YESHIVA COLLEGE CORE COURSES
SPRING 2017
CONTEMPORARY WORLD CULTURES
COWC 1002
Section 621
DIASPORA LITERATURE
F 10-12:30
PROF. E. STEWART
Literature, film, and music of the 20th and 21st centuries relating to mass migrations and massive historical
dispersals of peoples, the dissemination of cultures, and their encounters with other cultures. African,
Asian, and Jewish diasporic literatures with one emphasis on American “minor” literatures (Asian
American, African American, Jewish American) and another on more recent Middle Eastern migration.
Many of the authors we read are seminal within the canon of World Literature. The literary texts are read
in historical and geographical context and in conjunction with social science and cultural studies analyses
of diasporic experiences and formations of ethnic and national and transnational identities.
While the focus of the course will vary from semester to semester this semester the course will devote
significant attention to the issue of race in America as well as to contemporary mass migrations from the
Middle East in the context of global violence, terrorism, war on terror.
Topics: the relationship between western and non-western cultures; “minor” and “major” cultures, “race,”
cultural hybridity, nationalism, religion, radicalization in the diaspora experience, and “holy war” in the
context of colonialism, neocolonialism, and globalization; authoritarianism, violence, and cultural politics
in developing nations; the relationship between culture, history, and politics.
Texts/Films by Peter Weir, Douglas Sirk, Caryl Phillips, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Alice Walker, V.S. Naipaul,
Philip Roth, Randa Jarrar, Amos Oz, and others.
COWC 1015
Section 241
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
MW 4:30-5:45
PROF. H. KOSAK
Social movements and protest politics have become a familiar presence in our contemporary political
landscape. Occupy Wall Street (known also as “We are the 99%”), Tea Party, and Black Lives Matter, are
but three familiar examples we will examine. Although our survey will begin with American movements
(and some counter movements) of the 19th and 20th century such as the abolitionist movement, women’s
movements, the KKK, and Civil Rights movement, we will also cross political boundaries and examine
equally memorable Arab Spring movements of 2011, which inspired movements in many parts of the
world, including Israel.
How and why these movements come to dominate our current political life are some of the topics of the
course. These questions are subjects of inquiry for variety of disciplines: history, sociology, and political
science. In this course, we will explore some of the theories of these disciplines, while addressing the
following topics: the grievances and frustrations with the established political, social, or cultural order;
movement ideology and its political culture; process of mobilization and organization, and the role of
social media in contemporary movements. The survey will also explore the broad question how change
may occur (economic, political, social, cultural) by looking at the groups that strive to bring it about.
Requirements: Two exams (25% each), and two papers (short paper 15%, and a research paper 25%).
Class participation will count for 10% of the final grade.
For their research papers, students will choose a contemporary social movement or a historical
movement. Depending on the choice, students will make use of sources such as newspapers, movement
websites, journals, periodicals, books, oral interviews, and other primary sources. Details will be
discussed in class.
COWC 1026H
FACE-TO-FACE:
COMPLEX MODERN IDENTITIES IN CONTEMPORARY FILM
Section 261
M 6:45-9:15 P
PROF. E. STEWART
The basis of identity is to a large extent visual, and images are the bricks and mortar of what we
eventually come to think of as cultural identity. As Aristotle claimed, we learn to become ourselves by
imitating what we see (on the stage) in front of us—for us, the film screen; we become ourselves by
imitating our cultural ideals. We see ourselves and others represented in the movies, and we are free both
to cherish and to challenge those images. This course explores the role cinematic images play in creating
narratives about identity, about alterities, and about the complex modern world. It explores how American
and foreign film represents various racial, class, gender, ethnic, and national identities, and how it
reproduces and challenges those representations at the same time. A second, clearly related, focus will be
the role affect or emotion plays in our experiences of film.
Films include: Crash, Cache, Zelig, Birth of a Nation, Beasts of No Nation, American History X, My Big
Fat Greek Wedding, Do the Right Thing, Farewell My Concubine, John Q, My Beautiful Laundrette, and
more.
Course requirements: midterm, final, 1-2 pp short analysis, 3-4pp scene analysis, short Canvas posts.
