History

This course delves into the sociological-historical contexts of non-institutionalized ideologies at the inter-cultural and inter-disciplinary crossroads of eastern and western religious, philosophical, psychological, and scientific discourses in modern western cultures. It focuses on alternative beliefs and practices of eastern and western charismatic leaders and new religious movements—popularly referred to as "spiritual teachers" or "gurus" and "cults"—in Europe and North America, after 1800. This includes Ralph Waldo Emerson's American Transcendentalism, Helena Blavatsky's Theosophy, Phineas Quimby's New Thought, Vivekananda's Neo-Hinduism, D.T. Suzuki's Neo-Buddhism, Inayat Khan's Neo-Sufism, Count Keyserling's Darmstadt School, C.G. Jung's Eranos Circle and various New Age movements. Students critically reflect on such alternative quests for meaning outside conventional sciences and religions. In doing so, they learn more about post-Enlightenment responses to the "age of reason," post-colonial encounters between eastern and western traditions in a globalizing world, and post-modern blends of methods and theories from different academic and societal domains, which have culminated in a growing cultic milieu of seekers across modern western cultures. Seekers are individuals who collectively identify as spiritual, but not religious. During this course, students reflect on questions such as: Why have so many seekers in modern western cultures turned away from conventional western religions and sciences? Why are they turning to eastern and alternative western traditions instead? How are they selectively combining eastern and western methods and theories into new sources of meaning? What combinations have we seen in the recent past and which ones do we see around today?

This course examines some of the pivotal events in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict from the early 20th century to the present. The evolution of the conflict between Arab states, the Palestinians and the Zionist movement, the Arab-Israeli wars, and the peace negotiations and treaties between Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and the Palestinian national movement, are some of the main themes in this course. The course discusses the complexity of the conflict, the role of the conflict with Israel in intra-Arab relations, and the development of the Palestinian national movement from its inception, its relations with Arab countries, and its division between PLO and Hamas. Beyond discussions, the course includes panels and historical “trials” where students present the case of conflicting views on the events discussed in class.

This introductory seminar approaches two intertwined questions: 1. What is the study of history? 2. How does gender figure into it? Over the course of the semester, this course explores these questions from several perspectives. This includes introductions to the theories and methods of historical scholarship and gender studies, as well as specific historical events and developments to which the theories and methods can be applied. The topics of investigation covers the United States from the colonial period until the Cold War, focusing on issues of femininity, masculinity, and queerness, as well as concepts such as indigeneity, blackness, and imperialism. The course discusses how to find and analyze scholarly literature and primary sources and how to write the seminar’s final research paper.

This general education course explores the interactive relationship between literature and history. The course examines nine works from Shakespeare related to British history, and organizes teaching activities around these works. The course guides students through the original works, introduces relevant history, and the interactive relationship between history and literature, and  organizes course discussions and performance activities.

In the last twenty years, historians have turned with ever more urgency to food as a key for understanding culture. Italy is particularly interesting in this respect. Food is one of the pillars of modern Italian identities: the result, in part, of a conservative and resilient society and, in part, of the vagaries of Italian community life since the 1850s. Many Italian ‘staples’ from pasta to olive oil, from ice-cream to wine, from pizza to risotto also have instructive back-stories that offer insights into Italian culture and Italian history. The course has two aims: first, to achieve a proper understanding of the last two centuries of Italian (food) history – the period of ‘unity in diversity’ with a particular focus on the pre-Second-World-war period; and second, to get a handle on contemporary food culture. The course will employ both a historical and an ethnographic approach. Most weeks will have one lecture and one seminar and most readings will come from two books: one sociological and one historical. There will be between 500 and 600 pages of reading over the semester. There will be a number of tastings. 

This course provides a historical introduction to Islam’s core beliefs, practices, and institutions as they have developed in diverse cultural and political contexts. The course considers a range of topics all approached historically, among them: Islam’s foundational texts, religious expressions, institutions and cultural forms, as well as the challenges posed by changing economic and social conditions for Muslim societies in the modern period. The objective is to provide an informed appreciation of the historical development, cultural diversity, and contemporary issues facing Muslim communities across the world.