Anthro 101-6-21 First Year Seminar - Modern Plagues
At the height of the 2013-2016 West African Ebola epidemic, it was often said that the fears of the disease globalized more quickly than the disease itself. These kinds of statements - and the proliferation of official efforts to control Ebola outbreak in West Africa and elsewhere - show the significance of cultural, social, political and economic dimensions of epidemics. This first-year seminar privileges a critical medical anthropology perspective on the dynamics of epidemics: from disease transmission to prevention and control. Together, we will investigate how complex interactions among social, cultural, political, economic, and environmental factors influence the natural history of infectious disease and public health efforts to understand and address them. The seminar focuses on contemporary problems and issues with the explicit purpose of addressing questions of equity and justice.
This course introduces life history theory as an integrated framework for understanding the biological processes underlying the human life cycle and its evolution. After constructing a solid foundation in life history theory and the comparative method, the class will address questions such as: Why do humans grow and develop much more slowly than other primate species? Why do we have so few offspring? What is the significance of puberty? What is the function of menopause? In-depth analysis of several case studies will allow the class to examine in detail the utility of life history theory for explaining aspects of human development and behavior from an evolutionary perspective.
Historical Archaeology is a field archaeology that focuses on the past 500 years and addresses a myriad of questions including, identity, European colonialism, resistance, capitalism, and power. This course will explore the history of different peoples in the Americas through the study of the material remains they left behind: architecture, burials, food remains, clothing and jewelry, etc. Attention will be focused on the presentation and/or exclusion of groups in depictions of history and in the creation new identities (ethnogenesis) in different parts of the Americas. It will also consider the ways in which power and economy intersect with other forms of identity, such as class, gender, and sexuality. The course will survey a variety of communities, concentrating on Indigenous Peoples, as well as people of European, African and Asian descent in American contexts. While there will be course material which touch on French and Iberian colonial contexts, class projects will primarily draw on study of artifacts and communities in the Eastern United States and the Anglophone Caribbean.
Anthropology has had a long, storied relationship with questions of nature and culture, society and environment, during which time a variety of theoretical approaches have been developed. This class will review these intellectual developments and recent trends with the aim of giving students toolkits for analyzing present-day environmental concerns.
Anthro 390-0-24 Biocultural Perspectives on Water Insecurity
The first objective of this course is to introduce students to the many ways that water impacts our world. We will discuss what the international recommendations for safely managed water are and the health and social consequences of water insecurity. The second objective is explore why there is such variety in water insecurity worldwide. These discussions will be guided by the socio-ecological framework, in which dimensions ranging from the individual to the geopolitical are considered. Influences on access to water will be broadly considered; we will draw on literature in global health, ethnography, the life sciences, and public policy. The third objective is to develop critical thinking and writing abilities to reflect on the multi-dimensional causes and consequences of water insecurity and the appropriateness of potential solutions.
Archaeology and nationalism have been closely intertwined at least since the idea of the nation-state emerged following the French Revolution. Archaeology offers nationalist agendas the possibility of filling in national historical records and extending the past far into prehistory. Its results can be displayed in museums, occupy entire sites, and be readily accessible online ?thus potentially reaching many new audiences beyond traditional print media. In turn, nationalism has contributed significantly to the development of archaeology as a modern discipline.
Drawing on new critical approaches and examples selected from a wide geographical range, this course explores the role of archaeology in the creation and elaboration of national identities from the eighteenth century to the present day. Issues include the institutionalization of archaeology; the development of museums and practices of display and interpretation; the creation of archaeological sites as national monuments and tourist destinations; cultural property legislation and repatriation of artifacts; and archaeology and monuments under totalitarian regimes.
