Global Arc

An examination of the philosophy, history, and methods of Buddhist meditation. Buddhist theoretical works will be studied in their traditional contexts and considered in the light of modern philosophy of mind and cognitive science regarding the emotions, the will, and the effects of meditation. Some coursework in Philosophy or Religion is expected. One three-hour seminar.

An intensive reading and discussion of selected Buddhist texts from various cultures, from ancient times to the present. Readings may represent a range of genres, such as Buddhist scriptures, philosophical writings, sacred biography, narrative, sermons, poetry, drama, and fiction. Alternatively, we may study the reception across Buddhist cultures and time periods of a single significant text. Prerequisite: 225 or equivalent recommended. Two 90-minute classes.

This seminar explores the ways in which complex gendered identities have been articulated, challenged, and lived in Muslim societies, past and present. Topics include: gender and "gender trouble" in Classical Islamic thought; intersexed and trans identities; same-sex relationships; colonial and post-colonial gendered discourses; being Muslim and LGBTQ; gendered Western responses to Muslim refugees and migrants. We will address these topics through close reading of primary texts in translation, critical readings of modern scholarship, as well as in explorations of literature, art and media from the Muslim world.

This course explores the diverse histories and changing representations of women, sexuality, and the body in Muslim societies from medieval times through modernity. We make use of primary sources in translation, including scripture, legal and historical texts, letters, novels, poetry and film. The topics we discuss include women in early Islam, religious authority, marriage and sexuality, slavery, Muslim feminisms, Orientalism, and the gendered aspects of modern war, forced migration, and Islamophobia.

A study of Buddhist traditions of social and political thought, traditional and modern. We will ask how Buddhist thinkers and political actors have imagined, shaped, and critiqued their societies, and how Buddhists have challenged, and been challenged by, modern and contemporary political conversations. What is the role of a Buddhist ruler? Is the monastic community best understood as a model society, a social force, or an escape from politics? When is Buddhism a motivation for war, and when for denouncing violence? When have Buddhist traditions supported social divisions, and when have they sought to transcend them?

This course will involve a close reading of the Qur'anic text and its interpretive traditions. The course will also go beyond approaching scripture as a bounded, collected, literary text, by examining the ritual, experiential and material encounters between the Qur'an and Muslim communities. How does the Qur'an operate within societies? What are its multiple functions? How are the controversial verses often associated with the Qur'an interpreted? Through a critical engagement with categories like "scripture," and "interpretation" students will be introduced to larger debates on hermeneutics and material culture within the study of religion.

In 2014, ISIS distributed a pamphlet of authoritative responses (fatwas), based in Classical Islamic law, to questions about the enslavement and sexual exploitation of non-Muslim women and girls. This revival of slavery shocked the Muslim world and led to questions about the history of slavery and "concubinage" in Islam. We will address some of those questions through close reading of texts in translation and modern scholarship. What is the history of slavery in Islamic law and practice? What role do sex and gender play in slavery, specifically in Islamic societies? How "Islamic" is slavery? We will also include a comparative perspective.

India and Pakistan, home to nearly a third of the world's Muslim population, offer an unusually rich spectrum of the ways in which Islam has been lived, thought about, and transformed in recent times, both within this vast region and in the wider world. Our topics include: Sufism; the evolving relations between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims; major trends in Islamic law, theology, and political thought; Islamic institutions of learning (madrasas); and Muslim and non-Muslim minorities. One three-hour seminar.

Contemporary discussions about sexuality are filled with Jewish and Christian texts from antiquity. Quotations from the Bible and its ancient interpretations are continuously used to make claims about sexual behavior and sexual desire. Yet these texts themselves come from a very different world, with values, facts and passions of its own. This course examines the classical Jewish and Christian texts on sexuality within their own ancient historical context. Throughout the course, we will emphasize the diversity of positions in antiquity and the broad cultural conversations in which these positions were staked.

A critical introduction to some of the classics of medieval and modern thought. Specific topics include prophecy, miracles, and the possibility of knowing the divine, with particular attention to the relation between modern and premodern conceptions of reason and Moslem, Christian, and secular philosophical influences on Jewish thought. Two 90-minute classes.