Class Schedules

What matters in life?  Is pleasure the only thing that matters?  If so, whose pleasure should I pursue-just my own, my family's, or everyone's? Does suffering matter, too? What about the suffering of non-human animals? Is it okay for me to make animals suffer in order for me to enjoy the pleasure of eating their flesh? Or how about the suffering of people who are really far away from me-say, on another continent? Is it okay for me to spend money on cool stuff for myself when instead I could donate it to help people who are suffering very badly far away?  If things in life other than pleasure matter too, what are they? People who oppose torture think that it's wrong to hurt one person really badly even in order to prevent a large number of people from being hurt.  Are they right?  Is it always wrong to treat someone as merely a means to an end? Is it in general wrong to do things to people without their consent?  Why?  When do people deserve to be praised or blamed for their actions? What kind of person should I be?  Should I try to be happy? Or should I try to be virtuous? Is virtue its own reward? Or are we all inevitably faced with a choice between being virtuous and being happy?  If we are faced with that choice, which one should we pick?  In Ethics, we will talk about these questions, and others.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

What matters in life?  Is pleasure the only thing that matters?  If so, whose pleasure should I pursue-just my own, my family's, or everyone's? Does suffering matter, too? What about the suffering of non-human animals? Is it okay for me to make animals suffer in order for me to enjoy the pleasure of eating their flesh? Or how about the suffering of people who are really far away from me-say, on another continent? Is it okay for me to spend money on cool stuff for myself when instead I could donate it to help people who are suffering very badly far away?  If things in life other than pleasure matter too, what are they? People who oppose torture think that it's wrong to hurt one person really badly even in order to prevent a large number of people from being hurt.  Are they right?  Is it always wrong to treat someone as merely a means to an end? Is it in general wrong to do things to people without their consent?  Why?  When do people deserve to be praised or blamed for their actions? What kind of person should I be?  Should I try to be happy? Or should I try to be virtuous? Is virtue its own reward? Or are we all inevitably faced with a choice between being virtuous and being happy?  If we are faced with that choice, which one should we pick?  In Ethics, we will talk about these questions, and others.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course serves as an introduction to law and literature. How does literature shape law and vice versa? How does literature help us to better understand the human desire for revenge, retribution, confession, witnessing, judgment, remorse, and forgiveness? Readings will come from a variety of literary traditions and periods: fairy tales, early modern drama, essays, short stories, film, and literary and legal theory. This course counts as a foundation course for the English major. This course also counts for the Legal Studies Concentration.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

The course examines the post-World War II Civil Rights Movement led by African Americans in the United States.  In the class, students will analyze key people, issues, events, and debates within movement history, including, but not limited to, gender and leadership; struggles for civil rights in the south, west, and urban north; the impact of the Cold War on race relations; student activism; movement strategies; and the emergence of Black Power.  Throughout the semester, students will read a wide variety of primary and secondary texts to illuminate the activities and life stories of individual participants as well as the broad historical forces that characterized this long era of insurgency.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
U.S. Identities and Differences

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

The course examines the post-World War II Civil Rights Movement led by African Americans in the United States.  In the class, students will analyze key people, issues, events, and debates within movement history, including, but not limited to, gender and leadership; struggles for civil rights in the south, west, and urban north; the impact of the Cold War on race relations; student activism; movement strategies; and the emergence of Black Power.  Throughout the semester, students will read a wide variety of primary and secondary texts to illuminate the activities and life stories of individual participants as well as the broad historical forces that characterized this long era of insurgency.   Can count towards "Gender," or "Race and Indigeneity," or "Law and Social Justice," or "North America" fields.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
U.S. Identities and Differences

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course explores the significance, possibilities and limits of litigation as a way of shaping public policy and society. Focusing mainly in the American context, the course connects two areas of interest: the use of litigation as a strategy for rights movements (from the NAACP to contemporary movements such as gay rights) and the use of class action lawsuits and tort law to compensate people for injuries, especially in matters affecting public health (e.g. asbestos, tobacco). The course gives special emphasis to the work of lawyers and the role of the legal profession.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