"Planet Earth" has a political and social history. The Copernican turn and geological notions of deep time, for example, radically shifted understandings of the Earth, time, and humans' relationship to them. Whole Earth images first generated by the Apollo Space missions in the late 1960s and 1970s have been the characteristic form of planetary imagination during the late twentieth century. Earthrise and The Blue Marble images enabled humans to imagine the planet as an interconnected whole against the backdrop of the Cold War and environmental disasters. They have been crucial to the emergence of a "global consciousness" and became famous icons of the global environmental movement, depicting the planet as the common home of humans as one species. The power of these images has not decreased, yet other forms of representation and imagination have emerged as well. The development of Google Earth or advanced climate modeling systems, for example, mark a different notion of Earth, characterized by dynamic, heterogeneous, and open systems. This course examines such shifting notions of the Earth by tracing how practices and discourses of geopolitics, political theory, cartography, population studies, climate modeling, deep ocean sensing, outer space exploration and mining, and science fiction literature, have come to sense, know, represent, and imagine the planet since the 18th century. In doing so, this course also surveys shifting socio-political currents, from the intersection of the military-industrial complex and techno science to how climate crisis, Anthropocene debates, and Earth Systems analysis reflect further shifts in the ways the planet is understood today. Tracing these shifts in planetary representation and imagination is also crucial to understanding how core concepts such as "humanity" and "species" are made and unmade. Understanding the deeply mediated processes behind planetary depictions is not only central to making sense of contemporary politics and policies that propose to shape the future, but also to imagining alternative worlds and futures beyond our grim ecological predicament.
Art History 101-6 First Year Seminar - Everest: Altitude & Attitude
Mountains of trash, littered empty oxygen bottles, corpses covered in snow and ice for decades, deep within crevasses or left in the open to serve as path markers, blackened frostbitten fingers, toes and noses, later amputated, $45-130K per attempt paid to commercial climbing companies, including an $11K fee to the Nepalese government. At least 296 deaths on the mountain are known to have occurred, a third of them Nepalese Sherpas engaged as guides and porters to carry supplies, set the ropes and metal bridges and assist the wealthy climbers. Every year, about 1000 people attempt to reach the 29,029 (and still growing) peak; more than a third turn back, despite the upfront, prepaid cost. Why do they come? Do they know why, themselves? What are the rewards and motivations for attempting it? In the past century and a half, there have been both national and personal pride invested in being the first, or one of the only. But for most of human history, climbing into the "death zone" was considered suicidal and avoided at all costs. Even today, most of the people who live in the Himalayas consider it an unnecessary sacrilege to trample on the goddess, Chomulungma, and do it only regretfully to support their families via adventure tourism. This course will examine the geology of Everest, explore different perspectives on the history of attitudes toward it, as well as the motivations, costs and rewards for those who attempt to climb it today.
Chem Eng 382-0-20 Regulatory Sciences in Biotechnology
Course topics cover the intersection of science, engineering, and biotech regulatory compliance. Includes: federal regulations for drug product development, regulatory compliance processes and organizational structure, interface between biotechnology processes and regulatory sciences, global harmonization of regulations, and regulatory documentation.
Drug product development is a process with an inherent low probability of success that takes about 13 years and 2.6 billion dollars from lead discovery to product launch. Regulatory science is a discipline that helps drug companies and regulatory agencies to make science-based risk/benefit decisions on a new molecular entity (NME) that eventually leads to a decision on its approval. The rapidly growing science-based approach will to increase probability of success and decease drug development costs. The regulatory sciences in biotechnology course will provide a unique educational experience at the intersection of science, engineering, and regulatory compliance. Topics such as federal regulations for drug product development, regulatory compliance processes and organizational structure, interface between biotechnology processes and regulatory sciences, global harmonization of regulations, and regulatory documentation will be covered in this course. One part of this course will be delivered as lectures, case-studies, and workshops and the other will be delivered as a hands-on, practicum team project in biotech regulatory science. The class will feature several guest lectures from professionals in the biotech and pharma industry.
An introduction to important aspects of environmental law and policy. A wide range of environmental topics are covered, with a focus on national environmental policy as implemented through major federal environmental statutes.
People who understand communication are uniquely positioned to solve health related problems, and their services are increasingly in demand. As such, this course is designed to familiarize you with the theory and research on communication in health and illness contexts, focusing on how messages from interpersonal, organizational, cultural, and media sources affect health beliefs and behaviors. We will explore communication in health care delivery, health care organizations, as well as health promotion and disease prevention. By taking this course, you will become a more mindful, educated, and effective health communicator.
