This course explores the methods used to investigate disease outbreaks, with particular emphasis on the COVID-19 pandemic. Students examine the principles and practices of outbreak investigation, including the epidemiological and statistical techniques used to detect, investigate, and mitigate outbreaks. Topics include public health surveillance, contact tracing, environmental health assessment, forensic epidemiology, and crisis and emergency risk communication. The course incorporates real-world case simulations for pathogens such as Ebola, Avian-influenza, Foodborne, and bioterrorism.
Visions of "Africa" today often revolve around a set of tropes developed in the 19th century: a continent benighted, undeveloped, helpless, chaotic, famine-ridden, and incapable of self-governance. In this class, we will directly challenge these tropes, viewing contemporary Africa from a cultural anthropological perspective. Using the conceptual tools of anthropology, we will identify the values presupposed by such discourses and worldviews, and consider alternative intellectual traditions, visions and insights emerging from scholarship in, of, about and from the continent. Specifically, we will explore areas critical to understanding contemporary African cultures - music, cinema, literature, health, technology, politics and economy, among others. We will reflect upon ethical engagement with and representations of Africa/ns. Through these perspectives from Africa, we will have the opportunity to reflect on central human questions about the nature of power, hierarchy, exchange, identity and belonging.
In what seems to be an age of unprecedented global distress, what is the role of media in shaping understandings and experiences of mental illness? Western psychiatric frameworks are increasingly defining mental health/illness around the world. These frameworks are also circulated via Western media narratives that shape the meanings people associate with mental health and illness. What other narratives of mental health might be told? What experiences of distress and resilience are obscured by these dominant frameworks? In this class, we will critically examine dominant U.S. models of mental health and illness and ask what underlying cultural assumptions and expectations about personhood, emotion, mind and body, are embedded in these narratives. We will analyze the political and social implications of these representations in film and television and how they reinforce or re-imagine our assumptions about mental health. Through a combination of engagement with scholarship on culture and mental health, media studies, and our own critical analyses of media objects, we will explore these questions and think together about how to rewrite media narratives in ways that better reflect the broad spectrum of experience.
Visual anthropology encompasses both the study of visual culture and the modes of producing inter- and cross-cultural visual ethnographic texts (e.g. photographs, film/video, comics/drawings, exhibits)-in other words, the cultural meanings of visual expressions and the visual recording of cultural practices. In this course, we will explore historical approaches to analyzing visual and material culture and ethical and philosophical debates about power, the representation of cultural difference and the ethnographic gaze. In addition to exploring the legacies of visual anthropology, we analyze the techniques, visual rhetoric, and narrative strategies used to produce a range of images of Africa and Africans in historical and contemporary media. We will also experiment with video, photography, and drawing in our own ethnographic projects.
This class is an introduction to political ecology, a multidisciplinary body of theory and research that analyzes the environmental articulations of political, economic, and social difference and inequality. The key concepts, debates, and approaches in this field address two main questions: (1) How do humans' interactions with the environment shape power and politics? (2) How do power and politics shape humans' interactions with the environment? These questions are critical to understanding and addressing the current issues of climate change, neoliberal capitalism, and environmental justice. Topics discussed in this class will include environmental scarcity and degradation, sustainability, resilience and conservation. Readings will come from a variety of disciplines within the social sciences and humanities. Case studies will range from the historical to the present-day. No prior background in the environmental sciences is needed to appreciate and engage in this course.
In 2020, ICOM (International Council of Museums) ratified an updated definition of "museum", which states: A museum is a not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage. Open to the public, accessible and inclusive, museums foster diversity and sustainability. They operate and communicate ethically, professionally and with the participation of communities, offering varied experiences for education, enjoyment, reflection, and knowledge sharing. In this course we will consider the responsibility of museums, a question that undergirds the ICOM definition, through a close look at some of the most pressing issues in museums today. Topics will include the restitution and repatriation of artworks; the threatened sale of museum collections to cover debt; the role of museums in the global climate crisis; and collaborative curatorial practices that build and sustain community relationships. Among the questions that will be raised and debated in the course are: what responsibilities do museums have for the care and stewardship of their collections? What do museums owe to individuals and communities with connections to the objects currently in their care? What obligations do museums have to donors, founders, and funders? What makes museums good neighbors in the communities where they are based? How should museums take account of their histories and their sites? We will focus on several case studies through readings, dialogue with practitioners and knowledge sharers, class discussions, and engagement with current Block exhibitions—"Hamdia Traoré's Des marabouts de Djenné and Muslim Portraiture in Mali" and "Teresa Montoya's Tó Łitso (Yellow Water): Ten Years after the Gold King Mine Spill."
In this course we will rethink two classical ideas—the state and capitalism— in light of contemporary technological change. We move beyond treating technology as a neutral tool and instead analyze it as a social, political, and cultural force that actively reorganizes and is reorganized by power, labor, governance, capital, and everyday life. We explore topics such as the rise of the tech-billionaire class, platform economies and gig work, bureaucracy, algorithmic systems, misinformation, e-governance, environmental regulation, smart cities as intertwined sociotechnical systems rather than isolated innovations. Through comparative works from Asia, Africa, Europe, and the United States, the course sheds light on the global political economy while attending to national differences, local histories and cultures. We will also explore how social actors resist, subvert and contest technological power to imagine alternative futures. The course equips students with classical frameworks and critical conceptual tools for analyzing the intertwining of technology, politics, and economy in modern life.
Art History 370-1-1 Architecture and Landscapes 1750-1890
This course provides students with an in-depth understanding of major developments in architectural, urban, and landscape history, from 1750 to 1890. Charting a period of significant change that animated architectural discourse and practice, students will explore the highly innovative and experimental ways in which key architects and planners responded to the challenges of a rapidly changing and globalizing world and to the possibilities introduced by new technologies and materials. While this course focuses on developments that took place within the European and North American frame, they are situated in relation to global processes including trade, imperialism, nationalism, migration, and industrialization. Each lecture is organized around keynote transformations in architectural culture during this period: We will explore how the era of revolutions, from the late 18th to the early 19th century, expanded the role of architecture in the creation of new types of public and political space; how industrial production and prefabrication gave rise to radically new architectural vocabularies and catalyzed debates about national styles and aesthetic and environmental "character"; and how new housing, labor, and urban reform movements, such as utopian socialism, offered visionary spatial strategies in pursuit of an elusive social equality. This course prioritizes discussion and critical reflection and emphasizes the study of primary sources.