Religion and Law in Africa is an intermediate cross-listed history and religion course designed to teach students how to think like historians and assess how the legal systems of indigenous African societies have been shaped by their respective religions and cosmologies. This course also explores how Arab migration and European colonization in different parts of Africa imposed new legal systems that were influenced by either Islam or Christianity. The major themes of this class include African agency, indigenous African forms of knowledge and periodization, the interconnectedness of religious, legislative, and judicial facets of African societies, and diversity among African regions, societies, ethnic groups, religions, and languages. It counts toward the Legal Studies and African Studies concentrations. For history, it meets either the pre-1800 or post-1800 requirement and can count towards the "Law & Social Justice," or "Race and Indigeneity," or "Africa & Atlantic World" fields.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WP
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Religion and Law in Africa is an intermediate cross-listed history and religion course designed to teach students how to think like historians and assess how the legal systems of indigenous African societies have been shaped by their respective religions and cosmologies. This course also explores how Arab migration and European colonization in different parts of Africa imposed new legal systems that were influenced by either Islam or Christianity. The major themes of this class include African agency, indigenous African forms of knowledge and periodization, the interconnectedness of religious, legislative, and judicial facets of African societies, and diversity among African regions, societies, ethnic groups, religions, and languages. It counts toward the Legal Studies and African Studies concentrations. For history, it meets either the pre-1800 or post-1800 requirement and can count towards the "Law & Social Justice," or "Race and Indigeneity," or "Africa & Atlantic World" fields.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WP
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course examines Native history since 1871, the year Congress unilaterally chose to stop making treaties with Native nations. By focusing on Native sovereignty, resistance, and the exercise of treaty rights, this course highlights histories and contemporary experiences of Native people in what is now the United States. Meets the post-1800 requirement, and can count towards "Colonization and Empire," or "Race and Indigeneity," or "Law and Social Justice," and or "North America" fields.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course examines Native history since 1871, the year Congress unilaterally chose to stop making treaties with Native nations. By focusing on Native sovereignty, resistance, and the exercise of treaty rights, this course highlights histories and contemporary experiences of Native people in what is now the United States. Meets the post-1800 requirement, and can count towards "Colonization and Empire," or "Race and Indigeneity," or "Law and Social Justice," and or "North America" fields.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
U.S. Identities and Differences

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

How should we organize and live our lives together? This is the central question that social and political philosophers ask. In this course, we'll tackle this high-stakes question, with a focus on contemporary texts. To do this, we'll investigate a number of real-world social and political phenomena, tentatively including: the state; the modern workplace; the institution of marriage; the prison system; political partisanship; voting; and protest movements. And we'll explore the philosophical questions that underlie our investigation of these phenomena - questions about authority, freedom, equality, oppression, sociality, knowledge, trust, identity, respect, and much more. By the end, you'll walk away with a deeper appreciation of the complexities of living life with and alongside each other.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

The Russian word for crime literally means “overstepping,” in the sense of crossing a boundary. What happens, however, when that boundary shifts? Or what if the society that defines the criminal is itself “wrong”? Throughout its history, Russian literature has returned almost obsessively to the theme of transgression. We will take a cross-cultural approach as we juxtapose Russian texts with those from other literary traditions, bringing out similar and contrasting views of wrongdoing in Russian culture and that of “the West” against which Russia has traditionally defined itself. Readings will introduce course participants to an intellectual axe murderer, a female serial killer, demonic hooligans, men pushed over the edge by classical music, and others on the wrong side of the law. Central to the course will be the question of how fiction writers present crime and how their artistic choices influence the way readers think of such seemingly self-evident oppositions as good and evil, right and wrong. Our course will address such themes as: the motives for and the moment of crossing over into crime; the criminal act as a work of art; the relationship between gender and crime; the (in)justice of punishment and the spectacle of state power. We will apply ideas arising from our readings to current events, studying the means by which contemporary instances of wrongdoing are represented in the mass media, and analyzing how true-life stories are turned into allegory and myth. No knowledge of Russian required; all readings, lectures, and discussions will be in English. This course counts toward the Legal Studies Concentration.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WP
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

We consent to all kinds of things: medical procedures, sexual interactions, business contracts, governmental authority, and more. And in today's day and age, people talk about consent all the time. But as soon as you get past the surface-level, numerous controversies immediately arise. Must consent always be explicit, or can it ever be tacit? Exactly how much information do you need to consent to something? Can kids not consent to anything, or are there things that they can consent to? To what extent does intoxication make you unable to consent? What kinds of coercive pressures undermine your consent, and what kinds of coercive pressures can you be expected to resist against? What role should consent have in the law? And conceptually speaking, what even is consent? The list goes on. In this course, we will investigate such controversies about consent, across the domains of medicine, sex, business, and governance. Not only will we talk about the fundamental philosophical questions underlying these controversies, but we will also talk about the real-world problems that make these controversies so high-stakes.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