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COWC 1027
Section 241
GLOBAL ENGLISHES
MW 4:30-5:45
PROF. L. FITZGERALD
English is a unique cultural phenomenon. As the official language in countries on all of the continents and
with more contact with other languages than any other, it has the broadest linguistic sweep. Moreover, as
the de facto lingua franca by which many millions of people conduct business, it is inextricably connected
to globalization—as both a cause and a result. This dominance has had enormous consequences. For
instance, English is sometimes referred to as a “killer” language because as countries, communities, and
individuals depend on it more and more, other languages lose speakers and are eventually forgotten at an
alarming rate. Conversely, as the varieties of English become increasingly diverse, the globalization of
English could very well result in its “death” as an individual language.
This course will help students understand how English achieved this dominance (at least so far), how this
dominance influences individuals and cultures worldwide, and how languages and globalization operate
in relation to culture. Above all, we’ll address why all of this matters to those of us who use English in
our daily lives, at work, and in the University (including the unique sociolinguistic context of YU) by
considering how scholars in sociolinguistics, psychology, history, global studies, and writing studies as
well as journalists around the world provide us with insight into this far-reaching phenomenon.
Multilingual and international students especially welcome!
Requirements: weekly readings and videos; online discussion posts and in-class quizzes, informed
participation in class discussions, a 5-page research-based paper, a group project and presentation, and
final exam.
This course will fulfill the WI (Writing Intensive) requirement.
COWC 1381
Section 231
JAZZ AND BLUES
MW 3-4:15
PROF. J. SCHAPIRO
Jazz and Blues takes a look at the history of American music through the lens of the various styles
residing under the umbrella term of jazz. We will try to define jazz and lean on its history for defining
characteristics common among so many styles. Special attention will be given to the Blues both as a style
separate from jazz and as a force that has influenced a large percentage of the music of the 20th Century,
especially (but not exclusively) in North America. Throughout the term, we focus on cultures in
American history as they develop out of a normal historical process (e.g. the Creoles, teenagers as radio
grows in importance, Harlem as a nexus of Black culture, and America’s very general cultural shift from
an agrarian people to an industrialized and more Northern/urban society).
Students will be exposed to the work of famous and influential greats like Armstrong, Ellington, Parker,
Miles Davis, and Coltrane. They will also read materials, see videos, and hear the music of the influential
personalities and important trends that shaped jazz, either temporarily or permanently. Marshall
Stearns’ The Story of Jazz will help us to understand how slavery had varied effects depending on where
music was being made. For example, Stearns’ book will demonstrate how the music of slaves and their
descendants developed differently in Cuba, Brazil, Louisiana, Texas. Important historical points in the
southern US will be covered as they too are crucial to understanding how American styles came about.
CULTURES OVER TIME
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CUOT 1009
Section 211
FRANCE AND ITS OTHERS
MW 1:30-2:45
PROF. RACHEL MESCH
While the notion of a cultural “melting pot” is central to American society, French society has been
structured around a distinctly French notion of universalism: the idea that there are core universal values
that must supersede those of any minority subculture. Thus, although Americans regularly embrace
multiple identifications—as African-Americans, or Jewish Americans, for example­—in France that
double alliance is largely experienced as a tension. This class traces the roots of that tension by examining
ways that otherness has inspired and troubled the French imagination through literary, historical and
philosophical readings by major French writers from the 1500s to the present day. From Montaigne’s
cannibals to the noble savages of Enlightenment texts, from Zola’s “J’accuse!” to the story of Babar, from
the female other to the other as Jew to the other as Jewish female, we will explore the myriad ways
through which France has imagined its others. By the end of the semester, we will use all that we have
learned to engage more deeply with current conflicts in French society.
CUOT 1010H
Section 231
COFFEE, COFFEEHOUSES &
THE CREATION OF MODERNITY
MW 3-4:15
PROF. C. LEVIN
Coffee, one of the most valuable commodities traded on world markets, is ubiquitous in contemporary
American culture - so much so that it’s difficult to imagine that there was a time before coffee. But there
was. Coffee wasn’t introduced into the Ottoman Empire until the end of the fifteenth century and into
Europe until the seventeenth century. The world at the end of the eighteenth century looked very different
than it had at the beginning of the sixteenth, and coffee had much to do with it.