This course will explore seven centuries of architecture and urbanism in North America's largest city. First founded in 1325 as Tenochtitlan, the city served as the ceremonial and political center for an expanding Mexica, or Aztec, empire that commanded vast territories across Mesoamerica. Two centuries later, following the Spanish invasion and conquest of the Mexica capital, Tenochtitlan was transformed into a new kind of center and renamed Ciudad de México. As capital of the Spanish Viceroyalty of New Spain—a realm that encompassed modern-day Mexico, parts of the Central America and the USA, as well as islands in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean—Mexico City became the crossroads for global commerce and exchange connecting four continents. Nineteenth-century independence from Spain and early twentieth-century revolution led to Mexico City's further physical as well as cultural transformation into the megalopolis of 22 million inhabitants we can experience today. This course will trace how the ecology and terrain of this remarkable place has evolved over time. We will consider everyday buildings and public spaces as well as monuments, both surviving and lost. From streets, parks, and boulevards to stepped pyramids, basilica-plan churches, and sports complexes designed for the Olympic Games, the course explores architecture and urbanism as a reflection of Mexico City's complex history from a global vantage. Required: Attendance and participation, including contributing to class discussion and writing (and sometimes sketching) weekly responses to readings and/or visual prompts. Participants should plan on one weekend outing (Friday or Saturday TBD) in Chicago.
In 2020, ICOM (International Council of Museums) ratified an updated definition of "museum", which states: A museum is a not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage. Open to the public, accessible and inclusive, museums foster diversity and sustainability. They operate and communicate ethically, professionally and with the participation of communities, offering varied experiences for education, enjoyment, reflection, and knowledge sharing. In this course we will consider the responsibility of museums, a question that undergirds the ICOM definition, through a close look at some of the most pressing issues in museums today. Topics will include the restitution and repatriation of artworks; the threatened sale of museum collections to cover debt; the role of museums in the global climate crisis; and collaborative curatorial practices that build and sustain community relationships. Among the questions that will be raised and debated in the course are: what responsibilities do museums have for the care and stewardship of their collections? What do museums owe to individuals and communities with connections to the objects currently in their care? What obligations do museums have to donors, founders, and funders? What makes museums good neighbors in the communities where they are based? How should museums take account of their histories and their sites? We will focus on several case studies through readings, dialogue with practitioners and knowledge sharers, class discussions, and engagement with current Block exhibitions—Hamdia Traoré's Des marabouts de Djenné and Muslim Portraiture in Mali and Teresa Montoya's Tó Łitso (Yellow Water): Ten Years after the Gold King Mine Spill.
Classics 310-0-1 The Archaeology of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabi
The cities buried by Mt Vesuvius hold an undying place in the modern imagination. Tourists marvel at the size of the sites and empathize with the plight of the towns' inhabitants. However, Campania's destroyed cities have more to offer than the story of the 79 AD volcanic eruption. Rather than present a static picture of Campania's towns as "frozen in time," this course takes a diachronic approach to the rich archaeological material. Campania was not originally Roman territory and was conquered by force of arms. Pompeii, often seen as an archetypal Roman town, was not Roman at all for most of its existence. Still, at the time of the eruption Campania's cities had been thoroughly Romanized; they are now famous for the evidence they provide for Roman daily life. This course will survey key aspects of the evidence, as well as current archaeological techniques and fieldwork. The course will also discuss the 18th and 19th century uncovering of Campania's cities, which is a story in its own right.
The course provides an overall analysis of the Israeli Economy, its development in the 70 years since the establishment of the state of Israel, and how it coped with various crises during those years. The course will focus on economic growth, the effects of the Israeli-Arab conflict, the inflation crisis and stabilization policy, and on inequality in Israel. We will study those issues by applying fundamental concepts in economic analysis.
Econ 323-1-20 Economic History of the US Before 1865
The course examines the economic and institutional development of the United States from colonial times to the Civil War. It focuses on questions related to differential patterns of development across the Americas and the US, devoting specific attention to labor market institutions, its divergence across North and South, and the role of Slavery in the development of the American Economy.
This course examines economic development over the long-run, with a focus on the transition to modern economic growth in the Western world. Topics include Malthusian stagnation, the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, the demographic transition, and globalization and the great divergence. Along the way, we will discuss long-run changes in inequality, technology, and labor force participation, as well as the role of institutions in economic development, and the interaction between economic conditions and political power. Much of the class will be focused around analyzing recent research on these topics. The class will also involve a writing component aimed at improving students' ability to write critically and concisely about economic topics.
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.
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.
English 369-0-20 Studies in African Literature: Ubuntu and Ecology
This course engages the philosophy of ubuntu—often seen as focused on human relationships—in conversation with the more than human world. Together, we'll read inspiring works by Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Wangarĩ Maathai, and Micere Githae Mugo, alongside African fiction, poetry, and drama, to see how ubuntu can shape the way we read literature. We will revisit major debates in African literary studies—most notably the "language question"—through the twin lenses of ubuntu and ecology. Consider, for instance, how the call to preserve indigenous languages resonates with the call to protect the environment. Yet here lies a productive tension: why do we resist the notion of art for art's sake, while simultaneously affirming the environment for its own sake? This paradox invites us to rethink the grounds on which value is claimed and defended. Alongside ubuntu, we will also explore non-Bantu equivalents, situating it in dialogue with other African philosophies such as ijough ave, Hunhu/Unhu, and ujamaa. This course honors the memory of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (1938-2025), Micere Githae Mugo (1942-2023), and Wangarĩ Maathai (1940-2011). Their voices will guide us as we read, reflect, and write about ubuntu and ecology throughout the term. At the end of the course, the student should be able to appreciate ubuntu's investments in deep ecology and its recognition of the environment's intrinsic value—valued for its own sake—rather than merely its instrumental value as a resource for human use.
English 374-0-20 Studies in Native Studies in Native American and Indigenous Literatures: Writing from Memory
Memory is an enduring and powerful source of inspiration for Indigenous storytelling. However, it can also be deeply controversial and contentious. In his creative non-fiction essay titled "Beauty & Memory & Abuse & Love", Navajo author Bojan Louis offers a cutting take on memory by an anonymous Blackfeet writer: "You never ask a Native to talk about their childhood. That's Indigenous 101. You think life on the reservation is pretty? Fuck that. Natives never talk about their childhood". From a similar place of tension and discomfort, Kanaka 'Ōiwi writer Nālani Mattox prefaces her poem "1 page per life" with this memory: "For the mainland English teacher who flunked me in English Literature in the summer of 1978 at UH. She cost me my graduation with the rest of my class in June 1980. Thank God she was only visiting". Seared in her mind and body, this memory, she writes in the last line of her poem, "haunted" her forever. In both examples, memory is unsettling; yet both Louis and Mattox have transformed these memories to create Indigenous texts and stories. This course asks: Beyond the mind and body, what are other sites of intergenerational memory accessible to Native American and Indigenous writers? How do they navigate a complex phenomenon like memory across these various sites? What types of texts do they produce within their chosen location(s) of memory?
