Please note this is a sample list of courses offered in past years. Consult the quarterly Class Search Page and the College Catalog for current information on course offerings.
11001. Problems in the Study of Gender: Of Love and Borders. (=GNSE 11001)The experientially compelling nature of love and marriage not withstanding, marriage is neither an entirely individual matter, nor an entirely familial one. Rather, marriage and family has long been central to how states regulate their populations and constitute national belonging. At the same time, marriage especially, and intimate relations more generally, have long been central to the constitution of social class. Yet even as intimate relations contribute to the constitution of bounded groups of various kinds, they often provide the means to transcend them. Building on these ideas, this class examines how love, gender, and family have figured in the constitution of various kinds of borders and boundaries. Topics to be examined include the relationship between kinship and national belonging, the role of marriage in the constitution of class hierarchies, race and the regulation of sexuality in colonial contexts, moral panics and contemporary efforts to regulate bi-national marriage and same sex marriage. J. Cole
14510. Gender and Development. PQ: Econ 198 or Public Policy Analysis (222), with Stat 220 recommended, or permission from instructor. (=ECON 14510) In this class, students will engage basic issues, conflicts, and innovative field research in gender and development. In particular, we will review theoretical foundations of gender and development, data and methods of research on gender and development, and a review of recent work in international research and impact evaluations related to gender and development.
This is an elective course that is intended to complement core classes in Economics. We will read top papers in Economic journals and some outside disciplines to understand economic arguments and approaches to issues of Gender and Development. This course is writing intensive and application of mathematical modeling will be minimal. The course serves as a foundation for public policy and academic research on topics of Gender and Development, including Culture and Macro-Level Perspectives, Education, Division of Labor, Health, Technology, Religion and Politics, Institutional Perspectives, and Conflict. (A. Gonzalez)
20000. Introduction to Human Development. (=PSYC 21100) This course introduces the study of lives in context. The nature of human development from infancy through old age is explored through theory and empirical findings from various disciplines. Readings and discussions emphasize the interrelations of biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces at different points of the life cycle. Staff.
20100. Human Development/Research Designs in Social Science. (=PSYC 21100) This course exposes students to a variety of examples of well-designed social research addressing questions of great interest and importance. One goal is to clarify what it means to do “interesting” research. A second goal is to appreciate the features of good research design. A third goal is to examine the variety of research methodologies in the social sciences, including ethnography, clinical case interviewing, survey research, experimental studies of cognition and social behavior, behavior observations, longitudinal research, and model building. The general emphasis is on what might be called the aesthetics of well-designed research. Staff.
20101/30101. Applied Statistics in Human Development Research. PQ: At least one college-level mathematics course, can be a high school AP course. First priority for CHDV grads; second priority CHDV undergrad majors. This course provides an introduction to quantitative methods of inquiry and a foundation for more advanced courses in applied statistics for students in social sciences with a focus on human development research. The course covers univariate and bivariate descriptive statistics, an introduction to statistical inference, t test, two-way contingency table, analysis of variance, and regression. All statistical concepts and methods will be illustrated with application studies in which we will consider the research questions, study design, analytical choices, validity of inferences, and reports of findings. The examples include (1) examining the relationship between home environment and child development and (2) evaluating the effectiveness of class size reduction for promoting student learning. At the end of the course, students should be able to define and use the descriptive and inferential statistics taught in this course to analyze data and to interpret the analytical results. Students will learn to use the SPSS software. No prior knowledge in statistics is assumed. High school algebra and probability are the only mathematical prerequisites. G. Hong.
20140. Qualitative Field Methods. (=SOCI 20140, CRES 20140) This course introduces techniques of, and approaches to, ethnographic field research. We emphasize quality of attention and awareness of perspective as foundational aspects of the craft. Students conduct research at a site, compose and share field notes, and produce a final paper distilling sociological insight from the fieldwork. (O. McRoberts)
20150/30150. Language and Communication. (=LING 20150/30150) This course is a complement to the Introduction to Linguistics sequence. It can also be taken as an alternative to it by those students who are not majoring in Linguistics but are interested in learning something about language. The topics covered by the class include, but are by no means limited to the following: What is the position of spoken language in the usually multimodal forms of communication among humans? In what ways does spoken language differ from signed language? What features make spoken and signed language linguistic? What features distinguish linguistic means of communication from animal communication? How do humans communicate with animals? From an evolutionary point of view, how can we account for the fact that spoken language is the dominant mode of communication in all human communities around the world? Why cannot animals really communicate linguistically? How did language evolve in mankind and how did linguistic diversity emerge? Is language really what makes mankind unique among primates? What factors bring about language evolution, including language loss and the emergence of new language varieties? This a general education course without any prerequisites. S. Mufwene
20177. Social Adulthood and Future Making. In this course, we will examine social adulthood in life course perspective. We will specifically explore the question: What is social adulthood? In doing so, we will seek to understand how social adulthood fits into the life course. That is, how does it differ from adolescence or adulthood? Can it be considered a distinct developmental stage? In the first part of class, we will focus on life course stage theory to understand the analytic construction of life course stages. In the second part of the course, we will explore current literature on the stalled transition to social adulthood in different socio-cultural contexts and critically examine the following “new” stages: “emerging adulthood” in the US and “waithood” in the Middle East. In the third part of the class, we will turn to futurity in order to understand the link between social adulthood and projects of future making. Throughout the course, we will consider the impact of gender, socioeconomic status, race, religion, and generation. Some themes we will address include temporality, globalization, modernity, capitalism, and family crisis. L. Conklin
20202. Problems in the Study of Sexuality. (=ENGL 10300, GNDR 10200, HUMA 22900, PSYC 22650, SOSC 28300) This course examines theoretical and empirical approaches to understanding gender difference and inequality—central questions in the development of feminist activism and theory. We begin with historical changes in the attempts to theorize sex and gender. Next, we consider central streams of feminist thought, such as Marxist feminism and gender performativity. Finally, we end with some critical interventions in feminist theory, such as intersectionality, masculinities, and transgender studies. We will also do a series of empirical assignments designed to illuminate the social workings of gender. Staff.
20205. The Anthropology of Gender and Sexuality. The course provides an overview and introduction to how gender and sexuality have been conceptualized and empirically investigated in anthropology. The empirical literature discussed in the course extends from early studies by Margaret Mead and Bronislaw Malinowski to recently published monographs on topics like transgenderism, obesity and disability. Theoretically, the course offers an introduction to the theories of gender and sexuality developed by Simone de Beauvoir, 1970s feminist anthropologists, Michel Foucault and scholars working in both ethnomethodological and performative paradigms. D. Kulick.
20207. Race, Ethnicity, and Human Development. 21st century practices of relevance to education, social services, health care and public policy deserve buttressing by cultural and context linked perspectives about human development as experienced by diverse groups. Although generally unacknowledged as such post-Brown v. 1954, the conditions purported to support human development for diverse citizens remain problematic. The consequent interpretational shortcomings serve to increase human vulnerability. Specifically, given the problem of evident unacknowledged privilege for some as well as the insufficient access to resources experienced by others, the dilemma skews our interpretation of behavior, design of research, choice of theory, and determination of policy and practice. The course is based upon the premise that the study of human development is enhanced by examining the experiences of diverse groups, without one group standing as the "standard" against which others are compared and evaluated. Accordingly, the course provides an encompassing theoretical framework for examining the processes of human development for diverse humans while also highlighting the critical role of context and culture. M. Spencer.
20209. Adolescent Development. Adolescence represents a period of unusually rapid growth and development. At the same time, under the best of social circumstances and contextual conditions, the teenage years represent a challenging period. The period also affords unparalleled opportunities with appropriate levels of support. Thus, the approach taken acknowledges the challenges and untoward outcomes, while also speculates about the predictors of resiliency and the sources of positive youth development. The perspective taken unpacks the developmental period's complexity as exacerbated by the many contextual and cultural forces which are often made worse by unacknowledged socially structured conditions, which interact with youths' unavoidable and unique meaning making processes. As a function of some youths' privileging situations versus the low resource and chronic conditions of others, both coping processes and identity formation processes are emphasized as highly consequential. Thus, stage specific developmental processes are explored for understanding gap findings for a society's diverse youth. In sum, the course presents the experiences of diverse youth from a variety of theoretical perspectives. The strategy improves our understanding about the "what" of human development as well as the "how." Ultimately, the conceptual orientation described is critical for 1) designing better social policy, 2) improving the training and support of socializing agents (e.g., teachers), and 3) enhancing human developmental outcomes (e.g., resilient patterns). M. Spencer.
20240/30240. Language and Economy: an Interdisciplinary Approach. (=ANTH 37530, LING 30241) This course is about the relationship between language and economy, focusing on the ways in which the subject matter can be addressed theoretically and methodologically. Through reading some key texts, we will analyze how disciplines such as economics, linguistics, and anthropology have conceptualized this relationship. Among many topics, we will address issues about language development and language commodification, and about notions such as linguistic market and language as public good. We will explore ways in which linguistics and economics perspectives on the role of language in economic development and that of economic factors in language practices can be mutually enriching. C. Vigouroux
20242. Only as Old as You Feel? Exploring the Anthropology of Age and Aging. What does it mean to age? To be aging? To be old? These questions provide guidance for the investigations we will undertake in this course. In doing so, we will trace the personal, social, and political implications of age and aging for people in their everyday lives. Understandings of age are shot through with concomitant notions of chronology, biology, pathology; ideas of productivity and labor; conceptions of relationality, family, and generation. Aging draws together the meanings people make of their selves and their bodies. It structures and is structured by the political economies of social welfare. People’s concepts of age and aging are hardly static, shifting across space and time. They are products of their sociohistorical moments, in every way “situated knowledge,” to use Haraway’s term. They also are emergent in both personal life trajectories (however those are figured) and interpersonal relations. One’s age is a marker—of time, of body, of status, of relation—that must be continually reproduced. Through engagement with a series of four ethnographies, we will work to tease apart the varied understandings of age across a number of contexts and illuminate the ways that these understandings structure the daily lives and interactions of persons, young and old. A. Seaman, Spring 2015
20300. Biological Psychology. (=PSYC 20300, BIOS 29300) Prerequisites: Some background in biology and psychology. What are the relations between mind and brain? How do brains regulate mental, behavioral, and hormonal processes; and how do these influence brain organization and activity? This course introduces the anatomy, physiology, and chemistry of the brain; their changes in response to the experiential and sociocultural environment; and their relation to perception, attention, behavioral action, motivation, and emotion. L. Kay, B. Prendergast.
20305/40315. Inequality in Urban Spaces. (=PBPL 20305, CRES 20305) This course explores how rich and poor children are sorted into different neighborhoods and schools, and how family, school, and neighborhood characteristics intersect to shape the divergent outcomes of low- and middle-income children residing with any given neighborhood. Students will undertake substantial field work to tackle an important issue affecting the residents and schools in one specified Chicago neighborhood. This course will be co-taught with Marisa Novara from the Metropolitan Planning Council. M. Keels
20400/30401. Intensive Study of a Culture: Lowland Maya History and Ethnography. This seminar surveys patterns of cultural continuity and discontinuity in the lowland Maya area of southeastern Mexico from the time of Spanish contact until the present. The survey encompasses the dynamics of first contact, long term cultural accommodations achieved during colonial rule, disruptions introduced by state and market forces during the early postcolonial period, the status of indigenous communities in the twentieth century, and new social, economic, and political challenges being faced today by the contemporary peoples of the area. A variety of traditional theoretical concerns of the broader Mesoamerican region will be stressed. J. Lucy.
20440/30440. Inequality, Health, and the Life Course. (=SOCI 20248/30248) By virtue of who we are born to and the social world that surrounds us as we grow, some individuals have a better chance of living a long, healthy life than others. In this course, we leverage sociological and social scientific concepts, theories and methods to examine how these inequalities in morbidity, mortality, and health behaviors develop and change across the life course from infancy to later life. We will pay particular attention to how individual characteristics (namely gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation, but also genetic vulnerabilities) interact with social-structural, institutional, and cultural realities to shape individual’s physical and mental health. We will also discuss how social conditions, particularly during key developmental stages, can have lifelong consequences for individual’s health and well-being. (A. Mueller)
20505/30405. Anthropology of Disability. (=MAPS 36900, ANTH 30405, SOSC 36900, ANTH 20405, HMRT 25210, HMRT 35210) PQ: 3rd or 4th year standing for undergraduates. This seminar will explore a wide range of theoretical, legal, ethical, and policy issues as they relate to the experiences of individuals with disabilities, their families, and advocates. At the conclusion of the course, students will make presentations on fieldwork projects conducted during the quarter. D. Kulick, M. Fred.
20602. Globalization, Immigration, and Culture. (=ANTH 22825) This course seeks to examine how globalization, immigration/migration, and culture interact. While each of these concepts is in itself a field of study, this course will focus on the intersection of all three in order to elucidate nuances about each one by juxtaposing it with the others; for example, does immigration play a primary role in globalizing, or are consumption of international media and interaction with global economies more influential in characterizing a societal group? In a globalizing world, it is increasingly difficult to discuss bounded and stagnant cultures, since in addition to evolving as it might with minimal outside influence, each society additionally contends with and incorporates often unpredictable external forces, making it potentially indistinguishable from other (increasingly amorphous) societies. How then, does this dynamic affect the ways in which individuals define themselves and the cultural alignments that they practice and profess? Is culture global? Are cultures beginning to homogenize, or are they simply differently diverse? Is any of this unique to the present day, or is contemporary globalization only a more digital and fast paced reiteration of cultural exchanges that have taken place for centuries? These are some of the questions we will touch upon. (R. Biagioli)
20634. Psychological Perspectives on Race and Education. In this course we will explore contemporary theories and empirical research in psychology that address issues of race in education from pre-school to post-secondary schoolings. We will look at race-based experiences in schools from the perspectives of individuals (students, parents, teachers) and systems (local schools, school districts, education policy). We will critique the strengths, limitations of current research and policy and engage in discourse on the benefits of understanding race in education from a psychological perspective to improve the state of our schools. Finally, students will have an opportunity to connect research and policy to their own experiences of race in schools. Topics include stereotype threat, the achievement gap, race and academic identity, multicultural education, discrimination and bias, and diversity in higher education. E. Hope, Spring 2015
20636. An Anthropology of Anxiety. When anxious, we anticipate shifting dangers that we cannot see or even quite define. In this course, we will meet people suffering from anxiety in different times and places, and see how they try to manage intertwined physical, social, and moral threats. Beginning with theories of anxiety, we will analyze concerns about everything from witches to war to the details of our social media profiles. We will also think about the role of fear in the politics of everyday life, colonial empires, and nation states. Along the way, we will cover key themes in psychological anthropology, examining how culture, society, and technology shape the self and mental health. We will see how anxiety disorders are affected by sociocultural systems and by psychopharmaceuticals. Finally, we will reflect on the pressure we feel to secure a place for ourselves in a competitive society, to be happy, and to live our lives entwined in risky global webs. Whether they live in global networks or in traditional societies, people are anxious to control unpredictable physical and social threats, dangers from within and risks from without. (A. Hampel)
20665. The Emotions- Philosophical, Psychoanalytic, and Scientific Perspectives. (= SCTH 20665) Emotions are phenomena that seem to have aspects of a variety of other types of mental states: they seem to represent the world (that is, the joyfulness, fearfulness, sadness, and so on, of the world) just as beliefs do. They seem to be motivating just as desires are. They seem to have a felt aspect just as perceptions do. And they seem to essentially involve the body, just as pains and itches do. Emotions are thus very much like Descartes's pineal gland: the function where mind and body most closely and mysteriously interact. A topic of philosophical study in the Ancient and medieval and early modern traditions, the emotions have been neglected in much of the twentieth-century by philosophers of mind and cognitive scientists—perhaps because of the sheer variety of phenomena covered by the word "emotion" and perhaps precisely because of the resistance of the phenomena to disciplinary classification. In recent years, however, emotions have become the focus of vigorous interest in philosophy, as well as in cognitive science. In this course we will examine the nature of the emotions from three dominant perspectives: Philosophical, Psychological, and Biological. We will thereby gain not only gain preliminary insights into the nature of the emotions, but also an understanding of the power and limitations of these perspectives in the study of the human being. (Berg, A.)