This course explores the evolution of digital media and its effects on self and society, with a focus on the historical shift away from one-way mass media toward more customized, participatory digital media. Through readings, blogging, class discussion and a final project, students are encouraged to think broadly about how digital communication technologies are impacting politics, media, business and culture and what this means for us at the individual and societal level.
Earth 102-6 First Year Seminar: Sustainability & Social Justice
Sustainability and Social Justice: The challenge of sustainability to "meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" has evolved over the past few decades. This course will introduce fundamental concepts of sustainability, consider the application of these concepts in diverse societal, economic, and cultural settings, and explore the potential of climate science and sustainable development to act as forces for environmental and social justice.
Mineral Resources: This course provides an introduction to the field of economic geology. Broad topics include resource evaluation, the global distribution and formation of economic deposits, and mine waste in the environment. Topics in resource evaluation will include an introduction to the economic principles behind metals production and consumption, ore body description, the statistical approach to sampling deposits and the determination of cut-off grades. A large portion of this course is dedicated to understanding the physical and geochemical processes that concentrate earth materials into metallic deposits, industrial mineral and salt deposits, and fossil energy materials. The course will conclude with an examination of mining-related environmental issues such as acid mine drainage, heavy metal contamination and the deep disposal of dangerous waste.
This class will help students understand the key economic forces that have shaped the US health care and health insurance industry. What role do the particularities of health care and health insurance as economic goods play in explaining the size and growth rate of the health care sector? What's the effect of private incentives, adverse selection, moral hazard, and regulation? What's the effect of different organizational structures of health care provision? What can we learn from comparing the US health care / health insurance system to other countries' systems? Students will learn that these issues are important in the current public policy discussion.
In this course, we explore to what extent differences in institutions can explain differences in economic development and economic growth. We take a broad approach to institutions and examine both formal institutions such as constitutions, law, and property rights and informal institutions as such customs, traditions, and codes of conducts. A key feature of these institutions is that they rarely change and crucially affect economic behavior. For instance, lack of clearly defined property rights reduces the ability to obtain credit, and a lack of trust reduces the willingness to engage in economic exchanges. We first focus on understanding better why a specific set of institutions emerged and which sets of institutions have fostered economic development historically. We then discuss the importance of the persistence of institutions for current differences in economic development and economic growth. Last, we will study which institutional changes preceded the rapid economic growth in China and South Korea.
The goal of this course is to understand the functioning and regulation of energy markets. The energy sector is a vital input to the economy. It is often highly concentrated, generating concerns about competition, and a big emitter of greenhouse gases and other pollutants, generating concerns about the environment. As a consequence, the energy sector is subject to substantial economic and environmental regulation. We will use economic theory and empirical evidence to analyze the real-world operation of electricity, oil, and natural gas markets. These tools will allow us to critically understand how these markets are regulated. We will examine policies in a range of current topics. For example: Why has the performance of electricity markets been debated? Who pays the bill of carbon regulation? What are the pros and cons of renewable energy policies? What are the prospects for energy efficiency improvements? The course will draw upon material taught in Economics 310-1, 310-2, and 281, with the tools from Econ 310-1 and 281 being absolutely essential.
The environment and our natural resources are scarce yet their values are quite hard to determine. Furthermore, there are a variety of problems with the incentives to use them well. Using the tools of microeconomic analysis and some econometrics, this course will define and examine "environmental problems" in terms of economic efficiency. We will also discuss the methods (and shortcomings of these methods) used by economists and policymakers to place dollar values on environmental amenities (since such valuations will determine what policy options are deemed "efficient"), such as benefit-cost analysis. Then we will apply these tools to look at a particular set of environmental problems caused by negative externalities transmitted through naturally occurring amenities, and the effects of the policies we construct in response to these problems. NOTE: This class is not open to students who have taken Economics 370: Environmental & Natural Resource Economics.
From hurricanes to polar vortexes and wildfires, in recent years, weather has frequently appeared in headlines throughout digital and print media. Accompanied by accelerations in global heating, unpredictable seasonal cycles, and political inaction, it has become increasingly clear that not only how weather is spoken about but also the weather events themselves are deeply political. In this freshman seminar, we will consider a variety of contemporary representations of weather from art to fiction to poetry and film to explore the relationship between weather as material event and weather as political context. Where does weather begin and end? What happens when weather becomes not just a mysterious force but an actively produced by-product of industrial expansion? What is "totalizing" about both weather and politics?