How should we organize and live our lives together? This is the central question that social and political philosophers ask. In this course, we'll tackle this high-stakes question, with a focus on contemporary texts. To do this, we'll investigate a number of real-world social and political phenomena, tentatively including: the state; the modern workplace; the institution of marriage; the prison system; political partisanship; voting; and protest movements. And we'll explore the philosophical questions that underlie our investigation of these phenomena - questions about authority, freedom, equality, oppression, sociality, knowledge, trust, identity, respect, and much more. By the end, you'll walk away with a deeper appreciation of the complexities of living life with and alongside each other.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

What matters in life? Is happiness the only thing that matters? If so, whose happiness should I care about? Just my own? My family’s? Or everyone else’s, too? Does suffering matter, too? What about the suffering of non-human animals? Is it okay for me to make animals suffer in order for me to enjoy the pleasure of eating their flesh? Or how about the suffering of people who are really far away from me-say, on another continent? Is it okay for me to spend money on cool stuff for myself when instead I could donate it to help people who are suffering very badly far away? If things in life other than happiness matter, too, what are they? People who oppose torture think that it’s wrong to hurt one person really badly even in order to prevent a large number of people from being hurt. Are they right? Is it always wrong to treat someone as merely a means to an end? Is it in general wrong to do things to people without their consent? Why? When do people deserve to be praised or blamed for their actions? What kind of person should I be? Should I try to be happy? Or should I try to be virtuous? Is virtue its own reward? Or are we all inevitably faced with a choice between being virtuous and being happy? If we are faced with that choice, which one should we pick? In Ethics, we will talk about these questions, and others.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

What matters in life? Is happiness the only thing that matters? If so, whose happiness should I care about? Just my own? My family’s? Or everyone else’s, too? Does suffering matter, too? What about the suffering of non-human animals? Is it okay for me to make animals suffer in order for me to enjoy the pleasure of eating their flesh? Or how about the suffering of people who are really far away from me-say, on another continent? Is it okay for me to spend money on cool stuff for myself when instead I could donate it to help people who are suffering very badly far away? If things in life other than happiness matter, too, what are they? People who oppose torture think that it’s wrong to hurt one person really badly even in order to prevent a large number of people from being hurt. Are they right? Is it always wrong to treat someone as merely a means to an end? Is it in general wrong to do things to people without their consent? Why? When do people deserve to be praised or blamed for their actions? What kind of person should I be? Should I try to be happy? Or should I try to be virtuous? Is virtue its own reward? Or are we all inevitably faced with a choice between being virtuous and being happy? If we are faced with that choice, which one should we pick? In Ethics, we will talk about these questions, and others.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Whether we’re reading the news, enjoying a work of fiction, or navigating everyday interactions, we are constantly evaluating the morality of human behavior. This course explores the psychological processes that shape our ideas of right and wrong, helping us to understand and improve our own moral decisions. What sort of acts do we see as immoral, and how do we hold people accountable for them? How do we interpret social inequality, and how do we make up for past moral failings? What role does empathy play in fostering more fair and equitable behavior? Through readings and class discussion, this course takes an interdisciplinary approach to these questions, drawing on research from multiple areas of psychology alongside insights from philosophy, sociology, and artificial intelligence.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

An exploration of the structure of the American Political System as seen through the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court. The central topics include the development of the federal-state relationship, the separation of powers in the national government, the limits of government power over the economy, and the role of the judiciary. This course takes in the sweep of American history from 1789 to the present. Prerequisite(s): POLI 100 recommended.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

This course is an introduction to the interdiscipline of literature and human rights. We will read a series of beautiful and emotionally wrenching novels, treating them simultaneously as aesthetic artifacts and case studies in human rights. We will discuss the urgent political questions and philosophical paradoxes that define human rights, paying special attention to theories of trauma and torture. We will seek to better understand how spectators of suffering develop—or fail to develop—empathy for strangers by also examining how they can so palpably feel for the dreams, desires, and dignity of fictional persons.This course fills the US Identities and Differences requirement and the framework requirement for the Human Rights and Humanitarianism concentration.