The early modern world saw the birth of many aspects of culture and society that we consider “modern,”
including “nightlife” in all its varieties; a bourgeois “middle class;” “consumerism,”a “public sphere” and
“globalization.” Together we’ll analyze the central role coffee as beverage, drug, commodity and artifact
of daily life played in their creation and in the creation of what we’ve come to know as “modernity.”
We will examine the introduction and reception of coffee in the late medieval Ottoman world and in
seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe. Using journalistic, literary, and visual sources we will
explore how multiple societies responded to the introduction of coffee - a novel, foreign and exotic drink as well as how the eventual European thirst for coffee impelled the development of a system of
colonialism or world trade. Drawing on approaches from disciplines including history, sociology and
anthropology, we will trace how coffee, an everyday object, transformed various cultures into which it
was introduced. We’ll also consider how the act of drinking coffee took on divergent political and cultural
symbolism in disparate contexts, including the Ottoman world, European nations, and colonial
societies. We’ll devote time in class to analysis and close reading of primary sources, including texts of
multiple genres as well as images.
Written assignments include brief "webquests,"which ask you to evaluate information on the web as it
relates to questions we're asking about coffee; two essays which will give you the opportunity to think
about the ideas we're discussing in the context of the contemporary coffeehouse and with respect to a
commodity other than coffee; and a final exam. Coffee drinkers and non-coffee drinkers are of course
welcome.
CUOT 1011
Section 241:
CULTURES OF REVOLT
MW 4:30-5:45
PROF. J. AROOSI
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Our current political and social reality is deeply indebted to the political revolutions of the late 18th and
early 19th centuries, such as the American, French, and the Haitian revolutions, each of which ushered in
radically new forms of government. However, in many ways these political revolutions served as an
energizing spirit for movements that wanted to transform society too. The past two centuries have
therefore seen diverse social revolutions take place, as social movements like the workers movement, the
feminist movement, and the civil rights movement drew strength from these political revolutions, so that
they could then reorganize social life. It is against this backdrop that this class unfolds, as we explore the
complex ideas of freedom that have both inspired these revolutionary movements, but that have also
emerged as a result of them. Reading a selection of texts in philosophy, politics, psychology, literature,
and drama, and developing our ideas in essays rather than exams, we will gain a better understanding of
the type of freedom that continues to form the foundation for our own social and political lives.
Course requirements: three papers, equally weighted, that total to 85% of the grade. And then 15% for
participation.
CUOT 1018
Section 341
HISTORY OF LAW
TTh 4:30-5:45
PROF. D. BURGESS
This course examines the development of western law from an historical perspective. Through a
combination of lecture and discussion of assigned readings, students will be introduced to the
foundational documents of the law, their historical context, and their relevance to modern jurisprudence.
Students will be expected to recognize and comprehend major themes of private and public law, the
relationship of subject and sovereign, rights of the individual, law and statecraft, and the philosophy of
law.
Course Requirements: 25% class participation & attendance; 35% midterm; 40% final exam
CUOT 1026
Section 621
HISTORY OF THE ALPHABET
F 10-12:30
PROF. A. KOLLER
In this course, we will study the invention of the alphabet about 4000 years ago, and its spread throughout
much of the world over the following 2500 years. We will learn about the differences between an
“alphabet” and other forms of writing, and read the earliest alphabetic inscriptions from Egypt and Sinai.
Then we will investigate the cultural contacts between the Levant and the Arabian peninsula to the east,
and the Greek world to the west, that allowed the alphabet to spread to those regions. We will also read
inscriptions from the world of biblical Israel and its neighbors, to look at how writing became part of
cultural identities in the Near East. We will follow the development of the alphabet through Aramaic
scripts and into Nabatean, Syriac, and eventual Arabic, among others.
CUOT 1027
Section 331
BELIEF & RELIGIOUS COMMITMENT
TTh 3-4:15
PROF. S. CARMY
What is the difference between knowledge and true belief? How do reasonable people justify or revise
their beliefs? Is arriving at and sustaining belief significantly different in religion from other areas? Do
differences between religions or crises within religions or the state of science have a significant impact on
how belief is acquired and maintained? Are there connections between these questions and the kind of
commitment that results?
