Society for the Humanities (SHUM)Arts and Sciences
Showing 50 results.
Course descriptions provided by the Courses of Study 2024-2025.
Last Updated
- Schedule of Classes - December 14, 2024 7:36PM EST
- Course Catalog - December 14, 2024 7:07PM EST
Classes
SHUM 1930
Course Description
By posing seemingly simple questions such as what is love and who has the right to love, this introductory-level lecture course surveys how love has been experienced and expressed from the pre-modern period ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Choose one lecture and one discussion. Combined with: ASIAN 2930, FGSS 1940, HIST 1930, LGBT 1940
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Credits and Grading Basis
4 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades)
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Class Number & Section Details
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Meeting Pattern
- TR
- Jan 21 - May 6, 2025
Instructors
Ghosh, D
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Additional Information
Instruction Mode: In Person
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Class Number & Section Details
-
Meeting Pattern
- F
- Jan 21 - May 6, 2025
Instructors
Staff
-
Additional Information
Instruction Mode: In Person
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Class Number & Section Details
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Meeting Pattern
- F
- Jan 21 - May 6, 2025
Instructors
Staff
-
Additional Information
Instruction Mode: In Person
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Class Number & Section Details
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Meeting Pattern
- F
- Jan 21 - May 6, 2025
Instructors
Staff
-
Additional Information
Instruction Mode: In Person
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Class Number & Section Details
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Meeting Pattern
- F
- Jan 21 - May 6, 2025
Instructors
Staff
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Additional Information
Instruction Mode: In Person
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Class Number & Section Details
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Meeting Pattern
- F
- Jan 21 - May 6, 2025
Instructors
Staff
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Additional Information
Instruction Mode: In Person
SHUM 2158
Course Description
Founded by Peter the Great in the early eighteenth century, St. Petersburg was built expressly to advertise the triumph of enlightened absolutism at home and to display Russia's status as a major European ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Combined with: HIST 2158, RUSSL 2158
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Credits and Grading Basis
4 Credits Graded(Letter grades only)
SHUM 2315
Course Description
In August 1945, Japan was a devastated country; its cities burned, its people starving, its military and government in surrender. World War II was over. The occupation had begun. What sort of society emerged ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Choose one seminar and one independent study. Combined with: AMST 2315, ASIAN 2258, HIST 2315
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Credits and Grading Basis
4 Credits Graded(Letter grades only)
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Class Number & Section Details
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Meeting Pattern
- TR
- Jan 21 - May 6, 2025
Instructors
Roebuck, K
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Additional Information
Instruction Mode: In Person
SHUM 2350
Course Description
How does literary language depict the experience of physical suffering? Can a poem or a novel palliate pain, illness, even the possibility of death? From darkly comic narratives of black plague to the ... view course details
SHUM 2367
Course Description
This course is a counter-history of modern humanitarianism, humanitarian law, and human rights, with perspectives from the Near East. Humanitarianism aspires to fulfill the promise of human rights. It ... view course details
SHUM 2435
Course Description
Maoism and Chinese Communism are not history after Mao's death in 1976. In China, Maoism holds the key to the enduring success of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), one of the most remarkable organizations ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Choose one seminar and one independent study. Combined with: CAPS 2435, HIST 2435
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Credits and Grading Basis
4 Credits Graded(Letter grades only)
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Class Number & Section Details
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Meeting Pattern
- TR
- Jan 21 - May 6, 2025
Instructors
Sun, P
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Additional Information
Instruction Mode: In Person
SHUM 2455
Course Description
Bioethics is the study of ethical questions raised by advances in the medical field. Questions we'll discuss will include: Is it morally permissible to advance a patient's death, at his or her request, ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Choose one lecture and one discussion. Combined with: PHIL 2455, STS 2451
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Credits and Grading Basis
4 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades)
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Class Number & Section Details
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Meeting Pattern
- TR
- Jan 21 - May 6, 2025
Instructors
Markovits, J
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Additional Information
Instruction Mode: In Person
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Class Number & Section Details