20773. Emotion in Social Sciences. This course provides a broad overview of theory and research on human emotions across different fields of social sciences. Each discipline highlights different aspects of human emotions: psychological studies tends to focus on individual experiences of emotion; sociological studies focus on emotion in social context; and anthropological studies focus on cultural constitution of emotions. As we critically examine psychological, sociological, and anthropological conceptions of emotion, we will aim to arrive at a comprehensive account of human emotions that neither sidelines the lived experience of emotions nor disregards their relationships to society and culture. Following a review of emotions across different disciplines in social sciences, we will visit the relationship between gender and emotion, development of emotions, and mental health and emotions. It is expected that you will develop a deeper understanding of human emotions.By the end of the quarter, you are expected to develop a deeper understanding of the relationship between self and other. S. Numanbayraktaroglu
20882. Parenting, Culture, and Mental Health in Childhood. This course will examine the complex ways in which diverse socio-cultural factors shape parents’ beliefs and behaviors – within this country and around the world, and how these impact children's socialization. Each week, we will examine various ways environmental factors interact and influence parenting and child development, especially in early childhood. We will cover key dimensions of parenting and their relations to social and cultural diversity, as well as the role of parenting in relation to mental health in childhood, including a focus on disability and autism. H. Lee
20890. Mental Health: International and Social Perspectives Mental health today is a global public health crisis of staggering proportions. According to the Mental Health Atlas, “neuropsychiatric disorders are estimated to contribute to 13% of the global burden of disease”—that is, more than 450 million people suffer from neuropsychiatric disorders accounting for 37 percent of the healthy years lost from non-communicable diseases. The global cost of mental illness is estimated at 2.5 trillion US dollars and is expected to increase upwards of 6 trillion dollars in the next two-or-so decades.
In this mental health scenario, this class will raise questions such as: Are all psychological troubles real life mental health disorders?; is there a distinction between categories differentiating “normal” types of human suffering from mental disorder and dysfunction?; are social, cultural, and political factors more decisive in disentangling distress from disorder? Medical models of disorders downplay the role of context, but understanding social, cultural, and global context is essential to differentiating mental disorders from culturally based behavior. An ecological framing of mental health is critical and necessary for human development and wellbeing as well as to further stem the perpetuation of health inequities. Some class topics include: wealth and well-being; mental health on college campus; mental illness and the criminal justice system; and current status of mental health of individuals and families in India, Africa, and the U.S. Instructional methodology will rely on peer discussions, empirical evidence, clinical case vignettes, and shared inquiry. In this class we will emphasize: structural and systemic variables on human well-being; critical thinking skills for integrating structural analysis and social responsibility in considerations of mental health. (S. Sandhya)
21000/31000. Cultural Psychology. (=ANTH 21500/35110, PSYC 23000/33000) PQ: Third- or fourth-year standing. There is a substantial portion of the psychological nature of human beings that is neither homogeneous nor fixed across time and space. At the heart of the discipline of cultural psychology is the tenet of psychological pluralism. Research findings in cultural psychology thus raise provocative questions about the integrity and value of alternative forms of subjectivity across cultural groups. This course analyzes the concept of “culture” and examines ethnic and cross-cultural variations in mental functioning, with special attention to the cultural psychology of emotions, self, moral judgment, categorization, and reasoning. R. Shweder.
21400. Health and Human Rights. (=HMRT 21400, MEDC 60405, LLSO 21400) This course attempts to define health and health care in the context of human rights theory and practice. Does a “right to health” include a “right to health care"? We delineate health care financing in the United States and compare these systems with those of other nations. We explore specific issues of health and medical practice as they interface in areas of global conflict: torture, landmines, and poverty. Readings and discussions explore social determinants of health: housing, educational institutions, employment, and the fraying of social safety nets. We study vulnerable populations: foster children, refugees, and the mentally ill. Lastly, does a right to health include a right to pharmaceuticals? What does the big business of drug research and marketing mean for our own country and the world? (E. Lyon, R. Sherer)
21401. Introduction to African Civilization II. (=AFAM 20701, ANTH 20702, HIST 10102, SOSC 22600) Completion of the general education requirement in social sciences is recommended. This course focuses on Eastern and Southern Africa, including Madagascar. We explore various aspects of how the colonial encounter transformed local societies, even as indigenous African social structures profoundly molded and shaped these diverse processes. Topics include the institution of colonial rule, independence movements, ethnicity and interethnic violence, ritual and the body, love, marriage, money, and popular culture. J. Cole.
21500. Darwinian Health. (=GNDR 21500, HIPS 22401) This course uses an evolutionary, rather than clinical, approach to understanding why we get sick. In particular, we will consider how health issues such as menstruation, senescence, menopause and allergies can be considered adaptations rather than pathologies, and how in our rapidly changing environments these traits may no longer be beneficial. J. Mateo.
21800/34300. Primate Behavior and Ecology. (=BIOS 23248, EVOL 37300) PQ: Completion of the general education requirement in the biological sciences. This course explores the behavior and ecology of nonhuman primates with emphasis on their natural history and evolution. Specific topics include methods for the study of primate behavior, history of primate behavior research, socioecology, foraging, predation, affiliation, aggression, mating, parenting, development, communication, cognition, and evolution of human behavior. D. Maestripieri.
21901/31901. Language, Culture, and Thought. (=PSYC 21950/31900, ANTH 27605/37605, LING 27700/37700) This is a survey course exploring the role of natural language in shaping human thought. The topic will be taken up at three levels: semiotic-evolutionary (the role of natural language in enabling distinctively human forms of thinking--the rise of true concepts and self-consciousness), structural-comparative (the role of specific language codes in shaping habitual thought--the "linguistic relativity" of experience), and functional-discursive (the role of specialized discursive practices and linguistic ideologies in cultivating specialized forms of thought--the pragmatics, politics, and aesthetics of reason and expression). Readings will be drawn from many disciplines but will emphasize developmental, cultural, and critical approaches. Class time will be divided between lecture and discussion. (J. Lucy)
21910. Political Psychology: Rallies, Riots, & Revolutions. The aim of this class is to introduce undergraduate students to the trans-disciplinary study of political psychology and to challenge deeply held assumptions in light of the debates and discussions stimulated by the readings each week. Readings pull from across the social sciences with a particular focus on political, social, and cultural psychology; political science and sociology, and are chosen to provide a broad overview of the expansive literature on this topic. Students will engage with the fundamental issues concerning political psychology, and will learn to think through historical and contemporary issues in relation to social change and social stasis with reference to the readings and other course materials. More specifically, students will learn how to apply class concepts to better understand a broader range of issues concerning how social movements form, grow, and disperse; why people justify the unfair or corrupt systems in which they live; police and protester interaction; the psychology of riots; and the psychology of democracies and dictatorships. Each student will write an essay about a particular topic or principle from the trans-disciplinary field of political psychology (e.g. contagion; democratic citizens; worker strikes; processes of social change, etc.) or about a particular contemporary or historical case study (e.g. the 1992 L.A. riots or 2011 U.K. riots; the Arab Spring; Irish anti-water tax protest; the recent women’s march; various social justice movements, etc.) S. Power
22201/32201. Developmental Biopsychology. Prerequisites: Advanced undergraduates only. This course is an introduction to the reciprocal interactions between psychology and biology, as well as fundamental principles of neural, endocrine and imune integration. The course is taught with a developmental emphasis, including animal and clinical literature. M. McClintock.
22212/32212. Love, Conjugality, and Capital: Intimacy in the Modern World. (=GNDR 23102, SALC 23101/33101) A look at societies in other parts of the world demonstrates that modernity in the realm of love, intimacy, and family often had a different trajectory from the European one. This course surveys ideas and practices surrounding love, marriage, and capital in the modern world. Using a range of theoretical, historical, and anthropological readings, as well as films, the course explore such topics as the emergence of companionate marriage in Europe and the connections between arranged marriage, dowry, love, and money. Case studies are drawn primarily from Europe, India, and Africa. J. Cole.
22831. Debates in Cognitive and Social Neuroscience. (=PSYC 22831)This course will survey some of the current debates in the fields of cognitive and social neurosciences. The readings and discussions will cover a variety of topics ranging from the functional specificity of brain regions supporting face processing to the network of brain regions believed to support mental state inferences about others. Discussions and response papers will emphasize careful consideration of each perspective on these topics. (J. Cloutier)
23090. Development and Indigenous Human Rights in Latin America. (=HMRT 23090,ANTH 23090,LACS 23090) Latin America has long been imagined as a crucible for forging theories about how to conduct development interventions. The region was mobilized, for instance, by “dependency” theorists in their resistance to the mainstream idea that development was simply about “modernization.” Today, Latin America finds itself at the forefront of a more recent development paradigm focused on empowering local cultural identities through entrepreneurship, in what one scholar calls “development with identity” (García 2005). As the place where the very concept of the “indigenous” person was arguably born with Columbus’ landing on Hispaniola in 1492, Latin America has also played an important and historically enduring role in how the West has constructed and understood the idea of indigenous people: from groups that were at first the objects of conversion and resettlement, to populations long considered the most poor, excluded, and environmentally vulnerable, to the contemporary subjects of human rights, locally tailored policies, and initiatives striving to reach the delicate balance between economic inclusion and political autonomy. Why is it that development, a kind of orientation toward change and the future, and indigenous rights, which tend to entail a claim on the past and against certain kinds of change, have come to work together so closely in Latin America?
This course examines and historically contextualizes the intersections of recent tendencies in development intervention and indigenous human rights throughout the Latin American region. It does so through a focus on how two contemporary transnational tendencies have converged particularly sharply in today’s Latin America: what Bolivian scholar Xavier Albó has called “the return of the Indian”—describing the region’s dramatic surge in indigenous movements around questions of empowered political identity and human rights at the end of the twentieth century—and what Ananya Roy has labeled “the financialization of development”—characterized by the idea that economic development should best be achieved through investing in the poor, and an increasingly complex entanglement of development initiatives with credit institutions bolstered by the argument that credit itself is a human right. To what extent do indigenous human rights mean the right to develop, or to not? What is it about Latin America that has made it a crucible for theories of and policies on development and indigenous rights? What might exploring the way these themes have come together in Latin America tell us about the region itself? And what does the Latin American context teach us about what it means to “develop,” what it means to be “indigenous,” and what it means to have “rights”? E. Hirsch, Spring 2015
23204/43204. Medical Anthropology. (=ANTH 24330, ANTH 40330, HIPS 27301) Prerequisites: SOSC sequence. This course introduces students to the central concepts and methods of medical anthropology. Drawing on a number of classic and contemporary texts, we will consider both the specificity of local medical cultures and the processes which increasingly link these systems of knowledge and practice. We will study the social and political economic shaping of illness and suffering and will examine medical and healing systems – including biomedicine – as social institutions and as sources of epistemological authority. Topics covered will include the problem of belief; local theories of disease causation and healing efficacy; the placebo effect and contextual healing; theories of embodiment; medicalization; structural violence; modernity and the distribution of risk; the meanings and effects of new medical technologies; and global health. E. Raikhel
23248/43248. Research Methods in Behavior and Development. Permission of instructor, 3rd and 4th year Undergraduates allowed. In this graduate seminar we will discuss research design, experimental methods, statistical approaches and field techniques. Other topics will be covered depending on participant interests, such as acoustic analyses, ethogram development, event recorders, spectrophotometers, marking methods, spatial analyses and grant-writing strategies. The course is primarily designed for studies of non-human animals, although studies of human behavior, especially developmental studies, will be addressed. J. Mateo
23249. Animal Behavior. (=BIOS 23249, HDCP 41650, PSYC 23249) PQ: Completion of the general education requirement in the biological sciences. This course introduces the mechanism, ecology, and evolution of behavior, primarily in nonhuman species, at the individual and group level. Topics include the genetic basis of behavior, developmental pathways, communication, physiology and behavior, foraging behavior, kin selection, mating systems and sexual selection, and the ecological and social context of behavior. A major emphasis is placed on understanding and evaluating scientific studies and their field and lab techniques. J. Mateo.
23301/33301. Culture, Mental Health and Psychiatry. (=ANTH 24315, ANTH 35115, HIPS 27302) Prerequisites: Undergraduates must have previously completed a SOSC sequence. While mental illness has recently been framed in largely neurobiological terms as "brain disease," there has also been an increasing awareness of the contingency and complexity of psychiatric disorders. In this course, we will draw upon readings from medical and psychological anthropology, cultural psychiatry, and science studies to examine this paradox and to examine mental health and illness as a set of subjective experiences, social processes and objects of knowledge and intervention. Questions explored include: Does mental illness vary across social and cultural settings? How are experiences of people suffering from mental illness shaped by psychiatry's knowledge of their afflictions? E. Raikhel.
23360/33360. Methods in Gesture and Sign Language Research. (= PSYC 23360/33360, LING 23360/ 33360) In this course we will explore methods of research used in the disciplines of linguistics and psychology to investigate sign language and gesture. We will choose a set of canonical topics from the gesture and sign literature such as pointing, use of the body in quotation, and the use of non-manuals, in order to understand the value of various effective methods in current use and the types of research questions they are best equipped to handle. S. Goldin-Meadow
23403. Borders, (Im)mobilities and Human Rights. (=HMRT 23403) In 2015, over one million migrants and refugees entered Europe using land and sea routes. Many more ended up, often in highly precarious conditions, in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and other countries at the frontiers of conflict. The International Organization for Migration reports that 2015 was the deadliest year on record for migrants and refugees crossing the Mediterranean trying to reach Europe and nearly five thousand people lost their lives in 2016 while making these perilous journeys. According to the U.N.’s refugee agency, there were over sixty-five million forcibly displaced persons globally—over twenty million of whom are refugees—at the end of 2015. This global displacement of people and the experiences of a wide range of actors involved in migration raise the following questions: What is the human cost of border control and securitization? To what extent do individuals possess the right to move to other states? How do different states with large populations of refugees and asylum seekers develop and enforce migration policies, and what do the differences in these policies reveal about the social histories and futures of these states?
To address these questions, we will consider how borders, institutions, and categories of migrant groups mutually shape one another. We will critically examine the filtering mechanisms of borders. We will explore the interrelationships between categories of migration—namely forced and irregular migration—in order to understand the multiple and unequal forms of mobility experienced by those who inhabit these categories. We will discuss how the management of borders impacts aspects of the everyday lives of those who move across borders, such as through access to housing and health services, encounters with the police, and the acquisition of documents and legal statuses. We will also consider the conditions of asylum in different states and the proof that asylum seekers must provide in order to receive a protected administrative status.
By utilizing a framework of human rights, this course will investigate how contemporary issues in migration—such as border management, illicit movement, and the fuzzy distinction between forced and economic migration—raise and reopen debates concerning the management of difference. We will draw on the work of anthropologists, sociologists, and political scientists, as well as journalists, legal and medical professionals. Our readings each week will include a mix of conceptual, ethnographic, long-form journalism, and policy texts. When possible, we will also invite representatives from different Chicago-based organizations (e.g. Heartland Alliance, the Chicago Legal Clinic, World Relief) that promote and protect the rights of people in various situations of migration to come to our class to discuss their work. We will cover a lot of different material in this course, and each weekly session could be its own course. However, my goal is to introduce different perspectives in different areas of research and hopefully inspire further inquiry! D. Ansari
23440. Health, Medicine, & Human Rights. (= HMRT 23440, SOCI 20268) The World Health Organization, United Nations and other international bodies consider health a fundamental human right. At the same time, most countries around the world are characterized by profound inequalities in health and wellbeing. In this course, we leverage sociological and social scientific concepts through a human rights framework to understand how these inequalities in mental and physical health are perpetuated by the structure and culture of society, with an emphasis on U.S. society. We will also examine medicine as an institution with a problematic history of repeated human rights violations (in the U.S. and around the world) and explore how that history shapes the current practice of medicine, medical research, and relations between doctors and patients. Finally, we will explore how institutions provide (or fail to provide) equal access to healthcare, and how state understandings of the right to health influence the lives of individuals and communities. A. Mueller, C. Offidani-Bertrand
23511. Memory, Reconciliation, and Healing: Transitional Justice as Human Rights. (=HMRT 23511) Across the globe, recent national attempts to transition out of authoritarian rule and to manage the legacies of political conflicts have invoked discourses and questions of human rights. In the last fifty years, millions of people across the world have experience periods of protest and mobilization, violence and genocide, the emergence and entrenchment of armed revolutionary forces, and repressive governments. As these periods came to an end, the governments, civil societies, and individual citizens in each country have had to face the challenges of rebuilding social fabric, trust, and democratic culture while memorializing the past and considering the root causes of past conflict and authoritarianism. These processes have include discourses of rights (e.g. transitional justice, but also participation, democracy, education, etc.) and have shaped the lives of millions of individuals in these countries as well as the trajectories of each nation and its governments.
