Global Arc

This seminar, situated between literary, political, cultural, and art studies, will address Putin's authoritarian Russia and the symbolic patterns that govern its erratic and seemingly irrational policies. We will draw on political theory and investigative journalism as well as contemporary Russian film, fiction, and art in order to explore the peculiar, yet not unprecedented cult of violence that underlies Putin's authoritarian regime. We will examine the origins of this cult in Russian imperial and Soviet culture and its implications for our understanding of current events.

The course will trace the development of Russian science-fiction, moving chronologically from the early twentieth century through the Soviet period to the present. It will also serve as an introduction to Russian politics (since many of the works are profoundly political) and to Russia's great literary tradition (since science fiction was practiced not only by science fiction specialists, but by the foremost writers).

The course will discuss the main trends in East European history and culture, concentrating mostly on 20th and 21st centuries. Each week will be devoted to one aspect of East European studies and the classes will combine theme-plus-methodology approach. There will be several invited speakers. The course is part of the track in East European Cultures and Societies (EECS), one of the two tracks for Certificate in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies.

This seminar takes into account space in its manifold definitions: from the city as text, with a rhythm and a syntax of its own, to alternative, non-conventional geometries, and their aesthetics; from space/time to the outer space and its claiming; from desired or imagined spaces to the contours of the text; from architecture and the environment to global positioning systems and the digital humanities. By looking at literary and theoretical texts produced in the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries, we will track the poetics of space and the epistemological consequences of its literary expression.

This course will examine themes that are paramount in our lives as individuals, communities, and societies¿illness and healing, caregiving, epidemics, the distinction between normal and pathological. Our reflections on ethics will feature stories and storytelling as an entry point. Why do doctors and patients need stories? How does storytelling illuminate medicine as a system of representation? What rhetorical devices are embedded in the way we conceive of sickness, well-being, and the medical institutions? We will address these questions and will explore the overlaps between medicine and storytelling within texts from all over the world.

Horror has clawed its way into critical recognition, but continues to challenge our understandings of genre, technique, and the purpose of art. Diverse and often entwined with the sibling genres of science fiction, fantasy, speculative fiction, and magical realism, this paradoxical art form presents us with conundrums. In this course, we will examine the horror genre through works of literature and film, with a focus on Russian-language works in dialogue with key works of the English-language tradition.

In this reading and writing intensive seminar, we will critically examine some of the fundamental ideas of modern political conservatism, as presented by some of its leading thinkers. We will attempt to better understand conservative thought, and develop a framework for assessing its strengths and weaknesses, with respect to a number of representative topics, including the following: distributive justice and the apparent tension between liberty and equality, criminal justice and the nature of crime, and social conservatism and the role of religion in society. Our authors will include philosophers, economists and social scientists.

This course will focus on cross-cultural issues surrounding representation in documentary filmmaking, both in front of and behind the lens. Through film production, screenings and texts, we will explore the question of "who has the right tell whose story, and why?" Students will direct two documentaries each: one set in their own cultural sphere, the other set outside of it. Each student will direct these films while another student assists them. They will then switch roles, giving every student exposure to the construction of four different documentaries. They will also write a final paper reflecting on their experience making these films.

Driverless cars have become an exciting topic in recent years. How soon will they be available to general consumers on public roads? What needs to be done to prepare for their grand entry into the world? Addressing these questions, this seminar focuses on what it will take for driverless cars to work effectively as well as their impact on everyday life and society at large. The seminar will be of interest to students interested in the topic of driverless cars and their social impact. It is also meant to help students see the changing globalized world through the lens of driverless cars.

The Circus! While it's easy to get mesmerized by beautiful, daring and graceful performances, have you contemplated what goes into creating these acts? While routines such as aerial acrobatics, juggling, balancing acts, and magic may not at first glance seem mathematical, they in fact require a methodical composition of techniques which have a rich analytical and logical structure. We will spend the semester developing creative mathematical techniques to analyze a variety of circus arts from the perspectives of both pure and applied mathematics.