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Though attention will be paid to recent views in general theory of knowledge and philosophy of religion
such as “Reformed epistemology,” foundationalism, reliabilism etc. which provide a framework for
discussion, the primary stress will be on classical thinkers whose work continues to have relevance for the
present. Time permitting there will also be some discussion of imaginative literature and the history of
science.
The major classical figures include: Plato, Rambam, Descartes, Hume, Pascal, Kierkegaard, Newman, W.
James and Wittgenstein.
Writing: 3-5 assignments (about 10-12 pages in all) will either invite your own thought or reaction to
articles. Knowledge of material and ability to write clearly about it will be assessed through final
examination.
Most classic authors and almost all journal articles are available online. Other books and articles will be on
Reserve at Pollack Library.
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EXPERIMENTAL AND QUANTITATIVE METHODS
EXQM 1005
Section 261
COMPARING ADVANCED CAPITALIST DEMOCRACIES
MW 6:45-8:00 pm.
PROF. R. GENOVES
This course is an introduction to the use of quantitative data in cross-national research. We focus on the
advanced political economies of the United States, various European countries, and Japan. The goal is to
explain why and how global capitalism assumes a variety of different national forms among these
advanced industrial democracies. You will undertake your own scientific comparison of two advanced
capitalist countries on a particular issue of your choice. Using basic research methods, you will develop a
hypothesis and use key quantitative data to determine whether it is correct or not. In so doing, you will
learn how to study politics scientifically by making comparisons, a crucial methodology of political
analysis. The course combines interactive lectures and in-class lab sessions where students work with
various quantitative data as they develop their individual and/or group research projects.
EXQM 1006 ANALYZING BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES
Section 241
MW 4:30-5:45
PROF. D. SHAMIR
In this course students will learn how to analyze and quantify data from experiments in the biomedical
sciences using basic scientific methods. The experiments will teach the students how to extract, read, and
decipher data in a qualitative and quantitative fashion using several assays (protein estimation,
fluorescence microscopy, flow cytometry, fluorescence activated cell sorting, live cell imaging, electron
micrographs, and Western blot). In addition students will be exposed to basic statistical models and
methods to better interpret their data.
HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
HBSI 1006
Section 241
ECONOMICS, EFFICIENCY, AND JUSTICE
MW 4:30-5:45
PROF. E. GRIVOYANNIS
In 1991, when the Nobel prize in Economics went to Ronald H. Coase, the Selection of Economics Science
Nobel Laureate Committee was convinced that the economics discipline was not only about economic
activities in the strictest sense of the word but was also about institutions and, in particular, legal rules. This
course is based on selective academic literature that uses economic theory tools to analyze the process of
establishment and operation of legal institutions for dispense of economic efficiency and justice.
The course is designed to fulfill the “Human Behavior and Social Institutions” [HBSI] new curriculum
requirements of Yeshiva College. As such, it:
• Focuses on “institutions” of justice and it uses economic theory [with brief references to Sociology,
Psychology, Political Science and Jewish Law] to examine the complexity of “human behavior” in
settling legal disputes and achieving “economic efficiency” in human action, or inaction that affects
others.
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•
•
•
•
Includes readings, written assignments, and at least one comprehensive oral presentation relevant to
the social science discipline of quantitative economics [Expert Testimony for litigation support in
assessing liability at employment discrimination cases, and expert testimony on Economic Damages
mathematically assessed].
Uses data (qualitative and quantitative) in developing an understanding of human behavior and the
way social institutions of justice settle efficiently legal disputes. Through research of data bases, and
practical case assignments, students will learn to understand the importance, value, and limitations of
different types of data and how to use each type of data to develop hypotheses, describe and analyze
findings, and arrive at conclusions supported by empirical research on assessing liability and
economic damages for settlement purposes in litigation.
A few lectures could be taught by a faculty from other Social Science departments, such as
Sociology, Psychology, Political Science, and Judaic Studies [on Jewish Law / Talmud].