The proposed course draws on Peru, South Africa, and Ireland as case studies to guide students in comparatively analyzing the transitional processes and current implications. The goal of the course is for students to explore how these societies and their citizens have sought to deal with these problematic national histories and what ways these processes continue to influence each society. The students will leave the class with a better understanding of how conflict and post-conflict issues and developments have shaped current situations in these countries. Additionally, they will generate understandings of key human rights issues in these transitional contexts, as well as deconstruct the obstacles to upholding rights in applied contexts. The final project will guide them in synthesizing the class material in order to present concrete lessons and applied conceptions to a current case: Colombia. They will be challenged to apply lessons from the case studies and theory about forgiveness, reconciliation, memory, and healing as social processes and elements of human dignity.
The course will begin with the history of conflict and transitions in each of the case studies. Students will be presented with an array of sources that come from different disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, history, and literature, and challenged to create their own understandings of what occurred. They will be asked to draw connections and lessons across the cases. In the second and third units, students will encounter theoretical and philosophical texts related specifically to issues of memory and forgiveness. They will be challenged to evaluate the claims and frameworks in these positions, specifically by relating and applying them to the cases studied. The last unit will ask students to create a paper and a presentation offering findings and analysis focusing on a particular policy or initiative as applied to the context of Colombia. Students will develop the ideas for this project through exposure to an example drawn from the instructor’s own work on education, youth, and the Colombian Peace process. In their own final project, students will formulate how the policy or program they choose seeks to address some of the key questions or issues related to the past conflict, and what its implementation and impact might be like. They will be asked to reflect on concrete lessons that could inform both theory and applied programs about transitional societies. G. Velez
23620/33620. Medicine and Anthropology. (=ANTH 23620/33620) The rise of modern biological medicine into global dominance dates from the 18th century, with the field developing in tandem with technological industrialization, scientific objectivism, and secular modernism in writing and social theory. The things we now have before us in the medical field—doctors, patients, drugs, symptoms, diseases, pacemakers, antiseptic wipes, psychologies, therapeutic protocols, health insurance, white coats, immunizations, folk remedies, and much more—are many of the things that ground all of our ethics and our politics in contemporary North America. In order to better understand how medicine affects wider worlds of experience and action, this course gathers a number of historical and ethnographic studies of medical knowledge and practice for careful study. In a series of readings and discussions we will consider the social and political economic shaping of illness and suffering and the “culture-bound” character of diseases; we will examine medical and healing systems—well beyond biomedicine—as social institutions and as sources of epistemological authority; and we will read about the knowledge politics of medical experts and their clients and patients. Topics covered will also include the problem of belief; local theories of disease causation and healing efficacy; the placebo effect and contextual healing; theories of embodiment; medicalization; modernity and the distribution of risk; the meanings and effects of medical technologies; and the relatively recent global health movement. J. Farquhar
23800/36400. Theories of Emotion and the Psychology of Well Being. (=PSYC 26400, PSYC 36400) This course will review different approaches to the study of emotion and well being, different ways of measuring well being, the relationship between positive and negative well being, and the degree to which well-being can be changed. We will discuss studies that focus on the mechanisms that control psychological well being, and the thinking, appraisals, and beliefs that lead to positive versus negative well being. We will also investigate those conditions that produce irrevocable changes in psychological well being and those conditions that promote robustness. N. Stein.
23900/31600. Introduction to Language Development. (=LING 21600/31600, PSYC 23200/33200) This course addresses the major issues involved in first-language acquisition. We deal with the child’s production and perception of speech sounds (phonology), the acquisition of the lexicon (semantics), the comprehension and production of structured word combinations (syntax), and the ability to use language to communicate (pragmatics). S. Goldin-Meadow.
23909. Producing home: The re-making of place and space in diaspora.(=ANTH 23909) Advanced undergraduates only. At its heart, migration involves transformations in space and place. The very act of migration involves displacement and the traversing of space, and it is through a variety of spatial and place-making practices that migrants are re-emplaced in new locales. Such practices may be undertaken by both migrants and receiving states; they range from the creation of neighborhoods populated with structures of support relevant to specific migrant populations, to the collective sharing of narratives about remembered places, and attempts to make one's home in diaspora reflect the one left behind. Such practices have a range of effects. For instance, they may enable migrants to reproduce remembered places and ways of being in a new landscape in symbolic and material ways, allowing them to create a sense of home; they may transform urban spaces and create new ones; and they may produce new immigrant subjectivities that are informed by the spatial and sociopolitical conditions of their new home. We will draw on a range of ethnographic material to explore these and other possibilities through the lens of theories on the production of space and place. G. Embuldeniya.
23930/33930. Biological and Cultural Evolution. (=BIOS 29286, CHSS 37900, LING 11100, HIPS 23900, NCDV 27400, PHIL 22500/32500, BPRO 23900) Third- or fourth-year standing or consent of instructor required; core background in evolution and genetics strongly recommended. This course draws on readings in and case studies of language evolution, biological evolution, cognitive development and scaffolding, processes of socialization and formation of groups and institutions, and the history and philosophy of science and technology. We seek primarily to elaborate theory to understand and model processes of cultural evolution, while exploring analogies, differences, and relations to biological evolution. This has been a highly contentious area, and we examine why. We seek to evaluate what such a theory could reasonably cover and what it cannot. S. Mufwene, W. Wimsatt
24204. Romantic Love: Cultural & Psychological Perspectives. This course combines humanistic and social scientific disciplines to examine the phenomenon of romantic love - a "big problem" in practical, theoretical, and cultural senses. The course starts by comparing representations of romantic love experiences in visual, musical and literary arts and myths. After exploring what may be specific to this form of love, we address two further issues: the role and sources of non-rational experience in romantic love, and the role of romantic love in modern marriage. Illumination of these topics will be sought through the discussion of humanistic and social scientific texts and cinematic presentations. D. Orlinsky.
24335. Introduction to Medical Anthropology. (= ANTH 24335) Ideas about health and the experience and interpretation of distress and illness are products of specific historical, social, economic, and cultural contexts. The physical body, however, constrains the shaping of these ideas. The aim of this course is to examine the way in which concepts about the body in health and in illness in any given society are reflections of specific kinds of social organization and political relations together with shared cultural values. The first module of the course will outline the major theoretical models for approaching the study of illness, health, and medicine, as objects of anthropological analysis. The second, third, and fourth modules of this course will variously examine historical, cultural, environmental, economic, and political considerations to provide a comprehensive global overview of the many factors that influence the health of individuals and populations. In each module we will explore specific themes, buttressed by ethnographic case studies: for example, medicine as a cultural system; different medical traditions; cross-cultural medicine; medicalization of the life-cycle; anthropology of the body; the social lives of medicines, reemerging infections, biomedical technologies; social suffering; and, finally, the political dimensions of health policy. (S. Brotherton)
24402/34402. Psychological Research Methods in Human Development.(=MAPS 34400) PQ: Advanced Undergraduate or Graduate Students Only. The goal of this course is to guide students in acquiring the skills necessary for designing meaningful research that clearly communicates our cultural and psychological knowledge about the human mind and behavior to professional audiences. The course accomblishes this by combining practical and theoretical readings drawn from text books and articles about qualitative and quantitative research methods with student exercises designed to develop a well-crafted research proposal. The course thus has a two-part sructure: discussion of the theoretical and technical aspects of each week’s methodological focus; workshop time allowing students to give and receive constructive feedback on their emerging research design. These workshopped pieces will culminate in a research proposal that meets the methodological and presentation criteria required for a BA thesis, Trial Research, or a Grant Proposal. Alternatively, students may design a small pilot study that will lay the foundation for research proposals to be further developed in the course of their academic work. S. Van Deusen Phillips
24701/34701. The Development of Social and Emotional Understanding.(=PSYC 24701/34701) This course will focus on the development of emotional and social understanding from infancy through adolescence. Issues to be discourses are: How we conceptualize, define emotional understanding; How emotions are linked to thinking, body, and language expression; How are‹moods and emotions related to each other; Are there stable temperamental differences that‹predispose individuals to be continually angry, depressed, panicked, happy; How good is‹emotional memory; Do young children have the capabilities to remember emotional events‹accurately; What is the role of emotional understanding and expressiveness in young children; developing memory and theory of the mind; How does emotional understanding reflect children's understanding of themselves and other people; Are emotional expressions accurate predictors of behavior in subsequent situations? N. Stein.
25060/35060. Women in Science, Science of Women. (=PSYC 45060) This interdisciplinary seminar will evaluate the interactions among sociocultural, biological and psychological forces that shape women's talent for and participation in science. Diverse topics will range from explanations for attrition as women progress through their education and careers to evidence for benefits of gender diversity in the STEM and social sciences. M. McClintock.
25100. Anthropology of the Body. (=ANTH 25100) Drawing on a wide and interdisciplinary range of texts, both classic and more recent, this seminar will variously examine the theoretical debates of the body as a subject of anthropological, historical, psychological, medical and literaryinquiry. Theseminarwillexplorespecificthemes,forexample,thepersistenceofthemind/bodydualism, experiences of embodiment/alienation, phenomenology of the body, Foucauldian notions of bio-politics, bio- power and the ethic of the self, and the medicalized, gendered, and racialized body, among other salient themes.
This seminar is a collaborative exercise that is only as good as the contribution of each participant. Attendance, preparation, and participation are essential to the quality of everyone’s seminar experience. In this seminar, the assigned readings correspond to the general theme of the week’s seminar. The weekly session is organized as follows: during the first hour, two students will participate in co-leading a critical discussion of the required readings for that day. We will then take a short break, and the remainder of the class will be a general lecture and discussion fleshing out the major debates and significance of the week’s theme. S. Brotherton
25116. Magic Matters. (=INST 27701, ANTH 25116) The class explores lively presence of magic in the contemporary, presumably disenchanted world. It approaches the problem of magic historically—examining how magic became an object of social scientific inquiry—and anthropologically, attending to the magic in practice on the margins of the industrial, rational, cosmopolitan, and technological societies and economies. Furthermore, this class reads classic and contemporary ethnographies of magic together with the studies of science and technology to critically examine questions of agency, practice, experience, experiment, and efficacy. The class reads widely across sites, disciplines, and theories, attending to eventful objects and alien agents, stepping into post-socialist, post-colonial, and post-secular magic markets and medical clinics, and reading for the political energies of the emergent communities that effectively mix science, magic, and technology. L. Jasarevic.
25120. Child Development and Public Policy. (=PBPL 25120, PSYC 25120) The goal of this course is to introduce students to the literature on early child development and explore how an understanding of core developmental concepts can inform social policies. This goal will be addressed through an integrated, multidisciplinary approach. The course will emphasize research on the science of early child development from the prenatal period through school entry. The central debate about the role of early experience in development will provide a unifying strand for the course. Students will be introduced to research in neuroscience, psychology, economics, sociology, and public policy as it bears on questions about “what develops?” critical periods in development, the nature vs. nurture debate, and the ways in which environmental contexts (e.g., parents, families, peers, schools, institutions, communities) affect early development and developmental trajectories. The first part of the course will introduce students to the major disciplinary streams in the developmental sciences and the enduring and new debates and perspectives within the field. The second part will examine the multiple contexts of early development to understand which aspects of young children’s environments affect their development and how those impacts arise. Throughout the course, we will explore how the principles of early childhood development can guide the design of policies and practices that enhance the healthy development of young children, particularly for those living in adverse circumstances, and thereby build a strong foundation for promoting equality of opportunity, reducing social class disparities in life outcomes, building human capital, fostering economic prosperity, and generating positive social change. In doing so, we will critically examine the evidence on whether the contexts of children’s development are amenable to public policy intervention and the costs and benefits of different policy approaches. In this course students will critically examine historical trends, current challenges, and new directions in developmental science and early childhood policy. Through directed readings, written work, and class participation, students will have opportunities to grapple with the complexities of connecting scientific research to the formulation of evidence-based policies that advance the healthy development of children, families, and communities and bring high returns to all of society, in the United States and around the world. A. Kalil
25220. Constructing A Society of Human Rights: A Psychological Framework. (=HMRT 25220) This course is designed to discuss the ways that cultural and social psychology contributes to understandings about human rights conceptually, and how human rights issues emerge from social dynamics. Over the course of the quarter, students will learn about theories on intergroup conflict and prejudice, how an individual's beliefs emerge from social contexts and shape their relationships with others, how obedience to authority is created and abused, and how social positioning and narratives influence conceptions of self and other. We will also discuss the relevance and impact of psychological study and data on human rights issues. We will discuss how data is gathered and analyzed data that can support -- or reject -- claims about how and why violations have occurred. These conceptual frameworks will then be discussed in relation to specific case studies involving state-sponsored violence, individual and collective trauma, transitional justice and peace processes, and illegal detention and imprisonment.
Students will apply these lessons through analytic papers, presentations of their own case study and recommendations for policy or programs aiming to build understanding or utilization of human rights framework. G. Velez, C. Bertrand
25250. Disability in Local and Global Contexts. (=MAPS 46460, ANTH 24302) This is a course about intersections. Disability cuts across age, gender, class, caste, occupation, and religion- or does it? By some measures, people with disabilities are the largest minority group in the world today. In this course, we critically examine both the experiences of people with disabilities in a global context as well as the politics and processes of writing about such experiences. Indeed, questions of representation are perhaps at the core of this course. Is there such a thing as an international disability experience? What role have the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and international organizations such as the United Nations, the World Health Organization, and other non-governmental social and human service agencies played in the creation of specific understandings of disability experience?
We will ask whether disability is a universal category and we will consider how experiences of health, illness, disability, and debility vary. We will engage in “concept work” by analyzing the relationships between disability and impairment and we will critically evaluate the different conceptual and analytical models employed to think about disability. In doing so, we will rethink (perhaps) previously taken for granted understandings of disability and we will also engage with broader questions about international development, human rights, the boundaries of the nation, the family and other kinship affiliations, and identity and community formation. How is disability both a productive analytic and a lens for thinking about pressing questions and concerns in today’s world? M. Friedner
25500. Language Socialization. (=LING 23500) For the past thirty years Language Socialization research has contributed to the fields of Developmental Psychology, Anthropology, Linguistics and Education by providing a coherent analytical framework and a rigorous methodology to investigate the process by which while acquiring a particular language children become not only competent speakers but also competent members of their communities.
By documenting the variability of linguistic structures and of caregiver-child interactions across cultures and sub-cultures, Language Socialization research has helped us understand how and when linguistic and cultural differences matter in the process of acquiring a particular language. Furthermore, by focusing on how children and caregivers (or novices and experts) use language in interactions that are culturally embedded, Language Socialization research has furthered our understanding of how cultural meaning is created, negotiated and transformed.
Through a combination of background lectures and discussion this course surveys classical research on language socialization covering a variety of languages and cultures. The proposed reading materials illustrate the diversity of issues that this theoretical perspective encompasses. (N. Bustamante)
25900/30700. Developmental Psychology. (=PSYC 20500/30500) This is an introductory course in developmental psychology, with a focus on cognitive and social development in infancy through early childhood. Example topics include children's early thinking about number, morality, and social relationships, as well as how early environments inform children's social and cognitive development. Where appropriate, we make links to both philosophical inquiries into the nature of the human mind, and to practical inquiries concerning education and public policy. L Richland, K. Kinzler.
26000/30600. Introduction to Social Psychology. (=PSYC 20600/30600) This seminar course examines social psychological theory and research based on both classic and contemporary contributions. Among the major topics examined are conformity and deviance, the attitude-change process, social role and personality, social cognition, and political psychology. W. Goldstein.