General Education Requirements:
U.S. Identities and Differences

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This 1-credit course will teach and support the work of writing within the genre of legal advocacy. The major project will be the submission of a brief to the annual moot court competition involving constitutional arguments. Students may take this course multiple times, and participating in this course does not exclude someone from also receiving one credit for participating in one of the oral Forensics activities (e.g. moot court, mock trial, ethics bowl).

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

We won’t be traveling to a galaxy far, far away, but we will examine the creation of the U.S. empire – and historical and contemporary resistance to the impositions of empire. We’ll begin with encounters with Indigenous nations in the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawai’i before traveling to Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and other U.S.-held territories. This class will focus on discussions of race and imperialism, citizenship and belonging, and inclusion and exclusion, centering on federal policies and performances of race on national and international stages. We will also examine how these attempts were often (and continue to be) subverted and undermined by these supposed subjects who continually resist and redefine imperialist ambitions.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
U.S. Identities and Differences

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course explores how same-sex desire, eroticism, and gender variance were understood in pre-modern Islamicate societies before the emergence of modern sexual identities such as “homosexual” and “heterosexual.” Drawing on literary texts, legal treatises, medical writings, visual culture, and modern scholarship, students examine how desire was conceptualized in relation to gender, age, power, ethics, and social order. Rather than asking whether “gay people existed” in the past, the course asks how desire itself was structured, interpreted, and regulated and how modern categories of sexuality reshape our reading of pre-modern cultures. The course places Islamicate societies in global conversation with Greek, Christian, and modern European thought, emphasizing historical difference, cultural specificity, and the politics of interpretation.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

We won’t be traveling to a galaxy far, far away, but we will examine the creation of the U.S. empire – and historical and contemporary resistance to the impositions of empire. We’ll begin with encounters with Indigenous nations in the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawai’i before traveling to Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and other U.S.-held territories. This class will focus on discussions of race and imperialism, citizenship and belonging, and inclusion and exclusion, centering on federal policies and performances of race on national and international stages. We will also examine how these attempts were often (and continue to be) subverted and undermined by these supposed subjects who continually resist and redefine imperialist ambitions.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
U.S. Identities and Differences

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Who profits and who is punished at mega-prisons like CECOT (El Salvador), Pinheiros (São Paulo), and Angola (Louisiana)? What explains divergent outcomes of prison strikes in Alabama and Venezuela? And how have incarcerated women in Colombia successfully demanded alternative sentencing to allow caregivers to remain with their children, while their allies in Minnesota struggle to achieve the same goal? Over 4 million people are now incarcerated in the Americas, and in the largest detention systems over two-thirds of prisoners are Black, Indigenous, immigrants, or other minoritized groups. This course examines the politics of mass incarceration in Latin America and the United States, with attention to community organizations and prison reform and abolition movements. Drawing on imprisoned voices and the work of U.S. and Latin American scholars, we will study carceral imperialism, prisons as a cornerstone of structural racism, and resistance rooted in racial and gender identity. Class normally meets for 90 minutes (M-W 10:50 am-12:20 pm), but the 10:50 am-1:00 pm time slot allows us to take field trips to sites such as All Square & the Legal Revolution, Transformation and Re-entry through Education and Community, and the Global Prison Nursery Network Symposium. Guest speakers may include Mujeres Libres (Bogotá), MOVIR (San Salvador), Juvenile Justice Advocates (Minneapolis/Mexico City), and the Asian Prisoner Support Committee (California).

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

Who profits and who is punished at mega-prisons like CECOT (El Salvador), Pinheiros (São Paulo), and Angola (Louisiana)? What explains divergent outcomes of prison strikes in Alabama and Venezuela? And how have incarcerated women in Colombia successfully demanded alternative sentencing to allow caregivers to remain with their children, while their allies in Minnesota struggle to achieve the same goal? Over 4 million people are now incarcerated in the Americas, and in the largest detention systems over two-thirds of prisoners are Black, Indigenous, immigrants, or other minoritized groups. This course examines the politics of mass incarceration in Latin America and the United States, with attention to community organizations and prison reform and abolition movements. Drawing on imprisoned voices and the work of U.S. and Latin American scholars, we will study carceral imperialism, prisons as a cornerstone of structural racism, and resistance rooted in racial and gender identity. Class normally meets for 90 minutes (M-W 10:50 am-12:20 pm), but the 10:50 am-1:00 pm time slot allows us to take field trips to sites such as All Square & the Legal Revolution, Transformation and Re-entry through Education and Community, and the Global Prison Nursery Network Symposium. Guest speakers may include Mujeres Libres (Bogotá), MOVIR (San Salvador), Juvenile Justice Advocates (Minneapolis/Mexico City), and the Asian Prisoner Support Committee (California).