How does literature work through the structural and social struggle of disability to create discrete, sustainable worlds? How night the language of disability mobilize not just an identity category but a robust aesthetic apparatus of thought and feeling? This course works through Anglophone writing from India, South Africa, Britain, and the US to ask how disability remaps collectivity care, and personhood by querying vocabularies of cripness, capacity, debility, and illness. We will examine how disability challenge assumed categories of exceptionality and capitalist productivity, while also asking significant questions about civil rights and human rights. In addition, the course also tracks how disability studies has evolved beyond a narrow Anglo-American focus to understand complex Global South realities. Reading disability theorists like Rosemarie Garland Thompson, Eve Sedgwick, Jasbir Puar, and Eli Clare, we will think about the frictional registers of belonging and alienation represented in novels, autobiographies, short stories, and art.
Energy transitions are often described as technical and scientific achievements that occur when the inevitable growth and expansion of human civilization necessitates new technologies to provide energy. For instance, the transition to coal that took place during the Industrial Revolution is often portrayed as the result of technological invention and geological circumstance, rather than intentional political choices. Similarly, the ongoing effort to transition human societies to renewable energy in the present day is often understood as a challenge of scientific literacy and technological strategies, rather than one of political negotiation. This course examines how the technologies and social arrangements surrounding energy transitions become laden with political and cultural narratives that shape what is possible. We will discuss what truly just and liberatory energy futures might look like, in conversation with enduring debates between eco-modernism and eco-localism, techno-optimism and Luddhism, and other philosophical tensions. This course will include opportunities to pursue research, interact with guest speakers, and participate in immersive learning activities.
Envr Policy and Culture 212-0-1 Environment and Society
Our climate is rapidly changing. Rising sea levels and increasing ocean acidity, higher temperatures, more droughts, melting glaciers, wilder weather patterns, and mounting environmental disasters mean that climate change is increasingly visible in our daily lives. What role does human society play in these changes, and what consequences does society suffer as these changes occur? This course is an introduction to environmental sociology during which we will employ an intersectional, sociological perspective to look beyond the scientific basis for environmental problems to understand the social roots of environmental issues. We will cover a variety of topics in environmental sociology, including how actors such as corporations, the media, and social movements impact public opinion around environmental issues. Further, we will critically examine the gendered, racial, and socioeconomic production of disparate environmental risks. A primary, central focus of this sociology course is environmental inequality, and students engage with a wide range of theories to examine environmental issues of their own choosing. This is not a public policy course.
Envr Policy and Culture 337-0-1 Hazard, Disaster and Society
Our climate is rapidly changing. Rising sea levels and increasing ocean acidity, higher temperatures, more droughts, melting glaciers, wilder weather patterns, and mounting environmental disasters mean that climate change is increasingly visible in our daily lives. What role does human society play in these changes, and what consequences does society suffer as these changes occur? This course is an introduction to environmental sociology during which we will employ an intersectional, sociological perspective to look beyond the scientific basis for environmental problems to understand the social roots of environmental issues. We will cover a variety of topics in environmental sociology, including how actors such as corporations, the media, and social movements impact public opinion around environmental issues. Further, we will critically examine the gendered, racial, and socioeconomic production of disparate environmental risks. A primary, central focus of this sociology course is environmental inequality, and students engage with a wide range of theories to examine environmental issues of their own choosing. This is not a public policy course.
Envr Policy and Culture 390-0-20 Inventing the Earth
From the invention of plows that enabled early agriculturists to till the earth efficiently to the use of SeaKites to create eco-friendly energy in hostile ocean environments, technology has mediated and channeled human interactions the environment. This class will explore the evolving relationship of humans to the natural world and the role of technology in facilitating these interactions. We will review attempts to tame, order, combat, and preserve nature as well as the consequences of these interactions. The environment and technology also share a long scholarly tradition, and this course will draw on seminal texts alongside growing literature in history, anthropology, and digital humanities. In addition to technologies that enabled changes in human-environmental relations, topics such as pollution and depletion will form a core theme, as well as the role of technology in combatting climate change.
Envr Policy and Culture 390-0-24 Frontier Technology and Environmental Governance
Recent developments in the research and deployment of frontier technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Geoengineering, Geothermal Energy, Deep Sea Mining, and Nuclear Fusion have divided proponents of environmental sustainability. Many self-described realists and pragmatists argue that these technologies are necessary to save humanity from runaway climate change, while other more critical voices contend that these technologies may cause more harm than good, disempower humanity, or have unintended consequences. This course will prepare students to understand various perspectives within this discourse, and to analyze how political and social forces have shaped the conversation and governance strategies surrounding these technologies. The course will include research opportunities, guest speakers, and immersive learning activities.
Envr Policy and Culture 390-0-26 U.S. Environmental Politics
This course explores the political institutions that govern the interactions between humans and the natural environment in the United States. The goal of the course is to provide an overview of the major concepts and theoretical frameworks in political science that help us make sense of how environmental problems emerge and how we might address them. We will cover theories of collective action, distributive politics, interest group politics, and social movements, along with the role of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches in formulating and implementing environmental policy. We will apply these theories to key issue areas such as energy production, pollution, natural resources, and land use, as well as to emerging technologies with environmental implications, such as AI data centers.
Envr Policy and Culture 395-0-1 Politics of the U.S. Energy Transition
Climate change threatens to permanently alter and disrupt weather patterns, ecosystems, food sources, economic production, commerce, and migration. One way to mitigate these harmful effects is to reduce our reliance on the energy sources that contribute most to global warming. In this research seminar, students will examine the challenges and opportunities of transitioning energy production and consumption away from fossil fuels and toward lower-carbon alternatives in the United States. What are the concrete goals of the clean energy transition? What policy tools can be used to achieve them? What political obstacles does the transition face? How can we address the economic, social, and political consequences of its success or failure? Students will explore these questions by reading and applying key theories from political science and economics, as well as consulting policy reports, case studies, and news articles. The course will also teach students how to design, develop, and write a political science research paper. Our class time will be divided into substantive and research design sessions to guide students toward producing original research, presenting findings, and drafting a final paper on a topic related to the energy transition.
This course introduces students to pressing disease and health care problems worldwide and examines efforts currently underway 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 underpinning specific paradigms in the policy and science of global health practice, and place present-day developments in historical perspective. As an introductory course on global health, the class delves into comparative health systems, including comparative health systems in high- and low-income countries. Key topics will include: policies and approaches to global health, key actors in global health, comparative health systems, structural violence, gender and reproductive health, chronic and communicable diseases, politics of global health research and evidence, and the ethics of global health equity.
