Society for the Humanities (SHUM)Arts and Sciences
Showing 42 results.
Course descriptions provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.
Last Updated
- Schedule of Classes - October 30, 2025 7:09PM EDT
Classes
    
    SHUM 2011
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
As a country, we are what we remember. But who decides what facts and stories about the past are important enough to memorialize? What does that decision tell us about power and truth? This class will ... view course details
    
    SHUM 2080
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
More than 400 years after his death, Shakespeare remains an inescapable part of world culture. His influence can be traced at every level, from traditional art forms like theater, poetry, and opera to ... view course details
    
    SHUM 2101
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
This interdisciplinary course (with an emphasis in anthropology) will introduce students to the multiple routes/roots, lived experiences, and imagined worlds of South Asians who have traveled to various ... view course details
- Regular Academic Session. Combined with: AAS 2100, ANTHR 2410 
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                Credits and Grading Basis3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades) 
    
    SHUM 2352
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
This course critically examines the politics and ethics of knowledge production across the humanities and social sciences. It poses an expansive and complex question: how, by whom, and for whom is knowledge ... view course details
- Regular Academic Session. Combined with: ANTHR 2352, FGSS 2352, MUSIC 2352 
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                Credits and Grading Basis3 Credits Graded(Letter grades only) 
    
    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 Basis4 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades) 
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        Class Number & Section Details
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        Meeting Pattern- TR
- Jan 20 - May 5, 2026
- Instructors- Markovits, J 
 
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    Additional InformationInstruction Mode: In Person 
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        Class Number & Section Details
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        Meeting Pattern- F
- Jan 20 - May 5, 2026
- Instructors- Staff 
 
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    Additional InformationInstruction Mode: In Person Instructor Consent Required (Add) 
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        Class Number & Section Details
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        Meeting Pattern- F
- Jan 20 - May 5, 2026
- Instructors- Staff 
 
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    Additional InformationInstruction Mode: In Person Instructor Consent Required (Add) 
    
    SHUM 2650
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
This course will introduce students to African American literary traditions in the space that would become North America. From early freedom narratives and poetry to Hip-Hop and film, we will trace a range ... view course details
    
    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 Basis3 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 Basis3 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: HIST 2050 
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                Credits and Grading Basis3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades) 
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    Section TopicTopic: The Good Life 
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        Class Number & Section Details
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        Meeting Pattern- TR
- Jan 20 - May 5, 2026
- Instructors- Beswick, S 
 
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    Additional InformationInstruction 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 
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                Credits and Grading Basis3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades) 
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    Section TopicTopic: Women, Textiles, and Texts in Feminist Thought 
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        Class Number & Section Details
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        Meeting Pattern- TR
- Jan 20 - May 5, 2026
- Instructors- Danisi, M 
 
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    Additional InformationInstruction 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 shore ... 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 Basis4 Credits Opt NoAud(Letter or S/U grades (no audit)) 
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        Class Number & Section Details
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        Meeting Pattern- T
- Jan 20 - May 5, 2026
- Instructors- McGowan, K - Pan, A 
 - R
- Jan 20 - May 5, 2026
- Instructors- McGowan, K - Pan, A 
 
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    Additional InformationInstruction Mode: In Person 
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        Class Number & Section Details
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        Meeting Pattern- R
- Jan 20 - May 5, 2026
- Instructors- McGowan, K - Pan, A 
 
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    Additional InformationInstruction 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 Basis3 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 Basis3 Credits Graded(Letter grades only) 
    
    SHUM 3211
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
From Neuschwanstein’s fairy tale palace and faux ruins at Sanssouci to Bauhaus functionality, German architectural ideas shape how people live, work, and socialize in German-speaking areas and beyond. ... view course details
- Regular Academic Session. Combined with: GERST 3211 
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                Credits and Grading Basis3 Credits Graded(Letter grades only) 
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        Class Number & Section Details
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        Meeting Pattern- MW
- Jan 20 - May 5, 2026
- Instructors- Nousek, K 
 
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    Additional InformationInstruction Mode: In Person Prerequisite: one course at the GERST 3000-3209 level or equivalent, or placement by examination. This course may be counted towards the requirement for 3210-3499 level language in the major. 
    