This course would also consider the ethical values involved in studying human behavior and social
institutions of justice and economic efficiency.
HBSI 1007
Section 331
PSYCHOLOGY AND PUBLIC OPINION
TTh 3-4:15
PROF. A. MALKA
This multidisciplinary seminar will overview social scientific research on public opinion, focusing on its
psychological and social underpinnings. The course will cover relevant theory, methodology, and
findings from psychology and political science, and will aim to promote application of critical social
scientific thinking to students’ understanding of political attitudes and behavior. This course fulfills the
Human Behavior and Social Institutions (HBSI) general education requirement for students who sign up
for the HBSI section.
The specific topics of the course include background and empirical methods of the disciplines, personality
and other dispositional influences on political opinion, thought processes underlying political opinion,
aggregate political opinion, political socialization and political learning, group membership and political
opinion, the news media and political opinion, and public opinion in campaigns and elections. Each
course meeting will involve, in approximately equal parts, both (a) lecture and (b) class discussion of
current events readings. Current events readings will be assigned before each course meeting and will
consist of blog posts and articles that provide well-informed analysis of contemporary opinion polling.
Thus a strong emphasis will be placed on application of scholarly thinking to interpretation and
evaluation of contemporary topics in public opinion presented in the news media. And in line with the
multidisciplinary nature of the course, we will focus on the distinctive goals and theoretical frameworks
that characterize political attitude research across the disciplines of psychology and political science.
Course grades will be determined on the basis of performance on a midterm examination and a
cumulative final examination (multiple choice and short answer), in-class presentations of current events
readings, a paper reviewing an area of theory and research, classroom participation, and attendance.
HBSI 1011
Section 231
EDUCATION AND SOCIETY
MW 3-4:15
PROF. A. STUART
This class will examine contemporary education through the lens of sociological theory. Education
includes schooling as well as other social institutions (media, popular culture, the family) and we will
include a variety of educational sites while focusing primarily on schools. Topics to be discussed include
inequality and social stratification, the politics of knowledge, school reform and privatization, college
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admissions and affirmative action. Throughout the course, you will be encouraged to cultivate the
sociological imagination, viewing educational issues in their historical, social, and political contexts, and
in their relationships to other social phenomena. Grades are based on weekly reading responses, a
research paper, and an in-class exam, as well as attendance and participation.
HBSI 1302H
Section 331
DEVIANT BEHAVIOR AND SOCIAL CONTROL
TTh3-4:15
PROF. D. KIMMEL
Social life is shaped by rules: customs, norms, and laws that govern and constrain human behavior.
Throughout history – and across all of the social science disciplines – we have dealt with questions about
what to do when those rules are broken. This course will address questions about rule-breaking: what it is,
who does it, when it is done, how it is identified, and how others respond to it. We will examine many
kinds of rules, from formal laws to informal expectations regarding behavior and identity, as well as many
sorts of sanctions that are applied to deviant persons, groups, and behaviors. In the process, we will ask:
What makes someone or something “deviant”? How do we distinguish between legitimate and
illegitimate behavior? How and when is deviance acknowledged and labeled by others? How do
differences among types of deviance inform the sanctions applied? Do we treat deviances differently
depending on traits of the deviant? How is the concept of deviance linked to the distribution and use of
power?
HBSI 1330
Section 311
TERRORISM
TTh 1:30-2:45
PROF. M. ZAITSEVA
The course introduces students to the study of modern terrorism. It explores terrorism’s definitions,
history and typology with a particular focus on the internationalization of terrorism in the last couple of
decades. The course further aims to understand terrorists’ goals, tactics, sources of financing, and
recruitment. The second half of the course focuses on counter-terrorism, including evaluation of
terrorism’s success and the prospects of effectively combating it in the future. The objectives of course
include: 1) exposing students to the complexities of modern terrorism; 2) refining students’ oral and
written skills through a series of group-based terrorism case studies; 3) challenging students to think
critically about solutions and approaches to terrorism.
Students will be required to complete two brief case studies (group-based; oral presentation and brief
write up of the case); take a midterm exam and write a final case study paper (5 pp. max) that ties together
the case study work throughout the semester.