Gbl Health 221-0-1 Beyond Porn: Sexuality, Health and Pleasure
Threesomes. Squirting. Vibrators. Butt plugs. Multiple orgasms. You may have seen them in pornography, but have you ever wanted to study and talk about sex, and specifically, how to have a satisfying sex life? Many people look to pornography not just for entertainment, but also for education about what satisfying sexual encounters look like. Unfortunately, much of what people learn from pornography doesn't lead them to healthy and satisfying sexual encounters and relationships. This lecture class isn't actually about pornography. It goes beyond many presumptions about sex and pleasure depicted in pornography, the media, and popular culture, in order to equip students with information that can lead to more satisfying and healthy sexual experiences across their lifespan, regardless of how they identify, or who or what they like. The course also familiarizes students with a wide spectrum of human identities, practices, and attitudes towards sex and sexuality. The course includes lectures from guest speakers with particular expertise or experience in topics covered. Possible topics covered include: physiological and biological sex; gender; sexual orientation; homophobia and heterosexism; navigating sexual risks in a sex-positive way; sexual health disparities; sexual desire, arousal, and response; solitary sex & sex with others; sex toys; unconventional sexual practices; intimacy and effective communication; sexuality & aging; sexuality, disability & intimacy; sexual problems and solutions; sexual harassment and violence; selling sex; and hallmarks of great relationships; race, gender & sexuality, and yes, dotted through the quarter are some references to pornography.
Gbl Health 222-0-2 The Social Determinants of Health
The human body is embedded into a health framework that can produce hypervisibility, invisibility, or both. This upper-level course examines the role of social markers of difference, including race, class, gender, sexuality, age, and religion, in current debates and challenges in the theory and practice of global health. We will explore recent illness experiences, therapeutic and self-care interventions, and health practices and behaviors in socio-cultural and historical context through case studies in the U.S., Brazil, and South Africa. The purpose of this course is to introduce students to key concepts such as embodiment, medicalization, structural violence, social determinants of health, biopolitics, health equity, and an ethic of care. Central questions of the course include: How do categories of "Othering" determine disease and health in individuals and collectives? How is medical science and care influenced by economic and political institutions, and by patient trust? How do social and economic inclusion/exclusion control access to health treatment, self-care, and care of loved ones This course focuses on the linkages between society and health inequalities in the U.S., U.S. territories, Brazil, and Africa. It offers a forum to explore how social standings (mis)inform policies. This course utilizes historical accounts, contemporary ethnographies, Twitter threads of health experiences, public health literature, media reports, TedTalks, and films to bring to life the "why's" of health differences.
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 healthcare 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 explore and consider these ethical challenges. In so doing, students will examine core global bioethical concerns - such as structural violence - and core global bioethical codes, guidelines, and principals - such as beneficence and solidarity - so they will be able to ethically assess global health practices in a way that places an emphasis on the central goal of global health: reducing health inequities. With an emphasis on the ethical responsibility to reduce inequities, we consider some of the most pressing global bioethical issues of our time: equity, fairness, and planetary health. Particular attention is given to the ethics of research during a pandemic and equitable access to vaccines and therapies for Covid-19.
Gbl Health 318-0-1 Community-based Participatory Research
Oftentimes we hear of research done on communities. What we hear less about is the power inequities, silences, and sometimes, violence, that many research paradigms (un)intentionally produce within their research. This course exposes prevalent assumptions underlying common research methodologies and demonstrates why they are problematic for many of the communities that researchers purport to want to assist. We then delve into community-based participatory research (CBPR), a research paradigm that challenges researchers to conduct research with communities. In this reading-intense discussion-based course, we will learn the historical and theoretical foundations, and the key principles of CBPR. Students will be introduced to methodological approaches to building community partnerships, research planning, and data sharing. Real-world applications of CBPR in health will be studied to illustrate benefits and challenges of this methodological approach to research. Further, this course will address culturally appropriate interventions, working with diverse communities, and ethical considerations in CBPR.
This course draws on perspectives from anthropology and related social scientific fields to provide a comparative overview of the impact of armed conflict on public health and health care systems worldwide. Drawing primarily on examples from recent history, including conflicts in the Balkans, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East, we will explore warfare as a crucial sociopolitical determinant of global health disparities and consider organized efforts to respond to the health impacts of mass violence. Key topics that we will consider include variations in the relationship between warfare and public health across eras and cultures; the health and mental health impacts of forced displacement, military violence, and gender-based violence; and the roles of medical humanitarianism and humanitarian psychiatry in postwar recovery processes. Through close readings of classic and contemporary social theory, ethnographic accounts, and diverse research on war, health, and postwar humanitarian interventions, this course will encourage you to build your own critical perspective on war and public health anchored in history and the complexities of real-world situations.
Despite many efforts across several diseases spanning decades and billions of dollars, global health actors have only been able to eradicate one infectious human disease: smallpox. Why? This course will attempt to answer this question by examining several failed and continuing disease eradication efforts through a multidisciplinary lens. Case studies will include smallpox, malaria, polio, guinea worm, measles, and hypothetical emerging infectious diseases. We will examine the grandiose global health goal of total disease eradication in relation to sociopolitical realities that limit the application of idealized technological interventions.
This course examines how socioeconomic and environmental factors work together to cause hazards and disasters in human society. In this course we learn the main concepts about disaster such as preparedness, vulnerability, resilience, response, mitigation, etc. We learn that a disaster does not have the same effect on everyone (all groups of people), and factors of social inequality such as race, ethnicity, class, and gender, make people more vulnerable to impacts of disasters. Also, this course, with an interdisciplinary perspective, analyzes disasters in the global North and South. This is a discussion-intensive course for advanced undergrad students. The classes are the student-centered with an emphasis on collaborative learning. The class meetings will consist of lecture, discussion, presentations, teamwork, activities, video/audio materials and projects.
Gbl Health 390-0-32 Achieving Global Impact through Local Engagement
Reducing chronic diseases and controlling infectious diseases are no longer just the responsibility of national governments, private health care institutions, city departments of public health, or community physicians. Cardio-vascular disease, stroke, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, obesity and diabetes, substance abuse such as opioids, tobacco and alcohol, and a range of health safety issues are now the major causes of death throughout the world. In addition, especially in low resource countries and communities, people are especially vulnerable to infectious diseases such as HIV and AIDS, Zika, Ebola, Malaria, Tuberculosis, Diarrheal diseases, as well as other viruses, parasites and antibiotic resistant bacteria. With the understanding that a healthy society is also a more economically productive society, there is an increased emphasis on reducing the burden of disease in local communities throughout the world. As a result, there is an enormous increase in the number of organizations and programs that are being implemented by the three sectors of society, public, private and civil society. This course is designed for those global health students who are seeking ways to have an impact on these global health issues by engaging in local programs and organizations which are addressing these global health challenges.