This course provides a literary introduction to science fiction. Beginning with its 19th century origins in gothic fiction and adventure narratives, we will trace the development of science fiction through its early 20th century boom as a pulp form, its mid-century emergence as a recognizable literary genre, and its late 20th century adoption as a venue for exploring identity politics. How have longstanding genre themes like technological innovation and futuristic social progress endured or changed over time? How have explorations of race, gender, and sexuality been important to the genre's development? How has sci-fi shaped the wider social world in realms like scientific research, political rhetoric, fan cultures, and popular media? We will consider these questions as we survey a selection of novels and short stories by major science fiction authors.
Co-listed as ANTHRO 390-0-29 "Planet Earth" has a political and social history. The Copernican turn and geological notions of deep time, for example, radically shifted understandings of the Earth, time, and humans' relationship to them. Whole Earth images first generated by the Apollo Space missions in the late 1960s and 1970s have been the characteristic form of planetary imagination during the late twentieth century. Earthrise and The Blue Marble images enabled humans to imagine the planet as an interconnected whole against the backdrop of the Cold War and environmental disasters. They have been crucial to the emergence of a "global consciousness" and became famous icons of the global environmental movement, depicting the planet as the common home of humans as one species. The power of these images has not decreased, yet other forms of representation and imagination have emerged as well. The development of Google Earth or advanced climate modeling systems, for example, mark a different notion of Earth, characterized by dynamic, heterogeneous, and open systems. This course examines such shifting notions of the Earth by tracing how practices and discourses of geopolitics, political theory, cartography, population studies, climate modeling, deep ocean sensing, outer space exploration and mining, and science fiction literature, have come to sense, know, represent, and imagine the planet since the 18th century. In doing so, this course also surveys shifting socio-political currents, from the intersection of the military-industrial complex and technoscience to how climate crisis, Anthropocene debates, and Earth Systems analysis reflect further shifts in the ways the planet is understood today. Tracing these shifts in planetary representation and imagination is also crucial to understanding how core concepts such as "humanity" and "species" are made and unmade. Understanding the deeply mediated processes behind planetary depictions is not only central to making sense of contemporary politics and policies that propose to shape the future, but also to imagining alternative worlds and futures beyond our grim ecological predicament.
Co-listed as PHIL 268 This course is an introduction to central concepts and problems in environmental ethics. We will devote particular attention to the question of moral standing, or in other words, the question of who or what is deserving of ultimate moral consideration. Topics to be discussed include the ethical treatment of animals, the value of non-sentient life, individualism versus holism in ethics, climate change and the ethics of geoengineering, and whether and why anthropocentrism might be a problem in environmental ethics.
Envr Pol 390-0-24 Ocean and Coastal Law and Policy
This course focuses on laws, policies and the decision-making process related to coastal and ocean resources in the United States, and internationally. Through examination of treaties, statutes, cases, administrative materials, and academic articles, we will explore issues such as coastal land use, offshore energy, ocean pollution, the impacts of climate on ocean/coastal ecosystems, marine mammal conservation, and fisheries management.
Co-Listed as ANTHRO 383-0-20 Anthropology has had a long, storied relationship with questions of nature and culture, society and environment, during which time a variety of theoretical approaches have been developed. This class will review these intellectual developments and recent trends with the aim of giving students toolkits for analyzing present-day environmental concerns.
Environmental science is the interdisciplinary study of how humans interact with the living and nonliving parts of their environment. In this course, we will examine current environmental challenges, such as the conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable production of energy, and the implications of human population growth. A case study approach will be used to emphasize the processes of scientific inquiry and discovery.
