Global Arc

In our mediated and datafied world, how can we use both documentary film and data visualization to create ethnographies that convey lived experience as well as reveal and make sense of large-scale complexities? To pursue this goal, students learn basic filmmaking and data visualization in a workshop setting. As they sculpt visible evidence such as fieldnotes, video, big data, and geo-spatial data into narratives, students consider how the material capacities and original social contexts of evidence shape filmic and graphic forms of knowledge expression. Students are encouraged to work on or design their own independent research projects.

This seminar forges new ways of engaging with data as a cultural fact and for creating new forms of ethnography. As the world rapidly yet unevenly becomes experienced and ordered through data, we study how diverse data practices around the world are redefining power, personhood, and data itself. Based on critical analyses of datafication, we explore hands-on the possibilities and problems for incorporating data as a form of evidence in person-centered ethnography. Further, if data visualization has become a potent social force, we pursue its techniques as a form of analysis, knowledge expression and as a tool to confront vital social issues.

While diseases are often imagined to be scientific or medical conditions, they are also social constructs. In the 19th century the condition of Dysaesthesia Aethiopis (an ailment that made its sufferers "mischievous") was considered nearly universal among free blacks. Today AIDS and tuberculosis are often associated with personal attributes, while the social forces at work to structure risk for acquiring these illnesses are glossed over. We will examine work from anthropologists, sociologists, historians, queer studies scholars and scientists who work on issues of disability to investigate how people challenge contemporary visions of society.

Comparing ethnography (anthropologists' signature form) with related nonfiction genres (history, journalism, memoir), we focus on questions about truth and "truthiness": about evidence, expertise, credibility, and authority and about literary form (e.g., voice, metaphor, and technical jargon). We consider how different genres are recognized as such in acts of evaluation by expert and lay readers; and what their distinctive evaluative standards allow or disallow. Throughout, we seek fresh ways of thinking about the ethical dilemmas of ethnography and related genres by juxtaposing them to the ethical dilemmas of fiction-writing.

This course confronts one of the biggest questions humans can ask: Are we alone in the universe? Course content is mostly astronomy, but will include aspects of physics, geology, chemistry, biology and even sociology. Astrobiology is driven by large telescopes, space missions, lab experiments and continued exploration of the full range of terrestrial life. We will critically assess the nature of life on Earth and the evidence and likelihood for biology beyond. Welcome to one of the most exciting adventures in science!

We will begin by discussing the cartographers' problem of mapping the curved surface of the Earth onto a flat plane, and compare different map projections and their properties. We consider projections for mapping the Moon, Mars, Jupiter, and the sky. Other topics include mapping the solar system and galaxy, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey 3D map of the visible universe, the WMAP map of the cosmic microwave background, Einstein's mapping of space and time, and mapping the inside of the black hole. Finally, we explore the Gott-Juric Map of the Universe, showing everything from satellites in low Earth orbit to distant galaxies and quasars.

This specially designed course targets the frontier of modern astrophysics. Subjects include the planets of our solar system; the birth, life, and death of stars; the search for extrasolar planets and extraterrestrial life; the zoo of galaxies from dwarfs to giants, from starbursts to quasars; dark matter and the large-scale structure of the universe; Einstein's special and general theory of relativity, black holes, neutron stars, and big bang cosmology. This course is designed for the non-science major and has no prerequisites past high school algebra and geometry. High school physics would be useful.

The solar system and planets around other stars; the structure and evolution of stars; supernovae, neutron stars, and black holes; gravitational waves; the formation and structure of galaxies; cosmology, dark matter, dark energy, and the history of the entire universe. Prerequisites: PHY 103 or 105 and MAT 103 or 104 or equivalent. Compared to AST 203, this course employs more mathematics and physics. Intended for quantitatively-oriented students.

This is an introductory course in astronomy focusing on planets in our Solar System, and around other stars (exoplanets). The course starts with reviewing the formation, evolution and characterization of the Solar system. Following an introduction to stars, the course will then discuss the exciting new field of exoplanets; discovery methods, basic properties, earth-like planets, and extraterrestrial life. Core values of the course are quantitative analysis and hands-on experience, including telescopic observations. This SEN course is designed for the non-science major and has no prerequisites past high school algebra and geometry.

Black holes are amazing: so much mass is contained in such a small region of space that nothing, not even light, can escape. In this class, we will learn to understand what black holes are, and (equally importantly) what they are not (sorry, science fiction!). We will grapple with the seeming simplicity of black holes and their weirdness. We will also study how black holes are discovered and how they give rise to some of the most astonishing phenomena in the Universe. We will cover concepts at the forefront of modern astronomy and physics and highlight the power of quantitative thinking (algebra only) and the scientific method.