Global Arc

Living as we do in a culture that is primarily either secular or monotheistic and in which the sacred and profane are largely kept separate, how can we possibly understand the world of ancient polytheism? The ancient Greeks did not have a word for "religion", nor did they conceive of "religion" as a distinct domain of human experience. Rather, the practices, beliefs, and rituals that we would term "religious" were embedded in every aspect, public and private, of life. We will explore how people interacted with their gods in their everyday lives, both individually and collectively, and how this interaction shaped and structured Greek society.

What constitutes the current conjuncture in global environmental governance, and in what ways and to what ends is biological life-human and non-human-made part of neoliberal environmental projects? This course will use the concept of neoliberal natures to explore the challenges rapid global environmental change pose for conservation, sustainability and ecosystem health in the contemporary era. We consider the ecological and political implications of growing efforts to enroll material nature in market-based environmental schemes, and explore how these schemes unfold across different contexts to shape social and environmental sustainability.

For centuries, shoes have provided signals about a person's character, social and cultural status. Shoes have also carried religious, cultural, and symbolic meaning. They remain a unique lens through which to interrogate and understand innovation, manufacturing, and industrial design. Recently, shoes have refocused our attention on issues of ethics and morality. Shoes are a window into our personal and collective history and future. Students in this seminar will explore, through the evolution of shoes, seminal interdisciplinary ideas, build and refine their academic skills, and create a measurable impact on campus.

This course overviews the science of composting by covering nutrient cycling (carbon and nitrogen, pollution), soil science (chemistry), microbial ecology, and the food/water/biodiversity/climate grand challenges. Local samples will be used. The course will enhance campus sustainability efforts through student research projects. Students will help the SCRAP lab optimize composting practices (e.g. aerobic biodigestor) to process dining-sourced bioplastics into healthy compost with low C emissions. Student findings will be an integral component of a larger NJ DEP supported project to advance campus recycling goals.

What is a nation, how is it made, and how does it constantly have to be remade? How do ideas about language, race, gender, and culture shape perceptions of the past and understandings of belonging? This course takes Greece as a case study to examine the concepts and tools that go into making a nation. Each week we consider a different resource for nation making, from the use of history and the shaping of ethnicity to sports and food. We also explore the relevance of this study to understanding the U.S. today. Students work towards a final project that educates the public about how works of art contribute to making, or unmaking, the nation.

Many Latin American performance artists have reimagined the use of theater to challenge social and political structures. Boal's 'Theater of the Oppressed', Teatro Yuyachkani, TiT, Teatro Trono, and more, challenge, subvert, and manipulate classic Eurocentric theater perspectives to spur awareness and action in their audiences. Through readings, discussion, viewing, writing, improv and play we will explore these artists' work, theatrical origins, and socio/geopolitical contexts. We will apply inspired tactics to our own work. Spanish not required. Acting experience not required. Willingness to play and take risks is integral to class.

What does it mean to have a crisis? How do we overcome one? This course explores the idea of crisis as a defining feature of Italian culture and history from Dante to the present, spanning the individual, political, and society. Through the examination of the most relevant intellectual, historic, and artistic movements, we study how crises have lead both to some of Italy's most spectacular achievements, and to the rise and fall of Fascism. This will allow us to reflect on today's personal and global crises, such as the atrocities of war and climate change.

This course explores the construction, imaging, and experience of the racialized body while considering modern regimes of power. It examines the legacies of White supremacy and Coloniality in relation to cultural production and the body. This course's pedagogical approach is rooted in Chicana/o Studies and will examine power in relation to Latinx and other communities of color--it does not focus on Mexican/Latinx communities exclusively. When analyzing power, it recognizes the importance of contextualizing visual, audio, and embodied performative representations of culture to understand how the body speaks back to power.

The Molecular Biology Research Experience is a two-semester sequence that provides sophomore students with an in lab research experience mentored by faculty in the department. MOL 280, offered in the fall semester, is a non-credit bearing P/D/F course and the required prerequisite for MOL 281, which is offered in the spring semester and carries one unit of credit. Students must earn a "P" in MOL 280 to enroll in MOL 281. Students are expected to spend a minimum of 6 hours per week engaged in research and attend weekly meeting as determined by the mentoring faculty.

How do musical sounds hang together and convey meaningful ideas to its local audience--emotions, acoustic, semiotic, and ideological dimensions to theorize how it answers to diverse aesthetic and epistemic conditions across listening cultures. Students will engage a range of musical sounds through embodied analysis, (auto)ethnography, and close readings in music theory, ethnomusicology, and music perception. While this course welcomes students without previous training in music theory, it is also poised to challenge those with substantial experience.