Gbl Health 390-21 Native Nations, Healthcare Systems and US Policies
Healthcare for Native populations, in the what is currently the U.S., are an entanglement of settler colonial domination and the active determination of Native nations to uphold their Indigenous sovereignty. This reading-intensive, discussion-based seminar will provide students with a complex and in-depth understanding of the historical and contemporary policies and systems created for and by Native nations. We will focus on the legal foundations of the trust responsibility and fiduciary obligation of the federal government outlined in the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court decisions. To gain a nuanced perspective, students will study notable federal policies including the Snyder Act, the Special Diabetes Programs for Indians, Violence Against Women Act, and Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). Additionally, state policy topics will include Medicaid expansion and tobacco cessation and prevention.
Gbl Hlth 301-0-21 Introduction to International Public Health
This course introduces students to pressing disease and health care problems worldwide and examines past and current efforts to address them. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the course identifies the main actors, institutions, practices and forms of knowledge production characteristic of what we call "global health" today, and explores the environmental, social, political and economic factors that shape patterns and experiences of illness and healthcare across societies. We will scrutinize the value systems that underpin specific paradigms in the policy and science of global health and place present-day developments in historical perspective.
Global health is a popular field of work and study for Americans, with an increasing number of medical trainees and practitioners, as well as people without medical training, going abroad to volunteer in areas where there are few health care practitioners or resources. In addition, college undergraduates, as well as medical trainees and practitioners, are going abroad in increasing numbers to conduct research in areas with few health care resources. But all of these endeavors, though often entered into with the best of intentions, are beset with ethical questions, concerns, and dilemmas, and can have unintended consequences. In this course, students will assess these ethical challenges. In so doing, students will examine core ethical codes, guidelines, and principals - such as solidarity, social justice, and humility - so they will be able to ethically assess global health practices in a way that places an emphasis on the core goal of global health: reducing health inequities and disparities.
Gbl Hlth 390-0-23 Health Care Under Socialism and Postsocialism
This course introduces students to ideas and concepts of health care and social protection during socialism and post-socialism in Eastern and Southeastern Europe. The course will explore systems based on the principle of "health for all" and their transformation during the so-called post-socialist transition from state-planned to market-oriented economies. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, we will examine the complex relationship between socialist heritage and the influence of neoliberal policies on health care systems in former socialist states, with a special emphasis on the former Yugoslavia. Key course topics include: socialist governance and health care policy; the politics of post-socialist "transition;" the neoliberalization of health care and social protection policies; patients and their rights in the new order; informal economies and clientelism; and challenges in access to healthcare for marginalized social groups. Throughout the course, students will be encouraged to think critically about the political-economic, ethical, and cultural complexities of health care under socialism and the neoliberal transition.
Germany is often regarded as being at the forefront of European developments concerning issues such as climate change and recycling, transport and renewable energy sources. This class will trace the scientific, political, philosophical, and aesthetic history of Germany as a green nation from the 18th century until today. What are the roots of the ideology of environmentalism as it is represented in concepts like environment, ecology, or sustainability, which were all invented or popularized by German scientists (von Uexküll, Haeckel, von Carlowitz)?
This class offers an introduction to the relationship between gender, sexuality, and law in the United States, both historically and currently. We will examine how the law has reflected and created distinctions on the basis of gender and sexuality and how such distinctions contribute to social inequalities. We will also explore how feminist and queer activists have resisted legally produced inequalities and whether (or how) their efforts have created enduring social change. Some of the topics we will consider include marriage, sex work, reproduction, employment and the workplace, anti-violence movements, consent, and everyday forms of discrimination.
Hist 275-2 History of Western Science and Medicine: In Modern Europe and America
Science has profoundly shaped the world we live in: it impacts the food we eat, our interactions with one another, the ways in which we relate to our bodies, the manner of our travel and communication, and our personal views of humanity's place in the universe. Over the course of the modern period, science has earned widespread authority as objective knowledge about the natural world. Yet as most scientists today will freely admit, decisions about which research questions earn attention (and funding) and how research is carried out are influenced by powerful institutions, political considerations, business interests, technological changes, imperialism, and societal expectations. Science is, after all, a human activity. With this lesson in mind, our course surveys the history of science from the Enlightenment until the Cold War, in a series of overlapping units examining medicine, physics, biology, and earth sciences. We will be guided by questions including: What counted as science in different times and places? How did scientific researchers earn a living, and which institutions supported them, or didn't? Above all, what changing values has science reflected over the course of the modern period?
