty

• Eric Leveau

Open, Small Lecture—Spring

As the desire to engage in individual and collective efforts toward sustainable and climate-change mitigating solutions increases, this workshop offers an opportunity for students to explore the multiple ways in which “sustainability” can be fostered and developed at an institution like Sarah Lawrence College. Students will work in small groups on a variety of projects and produce research and educational material that can lead to concrete and actionable proposals for the College and our community to consider. Students will determine their own areas of interest and research, from energy and water-usage monitoring to composting solutions, recycling/reusing and consumer sobriety, landscaping choices, pollinators and natural diversity, food growing, natural and human history of the land, and community collaborations, to name a few. As part of their project efforts, students will engage with College administrators who are actively working toward sustainable solutions, as well as students, staff, and faculty groups such as the Warren Green vegetable garden, the Sarah Lawrence Interdisciplinary Collective on the Environment (SLICE), and the Sustainability Committee. We will also explore the possibility of writing grants in coordination with other actors at the College. Most of the course work will happen during class time. Skills in areas of any expertise are welcome, from environmental science to writing to visual and studio arts—but any interest in issues of sustainability and a strong sense of dedication will suffice.

Faculty

• Eric Leveau

Sophomore and Above, Small Lecture—Spring

What is technology, and how does it shape our relationship with nature—especially amid environmental crisis? These questions might sound abstract, but they are central to how we understand the causes of environmental issues and the kinds of responses we think are possible. Some environmental thinkers see technology as the source of all our ecological and social problems; others see it as the solution to them. In order to evaluate these positions, let alone identify our own, we need to understand what different thinkers mean by technology, how deep down its mediation goes, and why it is so often framed as either the cause of our problems or a silver bullet fix. In this course, we will approach these questions by broadening what counts as technology. We start with familiar examples: things like solar, or artificial intelligence (AI). But then we ask what happens to our thinking as we expand the category. How does our view of “environmental problems” change if we imagine agriculture as a form of technology? Or writing? Or even language itself? Drawing on work from environmental humanities, science and technology studies, and philosophy, we will explore perspectives that see technology as fundamental to human existence, perspectives that see it as alienating or destructive, and perspectives that see it as enabling care and attention. Our goal will be, working together, to understand how different ways of thinking about technology open or foreclose different responses to environmental crisis. Lectures will introduce conceptual frameworks through readings, discussion, and collaborative exercises. Group conferences will provide opportunities for students to examine specific technologies, building practical skills in technological analysis and developing their own perspectives. Some of our topics may include: philosophy of technology; perception and mediation; writing and symbolic thought; AI and computational systems; technologies; Indigenous technological traditions; separation and embeddedness.

Faculty

• Ben Mylius

Open, Seminar—Fall

How do states develop their power? To what extent can people influence that power? Who are “the people”? This course will use the history of modern Mexico to consider broad questions of state formation and democracy. The Mexican Revolution of 1910 was a defining moment for the 20th century, but its legacy has been difficult to classify. From a decentralized peasant movement focused on agrarian reform to a centralizing nationalist project focused on state-building, the revolution was a mix of left- and right-wing tendencies. Mexico served as a refuge for figures like Leon Trotsky, Fidel Castro, and the Sandinistas, even as it became a hub for Latin American anticommunism in the Cold War. It fostered movements for indigenous rights, regional autonomy, gender, and LGBTQ rights but also saw the violent repression of student protests in 1968. This course will examine longstanding tensions between radicalism and conservatism in Mexican History, tracing their interplay with Catholicism, Marxism, and the Latin American Cold War, with special attention to Mexico–United States relations. Looking beyond simplistic narratives of Mexico’s “Institutional” Revolution, we will cover a range of topics, including the modernizing Porfirian period, the rural campaign of Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa, the nationalist presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas, anticommunism and the Cold War, student protests in 1968, rock music and counterculture in the 1970s, tourism and the creation of Cancún, the Zapatista movement in the 1990s, and post-NAFTA tensions around drug traffic in the neoliberal 21st century. The course will develop skills in historical methodology, using innovative or relevant historical scholarship and many types of primary sources, including, testimonies, music, visual arts, poetry, novels, and film. We will use the tools of history to construct competing narratives of revolution and nation in Mexico.

Faculty

• Jesse Horst

Open, Seminar—Fall

What is the relationship between migration and nation? How do people in movement shape political dynamics, state formation, and national identity? How is national membership maintained amid diaspora? This course will focus on the history of Cuba, but it uses Cuba’s history to address questions of broad relevance to Latin America and all modern societies. The Cuban Revolution was the first socialist revolution in the Western Hemisphere and a watershed moment for the Cold War. Taking power in 1959, rebels in Cuba toppled a dictatorship, defied the United States, and shocked the world. The Revolution became a beacon for the left throughout Latin America and a warning for the right. More than six decades later, its contested legacy is enough to tilt the balance in United States presidential elections. At the time of the revolution, Cuba was a nation of immigrants. Beginning with the forced migration of enslaved peoples from different regions of Africa, Cuba received waves of immigrants from across the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. After 1959, Cuba became primarily a sending nation, with an especially large, politically active diaspora in Florida. The past five years have seen the largest wave of emigration in Cuban history. This course will engage with active historical debates around migration, nation, and diaspora in Cuba. We will cover topics like the economic and political dynamics of Haitian and West-Indian migration to Cuba, the nationalist origins of the 1959 revolution, the evolving social dynamics of Latin Miami, LGBTQ politics in the Mariel Boatlift of 1980, and the mass arrival of Cubans via Nicaragua to the United States' southern border since protests in 2021. The course will develop skills in historical methodology, using innovative or relevant historical scholarship and many types of primary sources, including, testimonies, music, visual arts, poetry, novels, and film. We will use the tools of history to construct competing narratives of revolution and nation in Cuba.

Faculty

• Jesse Horst

Open, Seminar—Fall

Wars of the 19th and 20th centuries shaped Europe’s borders and societies. Ideas of the privileges of citizenship grew in tandem with the responsibilities of military service. Colonial expansion allowed militaries to test out new technologies and forms of rule, while expanding their empires. Armies were used to keep diverse empires together, not only through force, but also by creating a common sense of purpose and co-opting elites. Battles were a legitimate, legal way to decide territorial disputes, until they were not. In the course of the 20th century, wars of unimaginable destruction reshaped societies and expanded the boundaries of what was imaginable, including the destruction of all life on Earth. This course will examine the interplay of military and society from the early 19th century to the present. We will examine the relationship between citizenship and military service, war as politics, Europe’s colonial wars, mobilization and demobilization, the World Wars, Cold War, and the current crises in Europe. We will look at radical attempts to reimagine the place of the military by communists and fascists, the most destructive wars in recorded history, the long period of relative peace in Europe, the end of the Cold War and its aftermath.

Faculty

• Brandon Schechter

Open, Lecture—Spring

The 20th century revealed the potential for humans to destroy each other in new and shocking ways and also a variety of projects to create better people and governments. Europe was ground zero for both these disasters and attempts to mitigate them. It was the primary battlefield of both world wars, the laboratory of both fascism and communism, rebuilt by both capitalists and communists. In the latter half of the century, it formed a Union, moving beyond the nationalism that had defined much of its past. Europe was also a central stage of the Cold War, the point of contact between the capitalist and communist worlds, until—seemingly miraculously—the communist world imploded. Throughout the "short 20th century"—the period between the Great War and the fall of communism in Europe, a term coined by historian Eric Hobsbawm—and to this day, this space is haunted, another subject of this course. This lecture will cover major events and trends in Europe from the eve of the Great War to the fall of the Berlin Wall (with an epilogue). It will examine the major cultural and political events of the bloodiest century in recorded history. Among topics covered will be the World Wars, rise of dictatorships, Cold War, emergence of the European Union, the “end of history” and historical memory. Our readings will be divided between scholarship interpreting these events, primary sources, and films. We will continually ask what defines “Europe,” what its borders are, and think about the future of its past.

Faculty

• Brandon Schechter

Sophomore and Above, Large seminar—Spring

This seminar will provide an interdisciplinary analysis of the phenomenon of propaganda and mass communications within modern society. How does propaganda “work”? How should we characterize the individuals and institutions that shape and disseminate it? What are the specific languages and visual symbols that propagandists have typically used to persuade and communicate with mass audiences? How have both “democratic” and “authoritarian” societies sought to generate consent? And how, in turn, have individuals and social groups drawn the line between what is truth and what is propaganda? Although the manipulation of information for political ends has been intrinsic to human societies across history, this course will focus on the so-called “axial age of propaganda”—beginning with World War I, which saw the emergence of tightly organized, large-scale, government-sponsored propaganda efforts across Europe and the United States. This course will utilize a variety of case studies to explore the symbolic content of specific kinds of propaganda and the institutional milieux that produce it, paying attention to propaganda that seeks both to overthrow social structures and to maintain them. We will place special emphasis on the interwar period, when—amid the onset of totalitarian regimes in Europe—the very nature of “public opinion” and mass society were hotly debated by intellectuals and interpretive experts. The course will also closely investigate the emergence of mass communications “experts” during World War II and trace their role in shaping social-science research throughout the Cold War. Finally, the course will consider the ubiquity of propaganda in contemporary society, focusing on the role of image-making professionals working in the spheres of political campaigning, advertising, and public relations.

Faculty

• Matthew Ellis

Intermediate, Seminar—Year

This course will aim to improve and perfect the students’ speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills, as well as their knowledge of Italy’s contemporary culture and literature. In order to acquire the necessary knowledge of Italian grammar, idiomatic expressions, and vocabulary, a review of all grammar will be carried out throughout the year. As an introduction to modern Italian culture and literature, students will be introduced to a selection of short stories, poems, and passages from novels, as well as specific newspaper articles, music, and films in the original language. Some of the literary works studied will include selections from Umberto Eco, Italo Calvino, Natalia Ginzburg, Gianni Rodari, Marcello D’Orta, Clara Sereni, Dino Buzzati, Stefano Benni, Antonio Tabucchi, Alberto Moravia, Achille Campanile, and Elena Ferrante. In order to address the students’ writing skills, written compositions will be required as an integral part of the course. Biweekly conference topics might include the study of a particular author, literary text, film, or any other aspect of Italian society and culture that might be of interest to the student. In small groups, conversation classes will be held with the language assistant; students will have the opportunity to reinforce what they have learned in class and hone their ability to communicate in Italian. When appropriate, students will be directed to specific internship opportunities in the New York City area, centered on Italian language and culture.

Faculty

• Tristana Rorandelli

First-Year Studies—Year

As our societies address the challenges of climate change, it is important that we explore the implications of the concept of “nature” in the Western and Judeo-Christian tradition. In this course, we will read literary classics—such as Sophocles, Shakespeare, Mary Shelley, Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf, and Toni Morrison, among many others—and examine how they represent the environment, animals and the natural world in ways that directly shape our own perception of nature. We will take different approaches by comparing, for example, stories of world creation from Indigenous nations with narratives taken from the Bible and Greek and Roman texts, or exploring the combination of Celtic magic and Christian symbolism in medieval Arthurian romances, or examining how the aesthetic concept of the sublime is present in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as well as in the written account of the Lewis and Clark expedition up the Missouri River. Going in different directions, we will analyze how feminism developed new ways of relating to nature as counter-narratives to masculine domination, explore the questions of science, machines and technology, or examine how writers and philosophers have integrated animals in their thinking as a way to move beyond the “human-ist” understanding of nature inherited from European Renaissance. In previous iterations of this first-year studies course, students have developed a variety of personal projects: from how flowers are featured in Emily Dickinson’s poetry, or how a community farm in the Bronx challenges outdated urban-planning decisions, to the depiction of nature in Hayao Miyazaki’s films or in Jane Austen’s novels. In fall and spring, students will meet biweekly with the instructor for individual conferences, alongside weekly small group activities.

Faculty

• Eric Leveau

Open, Lecture—Fall

Variance, correlation coefficient, regression analysis, statistical significance, and margin of error. You’ve heard these terms and other statistical phrases bantered about before, and you’ve seen them interspersed in news reports and research articles. But what do they mean? How are they used? And why are they so important? Serving as an introduction to the concepts, techniques, and reasoning central to the understanding of data, this lecture course will focus on the fundamental methods of statistical analysis used to gain insight into diverse areas of human interest. The use, misuse, and abuse of statistics will be the central focus of the course, and specific topics of exploration will be drawn from experimental design theory, sampling theory, data analysis, and statistical inference. Applications will be considered in current events, business, psychology, politics, medicine, and many other areas of the natural and social sciences. Calculator and spreadsheet software will be used extensively in this course, but no prior experience with these technologies is assumed. Group conferences, conducted in workshop mode, will serve to reinforce student understanding of the course material. This lecture is recommended for anybody wishing to be a better-informed consumer of data and strongly recommended for those planning to pursue advanced undergraduate or graduate research in the natural sciences or social sciences.

Faculty

• Daniel King

Open, Lecture—Fall

Antonio Gramsci reportedly wrote, “The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.” He was commenting on the rise of fascism in Italy under Mussolini, but he saw the possibility that, after temporary struggle, something new and beautiful might be built to replace the old system. Recently, he has been quoted by political actors across the spectrum, arguing that we are living in an era of profound change, risk, and possibility. This course will begin by defining the international liberal order created in the wake of World War II, with the founding of the United Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. This period also saw the development of a new era of international law and the framing of human rights within the context of the Cold War. The international system was defined by two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. After the decolonial struggles of the post-war period, many Asian and African states entered the international system and sought to both accommodate themselves to some aspects of the system while seeking to challenge others. By 1989, as the bipolar world of the Cold War era was replaced with the unchecked dominance of the United States, Francis Fukuyama (in)famously proclaimed “the end of history,” defined by the full victory of the liberal world order, capitalism, and liberal democracy. Less than two decades later, the cracks in the system became apparent. In this course, we will follow the liberal triumphalism of the 1990s to the growing isolationism and illiberalism of the 2020s. As United States hegemony is increasingly challenged by the rise of China, and the unipolarity of the 1990s is likely to be replaced by a bipolar or even multipolar arrangement, we will attempt to understand the outlines of the new system, while recognizing its lack of permanence.

Faculty

• Yekaterina Oziashvili
• Elke Zuern

Open, Seminar—Year

In the midst of a seemingly polarized and anxious American polity, the 2026 election cycle will be a referendum on both President Trump and the 119th Congress. This course will attempt to contextualize the current state of social and political affairs in the United States and examine why so many Americans feel disillusioned about the economic and political scene. Many believe that the country is headed in the wrong direction. They see an economy that is not improving, a social and political world that is deeply divided and full of anger, and endless fighting about numerous topics, including gun control, immigration, the environment, and global engagement. These concerns will all have a potent impact on the outcome of the 2026 elections. This course will examine these current sentiments as the backdrop for understanding the 2026 electoral cycle. We will focus on what political science can tell us about electoral politics, with the electoral process itself being one of the most fundamental aspects of American democracy: allowing citizens to choose their representatives, from local county boards to the occupant of the White House. Accordingly, we will examine present and past research on numerous questions relating to elections, such as: Who votes and participates, how, and why? How does income, religion, race, and geographic region play into electoral behavior? What about institutions—such as electoral rules, various debates and the Electoral College? What about the role of mass media and social media platforms? What about the art of persuasion; that is, do campaigns matter or is it simply the economy? These are a sampling of the puzzles that we will tackle. And while the course will certainly spend a considerable amount of time looking at the presidency, we will also focus on Congressional races and local races, as well. This seminar will be an open, nonpartisan forum for discussion and debate. As such, the course will be driven by data, not dogma. We will use a variety of approaches based in logic and evidence to find answers to various puzzles about American policy and will treat this material as social scientist, not ideologues. Comfort with numbers and statistics is expected. This course will have an intensive reading and writing schedule—so please be prepared to devote the time.

Faculty

• Samuel Abrams

Sophomore and Above, Seminar—Year

Despite frequent pleas for unity from United States presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden, alongside the rise of groups such as BridgeUSA, Third Way, and No Labels to promote political centrism and compromise, the seemingly never-ending sociopolitical polarization appears to be the new norm in American political life—and it may not have reached its violent peak back in January 2021. To many politicians, pundits, and others alike, the social and political scene in the United States in the 21st century appears to be one of turmoil, disagreement, division, and instability. We regularly hear about a polarized and deadlocked political class; we read about increasing class and religious differences—from the alleged divides between Wall Street and Main Street to those who are secular and those who are religious; and we often see disturbing, dangerous, and violent images and actions from various politically-oriented groups. This seminar will look at the history of division in America and explore the puzzle of how to move on from this divided state. While the course will briefly examine the veracity of these recent impressions of the American sociopolitical scene, we will center our course on the question: Is policymaking forever deadlocked, or can real political progress be made? Moreover, what are the social and policy implications of polarization? How does the nation govern and function in the Trumpian political epoch, and are the political parties representing the will of the people? What about the impact of the 2024 elections? What are we to make of the frequent calls for change and for healing America’s divisions? In this seminar, we will examine these questions and deeper aspects of American political culture today. Covering a lot of ground from America’s founding to today, after reviewing some basics of the political economy, students will study American political cultures from a variety of vantage points with a number of different stories emerging. We will look at numerous aspects of American social and political life—from examining the masses, political elites, Congress, and policymaking communities to social movements, the media, and America’s position in a global community—all with a focus on policy and moving the country forward. This course will be driven by data, not dogma. We will use modern political-economy approaches based in logic and evidence to find answers to contemporary public-policy problems and questions of polarization. The material will be treated as social scientists, not as ideologues. Students should anticipate extensive reading. Comfort with data and statistics will be expected.

Faculty

• Samuel Abrams

Open, Seminar—Spring

The Council on Foreign Relations has succinctly noted: “The future is African.” This course will offer a comprehensive introduction to international politics from the perspective of African states and societies. We will consider how states on the continent are shifting global politics from economic relations and consumer trends to ideals of democracy and development. We will begin our exploration by considering the dramatic changes that African societies have experienced from colonialism to decolonization to the present. We will engage key questions regarding postcolonial governance and popular demands for democracy. How have Africans engaged their governments to call for reform or revolution? Where has this led to effective democracies? Why have some states experienced civil wars? What role have external influences, from Western aid to the expansion of Chinese influence, played on the continent? We will consider the demands of protesters and the causes for rebellion and seek to understand both pressure for and resistance to reform. At the end of the semester, students will simulate the United States National Security Council to debate a U.S. response to an imagined political crisis on the African continent. Finally, we will end the term with an exploration of what an “African future” will mean not just for Africans but also for societies across the globe.

Faculty

• Elke Zuern

Intermediate, Seminar—Spring

Thomas Hobbes believed that the State, or what he called the Leviathan, was the necessary result of individuals trying to escape from a state of nature, where existence was “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” Charles Tilly compared states to racketeers; Vladimir Lenin, following the lead of Marx and Engels, wrote that the State exists to maintain the domination and oppression of one class by another. John F. Kennedy famously proclaimed, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country,” demanding Americans’ unquestioning, altruistic loyalty to the State. And for about two centuries, communists, socialists, anarchists, and social democrats have debated whether the State must be reformed, overthrown, or abolished in the name of democracy, equality, and popular sovereignty. These different and often contradictory approaches reveal that there is no common agreement on the nature or role of the State. So, what is the State? Where did it come from? What are the sources and limits of its power? Why does it have so much control over our lives? These are the questions that we will ask in this course. We will pay special attention to the relationship between the development of the modern state and capitalism; the rise of the welfare state, the epitome of modern state power; and state violence. We will discuss alternative visions of the State’s role and responsibility and ask: Do we need the State, and can we make the State work for us?

Faculty

• Yekaterina Oziashvili

Intermediate/Advanced, Seminar—Spring

The events of September 11, 2001 unleashed a bitter and contentious debate regarding not just how states and societies might best respond to the threat of violence but also, fundamentally, what qualifies as terrorism. Just nine days later, and without resolving any of these difficult issues, the United States announced its response: The Global War on Terrorism. Two and a half decades later, we are no closer to consensus concerning these politically and emotionally charged debates. Americans are also belatedly beginning to realize that the greatest threat of terror attacks in the United States originates from domestic rather than foreign actors, often white nationalists. This course will investigate the use of violence by state and non-state actors to assert their authority and to inspire fear. The modern state, as it was formed in Western Europe, was born of war. In Charles Tilly’s often-quoted phrase: “War makes states, and states make war.” The ability to control violence within a territory has long been a key part of the definition of a functioning state. The presence of armed groups on a state’s territory, which the state does not or cannot effectively control, is therefore a direct challenge to a state’s authority and has the potential to undermine its recognition as an international actor. This course will discuss the evolution of the terminology of terror and terrorism from the French Revolution to the present and consider frameworks to distinguish forms of violence and different types of violent actors. We will explore acts of state terror and their consequences and consider the use of the term ”terrorism” in the popular press, in political rhetoric, and in policymaking by states and international organizations. We will consider a range of nonstate actors that have employed violence—including South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC), Sri Lanka’s Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and white nationalists in the United States—and explore the impact their use of violence has had for their popular support, for local and transnational communities and their ability to achieve their goals. Finally, we will consider new means of terror from drone warfare to cyber warfare. As part of our discussion of United States foreign policy. We will conduct a Model Diplomacy simulation in which students will assume the roles of members of the United States National Security Council (NSC).

Faculty

• Elke Zuern

First-Year Studies—Year

This course will consider several different ways to get insight into the world of the child. You were all children once, and though memory is imperfect, memories of childhood can still be useful. Psychologists such as Ainsworth, Piaget, Bandura, Gopnik, and Vygotsky have observed children, made systematic observations, and done laboratory research. Clinicians such as Freud and Erikson add ideas that come from their work with patients. In this course, another important source of insight will be your own observations as a participant-observer in our Early Childhood Center (ECC), a school for children between the ages of two and six. The theories and experiments raise questions that you can ask of your own observations—for example, what do you notice about the emotions of young children on the first day of their classes. Fieldwork at the ECC typically gives rise to ideas for the focus of your conference project. In the past, conference work projects have taken up topics such as children’s friendship, children’s block-building, shyness, and doing a case study of an individual child. In fall, students will meet weekly with the instructor for individual conferences; in spring, individual conferences will be biweekly.

Faculty

• Charlotte L. Doyle

Intermediate, Seminar—Fall

How does the human mind represent the world? How do these representations vary across people? Could using a different language change how we experience time—or even how we see color? Seemingly straightforward concepts such as “in” versus “on” mean different things in different cultures; and words such as “two” and “three” may not be linguistically universal. Indeed, this very course description makes culturally-specific assumptions about psychology and implicitly assumes objectivity. At the same time, humans seem to share many central experiences, such as perceiving events, creating categories, and recalling the past. In this course, we will draw on research from psycholinguistics, cognitive development, and cultural psychology to learn cognitive science in a larger context. Critically, we will consider how these fields have been affected by a focus on Western, white, industrialized experiences. The course will investigate the broader social and ethical consequences of these assumed perspectives and explore insights and challenges that emerge when we step out of them. We will draw on primary and secondary sources, including scientific research articles, literature, and recordings. Students will develop projects in conference work that combine their interests with the course content, such as designing an experiment to test cross-linguistic effects on visual attention, analyzing vocabulary from languages other than English, or developing proposals to redesign existing experiments using culturally-informed practices.

Faculty

• Sammy Floyd

Intermediate, Seminar—Fall

We have time, energy, questions, and few responsibilities. We want to push the envelope, resist compromise, lead revolutions, and turn the world upside down. Because we do not yet know quite how to be, we have not settled and will not let the dust settle around us. —Karlin and Borofsky, 2003

Many traditional psychological theories of development posit a brief transition from adolescence to adulthood; however, many people moving into their 20s experience anything but a brief transition to “feeling like an adult,” pondering questions such as: How many SLC alums can live in a Brooklyn sublet? What will I do when I finish the Peace Corps next year? In this course, we will explore the psychological literature concerning emerging adulthood, the period from the late teens through the 20s. We will examine this period of life from a unified biopsychosocial and intersectional perspective. This course will be a hands-on introduction to conducting qualitative and quantitative psychological research on the intersection of race/ethnicity, gender, and sexuality with people in emerging adulthood.