26221. Culture and Morality.This course will examine theoretical and practical bases for the social scientific study of morality and moral reasoning. As an object of academic inquiry, morality has historically been resistant to classification under any one discipline, recognized at various times to be the exclusive province of philosophy, psychology, religion, and so on; so we will draw on works from across a broad range of fields in pursuit of the topic. We will begin by surveying some essential points in western moral philosophy in order to: 1) acquire a common language for thinking and talking about moral issues; 2) contemplate some potential theoretical foundations for the social scientific study of morality; and 3) consider western moral philosophic theories as culturally and historically situated in their own right. We’ll then critically examine classic and contemporary theories from moral psychology, cultural psychology, sociology, anthropology, psycholinguistics, and evolutionary psychology, all oriented toward understanding morality as a sociocultural phenomenon. L. Beldo, Spring 2015
26226. Becoming Adult in Postmodern Context(s). The transition to adulthood has become deinstitutionalized and decontextualized to the point that those in the process of becoming adults find themselves lost, cast adrift, and wondering whether something called adulthood even exists any more. It is widely acknowledged that the transition to adulthood has become delayed and drawn out in contemporary, highly technological Western societies. What is less clear is what this change means for individuals and for the larger society. Is it good that young people have more time to decide what adulthood means to them? Does the delay represent the hardening of class boundaries and greater difficulty in establishing the economic security necessary for adulthood? What are the implications of people in their late 20's and even 30's thinking of themselves as only "soft-of" adult? How is this delay experienced differently across gender, race, and class? This course will employ a cross-disciplinary approach to explore the meaning(s) of adulthood and the reasons for the delay in the transition to adulthood. We will examine this issue from sociological, psychological, historical, and anthropological perspectives. Questions to be addressed in this course include: What do we mean by a postmodern context? How have shifts in institutional structures created changes in the meaning of adulthood? What can be learned about adulthood and maturity from a cross-cultural or historical-comparative approach? Is there anything universal about the idea of adulthood or maturity? What are the implications, both for the individual and for the larger society, when one doesn't know when, how, or whether they can become an adult? D. Dugas, Winter 2013.
26227. Neuroscience and the Social Sciences. This course aims at undertaking a critical examination of leading neuroscientists' and philosophers' attempts to relate neuroscience findings to major features of human nature. Topics to be covered include rationality, emotions, free will, consciousness, morality and language. In addition to critically examining claims made about the significance of neuroscientific findings, the course also aims to situate the relative significance of the neuroscientific perspective to other disciplines' approaches to the topic being examined. Skeptics and enthusiasts are both encouraged to enroll. No prior neuroscience experience required. R. Nicholson, Spring 2013
26230. Psychological Anthropology: Theory and Practice. Prerequisites: 3rd and 4th years only. Broadly put, psychological anthropology investigates the relationship between interior experience and social worlds. How, in other words, does culture get inside our heads? This course offers an introduction to some of the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of this complex sub-discipline. It does so in two ways. First, we will explore the analytical frameworks of self and emotion, two of the central topics studied by psychological anthropologists. We will explore these two themes through a series of readings and discussions. Second, we take up the practice of psychological anthropology through a close examination of ethnography, which refers to both the method used to conduct research in the field, and the form of writing through which that research is expressed. We will do so through a series of "ethnography labs," in which we will collaboratively engage in exercises in close reading and writing in order to understand this complicated genre. J. Kowalski, Winter 2013
26232. Comparative Cognitive Development. (=PSYC 26232) This course explores the relatively new field of comparative cognitive development, a field which investigates the origin and nature of cognitive skills in humans by comparing these skills across species and across development. We will examine how social and physical cognition develop in relation to species specific social and environmental demands, students will learn behavioral and experimental methods for investigating cognitive development in verbal and non/pre-verbal individuals. Each student will prepare a research proposal to address one of the main questions in the field and present his or her research project and expected findings in a final paper and class presentation. T. Mandalaywala, Winter 2014
26234. Life Course and Generation in the Arab World. In this course we will consider the ways in which processes of globalization are affecting families, age groups, and intergenerational relationships across the Arab world. We will consider not only how discrete age categories such as childhood, youth, or old age have been transformed in the contemporary moment by socio-political and economic trends in the region, but also how these factors shape the dynamic between generations. In doing so we will examine a wide-range of anthropological, sociological, religious, and historical texts, as well as a selection of novels and films. C. Nutter El Ouardani, Winter 2014
26235. Life Course Development. This course is designed to provide a comprehensive background in the study of human development across the life span by exploring the influences of culture, environment, social setting, heredity, and physiology on cognitive, emotional, and behavioral processes. Materials will cover the biological/genetic, attachment relations, social, economic, environmental, and neurobiological influences on the developing individual from prenatal development until death. The main focus will be on “normal” development or group averages rather than the development of a single individual, although differences among individuals will be discussed. The primary objective of this course is for the student to gain an understanding and appreciation of human development through the lifespan via readings of theory and research, class lectures, class discussion, and films.
The goal of the class is to expose students to a range of current research in the areas of development, attachment, and neurobiological and social processes across the lifespan in order to develop new ways of conceptualizing development based upon the new information available via this research. S. Van Deusen Phillips, Winter 2014
26237. Global Girlhoods. (GNSE 26237) During the 20th century, American psychology determined that adolescent girls undergo a “crisis of self,” department stores designated the teenage girl as a marketing category, and young women’s reproductive and sexual autonomy oscillated under degrees of ideological, moral and legal control. This course examines the construction of adolescent girlhood as a delinquent, public health, consumer, and charitable category: we will read foundational American psychological texts that helped to invent the idea of the adolescent crisis together with ethnographic and historical accounts of girlhood around the globe. The course will address questions about the universality of life-stage categories and the circulation of gendered and age-specific psychological symptoms. We will explore the emergence of the “adolescent girl” as it is represented in film, philanthropic propaganda, and 20th century popular psychology. We will also draw from readings in sociology, psychology, anthropology and history to consider how the idea that adolescent girls undergo a crisis of self became hegemonic, how it circulates, and how young women both take up and challenge this notion. The first section, “Querying Adolescence,” covers seminal texts about the invention of adolescence including G. Stanley Hall, Freud’s essays on sexuality, and Margaret Mead’s Coming of Age in Samoa. The second section, “Age, Identity, Crisis,” explores both adolescent identity crises and the public crises adolescents precipitate. The third section, “Girls, Global Circulations and Temporality” surveys ethnographic and historical challenges to universal assumptions about how girls grow up. Course materials will include films, texts, advertising images, and new media. E. Moore, Spring 2014
26238. Animal Ethics, Environmental Conflict: Social/Cultural Perspectives.This course critically examines different social and cultural perspectives on the nonhuman, including ideas about animals, "nature," "wilderness," and "environment." The perspectives we examine will include environmentalism, animal rights and animal welfare movements, ecology, governmental institutions, and "cultural" perspectives. We'll pay special attention to the moral dimension of ideas about human-animal and human-environment interaction, including points where debates about social justice and environmental justice intersect. We will also analyze how plants, animals, and the products derived from them are assigned value in human communities, especially as commodities. Whales and whale hunting--including especially American and Canadian "aboriginal" whaling--will serve as our primary case study; but our discussions and analysis will range over a diverse set of topics related to animals and the nonhuman environment. L. Beldo, Spring 2014
26240/36240. Storytelling Across the Lifespan. In this course we will explore the development of storytelling across the lifespan, conceptualizing story as a core communicative competency critical for success across contexts. We will read and analyze the stories of diverse storytellers in terms of age, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or expression, as well as members of other groups bonded by interest or mutual affiliation. Throughout the course, we will consider different analytic methods as well as ways to use story as a research tool for gaining insight on individuals, groups, practices, or problems of interest. E. Flynn, Spring 2014
26241. Culturally Shaped Conceptions of Childhood and Development. In this course we will focus on early development (primarily birth to age eight) with an emphasis on understanding culturally shaped interpretations of the interplay between biological, psychological, and social development. In addition to exploring diverse cultural interpretations of development, we will read developmental theories and consider moments of cultural clash, mismatch, or misunderstanding that occur in everyday settings like schools and hospitals. This course will proceed as a combination of lecture and discussion with considerable emphasis on students’ insights and contributions. E. Flynn, Spring 2014
26250. Governing the Body Health and Illness. In the modern era, with the rise of medical science, statistics, and other disciplinary knowledge, the body has increasingly come under regimes of regulation, control, and intervention. Global expansion of such knowledge and uneven distribution of such networks of power have brought about desire, suffering, and injustice. This course examines the body, health and illness as objects of regulation and control, knowledge, techniques and policies that facilitate such governance, and the social and health consequences that follow from this intertwining of power and knowledge.Z. Ma, Spring 2015
26301. Practices of Othering and the Logic of Human Rights Violations: Race, Eugenics, and Crowds. (=ANTH 25220/35220, CRPC 26200/36200, HIST 25006/35006, HMRT 26300/36300) How are mass violations of human rights thought up? What scientific theories and political doctrines have been invented and implemented to justify genocide and mass incarceration? These questions serve as our starting point for the course as, through an exploration of different political ideologies and scientific theories, we learn how human rights violations were reasoned and justified. Readings of both primary and secondary sources in the first part of the course explore theories and ideologies that have informed and set the ground for human rights violations. In the second part we focus on the aftermath of genocide and killing and ask how individuals and groups explain their participation in these acts. N. Vaisman.
26303/36303. Child, Adolescent, & Adult Development in Socio-Cultural Context. (=MAPS 36300) In this course, students are introduced to the profound impact that socio-cultural context has on the physical, emotional, cognitive, and social development of children, adolescents and adults. In short, the course argues that we cannot separate human biology (e.g., heredity, brain development, physiology), from social experience and culture, which are viewed as necessary for the propoer unfolding of developmental processes. Through course readings, students will engage with developmental theories, themes and concepts from psychology, cultural psychology, and linguistincs that will allow them to explore their own development and the development of others. The main focus will be on “normal” development, or group averages, although differences among individuals will also be discussed. The course structure incorporates lectures based on text book readings and seminar-style discussions of current research in the field. S. Van Deusen Phillips, Spring 2014
26310. Vulnerability and Human Rights. (=HMRT 29310/38310) The course discusses current theories of vulnerability and passivity in relation to human rights. It pays particular attention how human rights and social justice can be thought of in relation to people with severe disabilities, animals, and others who are not traditionally thought of as subjects of justice. We will discuss philosophical texts by Jacques Derrida, Emmanuel Levinas, John Rawls, Martha Nussbaum and others, and sociological texts by scholars like Bryan Turner and Tom Shakespeare. D. Kulick.
26321. Clinical, Critical and Cultural Perspectives on Mental Health. How do communities and individuals make sense of mental and emotional suffering, and of behavior that breaches social norms and expectations? What does it mean to define these experiences as illnesses? Why do different societies come to understand these phenomena in significantly different ways? And how do we best help those who are troubled by them? This undergraduate course will provide students with an overview of the major categories of mental illness recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, focusing in particular on five major categories: anxiety disorders (including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), mood disorders, psychotic disorders, developmental disorders, and eating disorders. Each week will compare and contrast multiple perspectives on these conditions, drawn from mainstream psychiatry, cross-cultural mental health research, cultural anthropology, and autobiography. The final week will address the emerging field of global mental health and humanitarian psychiatry. E. Fein.
26660/36660. Genes and Behavior. (=PSYC 26660, 36660) There are complex interactions between the genome and behavior. This course will examine how behavior can be understood by investigating the sequence and structure of genes, especially those expressed in the brain. It will consider behaviors in several species (including human), and present various molecular, genetic, and genomic approaches used to uncover how genes contribute to behavior and how behavior alters the genome. Lectures will provide background for gene-behavior interactions that will be further discussed using primary literature readings. S. London.
27501. Local Bodies, Global Capital. (=INST 27501, ANTH 25102) Prerequisites: Consent of Instructor. The project of this class is to examine the relationship between global capital and local bodies, or put differently to look at the implications of economic forms for particular people’s experience and forms of bodily existence. The class will read divergently critical theories of “capitalism” and some historically-situated field materials, to ask how critical insights travel across speculative, scientific, and, spectral – occult or uncanny – domains of economic practice. The class will examine some local sites of multinational capital investment, production, and circulation: from factory floors to marketplaces, from transnational scientific research to pharmaceutical marketing. In order to better grasp local bodies, the class will pay special attention to biomedical and pharmaceutical industries that emerged as a major locus of global capital investment, as well as read for the existential and bodily complaints voiced around the globe in relation to the shared economic conditions. By examining comparatively some particular health disorders, incidents, and interventions, the class will ask: How are ways of being, feeling, and thinking determined by the abstract global power of capital? How are local bodies and economies implicated in the global dynamics? How can we speak critically of “global capital” in the face of its contingent configurations: scientific, spectral and speculative? How do local bodies and subjectivities negotiate temporalities, commodities, forms of knowledge, domination, mediation and discipline that are associated with the dynamics of global capital? Can we grasp a shared global condition which is capitalism from the vantage point of some particular local lives? L. Jasarevic.
27657. Sexual Development across the Life Course. This course aims to explore how humans develop as sexual beings across various stages in the life course. We will look at sexual determination, behavior, and function from a variety of perspectives, including biological, psychological, and cultural. By breaking up the course into various life stages, we will investigate the role of sex at various points including sex determination at birth, the role of puberty on sexual life, mating strategies, and post-sexual life (e.g., menopause). We will also investigate topics of gender identity and sexual orientation, as well as so-called “disorders,” such as when sex determination does not follow the typical progression. While the focus is on humans, we will also rely on animal models to compare and contrast with human health and behavior, in that development in non-humans can show us evolutionarily conserved aspects of sexual development and behavior, as well as ways in which humans are exceptional. S. Coyne
27700/31800. Modern Psychotherapies. This course introduces students to the nature and varieties of modern psychotherapies by extensive viewing and discussion of video-taped demonstration sessions. Diverse therapeutic approaches will be examined, including psychodynamic, interpersonal, client-centered, gestalt, and cognitive-behavioral orientations. Couple and family therapy sessions, and sessions with younger clients, may also be viewed. Historical and conceptual models will be presented to deepen students' understandings of what is being viewed, but the main emphasis will be on experiential learning through observation and discussion. Most of the readings will be found in Regenstein Reserve. Grading will be based on class participation and writing assignments. D. Orlinsky.
27820. Schools and Communities and Urban School Reform. (=PBPL 27820, SOCI 20214) This course focuses on the relationship between the organization of schools and communities with an emphasis on school reform. The readings represent historical, anthropological, and sociological perspectives as we explore questions about the purpose and history of public schools, the influences on the character of their structure and organization (especially in urban contexts), and how these institutions might be improved. The topics detailed below provide essential intellectual perspectives on the history, work, and complexities of reforming urban schools. K. Matsko.
27821. Urban Schools and Communities. (=PBPL 27821, SOCI 20226) This course explores the intersection of urban schools and community, with a focus on the evolution of urban communities, families and the organization of schools. It emphasizes historical, anthropological, and sociological perspectives as we explore questions about the purpose and history of public schools, and factors that influence the character of school structure and organization in urban contexts, such as poverty, segregation, student mobility, etc. The topics covered provide essential intellectual perspectives on the history, work, and complexities of urban schools with a particular focus on the communities that surround them. S. Stoelinga.
