Global Arc

An examination of the moral principles governing love and sex. Questions to be addressed include: Do we ever owe it to someone to love him or her? Do we owe different things to those we love? Do we owe it to a loved one to believe better of him than our evidence warrants? What is consent, and why is it morally significant? Is sex between consenting adults always permissible, and if not, why not? Are there good reasons for prohibiting prostitution and pornography? Everyone has opinions about these matters. The aim of the course is to subject those opinions to scrutiny.

We are what we eat--morally as well as molecularly. So how should concerns about animals, workers, the environment, and the local inform our food choices? Can we develop viable foodways for growing populations while respecting ethnic, religious, class, and access differences? The goal of this course is not to prescribe answers to these questions, but to give students the tools required to reflect on them effectively. These tools include a knowledge of the main ethical theories in philosophy, and a grasp of key empirical issues regarding food production, distribution, and disposal. Includes guest lectures, instructor-led small-group sessions.

From "The Battle Of Algiers" to "Do The Right Thing," film has been used as a medium in which to explore social issues and conflict. This course will critically examine a selection of documentary and narrative films in order to compare their different approaches to representing social issues. We will also learn the essential aspects of social issue filmmaking (in both the documentary and narrative forms) and how journalistic research methods inform the process. Classes will include a short video project, script writing workshops, and lectures from guest speakers who work in the industry.

This seminar introduces urgent moral questions in international affairs, with a particular focus on global poverty and inequality. Addressed questions will include: Why do inequalities between countries matter? What do affluent countries owe to poor countries? When should foreign aid begin and stop? Should there be equality of opportunity at the global level? In humanitarian emergencies, are we permitted to help our compatriots first? Do states have a right to exclude needy immigrants? Should developing countries be relieved of the burdens of mitigating climate change? Can NGOs legitimately represent the interests of the global poor?

Many political scientists worry that representative democracy in the United States is failing. It is gridlocked, elites are polarized, party competition is dysfunctional, public policy favors the wealthy, gerrymandering dilutes people's votes. Are these really failures of democratic representation? We will consider this question in the perspective of the political theory of representative democracy. We will also read some recent works by political scientists and other observers, but this is mainly a seminar in political theory: our goal is to explore what democratic citizens should expect from their representative institutions.

In this class for students considering majoring in Comparative Literature, we ask what happens when we read literature? How do we read? And what are the ethical questions and problems that we rehearse when we read? Is reading all about finding the reflection of myself in the text, or do we find something else? What does it mean to read a culturally different novel or poem? How might it teach us to imagine others not like ourselves? As well as workshop-style practice in reading literature closely, the class also raises the question of literary reading as a transferable skill: how does it help us to read the wider world?

This introductory course focuses on the cultural syncretism and the global diversity of Jewish experience. It provides a comparative understanding of Jewish culture from antiquity to the present, examining how Jewish culture has emerged through the interaction of Jews and non-Jews, engaging a wide spectrum of cultures throughout the Jewish world, and following representations of key issues such as sexuality or the existence of God in different eras. The course's interdisciplinary approach covers Bible and Talmud, Jewish mysticism, Zionism, Jewish cinema, music, food, modern literature, and graphic arts. All readings and films are in English.

Passion is a common word with a long, complicated history; the diverse meanings we associate with it engage our experience on the most ethereal and abstract as well as the most visceral and profane levels. In this course we will study range of films from the past eight decades with the aim of understanding how the films situate their subjects, how they narrate and illustrate passion, and how they engage personal, social, and political issues in particular aesthetic contexts.

An introduction to the methods and some major texts of comparative literary study. It will focus on the Greco-Roman tradition, asking what it means to call a work a "classic": it will consider the outstanding characteristics of this tradition, how it arose and gained influence and attempt to place it in a global context. Readings will be divided into three topics: Epic Heroes (centering on Homer's Odyssey), Tragic Women (in ancient and modern drama), and the "invention" of modernity (Aeneid). Selected additional readings in non-Western literatures and in influential critical essays. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

This course seeks to discover (or rediscover) a series of significant works in the European tradition, and also to ask once again what a tradition is. The focus will be firmly on the close reading of particular texts, but discussions will also range freely over large questions: What is a classic, what difference does language make, can we think both about world literature, in Goethe's phrase, and about the importance of national and local loyalties? No easy answers promised, but astonishing adventures in reading guaranteed.