Gbl Health 390-0-34 Pregnancy and Childbirth Since 1800
People's ideas about pregnancy - how to prevent or enable, when it starts and how it progresses, how to ensure it is healthy, how to intentionally end it early, and what it means when it ends early unintentionally - have changed, in some cases dramatically, over the past 275 years. In addition, ideas about childbirth have also changed since 1750, going from what was largely a female event, one assisted (if assisted at all) by women who had gained their knowledge through experiential learning to one where the most ‘appropriate' attendant obtained their skills formally, in alignment with biomedical ideas, and overseen by the state. How have laboring women, midwives (both formally and experientially trained), physicians, fathers, family members, and the state participated in changes regarding conceptualizations of pregnancy and childbirth? We will consider this question within both local and global frames, seeking to juxtapose microhistory "and broadly comparative narratives" to, per Northwestern history professor Amy Stanley, zoom in "on the particularities of a local situation" and pan out "to ponder the commonalities."
Gbl Health 390-0-35 Disease Outbreak and Investigation
This course explores the methods used to investigate disease outbreaks, with particular emphasis on the COVID-19 pandemic. Students examine the principles and practices of outbreak investigation, including the epidemiological and statistical techniques used to detect, investigate, and mitigate outbreaks. Topics include public health surveillance, contact tracing, environmental health assessment, forensic epidemiology, and crisis and emergency risk communication. The course incorporates real-world case simulations for pathogens such as Ebola, Avian-influenza, Foodborne, and bioterrorism.
Gender St 221-0-20 Beyond Porn: Sexuality, Health and Pleasure
Threesomes. Squirting. Vibrators. Butt plugs. Multiple orgasms. You may have seen them in pornography, but have you ever wanted to study and talk about sex, and specifically, how to have a satisfying sex life? Many people look to pornography not just for entertainment, but also for education about what satisfying sexual encounters look like. Unfortunately, much of what people learn from pornography doesn't lead them to healthy and satisfying sexual encounters and relationships. This lecture class isn't actually about pornography. It goes beyond many presumptions about sex and pleasure depicted in pornography, the media, and popular culture, in order to equip students with information that can lead to more satisfying and healthy sexual experiences across their lifespan, regardless of how they identify, or who or what they like. The course also familiarizes students with a wide spectrum of human identities, practices, and attitudes towards sex and sexuality. The course includes lectures from guest speakers with expertise or experience in topics covered. Possible topics covered include: physiological and biological sex; gender & gender norms; sexual orientation; navigating sexual risks in a sex-positive way; sexual health disparities; sexual desire, arousal, and response; solitary sex & sex with others; sex toys; unconventional sexual practices; intimacy and effective communication; sexuality & aging; sexuality, disability & intimacy; sexual problems and solutions; sexual harassment and violence; hallmarks of great relationships; and yes, dotted through the quarter are some references to pornography.
From abstinence-only sex education programs to the public response to songs like WAP by Cardi B & Megan thee Stallion, we are bombarded with messaging that sexuality is stigmatized. But why is sexuality so taboo? How do social forces shape the way we view, experience, and regulate sexuality? Using a sociological lens, this course explores the intersection of sexuality and stigma. We will begin by exploring foundational theories of both stigma and sexuality in the social sciences. Armed with these frameworks, we will then engage with in-depth case studies of different stigmatized sexualities, including homosexuality, bisexuality, asexuality, HIV/AIDS, infidelity, sex work, kink, ethical non-monogamy, and disabled sexualities. The course will empower students to interrogate their own assumptions and to critically examine the forces that perpetuate sexual inequality in society. By the end of the course, students will have gained a deeper understanding of how stigma operates at both the individual and structural level. The final assignment requires students to write a proposal for a research project that would answer a sociological question of their choice about stigma and sexuality.
This course is an opportunity for students to critically examine what is often a taken-for-granted aspect of social life: gender. This course will involve learning about gender as well as applying gender theory. We will study a variety of theoretical approaches to the study of gender, with particular focus on how problems are identified and theories are developed. We will examine emergent cases of gender theorization - childhood gender and sexuality panics, bathroom surveillance, and the intersex experience, among others. By the end of the term, students will be able to 1) describe and compare theoretical anchors for the sociological study of gender and 2) in writing, apply gender theory to original ethnographic data. This is a reading-heavy upper division course and prior course experience in gender/sexuality studies (by way of taking Gender & Society or other course work) is strongly advised.
Gender St 332-0-20 Reproductive Health, Justice, Politics
As feminist scholar Michelle Murphy points out, "reproduction is not self-evidently a capacity located in sexed bodies"; it is instead a site (or formation) that joins, "cells, protocols, bodies, nations, capital, economics, freedom, and affect as much as sex and women into its sprawl." Thus, she reminds us, "how we constitute reproduction shapes how it can be imagined, altered and politicized." In this seminar we will explore the changing contours of "reproductive politics" from the 1960s to the present (or from the period immediately pre-Roe v Wade through the recent 2022 decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization) through an in-depth investigation of a range of projects and organizations that conceptually reimagine what we mean by "reproduction," the scope and content of "reproductive politics," and the kinds of demands that can be made in the name of reproductive health, rights, freedom and justice.
How do developments in the life sciences affect our understandings of who we are, how we differ, and how social inequalities are created, perpetuated, and challenged? This seminar explores how scientific claims and technological developments help transform cultural meanings of race, gender, and sexuality. Conversely, we will consider how cultural beliefs about race, gender, and sexuality influence scientific knowledge and medical practice. By studying a range of cases, we will explore the dynamic interplay among expert findings, social identities, and political arguments
Much recent fiction, film, and theory are concerned with representing the internet and the world wide web. Sometimes cyberspace is depicted as a continuation of previous media such as television, cinema or telephone, but often it is envisioned as a new frontier. This course will examine the ways in which virtual media appears in cultural discourses. We consider how technological objects and tools participate in shaping elements of our culture that may appear natural, logical, or timeless. We will look examine films predicting the internet, cyberpunk fiction predating the www, and early websites from many sources. In addition, this quarter we will consider various generative AI programs, assessing their strengths and weaknesses. Our guiding questions will include the following: In what ways are these narratives shaping collective perceptions of the internet? How have virtual technologies challenged experiences of language, gender, community, and identity? Following a Cultural Studies model for inquiry, this course will be project-based and experiential. Your attendance and participation are mandatory. No experience needed, only a willingness to take risks and share work.
Politicians, business elites, architects, and common people have hailed cities as engines of modernist progress since the mid-19th century. This course focuses on cities of the Global South to demonstrate how key modernist ideas, many of which had foreign origins, were appropriated under colonial, newly independent states, and contemporary national regimes. At the same time, the class will show that modern urbanist practices and ideas from the Global South have, in turn, influenced city planning in the Global North. This N-S exchange prompts us to consider what constitutes a "Global City", whether conceptually, historically, or in the present and future.