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

Who profits and who is punished at mega-prisons like CECOT (El Salvador), Pinheiros (São Paulo), and Angola (Louisiana)? What explains divergent outcomes of prison strikes in Alabama and Venezuela? And how have incarcerated women in Colombia successfully demanded alternative sentencing to allow caregivers to remain with their children, while their allies in Minnesota struggle to achieve the same goal? Over 4 million people are now incarcerated in the Americas, and in the largest detention systems over two-thirds of prisoners are Black, Indigenous, immigrants, or other minoritized groups. This course examines the politics of mass incarceration in Latin America and the United States, with attention to community organizations and prison reform and abolition movements. Drawing on imprisoned voices and the work of U.S. and Latin American scholars, we will study carceral imperialism, prisons as a cornerstone of structural racism, and resistance rooted in racial and gender identity. Class normally meets for 90 minutes (M-W 10:50 am-12:20 pm), but the 10:50 am-1:00 pm time slot allows us to take field trips to sites such as All Square & the Legal Revolution, Transformation and Re-entry through Education and Community, and the Global Prison Nursery Network Symposium. Guest speakers may include Mujeres Libres (Bogotá), MOVIR (San Salvador), Juvenile Justice Advocates (Minneapolis/Mexico City), and the Asian Prisoner Support Committee (California).

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

This course explores how same-sex desire, eroticism, and gender variance were understood in pre-modern Islamicate societies before the emergence of modern sexual identities such as “homosexual” and “heterosexual.” Drawing on literary texts, legal treatises, medical writings, visual culture, and modern scholarship, students examine how desire was conceptualized in relation to gender, age, power, ethics, and social order. Rather than asking whether “gay people existed” in the past, the course asks how desire itself was structured, interpreted, and regulated and how modern categories of sexuality reshape our reading of pre-modern cultures. The course places Islamicate societies in global conversation with Greek, Christian, and modern European thought, emphasizing historical difference, cultural specificity, and the politics of interpretation.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course explores how same-sex desire, eroticism, and gender variance were understood in pre-modern Islamicate societies before the emergence of modern sexual identities such as “homosexual” and “heterosexual.” Drawing on literary texts, legal treatises, medical writings, visual culture, and modern scholarship, students examine how desire was conceptualized in relation to gender, age, power, ethics, and social order. Rather than asking whether “gay people existed” in the past, the course asks how desire itself was structured, interpreted, and regulated and how modern categories of sexuality reshape our reading of pre-modern cultures. The course places Islamicate societies in global conversation with Greek, Christian, and modern European thought, emphasizing historical difference, cultural specificity, and the politics of interpretation.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course explores how same-sex desire, eroticism, and gender variance were understood in pre-modern Islamicate societies before the emergence of modern sexual identities such as “homosexual” and “heterosexual.” Drawing on literary texts, legal treatises, medical writings, visual culture, and modern scholarship, students examine how desire was conceptualized in relation to gender, age, power, ethics, and social order. Rather than asking whether “gay people existed” in the past, the course asks how desire itself was structured, interpreted, and regulated and how modern categories of sexuality reshape our reading of pre-modern cultures. The course places Islamicate societies in global conversation with Greek, Christian, and modern European thought, emphasizing historical difference, cultural specificity, and the politics of interpretation.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

In this course, we will explore a range of interdisciplinary research approaches and methods to both environmental justice and public humanities. Together, we will examine new directions and public projects in environmental humanities through key themes including environmental and climate justice, resource extraction, waste disposal, Indigenous sovereignty, imperialism, militarism and environmental racism. Students will also devote time to develop an original public humanities research project on social movement histories and environmental inequality. Open to all. This research-oriented seminar will fulfill the requirement for AMST Junior Seminar.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

In this course, we will explore a range of interdisciplinary research approaches and methods to both environmental justice and public humanities. Together, we will examine new directions and public projects in environmental humanities through key themes including environmental and climate justice, resource extraction, waste disposal, Indigenous sovereignty, imperialism, militarism and environmental racism. Students will also devote time to develop an original public humanities research project on social movement histories and environmental inequality. Open to all. This research-oriented seminar will fulfill the requirement for AMST Junior Seminar.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials