Fall 2005

Humanities 395: Advanced Special Topic:
Only Skin Deep: Changing Visions of the American Self

Oct. 24 – Nov. 11: Coco Fusco: “Only Skin Deep: Changing Visions of the American Self.” This course is a survey of the many ways in which photography in America has shaped notions of racial and national identity. We will explore how assumptions about what Americans look like and what they should look like are communicated through photography and reinforced by notions of photographic truth. Some of our discussions will focus on the strategies that photographers use to support or debunk scientific racism. We will also concentrate on how market demands and popular cultural trends as well as government agendas affect the kind of racial imagery that prevails at different historical junctures. We will look at documentary photography, photojournalism and art photography in many photographic formats, from daguerreotypes and stereoviews to recently produced digital images.

Spring 2006

Humanities 395: Advanced Special Topic:
Religion and Violence

Feb. 13 - Mar. 3: Veena Das: "Religion and Violence."   Instead of taking religion and violence as pre-constituted categories, we will examine the ways in which religion and violence might constitute each other. We will read certain classic texts on practices of initiation, sacrifice and martyrdom and ask how violence creates boundaries of community. What is the relation between violence and non-violence as categories of thought and action? How have concepts drawn from religion migrated to modern politics? We will reading selected texts from anthropology, philosophy and theology.

Humanities 395: Advanced Special Topic:
The New Anti-Semitism and the Old

Apr. 3 - Apr. 21: Sander L. Gilman: “The New Anti-Semitism and the Old.”   The course traces the construction of the specific targeting of the Jews as different and dangerous from the early Christian Church to the present. The historical changes that altered the appearance of to Jew-hatred will be explored and the presence of anti-Semitism in our contemporary world analyzed. Readings will be from religious, historical, and literary texts, including films.