History 292-0-26 Fossil Fuels and Climate Change in Palestine and Israel
With a warming rate double the global average and half of the world's oil reserves, the Middle East is a pivotal site for understanding the history, present, and future of climate change. Although Israel/Palestine is not today an oil-producing country, historically it was imagined differently: in the 19th and 20th centuries it was considered a promising frontier for oil exploration and became a regional hub of fossil fuel infrastructures, channeling Middle Eastern oil and North African gas to Europe. This seminar examines how the rise of fossil fuels and the dynamics of climate change played out in Palestine/Israel and shaped both the Zionist-Palestinian struggle and Palestine's place within the Middle East. We will consider how the Middle East became "Middle" through the interplay between energy sources, infrastructures, and colonial powers. We will explore how carbonization in the region gave rise to new forms of political rule, reshaping identities and altering environments, and how seemingly mundane infrastructures - from coaling depots to automobility - enabled and managed colonial power as well as resistance to it. Drawing on archival materials alongside fiction, poetry, and film in Arabic and Hebrew (all provided in English translation), we will analyze the intimate, everyday, and affective dimensions of carbonization and warming, exploring how these forces shaped subjectivities and societies. Finally, we will consider how different notions of heat and cooling technologies were tied to specific constructions of gender, race, and class.
From biblical times until the present day, Jewish and non-Jewish theologians, worshipers, politicians, dissidents, scientists, and ethicists have vigorously debated the relationship between the Jewish tradition and the natural world. Indeed, they have frequently used Jewish texts as means of interrogating just what "nature" consists of in the first place. This course will undertake a thematic exploration of how Jews have thought about and interacted with the environment, the animal kingdom, shifts in climate, and the miraculous or "unnatural" elements of the Jewish tradition that might seem incompatible with the regular "laws of nature." We will pay particular attention to the interreligious settings in which Jewish texts and ideas were produced, and to the concrete political ends for which religious beliefs and scientific knowledge were often deployed. The course will begin by exploring the Hebrew Bible and its reception, and will proceed roughly chronologically, concluding in the modern era. As we shall see, an understanding of this long term history is vital for making sense of contemporary debates and innovations in Jewish religiosty, environmental activism, and various political movements in the United States and the State of Israel.
Water has been the most ubiquitous and essential material in human history. What is less well known, however, is that the quantities of water controlled by humans, and the very nature of water itself, have changed very radically in the last two hundred years. Today, most controlled water is used, and in large quantities, for irrigation and industry. Water control has been the subject of many forms of expertise, from medicine to engineering to hydrodynamics. This transformation represents one of the largest human interventions in nature. How has water shaped the modern world, and what forms of knowledge and technology have driven this transformation? This course explores the central role of water in constructing modernity during the 19th and 20th centuries. Among the historical cases examined are the transformation of the Rhine River into a navigable waterway in the 19th century, the Panama Canal and its impact on global trade, and large-scale infrastructure like the Hoover Dam, the Aswan Dam, and the Three Gorges Dam, which provided electricity for rapidly growing 20th-century cities, industry and irrigation. Everyday transformations, such as improved urban water and sanitation in the 19th and 20th centuries, are also explored, highlighting how access to clean drinking water improved public health and extended life expectancy. The course analyses the political economy of water, alongside social movements and adaptations to water crises, such as communal irrigation in Bolivia and Colombia's community-managed water supply systems.
This research seminar examines climate history from the Middle Ages to the Modern Period. Through historical and environmental approaches, it considers Earth's climate as both a cultural construction and a physical phenomenon. As a concept crafted by humans to make sense of and stabilize their relationship with the weather, climate has profoundly shaped societal imaginations and practices. Students will explore how past societies envisioned the sky and developed diverse ways of interacting with it, investigating why some climate ideas gained global traction while others remained geographically and culturally confined. Topics will include Western theories of climate and health; Indigenous approaches to sustaining and restoring atmospheric balance; the ecological impact of empires and extractive economies; the role of religion, technology, and scientific inquiry in shaping climatic understandings; and the polarized discourses of human-driven climate change. By situating climate within specific cultures and ecologies, such as the Indian Ocean, the Eurasian steppe, the African Sahel, the Andes, wetlands, and glaciers, this course offers a nuanced and global perspective on humanity's enduring interaction with the natural world and its long-standing efforts to control it.
Humanities 310-4-20 Pregnancy and Childbirth c. 1750 to Present
eople's ideas about pregnancy - how to prevent or enable, when it starts and how it progresses, how to ensure it is healthy, how to intentionally end it early, and what it means when it ends early unintentionally - have changed, in some cases dramatically, over the past 275 years. In addition, ideas about childbirth have also changed since 1750, going from what was largely a female event, one assisted (if assisted at all) by women who had gained their knowledge through experiential learning to one where the most ‘appropriate' attendant obtained their skills formally, in alignment with biomedical ideas, and overseen by the state. How have laboring women, midwives (both formally and experientially trained), physicians, fathers, family members, and the state participated in changes regarding conceptualizations of pregnancy and childbirth? We will consider this question within both local and global frames, seeking to juxtapose microhistory "and broadly comparative narratives" to, per Northwestern history professor Amy Stanley, zoom in "on the particularities of a local situation" and pan out "to ponder the commonalities." This course takes a comparative approach regarding the history of pregnancy and childbirth. We will begin in the 1700s, as during this century multiple states across Europe began more formal training for midwives, requiring midwives pass oral examinations to practice, and requiring midwives be registered with the government. In addition, it is this century when men began to engage more frequently in normal deliveries, first as male midwives and then by the 1800s as obstetricians. Drawing from histories focusing on individuals and institutions from across the globe, we will explore changes and continuities in both popular and medical ideas about when a pregnancy starts; how to become pregnant; how to prevent or end pregnancy; fetal development; perceived risks in pregnancy and childbirth; and what counts as ‘normal' and ‘safe' labor and delivery. Further, we will consider who has been regarded as an expert in pregnancy and childbirth and shifts in authority, who has been seen as the appropriate attendant during labor, when and why actors beyond the laboring woman and the attendant have become interested in pregnancy and childbirth, and the role of the state regarding pregnancy and childbirth. In this class we will be attentive to historical changes and continuities regarding pregnancy and childbirth globally since 1750, enabling us to consider historical themes and patterns, with the intention of better understanding how ideas and concerns regarding pregnancy and childbirth do not exist in isolation from larger sociopolitical and economic concerns.