INTERPRETING THE CREATIVE
INTC 1007
FICTION, THE ARTISTIC IMAGINATION, AND THE CREATIVE PROCESS
_______________________________________________________________ PROF. R. NOCHIMSON
Section 231
MW 3-4:15
The primary focus of this course is to explore the fiction writer's creative process from different angles,
including inspiration, conception, development, revision, and adaptation to the screen. Students will read
three novels and will screen film versions of each of them. For one of the novels, there will also be
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background and critical readings. The novels are the following: Charles Dickens, David Copperfield; E.
M. Forster, Howards End; John Le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Students will also read a selection
of short stories; in some cases there will be critical or background materials to accompany the stories.
Some of the short story assignments will involve reading earlier and later drafts of the same story. In
other cases, students will read a classic short story and also a much later version of the same story by a
contemporary writer. Another approach will be to read contemporary stories alongside the canonical
stories that served as their inspiration and subject matter, rather than as a source for more direct
adaptation.
INTC 1013 LITERATURE, MORALITY & ENTERTAINMENT
Section 361 6:45-9:15 pm
PROF. D. LAVINSKY
The didactic and moral content of English literature often seems in conflict with modern notions of
reading as a form of entertainment or imaginative escape. What happens, for instance, if we derive
pleasure or enjoyment from a text meant instead to reform our behavior or provide examples of how to
act? And what does it mean if we discover moral or ethical models in literature we expected only to be
entertaining? Does literature have ennobling effects? By the same logic, can artifice inspire immorality,
or distract us from what truly matters? And what becomes of the reader who resists or is already
estranged, because of religious or cultural identity, from a text’s prescriptive intent? We will approach
these questions from different cultural and aesthetic vantage points, all variously concerned with how
certain literary and artistic forms inscribe their audiences in the stories they tell, scripting a specific moral
response in the process. Our investigation will ground itself in readings from classical antiquity before
considering the interrelation of artistic form and moral meaning in specific contexts. We will track
anxieties about the spiritual consequences of imaginative diversion and departure; reconsider the
relationship between religious art and secular forms of entertainment, and the utility of the sacred/secular
distinction more generally; explore the different ways in which visual, textual, and performative mediums
exert a hold on our minds (and bodies); and assess how these concerns are implicated in contemporary
debates about the problematics of reading and moral exemplification. Many of our readings will be
drawn from early English poetry, prose, and drama, though no previous exposure to this period or its
literature is assumed, and a wide range of critical and theoretical texts will help students situate unfamiliar
material.
Requirements include informed class participation, periodic readings quizzes, ungraded response papers,
regular postings to an online discussion forum, a short critical essay, and a final project.
INTC 1016
Section 341
CULTURE OF THE FIN DE SIECLE
TTh 4:30-5:45
PROF. J. OLSON
In this course, we will explore the visual, literary, architectural and other creative endeavors of the late
19th and early 20th centuries, focused on the city of Vienna. Through close examination of texts, images,
film and other media, students will explore the philosophical and intellectual underpinnings of the major
themes that occupied thinkers of the period, including psychoanalysis, the Jugendstil, modernist music,
and the development of mass politics.
INTC 1019 THE MODERNIST IMPULSE IN ART & ARCHITECTURE
Section 461
W 6:45-9:15 PM
PROF. P. GLASSMAN
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The idea of the modern is revolutionary and subversive. It pervades modes of Western thought and
expression. The topic is especially fertile in the visual and design arts—where industrial materials and
abstract form dominated depictions of the world. And with the publication of Sigmund Freud’s The
Interpretation of Dreams (1899), some artists began exploring dreams, symbols, and personal experience
as subject matter. Beginning with Impressionism and concluding with the latest trends in contemporary
practice, this class will enable you to engage with work from the late 19th-century breakthroughs to 21stcentury globalization.
Methods include in-class comparative analysis, studio exercises, and museum visits. Course requirements
include short student presentations (e. g., on photography and industrial design), three-sentence executive
summaries of key articles from the literature of modernism, mid-term and final examinations
strengthening use of the comparative method, and a paper based on a museum object to develop skills in
formal analysis.