27850/41451. Evolutionary Psychology. (=PSYC 41450) PQ: Undergraduates must have permission of instructor. This course explores human social behavior from the perspective of a new discipline: evolutionary psychology. In this course we will read and discuss articles in which evolutionary theory has been applied to different aspects of human behavior and social life such as: developmental sex differences, cooperation and altruism, competition and aggression, physical attractiveness and mating strategies, incest avoidance and marriage, sexual coercion, parenting and child abuse, language and cognition, and psychological and personality disorders. (D. Maestripieri, D. Gallo)
27901-27902-27903/47901-47902-47903. Modern Spoken Yucatec Maya 1-2-3. (=LACS 27901-27902-27903/ 47901-47902-47903) Basic introduction to the modern Yucatec Maya language, an indigenous American language spoken by about 750,000 people in southeastern Mexico. Three consecutive quarters of instruction will be offered for those aiming at basic and intermediate proficiency. Students receiving FLAS support must take all three quarters. Others may elect to take only the first quarter or first two quarters. Students wishing to enter the course midyear (e.g., those with prior experience with the language) must seek explicit permission from the Instructor. Materials exist for a second year of the course; interested students should consult with the Instructor. (CHDV/LACS 28901-28902-28903/38901-38902-38903) Students wishing to continue their training with native speakers in Mexico may apply for FLAS funding in the summer to support such efforts. J. Lucy
27950/37950. Evolution and Economics of Human Behavior. (= PSYC 27950/37950, BIOS 29265) This course explores how evolutionary biology and behavioral economics explain many different aspects of human behavior. Specific topics include evolutionary theory, natural and sexual selection, game theory, cost-benefit analyses of behavior from an evolutionary and a behavioral economics perspective, aggression and dominance, experimental economic games of cooperation and competition, parenting and development, love and mating, emotion and motivation, cognition and language, decision-making and risk-taking, and personality and psychopathology. D. Maestripieri
28901-28902-28903/38901-38902-38903 Intermediate Modern Spoken Yucatec Maya 1-2-3. (= LACS 28901-28902-28903/38901-38902-38903) The course will emphasize learning the rudiments of the contemporary spoken language to enable further work on the language (or related ones) and/or to facilitate the use of the language for other historical or anthropological projects. Regularly scheduled class time will be evenly divided between practice in speaking and hearing the language and discussions of basic grammar, resources (e.g., grammars, dictionaries, text collections, etc.), the language family, cultural and historical context, salient linguistic issues especially in the areas of morphology and semantics, pragmatics and usage, and practical research methods. (J. Lucy)
29002. The Human Behind Human Rights. The exhibition of 'primitive' peoples in European capitals began in the 1870's and continued well into the 20th Century. The exhibits drew in hundreds of thousands of spectators and were a considerable source of revenue for those who curated them. Today such zoos are illegal in Europe and most Europeans would be repulsed by the very idea of displaying human beings in this way. How do we explain this turnabout in European laws and attitudes? Why did it take so long for Europeans to realize that the non-Europeans put on display were, like themselves, human beings with human rights? If it is obvious to us, why was it not obvious to them? The following course considers what it means to be human and the rights and obligations this quality is supposed to confer. According to what criteria do we determine the humanity of another being or, rather, who gets to decide these criteria? Moreover, what are the implications of this humanity for the types of social relations and political institutions deemed desirable and/or achievable? The selected readings address these questions with a particular focus on liberal understating’s of humans and human rights and the systems of knowledge production and power within which these are embedded. (Hilal, Yaqub)
29280. Developmental Psychopathology. (=BIOS 29280, PSYC 22750) This course does not meet requirements for the biological sciences major. This advanced course focuses on the development of mental disorders that have their onset in infancy, childhood, or adolescence from the perspective of developmental psychopathology. Developmental psychopathology is a field that lies at the interface of clinical and developmental psychology within which the aim is to identify the earliest deviations from normative developmental processes that likely lead to the development of psychopathology. By incorporating the study of basic biological and psychological processes into the study of psychopathology, the identification of earliest markers, and ultimately causal factors, may be achieved. (K. Keenan)
29700. Undergraduate Reading and Research. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Must be taken for a quality grade. Autumn, Winter, Spring.
29701. Intro to Buddhism. (=SALC 29700, RLST 26150) This course, which is intended for both undergraduates and graduates, introduces students to some aspects of the philosophy, psychology, and meditation practice of the Theravada Buddhist tradition in premodern and modern South and Southeast Asia, and also in the modern west. It looks first at basic Buddhist ideas and practices, , and then and the relationship(s) between Buddhism and psychology, in two ways: in relation to the indigenous psychology of the Shan in contemporary Northern Thailand, and then in the ways elements from Buddhist meditation have been taken up in recent years by western scientific psychologists. The course ends with an ethnography of a Buddhist meditation monastery in Thailand. Throughout the course attention is paid to the role(s) of gender. (S. Collins)
29800. BA Honors Seminar. PQ: Consent of CHDV program chair. Students seeking departmental honors must take this course in Spring Quarter of their third year. This seminar is designed to help students develop an honors paper to be submitted for approval and supervised by a CHDV faculty member. A course preceptor provides guidance through the process of research design and proposal writing.
29900. Honors Paper Preparation. PQ: CHDV 29800 and an approved honors paper. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. To complete work on their BA honors paper, students must register for this course with their faculty supervisor in Winter or Spring Quarter of their fourth year. The grade assigned to the BA honors paper becomes the grade of record for this course. Autumn, Winter.
30102. Introduction to Causal Inference. PQ: Intermediate Statistics or equivalent such as STAT 224/PBHS 324, PP 31301, BUS 41100, or SOC 30005 is a prerequisite. (=STAT 31900, SOSI 30315, PBHS 43201, PLCS 30102) This course is designed for graduate students and advanced undergraduate students from the social sciences, education, public health science, public policy, social service administration, and statistics who are involved in quantitative research and are interested in studying causality. The goal of this course is to equip students with basic knowledge of and analytic skills in causal inference. Topics for the course will include the potential outcomes framework for causal inference; experimental and observational studies; identification assumptions for causal parameters; potential pitfalls of using ANCOVA to estimate a causal effect; propensity score based methods including matching, stratification, inverse-probability-of-treatment-weighting (IPTW), marginal mean weighting through stratification (MMWS), and doubly robust estimation; the instrumental variable (IV) method; regression discontinuity design (RDD) including sharp RDD and fuzzy RDD; difference in difference (DID) and generalized DID methods for cross-section and panel data, and fixed effects model. Intermediate Statistics or equivalent is a prerequisite. This course is a pre-requisite for “Advanced Topics in Causal Inference” and “Mediation, moderation, and spillover effects.” (G. Hong, F. Yang, K. Yamaguchi)
30239. Language and Labor. In this class we analyze the role played by language in labor management from the training of the workers, selecting them, and monitoring them at the workplace. We show how Taylorization (i.e. a form of work management based on breaking down occupations into small tasks dissociated from the skills of the workers) has reshaped not only the labor process but also the discourse on workers’ skills, including language skills. We also look at the ways in which language performance in the late modernity corporate world has increasingly become what many workers are recruited and therefore paid for. (C. Vigouroux)
30240. Language and Economy: an Interdisciplinary Approach. This course is about the relationship between language and economy, focusing on the ways in which the subject matter can be addressed theoretically and methodologically. Through reading some key texts, we will analyze how disciplines such as economics, linguistics, and anthropology have conceptualized this relationship. Among many topics, we will address issues about language development and language commodification, and about notions such as linguistic market and language as public good. We will explore ways in which linguistics and economics perspectives on the role of language in economic development and that of economic factors in language practices can be mutually enriching. (C. Vigouroux)
30245. Approaches to Social Literacy. This course focuses on understanding the ways in which literacy practices and events are social phenomena inextricably linked to specific social and political circumstances. Looking at reading and writing not as simply cognitive accomplishments of individual minds but as socially embedded practices enables us to reflect on what counts as literacy for whom and in which context, how it is performed in different settings (home, school, workplace), and the extent to which it is a source of inequality among people. (C. Vigouroux)
30249. Language and Migration: Social and Institutional Perspectives. (ANTH= 37116, LING 30249) This class offers a broad range of perspectives on issues regarding language in the context of migration. For instance we analyze the ways in which language has been instrumentalized by Nation-States to regiment and restrain the mobility of targeted populations. We deconstruct the straightforward correlation between socio-economic integration and language competence in discourse produced by politicians and some academics alike. We also analyze how different types of mobility (e.g., slavery, colonization, and free individual migration) produce, at different times, differing sociolinguistic dynamics. (C. Vigouroux)
30301. Research Methods for Learning, Cognition, and Development. This seminar explores the theoretical and practical challenges inherent in conducting research that bridges mechanistic studies of cognition and development with investigations of learning situated in and across contexts. Students will engage with methodological and substantive course readings on learning in schools, families, and across diverse communities. In addition, students will participate in, and report on, research projects within this framework. L. Richland.
30302. Problems of Public Policy Implementation. (=PBPL 22300, SOCI 30302) PQ: One prior 20000-level social sciences course. PBPL 22100-22200-22300 may be taken in or out of sequence. Once a governmental policy or program is established, there is the challenge of getting it carried out in ways intended by the policy makers. We explore how obstacles emerge because of problems of hierarchy, competing goals, and cultures of different groups. We then discuss how they may be overcome by groups, as well as by creators and by those responsible for implementing programs. We also look at varying responses of target populations. R. Taub.
30308. Gender and Educational Attainment. M. Keels, Winter 2015
30310. Teaching Methods in Comparative Human Development. This course is designed to help graduate students prepare to teach undergraduates at the University of Chicago and elsewhere. It is a systematic investigation of the content taught and methods used at a variety of institutions across the field that comprise Comparative Human Development. Through this course, students will: 1) examine different frameworks for teaching; 2) develop a variety of teaching techniques; 3) examine the essential content for introductory courses; 4) learn how to evaluate learning; and 5) determine how best to manage their own professional development with regard to teaching. L. Richland
30320. Violence and Trauma. In this course, we will take a cross-cultural and historical approach to examining violence, aggression, and trauma. The first part of the course covers the emergence of a human rights based definition of violence in the 20th century and how this has informed a medical discourse of trauma. We will then look at the way in which understandings of trauma and violence vary across contexts, and critically examine how socio-political and economic factors shape traumatic experience. C. Nutter El Ouardani, Spring 2014
30322. Reasoning Development. This course examines the lifespan development of thinking and reasoning skills. We will examine the development of types of reasoning including causal, symbolic, analogical and explanation based thinking, discuss the role of aging on reasoning, and consider the roles of context and environment versus genetic and evolutionary foundations. Finally we will consider implications for educational contexts. (L. Richland)
30405/20505. Anthropology of Disability. (=MAPS 36900, ANTH 30405, SOSC 36900, ANTH 20405, HMRT 25210, HMRT 35210) PQ: 3rd or 4th year standing for undergraduates. This seminar will explore a wide range of theoretical, legal, ethical, and policy issues as they relate to the experiences of individuals with disabilities, their families, and advocates. At the conclusion of the course, students will make presentations on fieldwork projects conducted during the quarter. M. Fred, D. Kulick.
30609. Women’s Rights, Cultural Nationalisms and Moral Panics. (= ANTH 35218, HIST 40101, CDIN 43105, SALC 43105) PQ: Undergrads with consent of instructors. Contemporary history is rife with a tension between the rise of a rights discourse and accompanying moral panics. This dialectic constitutes the central theme of this course. Why is it that women’s economic success, political recognition, and rights to their bodies have been accompanied by “moral panics” over the visibility, mobility, and sexuality of women and girls? And what might this tell us about changing forms of differential citizenship in the contemporary world? In order to take up these questions, this course offers a historical and anthropological perspective on the questions of gender and freedom/ moral panic/ differential citizenship. We focus our inquiry on empirical examples drawn from Africa and India. J. Cole, R. Majumdar
30669. African Mobilities: Theories and Ethnography. ( =ANTH 32226) It would be difficult to overstate the centrality of the “migration crisis narrative” in current discussions of migration in Europe. Even before the refugee crisis this past year, images of overcrowded boats sinking in the Mediterranean, and the strident nationalist discourse with which so many European states have responded, had placed the issue front and center in the European political landscape. Although our attention this past summer was largely focused on the exodus out of Syria, it has long been the case that many of these migrants also hail from Africa. Generally, changes in the landscape of mobility have made the presence of Africans in global migration streams increasingly apparent. In light of these issues, this course examines African migration, but it is as much focused on theories of migration as it is on the specificities of African mobility. To that end, the class tacks back and forth between analyses of mobility within Africa, and studies of migration more generally. Topics to be addressed include governmentality and the creation of borders, the production of immobility, kinship and migration, and the role of mobility in the reproduction of African societies. Readings will include studies of migration from within the African continent, to Europe and to the United States. (J.Cole)
30901. Biopsychology of Sex Differences. (=PSYC 31600, EVOL 36900) This course will explore the biological basis of mammalian sex differences and reproductive behaviors. We will consider a variety of species, including humans. We will address the physiological, hormonal, ecological and social basis of sex differences. To get the most from this course, students should have some background in biology, preferably from taking an introductory course in biology or biological psychology. J. Mateo.
32100. Culture, Power, Subjectivity. This course takes up the classic, yet endlessly fascinating, subject of the relationship of historically produced cultural structures and their relationship to individual and collective forms of subjectivity. We analyze the diverse ways in which classic social thinkers (e.g., Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Althusser, Bourdieu, Foucault) have thought about the relationship between individuals and collectivities. Topics include the ways in social and economic formations structure the possibilities for individual human action; the relationship between religious formations and historical transformations; the role of class in the inculcation of taste and desire; and the ways in which, throughout the nineteenth century, new power/knowledge formations have created new ways through which subject formation takes place. J. Cole.
32101. Culture and Power, Part II: Discourse and Performativity. (=ANTH 32110)PQ: Consent required for undergraduates. This class is the second part of a two part sequence entitled Culture, Power, Subjectivity although it is not necessary to take them in sequence. Part 1 typically examines history and structure as these have been addressed either by classic social theorists (Marx, Weber, Foucault) or anthropologists and historians (Sewell, Comaroffs, Sahlins/sub-altern studies). In this quarter, we focus on two different analytic constructs that anthropologists have used to theorize the nature of subjects and their relationship to historically produced social and cultural formations: discourse and performativity. We will situate these analytic approaches in terms of two distinct theoretical lineages—the one drawn from the Russian socio-historical tradition, the other derived from post-structuralist theory. The basic approach taken in class will be to learn the theories through close reading of texts, and then read several examples of how various scholars—usually anthropologists—use them in their own work. Readings include Vygotsky, Voloshinov, Bakhtin, Austin, Butler (and perhaps a few others). J. Cole.
32200. Anthropology and “the Good Life”: Culture, Ethics, and Well-being (= MAPS 32200, ANTH 24345, 35130) This course takes a critical, historical and anthropological look at what is meant by “the good life.” Anthropologists have long been aware that notions of “the good” play an essential role in directing human behavior, by providing a life with meaning and shaping what it means to be a human being. Over the past several years, however, there has been an increasing demand for clarification on what is meant by “the good life,” as well as how cultural conceptions of “the good” relate to science, politics, religion, and personal practice. In this course, we will take up that challenge by exploring what is meant by “the good,” focusing on three domains in which it has most productively been theorized: culture, ethics, and well-being. Through a close reading of ethnographic and theoretical texts, as well as through analysis of documents and resources used and produced by different communities in order to explore the good life, we will gain an understanding of the different theoretical and methodological approaches for understanding the good in the social sciences, the various cultural logics shaping knowledge and practices of the good, and how human experience is shaped by those iterations in the process. F. McKay
32212/42212. Love, Conjugality, and Capital in Africa and India. (=CDIN 45001, SALC 43103, HIST 45001, ANTH 24325, ANTH 42221) This course focuses on the shaping of love, conjugality, and intimacy in the colonial and postcolonial worlds of India and Africa from the nineteenth century to the present. There is a large body of academic work that analyzes the political effects of European encounters with non-Europeans peoples during the second wave of colonialism that started in the late eighteenth century. The contradictions between the rise of liberal thought in Great Britain and Western Europe and the simultaneous denial of political power to millions of colonized people have been amply documented by historians, anthropologists, and political theorists. There is now a growing body of critical work that looks at the colonization of "intimate" lives as colonial power consolidated itself over vast tracts of Asia and Africa. Building on this work, a series of questions guides our inquiries. How did romantic love, the couple form, and the nuclear family come to be seen as the "correct" ways to organize intimate life and constitute modern subjects? If colonialism acted as a "progressive" force that exposed the non-West to normative ideas of the conjugal couple, companionate marriage, and rights bearing women then how do we account of important and persistent differences between the putative 'West' and 'non-West' to this day? Is non-Western difference(s) a sign of persistent backwardness or do they point to something more fundamental about the nature of colonial and postcolonial encounters? Furthermore, what did marriage and the household look like before the colonial encounter? A look at societies in other parts of the world demonstrates all too often that modernity in the realm of love, intimacy and family had a different trajectory from the European one. These differences have not disappeared with the end of formal colonial rules. Liberalization of economies in India and Africa has produced new sets of correspondences and similarities in the "intimate sphere" that is currently the subject of much anthropological work. We further seek to understand how ideas about concepts such as love, conjugality, and capital get articulated through the disciplinary lens of anthropology, history, literature, and film. Does a cross/ inter-disciplinary lens clarify our understanding of these fundamental human issues or is there a risk of rendering the concepts fuzzy by looking at their representation in different disciplines? The first half of the class concentrates on key theoretical texts that lay the foundation for the study of gender, intimacy and modern life. The latter part of the class examines case studies from Africa and India. Using a range of readings the course will explore such questions as the emergence of companionate marriage in Europe; arranged marriage, dowry, love and money. J. Cole, R. Majumdar.