Humanities 325-6-20 Reclaiming Lost Ancestries in the Digital Age
The seminar examines migration and cultural memory across transatlantic and transpacific networks, situating contemporary Spanish cultural production within broader global circuits of movement, diaspora, and archival occlusions. Taught in Spanish, while reading and listening Spanish skills are required, participation can be in English. The course foregrounds critical fabulation as a method for addressing archival gaps, interrogating official histories, and reimagining ancestry beyond documentary evidence. Students will examine the ethical implications of AI in shaping historical and genealogical narratives, from archival access and preservation decisions to digital reconstruction. Class sessions will include visits to local community archives such as the Shorefront Legacy Center and Evanston ASPA. The seminar culminates in a digital family history project, completed in Spanish or English. The students will participate in structured in-class workshops to scaffold their progress, ensuring both conceptual depth and technical proficiency. At once experimenting with digital tools and interrogating the limits of historical knowledge, students will create projects with impact beyond the classroom. This course advances the role of digital humanities in transmedia storytelling, memory studies, and contemporary genealogical inquiry.
How do developments in the life sciences affect our understandings of who we are, how we differ, and how social inequalities are created, perpetuated, and challenged? This seminar explores how scientific claims and technological developments help transform cultural meanings of race, gender, and sexuality. Conversely, we will consider how cultural beliefs about race, gender, and sexuality influence scientific knowledge and medical practice. By studying a range of cases, we will explore the dynamic interplay among expert findings, social identities, and political arguments.
Latino and Latina Studies 392-0-2 Race and Ethnicity in the Digital Age
The internet was once envisioned as a space free of social hierarchies, promising a democratic and post-racial world. However, the digital world has consistently mirrored and, at times, amplified the inequalities and biases present in society. This course explores the intersections of race, ethnicity, and digital media, focusing on how Latinas/os/xs and other communities of color navigate, challenge, and shape digital spaces. Students will critically examine both the constraints and possibilities that digital platforms -including social media, dating apps, algorithms, and video games- present. Topics include access inequalities, commodification of racial and ethnic identities, algorithmic bias, online racism, and the politics of visibility and representation. At the same time, students will engage with acts of innovation, resistance, cultural expression, and community-building by marginalized groups, exploring how digital spaces are reclaimed for empowerment, solidarity, and joy. By analyzing the dynamic relationship between digital technologies and ethno-racial identities, this course equips students with the tools to critically engage with how race and ethnicity are constructed, represented, and contested in the digital age.
This course is a study of moral and political problems related to biomedicine and biotechnology. In the first part of the course, we will study the physician-patient relationship. We will consider what values ought to govern that relationship, how those values may conflict, and how such conflicts are best resolved. We will pay special attention to ethical problems related to cultural differences and to the application of Western bioethical principles in global clinical and research settings. In the second part of the course, we will turn to some specific ethical challenges related to biotechnology, including abortion, genetic manipulation, and physician-assisted suicide. We will close the course by surveying the burgeoning field of public health ethics, with particular attention to ethical issues related to global pandemic preparedness and response.
This course will explore how we should understand the relationship between human beings and their natural environment. Our focus will be on conceptions of nature originating in Europe, but along the way we will challenge those conceptions in light of others, especially from Indigenous thought. Our survey will be rooted in philosophical understandings of nature but draw on resources in biology, sociology, political science, and history. We will start by considering two opposed models of nature as it has been understood in Western philosophy: rationalism and romanticism. We will contrast this with a look at the stress on care for nature in Indigenous kinship ethics. Then, we will explore various themes that latch on to these three models: the impact of humanity on nature and the idea of the Anthropocene; visions of nature beyond human control, such as deep ecology; and a variety of ideas for how to remedy our relationship with nature. Thinkers read include Isaac Newton, Karoline von Günderrode, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Henri Bergson, Henry David Thoreau, Arne Næss, Jane Bennett, and Robin Wall Kimmerer.
Energy transitions are often described as technical and scientific achievements that occur when the inevitable growth and expansion of human civilization necessitates new technologies to provide energy. For instance, the transition to coal that took place during the Industrial Revolution is often portrayed as the result of technological invention and geological circumstance, rather than intentional political choices. Similarly, the ongoing effort to transition human societies to renewable energy in the present day is often understood as a challenge of scientific literacy and technological strategies, rather than one of political negotiation. This course examines how the technologies and social arrangements surrounding energy transitions become laden with political and cultural narratives that shape what is possible. We will discuss what truly just and liberatory energy futures might look like, in conversation with enduring debates between eco-modernism and eco-localism, techno-optimism and Luddhism, and other philosophical tensions. This course will include opportunities to pursue research, interact with guest speakers, and participate in immersive learning activities.
Poli Sci 390-0-29 Politics of Health and International Development
How is health both a means and an end of development? This course examines the myriad ways in which health intersects with key aspects of international development. In the beginning of the course, students will learn the foundations of sustainable human development and the symbiotic relationship between politics, economics, social opportunities, and health. In the second part of the course, students apply this foundational knowledge to the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the World Health Organization's Health in All Policies initiative. This course includes an exploration of health-related case studies within many of the SDGs, such as the public health consequences of armed conflict (SDG 16: Peace and Justice) and promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights knowledge to advance women's empowerment (SDG 5: Gender Equality). We also discuss what the shutdown of USAID means for the future of health and sustainable development. Throughout the quarter, we will analyze how ideas, interests, and institutions around health hinder or help the progression towards a more equitable society for all.
Poli Sci 390-0-32 Frontier Technology and Environmental Governance
Recent developments in the research and deployment of frontier technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Geoengineering, Geothermal Energy, Deep Sea Mining, and Nuclear Fusion have divided proponents of environmental sustainability. Many self-described realists and pragmatists argue that these technologies are necessary to save humanity from runaway climate change, while other more critical voices contend that these technologies may cause more harm than good, disempower humanity, or have unintended consequences. This course will prepare students to understand various perspectives within this discourse, and to analyze how political and social forces have shaped the conversation and governance strategies surrounding these technologies. The course will include research opportunities, guest speakers, and immersive learning activities.
Poli Sci 395-0-21 Politics of the U.S. Energy Transition
Climate change threatens to permanently alter and disrupt weather patterns, ecosystems, food sources, economic production, commerce, and migration. One way to mitigate these harmful effects is to reduce our reliance on the energy sources that contribute most to global warming. In this research seminar, students will examine the challenges and opportunities of transitioning energy production and consumption away from fossil fuels and toward lower-carbon alternatives in the United States. What are the concrete goals of the clean energy transition? What policy tools can be used to achieve them? What political obstacles does the transition face? How can we address the economic, social, and political consequences of its success or failure? Students will explore these questions by reading and applying key theories from political science and economics, as well as consulting policy reports, case studies, and news articles. The course will also teach students how to design, develop, and write a political science research paper. Our class time will be divided into substantive and research design sessions to guide students toward producing original research, presenting findings, and drafting a final paper on a topic related to the energy transition.