INTC 1021
Section 311
RENAISSANCE LITERATURE & THE ARTS
TTh 1:30pm-2:45pm
PROF. W. LEE
This course will offer students an excellent opportunity to learn how to interpret the creative arts during
the Renaissance, the most famous cultural flowering in the history of the West. Renaissance poetry,
sculpture, painting, and architecture developed first in Italy (Petrarch, Donatello, daVinci, Michaelangelo,
and so many others) while in the later Renaissance, poetry and drama reached high points in England
because of writers like Shakespeare, Donne, and Milton.
Plays call for live performance, poems for public or private readings, paintings for gazing, and buildings
for both visual appeal and movement through space. A viewer may interpret a painting by absorbing how
parts within its frame relate to the artwork as a whole. Readers interpret lines of poetry or drama line by
line through time. Various media, genres, and forms of art in the Renaissance cast light on one another in
part because they all invite active interpretation.
This course will explore different genres and forms of creative art. Drawing on close reading, textual
studies, genre studies, art criticism, art history, literary studies, historical studies, and cultural studies, we
will focus on how each medium, each genre, each form of art, and each artwork creates meanings. When
can we assess an interpretation as partial, implausible, or downright impossible? How interpreters can
arrive at probable or even compelling interpretations of individual creative works within the literary,
visual, performing, and building arts?
Requirements: participation, attendance, a visit to the Met, paintings, sculptures, and buildings via
emailed links, readings, two brief exercises closely analyzing a poem and a painting, an optional focused
revision, a final essay comparing a painting or sculpture with a poem or a scene in the play, a take-home
essay exam
INTC 1024H
Section 621
VERDI AND SHAKESPEARE
F 10-12:30
PROFS. D. BELIAVSKY AND F. SUGARMAN
This course will examine three works – Macbeth, Othello, and Shakespeare’s Falstaff plays, Henry IV,
Parts 1 and 2, and the Merry Wives of Windsor. These plays are the basis for Giuseppe Verdi’s
extraordinary operas, Macbeth, Otello, and Falstaff, which the course will examine for their
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contributions to opera and the ways in which they intersect with, and meditate upon, Shakespeare and his
legacy.
The course will begin by grounding drama and opera in the genesis of the English Renaissance theater,
the growth of London’s cultural prominence, the development of opera in the early Baroque period, and
Verdi’s place in Europe’s Romantic art music tradition. Both Shakespeare and Verdi were men of the
theater, and in their creation and staging of these works, they established important ways by which artists
and audiences think about art and the world. Following this introductory overview, the course will
examine questions of literary representation and musical signification, the psychologies and motivations
of literary characters, how artists embody and react to their times, and how contemporary audiences can
understand the aforementioned topics through the above representative works.
In terms of Shakespeare, the course will focus on notable moments in Macbeth (e.g., the banquet scene,
Lady Macbeth’s death scene), Othello, and the problem of Falstaff as a universal figure. In terms of
Verdi, the course will explore how Verdi and his brilliant librettist (a major figure in his own right),
Arrigo Boito, interpreted Shakespeare’s creative works through their textual and musical arrangements.
We will use audio and video selections from these plays and operas to contextualize our discussions in the
artistry of actors and singers, and in issues of staging, choreography, and scene and costume design.
Please note that these operas feature women singing. Those who find this problematic in terms of Jewish
Halakha should let the instructors know in advance. We will make every effort to treat this issue with
sensitivity. Adherence to Halakha does not excuse students from fulfilling all coursework and assignment
obligations.
THE NATURAL WORLD
NAWO 1010 FRONTIERS OF SCIENCE: BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH AND THERAPY
COMMERCIALIZATION IN THE UNITED STATES
PROF. D. SHAMIR
Section 261
MW 6:45-8 PM
In this course students will be given a behind the scenes look at biomedical research in the United States
and how it translates into real commercialized products that are used by healthcare providers and
patients. This will include describing a public health issue, how biomedical research is conducted, and
how it moves from the research space to industry. Throughout the course students will follow the
research of Alzheimer’s disease therapies as a primary case study, as well as other prime examples of
classic drugs or devices that made their way through the development pipeline.
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