    SHUM 3212
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
A humanoid robot, an attic portal to another world, a haunted small town, an instance of time travel gone wrong—we will encounter all of these (and more) in this course on science and speculative fiction. ... view course details
- Regular Academic Session. Combined with: FGSS 3212, GERST 3212, LGBT 3212 
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                Credits and Grading Basis3 Credits Graded(Letter grades only) 
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        Class Number & Section Details
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        Meeting Pattern- TR
- Jan 20 - May 5, 2026
- Instructors- Schoppelrei, E 
 
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    Additional InformationInstruction Mode: In Person Prerequisite: one course at the GERST 3000-3209 level or equivalent, or placement by examination. This course may be counted towards the requirement for 3210-3499 level language in the major. 
    
    SHUM 3325
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
Video games have become one of the major cultural forces of the world, far surpassing the size of the film and music industries combined. They have also been key to developments in digital culture and ... view course details
- Regular Academic Session. Combined with: ASIAN 3315 
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                Credits and Grading Basis3 Credits Graded(Letter grades only) 
    
    SHUM 3514
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
“Talking trash” usually seeks to devalue its target through pejorative language or slander. Yet it’s also a way to separate self and other, or establish order by distinguishing use and waste. When is trash ... view course details
- Regular Academic Session. Combined with: GERST 3514 
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                Credits and Grading Basis3 Credits Graded(Letter grades only) 
    
    SHUM 3520
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
This course will offer an overview of theoretical and historical responses to bodily and cognitive difference. What was the status of people with (dis)abilities in the past, when they were called monsters, ... view course details
    
    SHUM 3610
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
This course examines the stories, literary examples, and metaphors at work in elaborating capitalist society and its “hero,” the modern economic subject: the so-called “homo oeconomicus.” We will examine ... view course details
- Regular Academic Session. Combined with: COML 3542, ENGL 3916, GERST 3610, GOVT 3606 
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                Credits and Grading Basis3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades) 
    
    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: ARTH 3755 
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                Credits and Grading Basis4 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades) 
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        Class Number & Section Details
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        Meeting Pattern- TR
- Jan 20 - May 5, 2026
- Instructors- Platt, V 
 
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    Additional InformationInstruction Mode: In Person Department 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: GERST 3825, HIST 3835, JWST 3825 
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                Credits and Grading Basis3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades) 
    
    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
- Regular Academic Session. Combined with: COML 4103, ENVS 4103 
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                Credits and Grading Basis3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades) 
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        Class Number & Section Details
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        Meeting Pattern- MW
- Jan 20 - May 5, 2026
- Instructors- Banerjee, A 
 
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    Additional InformationInstruction Mode: In Person Enrollment limited to: juniors and seniors. To be added to the waitlist, please email complit@cornell.edu with your year and major. 
    
    SHUM 4127
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
Visions of bodily corruption preoccupy ruler and ruled alike and prompt campaigns for moral, medical, and legal reform in periods of both stability and revolution. This seminar explores the links between ... view course details
- Regular Academic Session. Choose one seminar and one independent study. Combined with: ASIAN 4415, ASIAN 6615, BSOC 4127, CAPS 4127, FGSS 4127, FGSS 6127, HIST 4127, HIST 6127, STS 4127, STS 6127 
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                Credits and Grading Basis4 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades) 
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        Class Number & Section Details
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        Meeting Pattern- M
- Jan 20 - May 5, 2026
- Instructors- Roebuck, K 
 
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    Additional InformationInstruction 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 4243
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
This class moves beyond the traditional disciplinary confines of academic history to examine museums, archival collections, parks, monuments, podcasts, op-eds, maps, and more as sites of historical inquiry, ... view course details
- Regular Academic Session. Choose one seminar and one independent study. Combined with: HIST 4243, HIST 6243, SHUM 6243 
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                Credits and Grading Basis4 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades) 
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        Class Number & Section Details
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        Meeting Pattern- T
- Jan 20 - May 5, 2026
- Instructors- Martin, A 
 
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    Additional InformationInstruction Mode: In Person 
    
    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, HIST 6422 
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                Credits and Grading Basis4 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades) 
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        Class Number & Section Details
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        Meeting Pattern- M
- Jan 20 - May 5, 2026
- Instructors- Sandwell, R 
 
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    Additional InformationInstruction Mode: In Person 
    
    SHUM 4674
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
The dispossession of Indigenous nations by Europeans represents the foundation of the past five centuries of North American history. Yet the truth of that history remains cloaked behind various Western ... view course details
    