School of Comm St - Comm St 363-0-1 Risk Communication
What is effective risk communication? If last few years has taught us anything, it is the need for effective risk communication. Readings and lectures will examine discoveries in social psychology and communication that inform our understanding of how people interpret risk information and make decisions. Through discussions, in-class activities, and student-led projects, students will explore the creation and evaluation of effective risk messages. Special emphasis will be given to the context of health and the environment.
School of Comm St - Comm St 394-0-1 Media Power of Influencers - Industry, Publics
This research seminar examines social media influencers as new media actors that wield a distinct kind of influence over media industries and culture, public opinion and behavior, and other domains like politics, education, and science. It engages foundational and emergent concepts such as micro-celebrities and content creators, respectively, and investigates diverse sets of influencers of varying genres, platforms, and social, cultural, and political contexts. This research course is interdisciplinary, drawing from fields like communication, sociology, and cultural studies, and thus introduces a range of perspectives in studying influencer media content, practices, and effects. Throughout the quarter, students develop components of their research paper, scaffolded by research skills development workshops, instructor and peer feedback, and guest lecturers, that allow them to apply and hone their research reading, analysis, and writing skills.
School of Comm St - Comm St 394-0-2 Talking About, Around and With AI
Contemporary AI technologies, including but not limited to generative AI, are increasingly woven into human communication. The course will address communication with and mediated by AI systems, as well as communication about AI as a technology that shapes social practices and public debate. We will learn about the design and impact of technologies like chatbots, AI-generated search summaries, and systems that moderate content and facilitate interactions on social media. Because AI embeds itself within human discourse, it also becomes a subject of that discourse, a dynamic we will explore throughout the course.
This class will explore the nature of race in an effort to understand exactly what race is. It seeks to understand why race is such a potent force in American society. Close attention will be paid to the relationship between race, power, and social stratification. The course will examine the nature of racial conflict and major efforts to combat racial inequality. At the end of the course, students will have an in-depth understanding of the origins of race, the structure of racial hierarchy in the United States, and a fundamental understanding of many sociological theories of race and racial stratification in America.
Our climate is rapidly changing. Rising sea levels and increasing ocean acidity, higher temperatures, more droughts, melting glaciers, wilder weather patterns, and mounting environmental disasters mean that climate change is increasingly visible in our daily lives. What role does human society play in these changes, and what consequences does society suffer as these changes occur? This course is an introduction to environmental sociology during which we will employ an intersectional, sociological perspective to look beyond the scientific basis for environmental problems to understand the social roots of environmental issues. We will cover a variety of topics in environmental sociology, including how actors such as corporations, the media, and social movements impact public opinion around environmental issues. Further, we will critically examine the gendered, racial, and socioeconomic production of disparate environmental risks. A primary, central focus of this sociology course is environmental inequality, and students engage with a wide range of theories to examine environmental issues of their own choosing. This is not a public policy course.
In this course we will rethink two classical ideas—the state and capitalism— in light of contemporary technological change. We move beyond treating technology as a neutral tool and instead analyze it as a social, political, and cultural force that actively reorganizes and is reorganized by power, labor, governance, capital, and everyday life. We explore topics such as the rise of the tech-billionaire class, platform economies and gig work, bureaucracy, algorithmic systems, misinformation, e-governance, environmental regulation, smart cities as intertwined sociotechnical systems rather than isolated innovations. Through comparative works from Asia, Africa, Europe, and the United States, the course sheds light on the global political economy while attending to national differences, local histories and cultures. We will also explore how social actors resist, subvert and contest technological power to imagine alternative futures. The course equips students with classical frameworks and critical conceptual tools for analyzing the intertwining of technology, politics, and economy in modern life.
How do developments in the life sciences affect our understandings of who we are, how we differ, and how social inequalities are created, perpetuated, and challenged? This seminar explores how scientific claims and technological developments help transform cultural meanings of race, gender, and sexuality. Conversely, we will consider how cultural beliefs about race, gender, and sexuality influence scientific knowledge and medical practice. By studying a range of cases, we will explore the dynamic interplay among expert findings, social identities, and political arguments.
Why are younger people more likely to identify as transgender than older people? What are the challenges, opportunities, and dangers of asking about gender and sexuality on the U.S. Census? Can survey researchers account for gender and sexual fluidity? This seminar examines the emerging field of "queer demography," which aims to measure the size and characteristics of the LGBTQ population. We will read and discuss research about queer and transgender families, aging, health disparities, and more. Along the way, we will learn to critically analyze survey questions and statistical methods for assumptions about gender, sex, and sexuality. We will also think deeply about social categories and the politics of measurement more generally. This course is interdisciplinary and draws from sociology, science and technology studies, statistics, gender and sexuality studies, critical quantitative methods, and public health. Students of all backgrounds are welcome—we will work together to break down and contextualize the readings.
Spanish 395-0-3 Reclaiming Lost Ancestries in the Digital Age
The seminar examines migration and cultural memory across transatlantic and transpacific networks, situating contemporary Spanish cultural production within broader global circuits of movement, diaspora, and archival occlusions. Taught in Spanish, while reading and listening Spanish skills are required, participation can be in English. The course foregrounds critical fabulation as a method for addressing archival gaps, interrogating official histories, and reimagining ancestry beyond documentary evidence. Students will examine the ethical implications of AI in shaping historical and genealogical narratives, from archival access and preservation decisions to digital reconstruction. Class sessions will include visits to local community archives such as the Shorefront Legacy Center and Evanston ASPA. The seminar culminates in a digital family history project, completed in Spanish or English. The students will participate in structured in-class workshops to scaffold their progress, ensuring both conceptual depth and technical proficiency. At once experimenting with digital tools and interrogating the limits of historical knowledge, students will create projects with impact beyond the classroom. This course advances the role of digital humanities in transmedia storytelling, memory studies, and contemporary genealogical inquiry. Prerequisite: 1 course from SPANISH 250-0, SPANISH 251-0, SPANISH 260-0, or SPANISH 261-0.
How has speculative fiction allowed Latin American creators to reimagine the continent's political projects of national identity through diverse technological contexts and ideological imaginaries? This course will use science fiction textual, visual, and audiovisual products to illustrate Latin American nations' complex relationship with technology and the policies behind the deployment of technology on a social scale. The course follows a chronological order to examine how creators across different regions of the continent use science fiction tools to address the trauma of modernization, political violence, or catastrophic natural events. Through an exploration of short stories, comics, films, and select episodes of TV shows from different regions and historical moments, this course invites students, first, to rethink their definitions of science fiction as they confront how Latin American creators push the limits of the genre; and second, to reflect on how science fiction can play with social expectations about society, civic engagement, gender roles, reproduction, and warfare through generic devices such as alien intervention, technological change, or a simple time difference. Students will engage critically with literature, comics, TV, and film, drawing on academic scholarship on fantasy, science fiction, and literary theory. Taught in English.