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Meeting Pattern
- F
- Jan 21 - May 6, 2025
Instructors
Staff
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Additional Information
Instruction Mode: In Person
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Class Number & Section Details
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Meeting Pattern
- F
- Jan 21 - May 6, 2025
Instructors
Staff
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Additional Information
Instruction Mode: In Person
SHUM 2460
Course Description
Japanese pop culture—anime, manga, video games, music and more—has been a major phenomenon with massive worldwide popularity for the last three decades. In this course, we will explore a wide range of ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Choose one lecture and one discussion. Combined with: ASIAN 2260, FGSS 2260, PMA 2460
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Credits and Grading Basis
3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades)
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Class Number & Section Details
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Meeting Pattern
- MW
- Jan 21 - May 6, 2025
Instructors
Wong, K
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Additional Information
Instruction Mode: In Person
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Class Number & Section Details
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Meeting Pattern
- F
- Jan 21 - May 6, 2025
Instructors
Wong, K
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Additional Information
Instruction Mode: In Person
SHUM 2652
Course Description
This course introduces students to ancient Greek drama, with a particular focus on the genre of tragedy and its relation to the cultural, political, and performance context of Athens in the 5th century ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Combined with: CLASS 2652, FGSS 2652, PMA 2652
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Credits and Grading Basis
3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades)
SHUM 2703
Course Description
From hieroglyphs to HTML, ancient poetry to audiotape, and Plato's cave to virtual reality, "Thinking Media" offers a multidisciplinary introduction to the most influential media formats of the last three ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Combined with: COML 2703, ENGL 2703, GERST 2703, MUSIC 2703, PMA 2703
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Credits and Grading Basis
3 Credits Graded(Letter grades only)
SHUM 2729
Course Description
An introduction to the story of how human history from the earliest times through to the recent period interrelates with changing climate conditions on Earth. The course explores the whole expanse of human ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Combined with: ANTHR 2729, ANTHR 6729, ARKEO 2729, ARKEO 6729, CLASS 2729, CLASS 7727
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Credits and Grading Basis
3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades)
SHUM 2750
Course Description
These seminars offer an introduction to the humanities by exploring historical, cultural, social, and political themes. Students will explore themes in critical dialogue with a range of texts and media ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Combined with: ENGL 2950
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Credits and Grading Basis
3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades)
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Section Topic
Topic: The Price is Right
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Class Number & Section Details
-
Meeting Pattern
- TR
- Jan 21 - May 6, 2025
Instructors
Stephen, K
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Additional Information
Instruction Mode: In Person
Enrollment preference given to: students accepted into the Humanities Scholars Program. For course description, see https://as.cornell.edu/research/hsp-core-courses
Regular Academic Session. Combined with: ARTH 2750, COML 2750, ROMS 2750, VISST 2750
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Credits and Grading Basis
3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades)
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Section Topic
Topic: After Images: From Photography to AI
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Class Number & Section Details
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Meeting Pattern
- TR
- Jan 21 - May 6, 2025
Instructors
Lorca Fuentealba, P
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Additional Information
Instruction Mode: In Person
Enrollment preference given to: students accepted into the Humanities Scholars Program. For course description, see https://as.cornell.edu/research/hsp-core-courses
SHUM 2805
Course Description
Trade in and to Asia proved to be a key force in creating our modern "globalized" world. The Indian Ocean and the China Seas converged on Southeast Asia, where a cosmopolitan array of ships from every ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Choose one lecture and one discussion. Combined with: ARTH 2805, ASIAN 2285, VISST 2805
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Credits and Grading Basis
4 Credits Opt NoAud(Letter or S/U grades (no audit))
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Class Number & Section Details
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Meeting Pattern
- TR
- Jan 21 - May 6, 2025
Instructors
McGowan, K
Pan, A
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Additional Information
Instruction Mode: In Person
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Class Number & Section Details
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Meeting Pattern
- R
- Jan 21 - May 6, 2025
Instructors
McGowan, K
Pan, A
