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 2013 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 160B African American Military History
Examines the role war and the military has played in the
history of African Americans from slavery to the present.
We will explore themes of violence, freedom, citizenship,
manhood, internationalism and civil rights. (ss)
Mr. Williams
M 9:00 AM – 11:50 AM
AAAS 168B The Black Intellectual Tradition
Broad introduction to the historical themes, issues, and
debates that constitute the black intellectual tradition.
Examines the works of male and female black intellectuals
from slavery to the present. Will explore issues of freedom,
citizenship, uplift, gender, and race consciousness. (ss)
Mr. Williams
M, W 3:30 PM – 4:50 PM
AMST 50B Religion in American Life
Considers the historical influence of religious belief on
various aspects of American political, cultural, legal, and
economic life. Topics include the use and effectiveness of
religious language in political rhetoric, from the American
Revolution to the War in Iraq; the role that religious belief
has played in galvanizing and frustrating various reform
movements; and the debate over the proper role of religion
in the public square. (ss)
Ms. Farrelly
T,Th 2:00 PM - 3:20 PM
AMST 123B Interfaith, Interethnic, Interracial
America
Focuses on how religion, ethnicity, and race contributed to
maintaining group separatism at some early points in
American history and intersected to create a unified
national identity at others. (ss)
Ms. McGinity
M, W, Th 1:00 PM - 1:50 PM
ANTH 160B Dirt, Disgust, and Contagion: The
Anthropology of Pollution
Explores the anthropological concepts of dirt and pollution.
What makes things repulsive to us and why? We examine
the culturally-specific significance of bodily boundaries,
fluids, and smells with particular emphasis on the
intersections between gender, race, hygiene, and morality.
(ss)
Ms. Hannig
T, F 9:30 AM - 10:50 AM
CLAS 192B Slavery in the Roman World (1st - 4th C.
CE)
Analyzes the world's first society with massive
enslavement. Topics include sources of slavery, slavery's
economic role, Roman, Jewish, and Christian legal
regulation, gender difference and sexuality, religious
teachings, daily life, punishment, incentives, and resistance,
and slavery's effects on the freeborn. (hum)
Ms. Brooten
M, W 5:00 PM - 6:20 PM
HISP 128B Picaros, Prostitutes, and Peasants:
Representations of the Underclass in Early Modern
Spain
Explores cultural expressions of privation and privilege
through the lenses of economic means, ethnicity, gender
and religion in early modern Spain. Texts include a
picaresque novel, a dialog set in a bawdy house, and a play
about class and gender violence. (fl, hum)
Ms. Fox
T, F 11:00 AM - 12:20 PM
NEJS 3A Introduction to Judaism, Christianity, and
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)
Mr. Decter
T,Th 3:30 PM - 4:50 PM
NEJS 149A The Jews of Muslim and Christian Spain
A survey of Jewish political, intellectual, and social history
in the Islamic and Christian spheres from the beginnings of
Jewish life in Spain until the expulsion in 1492. Students
develop skills in reading historical, literary, and
philosophical texts. (hum)
Mr. Decter
T, Th 2:00 PM – 3:20 PM
NEJS 155B Introduction to Jewish Legal Thought
Traces the history of Jewish law from the Bible to the
present. Jewish law is indispensable for understanding
Jewish life, past, present and future, and is a rich source of
reflection on law, ethics and religion. This course examines
contemporary debates and controversies and explores its
spiritual dimensions. (hum)
Mr. Mirsky
M, W 2:00 PM - 3:20 PM
NEJS 186B The Quran: Composition, Collection, and
Commentary
Examines the historical development and collection of the
Quran, and the emergence of the different schools of
Quranic commentary within various branches of Islam and
the central themes upon which they focus. Emphasis is
placed upon the guiding principles of Quranic commentary
and the way in which they give rise to a hermeneutical