ISEN 230-0-20 Climate Change and Sustainability: Ethnical Dimensions
This course is about our ethical responsibilities in the face of anthropogenic climate change. The course begins with an introduction to philosophical ethics, the scientific evidence in support of an anthropogenic role in climate change, and some advanced technological approaches to mitigating the effects of climate change. After these introductory sessions the class is split into two parts. We will begin with an exploration of how far reaching our ethical responsibilities are by questioning which things matter morally: are future-human beings, non-human animals, and ecosystems morally important? How do they compare morally to humans alive today? In the second part of the course we will focus on how individually specific our ethical responsibilities are. We will focus on a range of common behaviors relevant to climate change and ask whether and how we can ethically justify our individual participation or lack of participation in these behaviors. We will conclude the course by asking how our moral responsibilities with respect to climate change fit with our other moral responsibilities.
This class introduces students to a variety of philosophical problems concerning gender and politics. Together, we'll read classic and contemporary texts that examine questions such as: what is gender - and how, if it all, does it relate to or differ from sex? What does it really mean to be a woman or a man - and are these categories we're born into or categories that we become or inhabit through living in a particular way under specific conditions? Human history all the way up to the present seems to be rife with asymmetrical relations of power that relegate those marked out as women to a subordinate position - what explains this? What would it mean to over turn this state of affairs - and which strategies are most likely to accomplish this task? And to what extent is it possible to grapple with all of the above questions - questions of gender, sex and sexuality - without also, at the very same time, thinking about how they relate to questions of class and race? Readings will include selections from Simone de Beauvoir, Iris Marion Young, Sandra Bartky, bell hooks, Patricia Hill Collins, Judith Butler, Talia Bettcher, and others.
This course is an introduction to central concepts and problems in environmental ethics. We will devote particular attention to the question of moral standing, or in other words, the question of who or what is deserving of ultimate moral consideration. Topics to be discussed include the ethical treatment of animals, the value of non-sentient life, individualism versus holism in ethics, climate change and the ethics of geoengineering, and whether and why anthropocentrism might be a problem in environmental ethics.
This course is about our ethical responsibilities in the face of anthropogenic climate change. The course begins with an introduction to philosophical ethics, the scientific evidence in support of an anthropogenic role in climate change, and some advanced technological approaches to mitigating the effects of climate change. After these introductory sessions the class is split into two parts. We will begin with an exploration of how far reaching our ethical responsibilities are by questioning which things matter morally: are future-human beings, non-human animals, and ecosystems morally important? How do they compare morally to humans alive today? In the second part of the course we will focus on how individually specific our ethical responsibilities are. We will focus on a range of common behaviors relevant to climate change and ask whether and how we can ethically justify our individual participation or lack of participation in these behaviors. We will conclude the course by asking how our moral responsibilities with respect to climate change fit with our other moral responsibilities.
Global Warming is one of the most difficult challenges facing humanity. This course examines global warming from a variety of perspectives, including many of the following: science, policy, economics, ethics, politics, journalism, engineering, history, astronomy.
The idea that science has a history and exists in a social context may seem curious to some: we are taught, and the scientific method is thought to ensure, that scientific knowledge is objective and universal. But like other social institutions, science has rules and norms that dictate training and professionalization, the representation of findings and ideas, and minute practices in that can shape the big picture of what we know about the world. This course introduces students to the sociology of science, a field based on understanding how the natural and laboratory sciences are influenced by political and historical epochs, social identities, and cultural norms. The course has three broad aims: to introduce students to core literature in the history and sociology of science; to use case studies to better understand the social life of various scientific fields and innovations; and to apply our sociological imaginations to conceive possibilities at the limits of humanistic and social aspirations.
Can technology end poverty? Is the internet racist? Technology is everywhere and humans have always used technology to shape society and vice versa. How do people relate to technology? How has our culture been affected by technology? In this course we will examine how technology itself been shaped by societal norms, and values. We begin with an examination of what technology is, and is not and continue by examining the role technology plays in shaping different aspects of society - from race, to gender, and surveillance.