32411. Mediation, Moderation, and Spillover Effects. PQ: Intermediate Statistics or equivalent. (=PSYC 32411, PBPL 29411, STAT 33211, CCTS 32411, SOCI 30318) This course is designed for graduate students and advanced undergraduate students from social sciences, statistics, public health science, public policy, and social services administration who will be or are currently involved in quantitative research. Questions about why a treatment works, for whom, under what conditions, and whether one individual’s treatment could affect other individuals’ outcomes are often key to the advancement of scientific knowledge. We will clarify the theoretical concepts of mediated effects, moderated effects, and spillover effects under the potential outcomes framework. The course introduces cutting-edge methodological approaches and contrasts them with conventional strategies including multiple regression, path analysis, and structural equation modeling. The course content is organized around application examples. The textbook “Causality in a Social World: Moderation, Mediation, and Spill-Over” (Hong, 2015) will be supplemented with other readings reflecting latest developments and controversies. Weekly labs will provide tutorials and hands-on experiences. All students are expected to contribute to the knowledge building in class through participation in presentations and discussions. Students are encouraged to form study groups, while the written assignments are to be finished and graded on an individual basis. Intermediate Statistics, Introduction to Causal Inference, and their equivalent are prerequisites. (G. Hong)
32822. Phenomenology & Madness: Perspectives from Cultural Psychiatry. (= MAPS 32800) This course provides students with theoretical and methodological grounding in phenomenological approaches to cultural psychiatry, examining how anthropologists and social scientists more generally have tried to describe the lived experiences of various forms of “psychopathology” or “madness.” Though the course focuses largely on phenomenological approaches within anthropology, students will also gain exposure to a mixed methodological approach, embracing philosophy, science studies, history, psychiatry, and cognitive science. By the end of the course, students will have learned how to describe and analyze the social dimension of a mental health experience, using a mixed methods approach, and using a technical vocabulary for understanding the lived experiences of mental illness (including: phenomena, life-world, being-in-the-world, epoche, embodiment, madness, psychopathology, melancholia/depression, schizophrenia, etc). Students will also present their work at the end of quarter in a creative medium appropriate to that analysis, during a final-week mock-workshop. F. McKay
32900. Perspectives in Drug Abuse. (=NURB 32900) PQ: Graduate students in the biological and social sciences and advanced undergraduates as well. This course will cover a range of topics related to drug use, including the history and epidemiology of drug use, drug policy, neural mechanisms of behavioral effects, and addiction. de Wit, Harriet, Winter 2015
33410. Gesture and Discourse. (=MAPS 33400) Taking a multi-modal perspective on language, this course will consider the role of gesture in structuring discourse and the development of discourse in children or second language learners. Readings will be drawn from the literatures on language socialization, discourse structure, gesture and psycholinguistics, and the ethnography of nonverbal communicative practice. The central argument of the course is that gesture carries culturally-specific meanings and therefore structures into the production and comprehension of discourse in ways that underscore the syntactic relationship between vocal and non-vocal semiosis in language.
Some of the readings will be drawn from philosophers such as Quintilian and Wunt, while more gesture-related works will come from David McNeill and Adam Kendon. I also anticipate some ethnographic accounts of gesture use in discourse, for example how Obama marks himself as authoritative through his particular of rhetorical use of gesture. S. Van Deusen Phillips.
34501-34502. Anthropology of Museums I, II.(=ANTH 24511-24512/34501-34502, MAPS 34500-34600, SOSC 34500-34600) PQ: Advanced standing and consent of instructor. This sequence examines museums from a variety of perspectives. We consider the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the image and imagination of African American culture as presented in local museums, and museums as memorials as exemplified by Holocaust exhibitions. Several visits to area museums required. R. Fogelson, M. Fred.
34800. Kinship and Social Systems. (= EVOL 34800) This course will use a biological approach to understanding how groups form and how cooperation and competition modulate group size and reproductive success. We will explore social systems from evolutionary and ecological perspectives, focusing on how the biotic and social environments favor cooperation among kin as well as how these environmental features influence mating systems and inclusive fitness. While a strong background in evolutionary theory is not required, students should have basic understanding of biology and natural selection. Course will use combination of lectures and discussion. (J. Mateo)
35401. Advanced Topics in Mesoamerican Language and Culture. (=LACS 35401) PQ: CHDV 20400/30401, ANTH 21230/30705, LACS 20400/30401, CRES 20400, or Permission of Instructor. A seminar that considers recent research in the ethnography of language in the Mesoamerican region (especially Guatemala and southern Mexico). The course is intended for advanced students with prior experience studying the indigenous languages and cultures of the region through coursework and/or fieldwork. Class effort will be devoted to reading and discussion of selected contemporary ethnographic works, complemented by a few relevant classics. The substantive foci will vary over time but may include language standardization, multilingualism, language socialization, and aspects of the broader communicative ecology including migration, missionization, nonverbal communication, and new media. Special attention will be given to the place of community-based fieldwork in a contemporary context that increasingly demands both narrower topical and broader contextualizing perspectives (whether these be historical, regional, or global). J. Lucy
36661. Advanced Topics in Behavioral Genomics. (=PSYC 36661) PQ: Graduate students only. One of the great opportunities in this post-genome age is to use DNA to better understand behavior. It is increasingly obvious that the interactions between genes and behavior are complex. Thus, identifying meaningful connections between them requires careful consideration of both. This seminar course will use primary literature as a platform to consider how behavior is influenced by, and itself alters, the genome. The course will cover examples from a variety of animals including humans, various methods for measuring the genome and behavior, and the relevant neurobiology. S. London.
36800. Gestural Communication in Nonhuman and Human Primates. (=PSYC 36800) This seminar explores the communicative use of nonverbal behavior in human and nonhuman primates. Topics include evolutionary, comparative, and cross-cultural aspects of facial expressions and gestures; comparative and cognitive aspects of eye gaze and pointing; the relation between nonverbal behavior and emotion; the development of nonverbal communication in children; the contextual usage and information content of nonverbal expressions; the relation between nonverbal gestures and speech; the neural control of facial expressions; and the perception and processing of nonverbal information in the brain. S. Goldin-Meadow, D. Maestripieri.
37201/37202. Language in Culture I-II. (=ANTH 37201/37202, LING 31100/31200, PSYC 47001/47002) Prerequisites: Undergrads require consent of instructor. Among topics discussed in the first half of the sequence are the formal structure of semiotic systems, the ethnographically crucial incorporation of linguistic forms into cultural systems, and the methods for empirical investigation of “functional” semiotic structure and history. M. Silverstein.
37500-37502-37503. Research Seminar in Animal Behavior I, II, III. (=EVOL 37600-37700-37800) Students register for this course in Autumn Quarter and receive credit in Spring Quarter after successful completion of the year’s work. This workshop involves weekly research seminars in animal behavior given by faculty members, postdocs, and advanced graduate students from this and other institutions. The seminars are followed by discussion in which students have the opportunity to interact with the speaker, ask questions about the presentation, and share information about their work. This workshop exposes students to current comparative research in behavioral biology and provides interactions with some of the leading scientists in this field. D. Maestripieri, J. Mateo, alternating years.
37801. Evolutionary Psychology. Prerequisites: Undergraduates must have permission of instructor. This course explores human social behavior from the perspective of a new discipline: evolutionary psychology. In this course we will read and discuss articles in which evolutionary theory has been applied to different aspects of human behavior and social life such as: developmental sex differences, cooperation and altruism, competition and aggression, physical attractiveness and mating strategies, incest avoidance and marriage, sexual coercion, parenting and child abuse, language and cognition, and psychological and personality disorders. D. Maestripieri.
37800. If Someone Asserts It Deny It: Critical Reason and Political Correctness in Social Science Research. This seminar is an experiment in honoring the skeptical intellectual tradition. That intellectual tradition, which has its home in the great universities of the world, aims to achieve accuracy and impartiality in human understanding through a principled commitment to explore the other side, even when that requires the articulation of an unpopular, politically incorrect or against the current point of view. While it may be a matter for debate whether the intellectual virtues we associate with skepticism are at risk of being sacrificed in the academy these days, this seminar engages a social science and public policy literature that raises skeptical doubts about "received wisdom" on a variety of consequential fronts. Warning to prospective seminar participants: "... a good university, like Socrates, will be upsetting" (The University of Chicago "Kalven Committee Report", November 11, 1967). R. Shweder.
37802. Challenging Legends and Other Received Truths: A Socratic Practicum. Prerequisites: Advanced Undergrads by petition only. This seminar is an experiment in honoring the skeptical intellectual tradition. That intellectual tradition, which has its home in the great universities of the world, aims to achieve accuracy and impartiality in human understanding through a principled commitment to explore the other side, even when that requires the articulation of an unpopular, politically incorrect or against the current point of view. While it may be a matter for debate whether the intellectual virtues we associate with skepticism are at risk of being sacrificed in the academy these days, this seminar engages a social science and public policy literature that raises skeptical doubts about "received wisdom" on a variety of consequential fronts. Warning to prospective seminar participants: "... a good university, like Socrates, will be upsetting" (The University of Chicago "Kalven Committee Report", November 11, 1967). R. Shweder
39301. Qualitative Research Methods. The goal of this course is for students to learn a range of qualitative research methods, understand the uses and limitations of each of these methods, and gain hands-on experience designing, completing, and writing up a project using one or more of these methods. The first three weeks focus on developing a research plan: reviewing the literature, formulating a research question, and evaluating available methods to investigate that question. The remaining weeks will focus on research ethics, data collection, data analysis, and writeup. Throughout the course, we will be reading and discussing both texts that explicitly teach method and examples of different qualitative approaches, including ethnography, person-centered interviewing, Grounded Theory, narrative analysis, and cultural models. All students will complete a small-scale research project using one or more of the methods covered in this course. E. Fein.
39900. Readings in Human Development. PQ: Permission of instructor. (Select section from faculty list, all quarters)
40000. HD Concepts. Our assumptions about the processes underlying development shape how we read the literature, design studies, and interpret results. The purpose of this course is two-fold in that, first, it makes explicit both our own assumptions as well as commonly held philosophical perspectives that impact the ways in which human development is understood. Second, the course provides an overview of theories and domain-specific perspectives related to individual development across the life-course. The emphasis is on issues and questions that have dominated the field over time and, which continue to provide impetus for research, its interpretation, and the character of policy decisions and their implementation. Stated differently, theories have utility and are powerful tools. Accordingly, the course provides a broad basis for appreciating theoretical approaches to the study of development and for understanding the use of theory in the design of research and its application. Most significant, theories represent heuristic devices for “real time” interpretations of daily experiences and broad media disseminated messages. Staff, Autumn.
40102. Advanced Topics in Causal Inference. (=SOCI 40202) PQ:Intermediate Statistics such as STAT 224 and Introduction to causal inference or their equivalent. This course provides an in-depth discussion of selected topics in causal inference that are beyond what are covered in the introduction to causal inference course. The course is intended for graduate students and advanced undergraduate students who have taken the “introduction to causal inference” course or its equivalent and want to extend their knowledge in causal inference. The course is particularly suitable for students who plan to conduct scientific research that involve investigations of causal relationships as well as for those with strong methodological interests. Topics will include (1) alternative matching methods, randomization inference for testing hypothesis and sensitivity analysis; (2) marginal structural models and structural nested models for time-varying treatment; (3) Rubin Causal Model (RCM) and Heckman’s scientific model of causality; (4) latent class treatment variable; (5) measurement error in the covariates; (6) the M-estimation for the standard error of the treatment effect for the use of IPW; (7) the local average treatment effect (LATE) and its problems, sensitivity analysis to examine the impact of plausible departure from the IV assumptions, and identification issues of multiple IVs for multiple/one treatments; (8) multilevel experimental designs and observational data for treatment evaluation; (9) nonignorable missingness and informative censoring issues. (G. Hong)
40110. Color, Ethnicity, Cultural Context, and Human Vulnerability: Implications for Resiliency, Coping and Privilege. PQ: Undergraduates require permission from instructor. (=CRES 40110) The specific level of vulnerability may vary across the life course; nevertheless, all humans are vulnerable and, thus, unavoidably possess both risks and protective factors. The level and character of human vulnerability matters and has implications for physical health, psychological well being, the character of culture, and mental health status. The balance between the two (i.e., risks and protective factors) can be influenced by ethnic group membership and identifiability (e.g., skin color). The cultural contexts where growth and development take place play a significant role in life course human development. As a globally admired cultural context with a particular national identity, one of America's foundational tenets is that citizenship promises the privilege of freedom, allows access to social benefits, and holds sacred the defense of rights. Our centuries-old cultural context and national identity as a liberty-guaranteeing democracy also presents challenges. The implied identity frequently makes it difficult to acknowledge that the depth of experience and its determinative nature may be but skin deep. In America, there continues to be an uneasiness and palpable personal discomfort whenever discussions concerning ethnic diversity, race, color and the Constitutional promise and actual practice of equal opportunity occur. Other nations are populated with vulnerable humans, as well, and experience parallel dissonance concerning the social tolerance of human diversity.
Given the shared status of human vulnerability, the course unpacks and analyzes how differences in ethnicity, skin color and other indicators of group membership impact vulnerability and opportunity for diverse groups. Specifically, the course analyzes the balance between risk level and protective factor presence and examines the consequent physical health status, psychological well-being, and mental health outcomes for its dissimilar citizens. The course especially emphasizes the American cultural context but, in addition, highlights the unique experiences of ethnically varied individuals developing in multiple cultural contexts around the globe. M. Spencer.
40128. Sociology of Education. (=SOCI 40225) Education plays a fundamental role in society, both because it determines individuals’ life chances and because it has the power to reproduce or ameliorate inequality in society. In this course, we will discuss theoretical and empirical research that examines how schools both perpetuate socioeconomic inequality and provide opportunities for social mobility. We will pay particular attention to the role of schools in the intergenerational transmission of social status, especially based on race, class, gender, and immigrant status and with an emphasis on the U.S. We will also discuss the social side of schools, delving into (1) the role of adolescent culture(s) in youths’ educational experiences and human development and (2) social psychological aspects of schooling. Schools are the primary extra-familial socializing institution that youth experience; thus, understanding how schools work is central to understanding the very structure of societies as well as the transition from childhood to adulthood. A. Mueller
40203. Youth of the Great Recession. PQ: CHDV 30101 or equivalent required; two or more applied statistics courses preferred. This research seminar is designed for graduate students who are eager to investigate how the Great Recession in the past decade has affected the life course trajectories of people, especially children and youth, in various demographic groups defined by the intersections of social class, race/ethnicity, gender, and urbanisity. Dramatic changes in the economic context have posed challenges to individuals, families, and communities to various degrees, which offer opportunities to revisit and possibly revise theories about human development. The class will raise big questions substantiated by the literature and will ask specific questions for empirical investigation. These questions will then evolve into research projects to be carried out collectively or individually through analyzing large-scale longitudinal data sets. The process will involve discussions of appropriate research designs, development of data analytic plans, and interpretations of empirical evidence. Throughout the course, students will receive hands-on training on how to write an empirical paper for an academic journal. Students are expected to produce single-authored or co-authored manuscripts at the end of the course. Pre-requisites for this course are at least one and preferably two applied statistics courses. G. Hong
40207. Development in Adolescents. Adolescence represents a period of unusually rapid growth and development. At the same time, under the best of social circumstances and contextual conditions, the teenage years represent a challenging period. The period also affords unparalleled opportunities with appropriate levels of support. Thus, the approach taken acknowledges the challenges and untoward outcomes, while also speculates about the predictors of resiliency and the sources of positive youth development. The perspective taken unpacks the developmental period's complexity as exacerbated by the many contextual and cultural forces which are often made worse by unacknowledged socially structured conditions, which interact with youths' unavoidable and unique meaning making processes. As a function of some youths' privileging situations versus the low resource and chronic conditions of others, both coping processes and identity formation processes are emphasized as highly consequential. Thus, stage specific developmental processes are explored for understanding gap findings for a society's diverse youth. In sum, the course presents the experiences of diverse youth from a variety of theoretical perspectives. The strategy improves our understanding about the "what" of human development as well as the "how." Ultimately, the conceptual orientation described is critical for 1) designing better social policy, 2) improving the training and support of socializing agents (e.g., teachers), and 3) enhancing human developmental outcomes (e.g., resilient patterns). M. Spencer.