Faculty

• Linwood J. Lewis

Advanced, Seminar—Fall

In this research internship course, students will gain research experience through active engagement in a psychology research lab with a member of the psychology faculty. This will involve an internship within a research lab on campus, including a weekly lab meeting, a weekly collaborative meeting across labs, ongoing contributions towards research and practice within their lab and/or community settings, additional individual and group meetings as needed, and additional synchronous and asynchronous research work. Weekly lab meetings will involve reading and discussing research articles and research-methods papers specific to the topics of research being undertaken by each student and faculty member. Students will be expected to learn the current research approaches being employed by their supervising faculty member and to contribute toward ongoing research in the form of a research practicum. They may also have the opportunity to develop and implement their own independent research projects within the labs in which they are working, depending on lab priorities. Students will be expected to make progress on research projects between meetings, as determined in collaboration with their primary supervising faculty.

The weekly collaborative cross-labs meeting will include readings on, and discussions of, research methods and ethics—both broad and specific to the research in which students are involved—as well as the discussion of contemporary research articles that are relevant to student and faculty research projects. All faculty and students involved in the research experience will take turns leading the discussion of current research, with faculty taking the lead at the beginning of the semester and students taking the lead as their expertise develops. 

Students participating in the course will be expected to attend and actively participate in weekly collaborative cross-labs meetings and weekly lab meetings; keep an ongoing journal and/or scientific lab notebook; select and facilitate group and lab discussions of relevant contemporary research articles (at least once for each meeting type); work within a lab and/or community setting, as appropriate for their projects; contribute toward ongoing research and practice within their lab or community settings; report on their ongoing lab research in the form of a short paper prepared for possible publication and a poster at the Science and Math Poster Symposium; and provide their colleagues with ongoing verbal and written feedback on their projects. Students will be responsible for working collaboratively with their colleagues to further develop their understanding of each of the topics covered in class.

Faculty

• Kim Ferguson
• Linwood J. Lewis
• Maia Pujara
• Sammy Floyd

Sophomore and Above, Seminar—Spring

This course asks how contemporary immigration shapes individual and collective identity across the life course. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach that bridges cross-cultural psychology, human development, and psychological anthropology, we will ask how people’s movement across borders and boundaries transforms their senses of self, as well as their interpersonal relations and connections to community. We will analyze how the experience of immigration is affected by the particular intersections of racial, ethnic, class, gender, generational, and other boundaries that immigrants cross. For example, how do undocumented youth navigate the constraints imposed by “illegalized” identities, and how do they come to construct new self-perceptions? How might immigrants acculturate or adapt to new environments, and how does the process of moving from home or living “in-between” two or more places impact mental health? Through our close readings and seminar discussions on this topic, we seek to understand how different forms of power—implemented across realms including state-sponsored surveillance and immigration enforcement, language and educational policy, health and social services—shape and constrain immigrants’ understanding of their place in the world and their experience of exclusion and belonging. In our exploration of identity, we will attend to the ways in which immigrants are left out of national narratives, as well as the ways in which people who move across borders draw on cultural resources to create spaces and practices of connection, protection, and continuity despite the disruptive effects of immigration.

Faculty

• Deanna Barenboim

Advanced, Seminar—Spring

In this research internship course, students will gain research experience through active engagement in a psychology research lab with a member of the psychology faculty. This will involve an internship within a research lab on campus, including a weekly lab meeting, a weekly collaborative meeting across labs, ongoing contributions towards research and practice within their lab and/or community settings, additional individual and group meetings as needed, and additional synchronous and asynchronous research work. Weekly lab meetings will involve reading and discussing research articles and research-methods papers specific to the topics of research being undertaken by each student and faculty member. Students will be expected to learn the current research approaches being employed by their supervising faculty member and to contribute toward ongoing research in the form of a research practicum. They may also have the opportunity to develop and implement their own independent research projects within the labs in which they are working, depending on lab priorities. 

The weekly collaborative cross-labs meeting will include readings on, and discussions of, various concepts in research related to open science practices, finding funding/grant writing, collecting and analyzing data, as well as the discussion of contemporary research articles that are relevant to student and faculty research projects. All faculty and students involved in the research experience will take turns leading the discussion of current research, with faculty taking the lead at the beginning of the semester and students taking the lead as their expertise develops. 