tradition that is particular to Islam. (hum)
Mr. Lumbard
W 2:00 PM–4:50 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)
Mr. Nyangoni
T, F 12:30 PM - 1:50 PM
AAAS 133B The Literature of the Caribbean
An exploration of the narrative strategies and themes of
writers of the region who grapple with issues of
colonialism, class, race, ethnicity, and gender in a context
of often-conflicting allegiances to North and South
America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. (hum, nw, ss wi)
Ms. Smith
M, W 2:00 PM - 3:20 PM
ANTH 120B Environmental Anthropology of the
Middle East: Israel, Oman, and Beyond
Uses anthropological approaches to humans in their
environments, particularly cultural ecology and political
ecology, to examine the Middle East and North Africa. We
study the particular political systems, livelihoods,
landscapes, and belief systems that have developed
there. (ss)
Ms. McKee
M, W 2:00 PM - 3:20 PM
ANTH 129B Global, Transnational, and Diasporic
Communities
Examines social and cultural dimensions of globalization
from an anthropological perspective. Topics include the
impact of global capitalism upon indigenous communities,
global forms of popular culture and consumerism,
transnational migration and diasporas, changing
inequalities and gender systems, global sexual cultures, and
the AIDS pandemic. (ss)
Mr. Lino e Silva
T, F 11:00 AM–12:20 PM
ANTH 151B Nature, Culture, Power
Examines the relationships among human and natural
worlds. Topics include: the cultural production of
'wildness', the politics of conservation, indigeneity and the
environment, colonialism and natural resource extraction.
Ethnographies based on research in the United States,
Africa and Asia will enable students to explore how
anthropology offers insight into the pressing environmental
issues of today. (ss)
Mr. Anjaria
M, W 3:30 PM - 4:50 PM
FA 174A Art and Trauma: Israeli, Palestinian, Latin
American and United States Art
A comparative and critical examination of the various ways
in which personal traumas (illness, death, loss) and
collective traumas (war, the Holocaust, exile) find
meaningful expression in the work of modern and
contemporary artists from diverse regions. (ca)
Ms. Ankori
T 2:00 PM - 4:50 PM
FREN 150A Images of the Immigrant in French Media,
Literature, and Films
Examines how the image of the immigrant in modern
French both reinforces and challenges popular cliches. We
will look at how news reports, books, and films from the
French-speaking world help shape our understanding of
immigration. (fl, hum)
Ms. Donovan
M, W 1:00 PM - 1:50 PM/F 1:30 PM – 2:20 PM
IGS 170A The Rise of Brazil
Examines how Brazil now wields global influence in
energy, South-South politics, culture and environmental
affairs. This course looks at key elements - from the favela
to high finance, carnvial to Candomblé - that make up one
of the world's most dynamic societies. (ss)
Mr. Lino e Silva
T, Th 2:00 PM – 3:20 PM
JAPN 135A Screening National Images: Japanese Film
and Anime in Global Context
An introduction to some major directors and works of
postwar Japanese film and anime with special attention to
such issues as genre, medium, adaptation, narrative, and the
circulation of national images in the global setting. (hum,
nw)
Mr. Fraleigh
T,F 11:00 AM–12:20 PM
LGLS 123B Immigration and Human Rights
Examines American immigration policy in the context of
international human rights treaties and global practices.
Practical exercises highlight social and cultural
controversies surrounding refugee status and asylum
seeking. Explores tensions between domestic politics and
international law in guiding immigration reform. (ss)
Mr. Smith
M, W 5:00 PM - 6:20 PM
SOC 127A Gods and Nations: Identity in Global Politics
Examines three sources of identity that are influential in
global affairs: religion, ethnicity and nationalism.
Considers theories of the relationship among these
identities, especially "secularization theory," then reviews
historical examples such as Poland, Iran, Iraq, and Pakistan.