40306. Academic and Behavioral Gender Gaps Along the Pathway to Degree Attainment. Prerequisites: Graduate level statistics course. Requires consent of instructor. This course explores the complex intersection of race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status and gender in determining unequal outcomes in American education. We will examine the recent history of the reversal of the gender gap in academic achievement, the research evidence examining potential causes of this reversal, and policies aimed at improving male academic achievement. We will also examine whether issue of male underachievement only applies to subgroups of Americans as indexed by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. Students will be introduced to several datasets that can be used to examine issues of how gender is associated with academic success along the pathway to degree attainment. Students are expected to complete a final empirical paper that includes the discussion of data, analyses, results, and policy implications. Students must have taken a graduate level statistics course as a prerequisite. M. Keels.
40307. Mixing Methods: Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Data Collection and Analysis. M. Keels, Winter 2015
40770. Early Childhood: Human Capital Development and Public Policy(=PPHA 40700) The goal of this course is to introduce students to the literature on early child development and explore how an understanding of core developmental concepts can inform social policies. This goal will be addressed through an integrated, multidisciplinary approach. The course will emphasize research on the science of early child development from the prenatal period through school entry. The central debate about the role of early experience in development will provide a unifying strand for the course. Students will be introduced to research in neuroscience, psychology, economics, sociology, and public policy as it bears on questions about “what develops?” critical periods in development, the nature vs. nurture debate, and the ways in which environmental contexts (e.g., parents, families, peers, schools, institutions, communities) affect early development and developmental trajectories. The course will introduce students to the major disciplinary streams in the developmental sciences and the enduring and new debates and perspectives within the field. In this course students will critically examine historical trends, current challenges, and new directions in developmental science and early childhood policy. Through directed readings, written work, and class participation, students will have opportunities to grapple with the complexities of connecting scientific research to the formulation of evidence-based policies that advance the healthy development of children, families, and communities and bring high returns to all of society, in the United States and around the world. (Ariel Kalil)
40772. Self and Other. In this seminar, we will examine the relationship between self and other. In order to develop a comprehensive account of this multifaceted and multiform relationship, we will critically investigate the relationship of self to different types of ‘others’ ranging from primary caregivers and society to immediate as well as distant and despised interlocutors. We will supplement this discussion with an inquiry into the possibility and limits of self without an other, and visit the question of how human consciousness differs from that of other primates. In the course of our discussions, we will critically engage issues concerning the development of the self, its unity, individuality, and agency, and the possibilities of creativity, resistance and the transformation of the self. By the end of the quarter, you are expected to develop a deeper understanding of the relationship between self and other. S. Numanbayraktaroglu
40810. Policy Interventions to Improve Children's Health and Human Capital. A. Kalil
40851-40852-40853. Topics in Developmental Psychology I-II-III(=PSYC 40851-40852-40853) PQ: Consent required. Graduate students only. (S. Goldin-Meadow)
40891. Culture, Vulnerability, and Health. If you’re going to have a heart attack or an organ transplant, here’s the key to getting the best health care: Be white, male, and middle-class. Does culture impact health? Are there cultural conditions and scripts that allow individuals to be happy and flourish? If wellbeing and mental distress are artifacts of cultural variables, would cultural change affect psychopathology? And, in today’s multicultural society, what constitutes culturally competent care? In this class we raise these questions and others: by examining and interpreting seminal works using an interdisciplinary approach; drawing upon diverse methodologies to explore a contextual view of mental illness that transcends a Western view of psychopathology; and discussing how culture affects the definition, prevalence, recognition and societal response to health and illness. Some class topics include: why multiculturalism matters for Muslim families; how cultural meanings frame illnesses; religious and local influences on delusions; an economic-biopsychosocial perspective on suffering; digital and communal networks of love and romance; and intergenerational transmission of trauma in Cambodian families. In this class we will also cover the unique mental health needs of immigrants, refugees and/or transnational communities. Instructional methodology will rely on peer discussions, empirical evidence, clinical case vignettes, and shared inquiry. (S. Sandhya)
40900. Behavioral Ecology. (=EVOL 40900) PQ: Consent of instructor. This graduate seminar will explore current advances of animal social behabiors in their natural contexts, including theoretical and methodological approaches. Format will include reading and analysis of empirical and review articles, as well as an oral presentation on a topic of interest to the student. J. Mateo.
41160. New Perspectives on Vulnerability. PQ: Consent required.. (=GNSE 41160, ANTH 40805) Vulnerability is undergoing re-evaluation in philosophy, the social sciences and the humanities. From having been perceived as a condition from which subjects should be defended, rescued or liberated, vulnerability has increasingly come to be theorized as a position and experience that confronts us with the limits of understanding, empathy, morality and theory. This course will read work that attempts to engage with vulnerability not so much as something to be overcome, but, rather, as a challenge that can guide us towards new ways of thinking about political life and engaging with the world. Course literature includes Giorgio Agamben's work on "bare life", Judith Butler's writing on precarious life, Jacques Derrida's writings on animals, Rosemarie Garland-Thomson's book on staring, Martha Nussbaum's book on "frontiers of justice" and Bryan Turner's work on vulnerability and human rights. D. Kulick.
41601. Seminar: Language Development. (=PSYC 43200, HDCP 41650) This course addresses the major issues involved in first-language acquisition. We deal with the child's production and perception of speech sounds (phonology), the acquisition of the lexicon (semantics), the comprehension and production of structured word combinations (syntax), and the ability to use language to communicate (pragmatics). S. Goldin-Meadow.
41603. Advanced Seminar in Developmental Psychology. (=PSYC 40500) This course addresses the major issues involved in first-language acquisition. We deal with the child's production and perception of speech sounds (phonology), the acquisition of the lexicon (semantics), the comprehension and production of structured word combinations (syntax), and the ability to use language to communicate (pragmatics). S. Goldin-Meadow, A. Woodward.
41900. Advanced Topics in Language, Culture and Thought. (=PSYC 41901, ANTH 47605) Prerequisites: CHDV 31901 (or equivalent with consent of instructor). This course examines more intensively one or more of the topics discussed in CHDV 31901, Language, Culture, and Thought. Typically the course will concern the relationship between language developments in middle childhood and the emergence of higher order social and intellectual skills. Among the topics to be considered will be the role of language advances (e.g., reported speech, narrative structure, metapragmatics, etc.) in relation to cognitive growth (formal reasoning, theory of mind, etc.) especially as these relationships are mediated through institutional structures (e.g., education, standard language, etc.). Readings will include a mix of basic theory, contemporary literature reviews, and case studies. J. Lucy
41920. The Evolution of Language. (=LING 41920, ANTH 47305, CHSS 41920, EVOL 41920, PSYC 41920) How did language emerge in the phylogeny of mankind? Was its evolution saltatory or gradual? Did it start late or early and then proceed in a protracted way? Was the emergence monogenetic or polygenetic? What were the ecological prerequisites for the evolution, with the direct ecology situated in the hominine species itself, and when did the prerequisites obtain? Did there ever emerge a language organ or is this a post-facto construct that can be interpreted as a consequence of the emergence of language itself? What function did language evolve to serve, to enhance thought processes or to facilitate rich communication? Are there modern "fossils" in the animal kingdom that can inform our scholarship on the subject matter? What does paleontology suggest? We will review some of the recent and older literature on these questions and more. S. Mufwene.
42200. Research Seminar in Research in Behavioral Endocrinology. (=PSYC 42200, EVOL 42200) For any students actively involved in research in behavioral endocrinology in humans or animals. Emphasis is on the current literature and on the analysis and presentation of data. M. McClintock.
42213. Colonial and Postcolonial Intimacies: African, Indian and European Encounters. This class examines marriage and family in the formation of European liberalism. The basic premise is that nation and family have long been intertwined, and that the particular norms of intimacy that emerged in the context of Western modernity did so over the course of the colonial encounter. The class starts with foundational texts on the role of marriage in liberal thought and then examines how colonial expansion and the encounter of different modes of intimacy became central to how Europeans imagined their own modernity. We also consider other modes of imagining and practicing love and marriage found in both Africa and India, respectively. Finally, we explore how in the context of recent social and economic changes, especially migration from the former colonies to former metropoles, love, marriage and correct gender relations have become central to the policing of European borders, and what it means to be European, once again. J. Cole, R. Majumdar
42214. Ethnographic Writing. Prerequisites: Permission of instructor, graduate students only. This course is intended for qualitative, anthropologically oriented graduate students engaged in the act of ethnographic writing, be it a thesis, a prospectus or an article. The course is organized around student presentations of work in progress and critical feedback from course participants. It is hoped that each participant will emerge from the course with a polished piece of work. Only graduate students will be admitted and consent of the instructor is mandatory. J. Cole.
42350. Development over the Life Course. (=SSAD 50400) Prerequisites: Only open to PhD students. This course explores the biological and social patterning of lives from infancy through old age. Readings will include class and contemporary theory and research related to varied stages of the life course. Discussion will focus on paradigmatic themes in life course development such as: the social situation of lives in time and place, the interconnectedness of lives and generations, the nature of developmental transitions, the timing of life experiences, and the continuity of lives through time. Examples will be drawn from populations of traditional concern within social welfare policy and social work practice. S. Hans.
42401-42402 Trial Research in Human Development I and II. Required of first and second year Department of Comparative Human Development graduate students. This course is taken in the Spring quarter of the first year, and again in the Autumn quarter of the second year. The purpose of this seminar is to help students formulate and complete their trial research projects. Staff.
42700 Theories of Self. This course examines influential theories of self formation and functioning especially with respect to how the theories handle social interaction and verbal communication. The course emphasizes close reading, analysis, and discussion of basic texts representative of major approaches. J. Lucy.
43250. Readings in Language Acquisition. (=PSYC 43250) How do children learn language? This seminar will explore different ways in which the mind, body, and world constrain how language is acquired and processed. The readings include (but are not limited to) two books: "Creating language: Integrating evolution, acquisition, and processing" by Christiansen & Chater; and "Rethinking Innateness" by Elman et al.” S. Goldin-Meadow
43255. Assembling the biosocial. (=ANTH 40350) Over recent decades research in the life sciences has increasingly drawn attention to the ways in which processes taking place outside “the body proper” profoundly shape the materializations of health and illness. Rather than understanding brains or genes as determinative and relatively immutable templates for human bodies and behaviors, researchers working on neuroplasticity and epigenetics have increasingly focused on understanding how social and material environments and experiences “get under the skin.” While many social scientists have welcomed these developments as validating long-held views about the social determination of health and illness, others have warned these seemingly paradigmatic shifts may only lead to new forms of reductionism. Perhaps most fundamentally, such emergent research has been described as the grounds for a renewed biosocial research agenda or for the rethinking of interdisciplinary work between the life and social sciences. This course traces both the discussions and their historical background, addressing topics including: the nature/culture distinction in anthropology, conceptualizations of “plasticity,” “development,” and “heredity” in the life and social sciences, and the forms of interdisciplinary exchange and conversation which biosocial research may require. (E. Raikhel)
43302. Illness and Subjectivity. (=ANTH 51305) While anthropology and other social sciences have long explored the social and cultural shaping of the self and personhood, many scholars have recently employed the rubric of "subjectivity" to articulate the links between collective phenomena and the subjective lives of individuals. This graduate seminar will examine "subjectivity"—and related concepts—focusing on topics where such ideas have been particularly fruitful: illness, pathology and suffering. We will critically examine the terms "self," "personhood" and "subjectivity"—and their relationship to one another. Additional literatures and topics covered may include: illness and narrative; healing and the self; personhood and new medical technologies. E. Raikhel.
43303. Society & Mental Health. (=SOCI 40224, GNSE 43303) Acquire a broad understanding of the central theoretical and empirical approaches to mental health and illness and society. Learn to critique the major assumptions of each major approach and understand their strengths and weaknesses Identify at least one significant new research question related to the study of the sociology of mental health and illness. A. Mueller
43335. Psychiatry and Society. (=ANTH 40345) This course examines psychiatry as a social institution, an epistemological authority and a source of social ontology. It will trace the production, circulation and use of psychiatric knowledge from research to clinical practice. Moreover, the course will examine the complex relationships between psychiatric knowledge and its object: mental illness or psychopathology. Put in slightly different terms, we will look at the links between psychiatrists’ professional accounts of mental illness and patients first-hand experiences of it. (E. Raikhel)
43345. The work of “care”: managing life in the 21st century. (=ANTH 45115) In recent years it has become increasingly clear that the biopolitical project associated with the liberal polity has undergone radical transformation, and that these transformations have been accompanied by increasing social precarity in many parts of the world. In response to the unsettling of older ways of governing people and growing populations, anthropologists have increasingly begun to examine new, emergent ways of fostering life and belonging. This course will examine a range of such works in order to interrogate on the one hand, how governments or other bureaucratic entities may be reformulating their modes of governance and on the other, how people respond with new ways of belonging and care. Potential readings include texts by Anne Allison, Veena Das, Clara Han, Annemarie Mol, Elizabeth Povinelli, China Scherz, Lisa Stevenson, and others. J. Cole, E. Raikhel
43400. The Social Lives of Brains. (=CHSS 43400, ANTH 40340, HIST 57401)PQ: Graduate students only. This course examines recent historical and anthropological scholarship on neuroscience, psychiatry, and psychology through a focus on these fields’ principal material object of inquiry and intervention: the brain. We will address topics such as brains in circulation as research objects; brain imaging; neuro-anatomy and neuropathology; the relationship between mind and brain; and brains in non-human organisms and non-organic systems. Through readings in these and other topics, we will explore modern scholarship in neuroscience and brain research, as well as examine the varied meanings that different groups of people in different times and places have brought to the question of embodied human consciousness. E. Raikhel
43550. Gesture. (=PSYC 43550) This course will examine the spontaneous movements that we produce when we talk––our gestures. We will first consider what gesture is (and is not), and then explore gesture in relation to communication, thinking, learning, action, and the brain, ending with an exploration of gesture as it becomes language, on-the-spot and over longer periods of time. S. Goldin-Meadow
43600. Process of Judgment and Decision Making. Prerequisites: Graduate students only. This course offers a survey of research on judgment and decision making, with emphasis placed on uncertainty and (intrapersonal) conflict. An historical approach is taken in which the roots of current research issues and practices are traced. Topics are drawn from the following areas: evaluation and choice when goals are in conflict and must be traded off, decision making when consequences of the decision are uncertain, predictive and evaluative judgments under conditions of uncertain, incomplete, conflicting, or otherwise fallible information. W. Goldstein.