    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 4704
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
Plastics are a staple of everyday life. Yet, the oil and petrochemicals that make them possible remain largely out of sight. Their afterlife either as microplastics inside our bodies, or as trash that ... view course details
    
    SHUM 4709
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
This course compares narrative method and statistical modeling historically, teaching the history of predictive data techniques from the 19th century to the present while reading short-form literature ... view course details
- Regular Academic Session. Combined with: SHUM 6709 
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                Credits and Grading Basis3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades) 
    
    SHUM 4710
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
This seminar will introduce students to some of the classic and more recent works that have allowed historians to re-think geographical and temporal scales, paying particular attention to the definitions, ... view course details
    
    SHUM 4712
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
Race is but one of many ways that we classify ourselves and others as we navigate the world. But what role has science, technology, and medicine played in shaping our understanding of race as both a concept ... view course details
- Regular Academic Session. Combined with: ANTHR 4713, ANTHR 6713, ASRC 4712, ASRC 6712, SHUM 6712 
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                Credits and Grading Basis3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades) 
    
    SHUM 4713
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
Labor is a universal human activity that orders societal hierarchies and determines value. Cinema and television, by zooming in and out of labor paid or unpaid, masculine or feminine, tedious or pleasurable, ... view course details
- Regular Academic Session. Combined with: ASIAN 4713, ASIAN 6713, PMA 4513, PMA 6513, SHUM 6713, VISST 4706, VISST 6706 
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                Credits and Grading Basis3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades) 
    
    SHUM 4714
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
This course uses an interdisciplinary approach to the study of religion to introduce students to Indigenous histories from a sample of locations around the world. The class is organized geographically ... view course details
- Regular Academic Session. Combined with: SHUM 6714 
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                Credits and Grading Basis3 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 Basis1 Credit Sat/Unsat(Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory) 
- Regular Academic Session. 
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                Credits and Grading Basis1 Credit Sat/Unsat(Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory) 
    
    SHUM 6243
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
This class moves beyond the traditional disciplinary confines of academic history to examine museums, archival collections, parks, monuments, podcasts, op-eds, maps, and more as sites of historical inquiry, ... view course details
- Regular Academic Session. Choose one seminar and one independent study. Combined with: HIST 4243, HIST 6243, SHUM 4243 
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                Credits and Grading Basis4 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades) 
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        Class Number & Section Details
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        Meeting Pattern- T
- Jan 20 - May 5, 2026
- Instructors- Martin, A 
 
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    Additional InformationInstruction Mode: In Person 
    
    SHUM 6704
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
Plastics are a staple of everyday life. Yet, the oil and petrochemicals that make them possible remain largely out of sight. Their afterlife either as microplastics inside our bodies, or as trash that ... view course details
    
    SHUM 6709
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
This course compares narrative method and statistical modeling historically, teaching the history of predictive data techniques from the 19th century to the present while reading short-form literature ... view course details
- Regular Academic Session. Combined with: SHUM 4709 
- 
                Credits and Grading Basis3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades) 
    
    SHUM 6710
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
This seminar will introduce students to some of the classic and more recent works that have allowed historians to re-think geographical and temporal scales, paying particular attention to the definitions, ... view course details
    
    SHUM 6712
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
Race is but one of many ways that we classify ourselves and others as we navigate the world. But what role has science, technology, and medicine played in shaping our understanding of race as both a concept ... view course details
- Regular Academic Session. Combined with: ANTHR 4713, ANTHR 6713, ASRC 4712, ASRC 6712, SHUM 4712 
- 
                Credits and Grading Basis3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades) 
    
    SHUM 6713
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
Labor is a universal human activity that orders societal hierarchies and determines value. Cinema and television, by zooming in and out of labor paid or unpaid, masculine or feminine, tedious or pleasurable, ... view course details
- Regular Academic Session. Combined with: ASIAN 4713, ASIAN 6713, PMA 4513, PMA 6513, SHUM 4713, VISST 4706, VISST 6706 
- 
                Credits and Grading Basis3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades) 
    
    SHUM 6714
    
          
        
  
 
  Course Description
This course uses an interdisciplinary approach to the study of religion to introduce students to Indigenous histories from a sample of locations around the world. The class is organized geographically ... view course details
- Regular Academic Session. Combined with: SHUM 4714 
- 
                Credits and Grading Basis3 Credits Stdnt Opt(Letter or S/U grades) 