Students participating in the course will be expected to attend and actively participate in weekly collaborative cross-labs meetings and weekly lab meetings; keep an ongoing journal and/or scientific lab notebook; select and facilitate group and lab discussions of relevant contemporary research articles (at least once for each meeting type); work within a lab and/or community setting, as appropriate for their projects; contribute toward ongoing research and practice within their lab or community settings; report on their ongoing lab research in the form of a short paper prepared for possible publication and a poster at the SciMath Poster Symposium; and provide their colleagues with ongoing verbal and written feedback on their projects. Students will be responsible for working collaboratively with their colleagues to further develop their understanding of each of the topics covered in class.

Faculty

• Kim Ferguson
• Sammy Floyd

Open, Seminar—Spring

There is perhaps no one who has not heard the name of a seemingly obscure carpenter’s son, executed by the Romans around the year 33 CE. Why? His friends and followers preserved the memory of his life and teaching orally and then, after the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 CE, in written records we have today in the Christian Bible’s New Testament. This course will focus on the Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Why were they written, what do they have to say, and how were they intended to be read? To do this, we will immerse ourselves in the religion of the Holy Land—that is, the various forms of Judaism and the role of the dominant world empire of Rome. Our study will consist mainly of primary texts in the New Testament, but we will also have recourse to some rabbinic materials, as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Faculty

• Ron Afzal

Sophomore and Above, Seminar—Fall

Why have trans bodies become central to brain imaging studies? Can facial recognition technologies identify queerness? Why do animals such as “gay penguins” attract outsized scientific and cultural attention? More broadly, how did science come to position itself as an authority on sex, gender, and sexuality, and how does that history shape our lives today? This interdisciplinary course will examine how science has defined queerness—and how queer critiques have reshaped it in return. It will trace sex and sexuality science from racialized theories of evolution and sexual dimorphism to contemporary biomedical and computational technologies that claim access to bodily truths. The course will ask how critique can be put into practice when struggles for queer survival and rights have often depended on recognition by scientific and state institutions, and whether science itself can be reworked through queer commitments. The course will combine social theory with hands-on engagement across disciplines through field trips, artistic and activist encounters, and interdisciplinary readings. Students will examine how knowledge is produced not only in laboratories and clinics, but also through art and digital media, using these sites to reflect on the stakes of scientific classification in everyday life. Throughout, we will emphasize the political construction of scientific knowledge and consider how queer inquiry might transform both science and the worlds it helps make. Conference projects may include archival research on the history of sex; ethnographic or interview-based studies; critical analyses of biomedical or computational technologies (such as medical devices or artificial intelligence); or fieldwork in museums, labs, clinics, or community organizations. Students may also design interdisciplinary projects that rethink scientific methods, classification, or public science through queer and trans critique.

Faculty

• Carlo Sariego

Sophomore and Above, Seminar—Fall

Shame is always a social problem. In this writing workshop, we will embark upon a study of shame and culture in order to consider how it emerges as both a boon and a stricture for writing from different perspectives and out of varying aesthetic and political needs. We will think about the consistency of what can or “cannot” be written along party lines, psychological barriers, or potential social punishment—and why. We will consider a few examples of pushing through taboo or potential humiliation, and why it is important that we continue trying to do so, against increasing fears of abandonment or being misunderstood.

Faculty

• Joseph Earl Thomas

Sophomore and Above, Seminar—Spring

In addition to being the title of Michael Clune’s memoir or a theory in the hands of McKenzie Wark, video games have now invaded social space—and, therefore, our literary imaginations—in a way that would have been unthinkable 30 years ago. And yet, how do we write about games? About the experience both of playing these aesthetic objects and living in an arguably gamified world with the same intensity, curiosity, and rigor that we might otherwise bring to any centuries-old ekphrastic attempt? In this course, we will query the limits, techniques, and new forms of nonfiction writing made possible through video games, taking the anthology Critical Hits: Writers Playing Video Games as a springboard for our own experiments through short exercises and workshop. We will focus on the interplay between social position and form where, rather than an escape, video games pose new questions of difficulty in prose and in life. No experience playing video games will be required, though this will certainly not hurt; smaller indie games may be used as examples. 

Faculty

• Joseph Earl Thomas