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Additional Information
Instruction Mode: In Person
SHUM 2812
Course Description
An introduction to the history and theory of writing systems from cuneiform to the alphabet, historical and new writing media, and the complex relationship of writing technologies to human language and ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Combined with: ARKEO 2812, CLASS 2812, LING 2212, NES 2812, STS 2812, VISST 2812
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Credits and Grading Basis
3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades)
SHUM 3022
Course Description
In 1610, Nahua chronicler Chimalpahin wrote that a group of Japanese merchants had made landfall in Mexico, bringing with them writing desks, folding screens, porcelain, and silk. During this period, Japanese ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Combined with: ASIAN 3022, ASIAN 6022
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Credits and Grading Basis
3 Credits Graded(Letter grades only)
SHUM 3334
Course Description
The body has been crucially important to Black liberation politics. Not only has it been a site of contestation and control, but it has also served as a productive site of protest, alliance, and collective ... view course details
SHUM 3370
Course Description
This course will examine how theorists, scientists, artists, and other audiences ask questions of sound and questions of blackness, as well as what those questions reveal about the listener. We will also ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Combined with: MUSIC 3370
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Credits and Grading Basis
3 Credits Graded(Letter grades only)
SHUM 3475
Course Description
This course addresses central debates in the philosophy of legal punishment. We will analyze the leading theories of punishment, including the familiar retributivist and deterrent alternatives, as well ... view course details
SHUM 3741
Course Description
This StudioLab course connects critical design teams with researchers, NGOs, and nonprofits working on human rights, public health, and environmental and land rights in the US and abroad. Practicing methods ... view course details
SHUM 3750
Course Description
This course explores the practice, theory, and methodology of humanities research, critical analysis, and communication through writing and oral presentation. We will study the work and impact of humanists ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Choose one seminar and one independent study. Combined with: ANTHR 3950, ARTH 3755, ASIAN 3375, NES 3750
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Credits and Grading Basis
4 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades)
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Class Number & Section Details
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Meeting Pattern
- TR
- Jan 21 - May 6, 2025
Instructors
Ghosh, D
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Additional Information
Instruction Mode: In Person
Instructor Consent Required (Add)
SHUM 3825
Course Description
This course will explore Holocaust survivor testimonies, from the multilayered history of their recording across the globe and their increasing institutionalization after the 1980s to their current uses ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Combined with: JWST 3825
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Credits and Grading Basis
3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades)
SHUM 3977
Course Description
This course examines how writers, filmmakers, and content creators from Africa engage with and revise public images of bodies—specifically pleasure, queerness, sex strikes, etc. Our inquiry also ... view course details
SHUM 4020
Course Description
From Jerusalem to Rome, from Shanghai to Marrakesh, Jews and cities have been shaping each other for thousands of years. This course ranges through time and space to examine how Jewish and other "minority" ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Combined with: ANTHR 4620, ANTHR 7620, HIST 4520, HIST 6520, JWST 4520, JWST 7520, NES 4520, NES 7520
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Credits and Grading Basis
3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades)
SHUM 4025
Course Description
Part epistemology and part experimental humanities, this seminar looks at improbable encounters between the divergent regimes of thought and knowledge expressed by "literature" and the "sciences." Our ... view course details
SHUM 4081
Course Description
This course explores the increasing presence of all the arts in prisons throughout the country and examines the increasing scholarship surrounding arts programs and their efficacy for incarcerated persons. ... view course details
SHUM 4103
Course Description
Vladimir Nabokov's legacy at Cornell is not limited to the world-famous literary works he produced here. The university's natural and built environments also provided powerful material for his lifelong ... view course details
SHUM 4112
Course Description
This course provides students with a challenging and interdisciplinary examination of race and space in North American history. It engages public history and critical geographic study through the lens ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Choose one seminar and one independent study. Combined with: AMST 4111, AMST 6111, ASRC 4102, ASRC 6102, HIST 4112, HIST 6112
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Credits and Grading Basis
4 Credits Graded(Letter grades only)
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Class Number & Section Details
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Meeting Pattern
- TR
- Jan 21 - May 6, 2025
Instructors
Hyman, C
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Additional Information
Instruction Mode: In Person
SHUM 4202
Course Description
There are two contrasting views of the status and role of women in Africa. One view portrays African women as controlled by men in all social institutions. Another view projects women as having a relatively ... view course details
SHUM 4422
Course Description
This course explores the method of oral history in theory and practice, across different topics, contexts, and geographic/national terrains. It will consider questions like: what sorts of insights do oral ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Choose one seminar and one independent study. Combined with: HIST 4422
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Credits and Grading Basis
4 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades)
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Class Number & Section Details
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Meeting Pattern
- M
- Jan 21 - May 6, 2025
Instructors
Sandwell, R
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Additional Information
Instruction Mode: In Person
SHUM 4426
Course Description
This course will explore the culture and society of Choson Korea (1392—1897) through a variety of historical, literary, and visual representations. Following the major political, social, and ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Combined with: ASIAN 4426
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Credits and Grading Basis
3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades)
SHUM 4455
Course Description
This seminar explores how patterned cloths serve as a symbolic medium, functioning on multiple levels of understanding and communication. As spun, dyed, and woven threads of consequence, textiles can be ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Combined with: ARTH 4855, ARTH 6855, ASIAN 4487, ASIAN 6644, VISST 4855, VISST 6855
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Credits and Grading Basis
3 Credits Opt NoAud(Letter or S/U grades (no audit))
SHUM 4520
Course Description
This seminar explores the ways in which artists and craftspeople created representations of non-Europeans that shaped, negotiated, and challenged pluralistic biological and symbolic conceptions of race ... view course details
SHUM 4555
Course Description
This seminar examines long-term colonialist processes of erasing Indigenous histories, and recent attempts to bring this heritage back to visibility. We will read texts by Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Jean ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Combined with: AMST 4555, AMST 7555, ANTHR 4755, ANTHR 7755, ARKEO 4755, ARKEO 7755
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Credits and Grading Basis
3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades)
SHUM 4681
Course Description
This course combines literature, film, and other artistic projects in order to explore African forms of collective justice and repair, following the numerous conflicts that have shaken the continent in ... view course details
SHUM 4698
Course Description
According to Aristotle, human beings are political animals because they are speaking animals. What's the connection? What are its implications? Is it anti-political to use violence to compel silence, or ... view course details
SHUM 4699
Course Description
This seminar investigates the emergent concept of the Black Pacific, an area that scholars across multiple disciplines in recent years have begun to shed new light on. This course is designed to encourage ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Combined with: AAS 4699, ASIAN 4669, ASIAN 6699, ASRC 4699, ASRC 6699, SHUM 6699
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Credits and Grading Basis
3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades)
SHUM 4700
Course Description
We will explore the thesis that far from being dead and therefore gone, the continued presence of the dead is absolutely foundational for the workings of Jewishness. What that "presence" could possibly ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Combined with: ANTHR 4700, ANTHR 7700, JWST 4700, JWST 7600, SHUM 6700
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Credits and Grading Basis
3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades)
SHUM 4701
Course Description
This course explores nightlife as a temporality that fosters countercultural performances of the self and that serves as a site for the emergence of alternative kinship networks. Focusing on queer communities ... view course details
SHUM 4702
Course Description
When you work, do you listen to music, or wear noise-cancelling headphones? Why? This course will examine historical choices for silence and interact with local practitioners of various crafts to interrogate ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Combined with: CLASS 4802, CLASS 6802, SHUM 6702
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Credits and Grading Basis
3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades)
SHUM 4703
Course Description
A "glitch" is when something goes "wrong" in digital media—sometimes, however, it is precisely when something "fails" that can tell us about the structures and forces that underlie that media. In this ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Combined with: ASIAN 4703, ASIAN 6703, BSOC 4703, BSOC 6703, SHUM 6703, STS 4703, STS 6703
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Credits and Grading Basis
3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades)
SHUM 4750
Course Description
This course is designed to support seniors in the Humanities Scholars Program working on their capstone projects. Students in the course will be guided in their project research and writing. The course ... view course details
Regular Academic Session.
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Credits and Grading Basis
1 Credit Sat/Unsat(Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory)
Regular Academic Session.
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Credits and Grading Basis
1 Credit Sat/Unsat(Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory)
SHUM 4800
Course Description
The Rural Humanities seminar will introduce students to the public humanities as both a disciplinary inquiry and a set of practices grounded in public and community engagement. It is intended to train ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Choose one seminar and one independent study. Combined with: PMA 4450, PMA 6450, SHUM 6800
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Credits and Grading Basis
4 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades)
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Section Topic
Topic: Documenting Local Lives: Filmmaking As Research
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Class Number & Section Details
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Meeting Pattern
- M
- Jan 21 - May 6, 2025
Instructors
Bunn, A
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Additional Information
Instruction Mode: In Person
Application required. See https://rural.as.cornell.edu/seminar to apply.
Instructor Consent Required (Add)
SHUM 4860
Course Description
To explore cultural aspects of imprisonment through a focus on theatre produced by those incarcerated. Does making theatre in prison seem to assist in transformation? Students create work with PPTG members ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Choose one seminar and one laboratory. Combined with: PMA 4680
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Credits and Grading Basis
4 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades)
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Class Number & Section Details
-
Meeting Pattern
- F
- Jan 21 - May 6, 2025
Instructors
Levitt, B
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Additional Information
Instruction Mode: In Person
Instructor Consent Required (Add)
SHUM 6681
Course Description
This course combines literature, film, and other artistic projects in order to explore African forms of collective justice and repair, following the numerous conflicts that have shaken the continent in ... view course details
SHUM 6698
Course Description
According to Aristotle, human beings are political animals because they are speaking animals. What's the connection? What are its implications? Is it anti-political to use violence to compel silence, or ... view course details
SHUM 6699
Course Description
This seminar investigates the emergent concept of the Black Pacific, an area that scholars across multiple disciplines in recent years have begun to shed new light on. This course is designed to encourage ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Combined with: AAS 4699, ASIAN 4669, ASIAN 6699, ASRC 4699, ASRC 6699, SHUM 4699
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Credits and Grading Basis
3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades)
SHUM 6700
Course Description
We will explore the thesis that far from being dead and therefore gone, the continued presence of the dead is absolutely foundational for the workings of Jewishness. What that "presence" could possibly ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Combined with: ANTHR 4700, ANTHR 7700, JWST 4700, JWST 7600, SHUM 4700
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Credits and Grading Basis
3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades)
SHUM 6702
Course Description
When you work, do you listen to music, or wear noise-cancelling headphones? Why? This course will examine historical choices for silence and interact with local practitioners of various crafts to interrogate ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Combined with: CLASS 4802, CLASS 6802, SHUM 4702
-
Credits and Grading Basis
3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades)
SHUM 6703
Course Description
A "glitch" is when something goes "wrong" in digital media—sometimes, however, it is precisely when something "fails" that can tell us about the structures and forces that underlie that media. In this ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Combined with: ASIAN 4703, ASIAN 6703, BSOC 4703, BSOC 6703, SHUM 4703, STS 4703, STS 6703
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Credits and Grading Basis
3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades)
SHUM 6800
Course Description
The Rural Humanities seminar will introduce students to the public humanities as both a disciplinary inquiry and a set of practices grounded in public and community engagement. It is intended to train ... view course details
Regular Academic Session. Choose one seminar and one independent study. Combined with: PMA 4450, PMA 6450, SHUM 4800
-
Credits and Grading Basis
4 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades)
-
Section Topic
Topic: Documenting Local Lives: Filmmaking As Research
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Class Number & Section Details
-
Meeting Pattern
- M
- Jan 21 - May 6, 2025
Instructors
Bunn, A
-
Additional Information
Instruction Mode: In Person
Application required. See online: rural.as.cornell.edu/seminar to apply.
Instructor Consent Required (Add)