43660/43661. Research Topics in Gesture and Learning I & II. (=PSYC 43660/43661) Prerequisites: Consent of Instructor This course will explore how actions, particularly actions that are used to represent (i.e., gestures), can be used to promote learning in hearing and deaf learners. The course will also explore how gesture (hands used to convey information in a non-codified way) can be distinguished from sign language (hands used to convey information in a codified, linguistic way) at one level, and from action (hands used to manipulate objects and thus change the world in a direct way) at another level. Mechanisms underlying these effects will also be explored; for example, how the hands direct attention and are processed in the brain during learning situations; how the hands change as they become more codified in an emerging language. (S. Goldin-Meadow)
43760. Sensitive Periods: How the Timing of Exper Alters Its Effect. (=PSYC 43760) Sensitive periods are defined as phases in life when experience has the most effect on a particular brain system. Typically occurring during development, experience during sensitive periods has long-term implications for sensory processing, affective development, cognitive processes, and production of complex learned behavior such as language. We will combine an investigation of biological underpinnings with behavioral consequences of sensitive periods and ask questions such as: How are sensitive periods defined during development? Are sensitive periods for a variety of behaviors different or the same? How does experience intersect with the brain to encode and modify a sensitive period? Can we re-open sensitive periods after their normal end - and do we want to? (S. London)
43770. Social Structure, Culture, and Human Development. What leads people to set certain goals (among a wide set of possibilities), order their preferences, and make certain decisions? How does common sense come to be “common?” Why do people report thinking one thing and then do the opposite? How do social emotions like shame or pride influence behavior and how do they become social in the first place? Like gravity, social structure (like social networks) and culture (like belief systems, social norms) facilitate and constrain what is possible and what is probable for feeling, thinking, and doing. Like gravity, social structure and culture are often invisible, taken for granted forces that are external to us, but coerce nonetheless. This course explores how social scientists have theorized and empirically studied social structure as well as culture in relationship to a wide range of social behaviors, as well as how structure and culture can change due to the efforts of individuals and groups. In our exploration of the role of social structures and culture and human development, we will discuss topics relating to educational and occupational attainment, identity development in adolescence and young adulthood, the experience of life course transitions, health and deviant behaviors, and mental and physical health. Additionally, this course will provide an overview of sociological social network research as well as a review of leading perspectives linking culture to human behavior. (A. Mueller)
43901. Concepts in the Antrhopology of Medicine. (=ANTH 40355) This is a graduate level introduction to the anthropology of medicine. Students will focus on a number of foundational readings in the anthropology of medicine, with an emphasis on links to broader social and cultural theory. Topics covered will include the problem of belief; local theories of disease causation and healing efficacy; the placebo effect and contextual healing; theories of embodiment; medicalization; structural violence; modernity and the distribution of risk; the meanings and effects of new medical technologies; and global health. E. Raikhel
44200. Emerging concepts in medical and psychological anthropology. (ANTH 40335) In this course we will read a selection of recent ethnographies to examine emerging topics, conceptual approaches and methods in medical and psychological anthropology. We will also focus closely on these ethnographies as texts, discussing their structure, style and rhetorical strategies – all with an eye to our own writing projects. Enrollment is subject to instructor’s approval. E. Raikhel
44214. Gender, Health & Medicine. (=SOCI 40221, GNSE 44214, CRES 44214, PBHS 31414) From the day we are born til the day we die, we experience a gendered world that shapes our opportunities, our social interactions, and even our physical health and wellbeing. This course will provide an introduction to sociological perspectives on gender, physical and mental health, and medicine while also providing a deep interrogation of the social, institutional, and biological links between gender and health. We will discuss inequalities in morbidity, mortality, and health behaviors of women, men, and transgendered individuals from different race, ethnic, and class backgrounds, and we will use sociological concepts, theories, and methods to understand why these differences appear. Finally, we will examine how medicine as an institution and medical practices as organizations sometimes contribute to and combat gender inequality in health. By the end of the course, you will be familiar with social scientific perspectives on (1) gender, (2) mental and physical health, and (3) the practice of medicine, as well as some of the fundamental debates in current medical sociology and sociology of gender. A. Muller
44220. Schools as a Social Context. Education plays a fundamental role in society, both because it determines individuals’ life chances and because it has the power to reproduce or ameliorate inequality in society. In this course, we will discuss theoretical and empirical research that examines how schools both perpetuate socioeconomic inequality and provide opportunities for social mobility. We will pay particular attention to the role of schools in the intergenerational transmission of social status, especially based on race, class, gender, and immigrant status and with an emphasis on the U.S. We will also discuss the social side of schools, delving into (1) the role of adolescent culture(s) in youths’ educational experiences and human development and (2) social psychological aspects of schooling. Schools are the primary extra-familial socializing institution that youth experience; thus, understanding how schools work is central to understanding the very structure of societies as well as how youth transition into adulthood. (A. Mueller, Autumn)
44700. Sem: Topics in Judgement and Decision Making. (=PSYC 44700) PQ: Graduate students only. This course offers a survey of research on judgment and decision making, with emphasis placed on uncertainty and (intrapersonal) conflict. An historical approach is taken in which the roots of current research issues and practices are traced. Topics are drawn from the following areas: evaluation and choice when goals are in conflict and must be traded off, decision making when consequences of the decision are uncertain, predictive and evaluative judgments under conditions of uncertain, incomplete, conflicting, or otherwise fallible information. Consent of instructor required. W. Goldstein.
44770. Behavioral Epigenetics: Small Changes with Big Effect on Brain and Behavior. (=PSYC 43770) Once considered a domain of cancer, we now recognize that epigenetic processes affect neurodevelopment, cognitive processes, mental disorders, and behavior. Epigenetic mechanisms are those that alter the function of the genome without altering the base sequence of genomic DNA (the As, Cs, Ts, and Gs we are familiar with), thus can be flexibly modified in response to the environment. In this seminar, we will explore a variety of epigenetic modifications, consider how they encode personal and transgenerational experiences, and examine how they direct brain function and behavior. Behavior can be understood on multiple levels and timescales; we will employ knowledge from the emerging field of epigenetics to shed more light into the black box of behavior. (S. London)
45205. Pushing the Boundary: Current Debates on Animals and the Species Divide. Animals embody a reality that is not adequately reflected in traditional thinking. This has been increasingly recognized in recent years, which have witnessed the vigorous interrogation and deconstruction of traditional Western views of a human-nonhuman divide. This course will provide an orientation to current philosophical, legal, humanistic and social science thought on animals, with the goal of linking that work to a larger critical project concerned with the anthropology of vulnerability. D. Kulick.
45501. Cognition and Education. Cognition and Education will explore research bridging basic psychological theories of cognition with rigorous studies of educational practice. Complete psychological theories of cognition must be able to explain thinking and learning in dynamic, everyday contexts. At the same time, this work cannot impact practice without being well grounded in teachers and students' everyday activities. Course readings will include psychological studies of cognition and learning, developmental studies of children's thinking, and educational studies of teaching in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields. L. Richland.
45550. From birds to words: How do communication systems come about?(=PSYC 45550) This course will examine commonalities in the development and organization of communication across animals (birds and people) who are not closely linked evolutionarily. In this way, we hope to explore essential elements of social communication (what they are, which elements are flexible with respect to species, time, cultural specificity). Our goal is to start with behaviors that are shared across birds and humans, and unravel deeper shared mechanisms across organisms that rely on complex communication systems over different timespans (evolution, ontogeny). S. Goldin-Meadow, S. London.
45600. When Cultures Collide: The Multicultural Challenge in Liberal Democracy. (=PSYC 45300, ANTH 45600, HMRT 35600, GNDR 45600) Coming to terms with diversity in an increasingly multicultural world has become one of the most pressing public policy projects for liberal democracies in the early 21st century. One way to come to terms with diversity is to try to understand the scope and limits of toleration for variety at different national sites where immigration from foreign lands has complicated the cultural landscape. This seminar examines a series of legal and moral questions about the proper response to norm conflict between mainstream populations and cultural minority groups (including old and new immigrants), with special reference to court cases that have arisen in the recent history of the United States. R. Shweder.
45605. Moral Development & Comparative Ethics. (=PSYC 44000, Renamed: CHDV 45601 Moral Psychology & Comparative Ethics. ) Three types of questions about morality can be distinguished: (1) philosophical, (2) psychological, and (3) epidemiological. The philosophical question asks, whether and in what sense (if any) "goodness" or "rightness" are real or objective properties that particular actions possess in varying degrees. The psychological question asks, what are the mental states and processes associated with the human classification of actions are moral or immoral, ethical or unethical. The epidemiological question asks, what is the actual distribution of moral judgments across time (developmental time and historical time) and across space (for example, across cultures). In this seminar we will read classic and contemporary philosophical, psychological and anthropological texts that address those questions. R. Shweder.
45620. Anthropology of Migration and Travel.(=ANTH 45620) J. Chu, Winter 2014
45700. Urban Field Research. This course will focus on methods for collecting qualitative field data in urban settings from the ground up, so to speak, and to discuss some related methodological issues. In addition to readings, there will be field assignments and students will discuss each other's notes. R. Taub.
46460. Disability, Dependency, and the Good Life. (ANTH=45120) Disability studies is an interdisciplinary area of study that focuses on the experiences and representation of disability across multiple realms – including the social, environmental, cultural, regional, historical, economic and political. Additionally, with the emergence of increasingly sophisticated prenatal testing technologies and technological interventions such as cochlear implants, the binary between disabled and non-disabled is becoming increasingly porous: disability is both the new normal and a category ever more in flux. This course will take an anthropological approach to disability in exploring some of the foundational concepts utilized by disabled activists and communities both in the United States and internationally. We will explore the concepts of inter/dependency, accessibility, inclusion, participation, and justice as disabled actors in daily life mobilize them to both create livable worlds and to make claims of other individuals, organizations, and states. In doing so, we will consider the works of scholars writing about dependency and interdependency and we will consider the ethical stakes of different ethical moral, and political frameworks for thinking about disabled peoples’ experiences. M. Friedner
46550. Embodiment, Thinking, and Learning. (=PSYC 46550) Thoughts aren't created by a computer, or a brain in a jar. They're created by people using their bodies to interact with each other and the world around them. Since the human body is the birthplace of thinking and the instrument through which thoughts are constructed and communicated, the way we think and communicate is profoundly shaped by specifics of our bodies. In this course we'll explore relationships among body, brain, mind, and language, on multiple timescales: how people with different kinds of bodies acquire and use language differently, and how interplay between language, gesture, and bodily action can influence the way people think, feel, and learn. S. Goldin-Meadow, D. Casasanto
46661. Advanced Topics in Behavioral Genomics. (=PSYC 46661) One of the great opportunities in this post-genome age is to use DNA to better understand behavior. It is increasingly obvious that the interactions between genes and behavior are complex. Thus, identifying meaningful connections between them requires careful consideration of both. This seminar course will use primary literature as a platform to consider how behavior is influenced by, and itself alters, the genome, including the epigenome. The course will cover examples from a variety of animals including humans, various methods for measuring the epigenome, genome and behavior, and the relevant neurobiology for each system. S. London
47330. Human-Animal Studies: New Perspectives on the Species Divide. The past decade has seen a rapid proliferation of academic interest in nonhuman animals across the social sciences and humanities. The interest accompanies doubts about the validity of distinctions between nature and culture and between human and nonhuman. In the social sciences, the "animals turn" has compelled scholars to question the anthropocentrism that once was--and in many ways continues to be -- at the heart of the disciplines. This seminar focuses on human-animal relationships, broadly construed to include representation (legal/political and symbolic), use (e.g. hunting, fishing, and factory farming), and intimacy (notably, but not exclusively, companion species). We will address the topic of ethics both in the form of animal activist discourses and as the as the inevitable result of questioning the category of "species" and the species divide. The reading list includes works from cultural anthropology (including the emergent "multispecies ethnography"), philosophy, sociology, and other fields. L. Beldo, Spring 2015
47500. Research Seminar in Behavioral Biology. In this seminar we will discuss past, current, and future research in behavioral biology, present and discuss data,read and discuss articles and books, and prepare manuscripts for publication or grant applications. (D. Maestripieri)
47901-47902-47903 / 27901-27902-27903. Modern Spoken Yucatec Maya 1-2-3. (=LACS 27901-27902-27903/ 47901-47902-47903) Basic introduction to the modern Yucatec Maya language, an indigenous American language spoken by about 750,000 people in southeastern Mexico. Three consecutive quarters of instruction will be offered for those aiming at basic and intermediate proficiency. Students receiving FLAS support must take all three quarters. Others may elect to take only the first quarter or first two quarters. Students wishing to enter the course midyear (e.g., those with prior experience with the language) must seek explicit permission from the Instructor. Materials exist for a second year of the course; interested students should consult with the Instructor. Students wishing to continue their training with native speakers in Mexico may apply for FLAS funding in the summer to support such efforts. J. Lucy
48001. Mind and Biology Proseminar I. (=PSYC 48001) PQ: 3 quarter sequence; receive 100 units of credit IN SPRING ONLY after completing all quarters. Consent Only. The goal of this proseminar is to give graduate students the opportunity to be exposed to and discuss the research in biopsychology currently conducted at the Institute for Mind and Biology. The Mind and Biology Proseminar meets four times a quarter (plus an orientation meeting in Autumn quarter, each time for two hours. A meeting consists of a 45 – 60 minute research presentation by an IMB faculty member (or a guest speaker) and 60 minutes of discussion. (Staff, Autumn 2013).
48002. Mind and Biology Proseminar II. PQ: 3 quarter sequence; receive 100 units of credit IN SPRING ONLY after completing all quarters. Consent Only. The goal of this proseminar is to give graduate students the opportunity to be exposed to and discuss the research in biopsychology currently conducted at the Institute for Mind and Biology. The Mind and Biology Proseminar meets four times a quarter (plus an orientation meeting in Autumn quarter), each time for two hours. A meeting consists of a 45 – 60 minute research presentation by an IMB faculty member (or a guest speaker) and 60 minutes of discussion. M. McClintock
48003. Mind and Biology Proseminar III. (=PSYC 48003) PQ: 3 quarter sequence; receive 100 units of credit IN SPRING ONLY after completing all quarters. Consent Only. The goal of this proseminar is to give graduate students the opportunity to be exposed to and discuss the research in biopsychology currently conducted at the Institute for Mind and Biology. The Mind and Biology Proseminar meets four times a quarter (plus an orientation meeting in Autumn quarter, each time for two hours. A meeting consists of a 45 – 60 minute research presentation by an IMB faculty member (or a guest speaker) and 60 minutes of discussion. Students will earn 100 units in Spring quarter after completing the three-quarter sequence. D. Maestripieri
48412. Publications, Grants, and the Academic Job Market.
In this graduate seminar we will discuss how to write and publish scientific articles, prepare grant applications, write CVs and job applications, and give job talks and interviews.
In other words, everything students always wanted to know about being successful in academia but were afraid to ask. (D. Maestripieri)
48415. Displaced nations and the politics of belonging. (=ANTH 45615) While immigration has given rise to cultural hybridity and cosmopolitan forms of belonging, it has also produced diasporic nations and long-distance nationalisms that strive to maintain relationships with real or imagined homelands. This seminar examines what it means to belong to a nation that is not coterminous with a territorial state. It explores both the impact of diasporic nation-making on immigrant subjectivities and on the cultural politics of belonging in receiving states. How, for instance, does deterritorialized nation-making implicate immigrant bodies, histories, and subjectivities? How is the traditionally ethnos-based diasporic nation reconceptualised by considering intersecting queer solidarities or religious nationalisms? How does deterritorialized nation-making complicate ideologies of citizenship and belonging, and how do immigrant-receiving states manage these complications? To explore these issues, we will draw on ethnographic monographs and multidisciplinary theoretical perspectives that critically examine the concepts of the nation, nationalism, deterritorialized nationalism, and citizenship, as they implicate history and memory, the body, sexual and religious solidarities, and multiculturalism. G. Embuldeniya, Spring 2012, 2013.
48420. Science meets literature: Elias Canetti’s Auto-da-Fé and human nature. (= GRMN 48417, KNOW 41401) In this graduate seminar we will read the 1935 novel Auto-da-Fé by Elias Canetti (1981 Nobel Prize for Literature) and discuss it from the perspectives of different disciplines such as psychology and psychoanalysis, anthropology and sociology, history and philosophy, and literary criticism. One of the main themes of the seminar will be the relationship between Canetti’s representation of human mental and social processes in the novel and our current understanding of the human mind and human interpersonal relationships (e.g., understanding other minds, interpersonal communication, power dynamics, etc.). (D. Maestripieri)
49900. Research in Human Development. PQ. Permission of instructor. This course is often taken with the student's advisor in preparation for their dissertation. (Select faculty from section list, all quarters.)
50036. Honor. "What is honor?" Asks Falstaff. "Can honor set to a leg? No. Or an arm? No. Or Take away the grief of a wound? No. Who hath it?" Honor makes men do strange things. This course attempts both to answer Falstaff's question and to learn why Honor "pricks men on." R. Taub.
57700. Agencies & Interventions. (=SSAD 57700, ANTH 51040) By one common definition, agencies are sites of organized social practice, designed to provide some service to others. The questions of how agencies act, who and what guides them, if they can be seen as actors in their own right, and (if so) how they relate to other kinds of actors, are productive matters of debate. Agencies are also socially formulated ideas about why, how, by what means, or to what ends something happens. In light of the many such formulations we find at play across different times and places, we would be wise to begin our inquiry by thinking of “agency” in the plural. In this course, we will work between these two senses of agencies—as historical explanations of the capacity to effectively or meaningfully act, and as the types of institutions that are charged with undertaking action on behalf of others. More specifically, we will examine how particular ideas about the possibility of efficacious or meaningful action are operationalized and formalized through various bureaucratic, clinical, and political interventions. While examining their cultural and historical lability, we will find that ideas about agency are often deeply held by the individuals and institutions that operate in accordance with them—whether or not they these ideas serve as explicit guidelines for conduct, as post-hoc explanations for events, or as principles of evaluation to which professionals and clients are subject. Our readings, lectures and discussions will address formal theories of agency and examine operating ideas of agency in various settings, with a focus on ethnographies of intervention.S. Carr, Spring