Identity, Pluralism, and Tolerance

Critical Theory serves as a 300-level introduction to subfields in philosophy. Other courses of this type include environmental philosophy, philosophy of the arts, philosophy of film. Critical Theory is a subfield that engages the philosophical and methodological problems posed by the idea of immanent critique. If a theory of society is implicated in its object of study – society itself – how is it possible to comprehend the structures of social injustice and to unearth resources for their overcoming?

Major approaches and frameworks to the study of sociolinguistics; social-cultural variation in language use and its relationship to change; attitudes about variations, multilingualism. Prereq: LING 301. Students may not receive credit for both LING 390 and 491/591.

History 350 (American Radicalism) focuses on issues, activities and ideas concerning movements for social and cultural change in the United States from the American Revolution through about 1900. This course does not assume previous course work in American history; there are no prerequisites. (A second course, History 351, covers movements and ideas from the early twentieth century to the present.

During the past 30 years, Latina writing has proliferated at an ever-expanding pace. In this course we will examine a variety of texts written by Latinas with an eye towards understanding a number of important questions:

This course focuses on themes of memory, authenticity, and return in contemporary Asian American fiction. Required readings include  novels, short stories, essays, and a play. We will read works by famous and canonical writers such as Chang-rae Lee and Jhumpa Lahiri as well as by less-known writers that include R. Zamora Linmark and Shani Mootoo. We will begin by examining how literary and film representations of memory generate new perspectives on historic world events.

Both McNickle and Erdrich were born into métis or mixed-blood families on the northern plains, and wrote novels about the life of native and immigrant peoples in and around a fictionalized version of a reservation; the Flathead Reservation in Montana and the Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota. Both have written children’s books in addition to novels, poetry or works of history. By reading several novels by each author, we will have the opportunity to explore the dominant themes and motifs in the work of each, and to learn about Native American history in general.

This course will examine a sample of Jewish literature (novels and a memoir) by distinguished Jewish writers around the world since the early twentieth century. Some themes will seem familiar:

Location theory; urbanization and metropolitan growth; regional analysis; intraurban rent, location and land use, size distribution of urban areas; welfare economics, political economy, and urban problems.

Introduction to the world of Greek and Roman mythology with an emphasis on the issues of personal and social identity

Explores the relationship among feminism, ethnography, and representation. Focuses on reflexivity, reciprocity, subjectivity, collaboration, and positionality. Investigates commonalities of feminist research methodology with ethnographic methodology such as ethical concerns, sensitivity to hierarchy, and responsiveness to the needs of the informants.