(ss, nw)
Mr. Rosenberger
M, W, Th 10:00 AM - 10:50 AM
Gender and Sexuality
ANTH 179B Women and War
Examines women in wartime, from small scale and ancient
societies to present day debates over gender and combat
roles; warfare, sex work, and sexual assault; women on
home fronts. Explores feminist and queer theory
perspectives on anti-militarism and military
formations. (ss)
Ms. Schattschneider
M, W 5:00 PM - 6:20 PM
ENG 54A Writing Women: Gender and Controversy in
the Enlightenment
Examines 17th- and 18th-century women's writings about
women, sampling a variety of discourses, genres, styles,
and arguments. We will read chronologically to get a sense
of how both the arguments and modes of writing change
over time. (hum)
Ms. Van Kley
M, W 5:00 PM - 6:20 PM
ENG 58B Women and Madness
Addresses literary representation of women and madness,
from psychoanalytic and socio-cultural perspectives, from
Medusa to the Bell Jar and beyond. Texts capture women's
struggles with mental illness as well as the cultural
institutions that define and regulate it. (hum)
Ms. Skorczewski
T, Th 3:30 PM – 4:50 PM
ENG 107A Women Writing Desire: Caribbean Fiction
and Film
About eight novels of the last two decades (by Cliff, Cruz,
Danticat, Garcia, Kempadoo, Kincaid, Mittoo, Nunez,
Pineau, Powell, or Rosario), drawn from across the region,
and read in dialogue with popular culture, theory, and
earlier generations of male and female writers of the
region. (hum)
Ms. Smith
M, W 5:00 PM – 6:20 PM
ENG 181A Making Sex, Performing Gender
Gender and sexuality studied as sets of performed traits and
cues for interactions among social actors. Readings explore
the possibility that differently organized gender and sexual
practices are possible for men and women. (hum)
Mr. King
T, F 12:30 PM – 1:50 PM/ F 2:00 PM – 2:50 PM
FA 69B Inventing Tradition: Women as Artists,
Women as Art
Provides an art-historical overview and a feminist critique
of gender and representation followed by select case studies
of the art and life of women artists. Examples include nonWestern art. (ca)
Ms. Ankori
T, F 11:00 AM–12:20 PM
HIST 142B History of Sexualities in Europe
Explores a social history of sexualities in Europe from
early modern to contemporary times. Topical emphasis on
changing patterns in kinship, child rearing, gender
differentiation, immodesty, and marriage. (ss)
Ms. Kelikian
T, F 11:00 AM - 12:20 PM
NEJS 115B Gender and the Bible
The Hebrew Bible, a complex work, reflects a wide range
of attitudes toward gender. This course examines these
attitudes as they are reflected in issues such as the legal
status of women, women in myths, leadership, prostitution,
masculinity, and the gender of ancient Israel's deity. (hum)
Mr. Brettler
T, Th 2:00 PM - 3:20 PM
NEJS 178B Masculinity and Femininity in Israeli Film,
Literature, and Culture
Focuses on Israeli film, literature, and culture, exploring
how film and literature represent and establish masculinity
and femininity. Examines the ways in which film and
literature reflect the politics, religions, conflicts, and
ideologies of Israeli society. (hum)
Ms. Szobel
T, Th 3:30 PM - 4:50 PM
SOC 115A Masculinities
Men's experiences of masculinity have only recently
emerged as complex and problematic. This course inquires
into concepts, literature, and phenomenology of many
framings of masculinity. The analytic schemes are
historical, sociological, and social-psychological. (ss)
Mr. Fellman
T, Th 3:30 PM - 4:50 PM
SOC 124A Gender and Human Rights
Examines the challenges and opportunities posed by
framing women's rights within an international human
rights discourse. Utilizes global case studies to explore how
gender shapes major social structures, including education,
work, the economy, the state and religion. (ss)
Ms. Clevenger
M, W, Th 1:00 PM - 1:50 PM
WMGS 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)
Staff
M, W, Th 11:00 AM–11:50 AM
WMGS 130B History of Sexuality in the United States
We will explore how shifting sexual behaviors, attitudes,
and identities changed the cultural, social, and political
meanings of sexuality over time. Moving chronologically
we will discuss how, when, and why sexuality became a
cultural and political battleground, a source of public
identity, an object of scientific study and legal regulation, a
commodity in the consumer economy, and the impetus for
the development of the gay, lesbian, and transgender
political movements. (ss)
Ms. Leslie
M, W 5:00 PM - 6:20 PM