Network courses are developed by faculty across the Bard international network and are taught simultaneously at two or more Bard campuses.  Network courses expose students to diverse perspectives through a wide-range of cross-network assignments, activities and events.  Contributing campuses include:  

Al-Quds-Bard College of Arts and Sciences

American University of Central Asia

Bard College Annandale-on-Hudson

Bard College Berlin

European Humanities University

the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences of St. Petersburg State University (“Smolny College”).

 

 

 

18509

HR 218

 Free Speech

Roger Berkowitz

 T  Th 11:50 am-1:10 pm

ALBEE 106

MBV

HUM

Cross-listed: Political Studies   (Human Rights core course) An introduction to debates about freedom of expression. What is 'freedom of speech'? Is there a right to say anything? Why? We will investigate who has had this right, where it has come from, and what it has had to do in particular with literature. and the arts. What powers does speech have, who has the power to speak, and for what? Debates about censorship, hate speech, the First Amendment and Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will be obvious starting points, but we will also explore some less obvious questions: about faith and the secular, confession and torture, surveillance, the emergence of political agency. In asking about the status of the speaking human subject, we will look at the ways in which the subject of rights, and indeed the thought of human rights itself, derives from a 'literary' experience. These questions will be examined, if not answered, across a variety of literary, philosophical, legal and political texts, with a heavy dose of case studies (many of them happening right now) and readings in contemporary critical and legal theory. This course will be done in collaboration with other courses offered in Bard’s international network. This course is part of the Courage to Be College Seminar and students will participate in common lectures in the Courage To Be Lecture Series sponsored by the Arendt Center. Class size: 22

 

18435

PS 257

 Nations and Nationalism

Christopher McIntosh

M  W  10:10 am-11:30 am

OLIN 203

SA

SSCI

Cross-listed: Global & International Studies (core course)  From Brexit to the election of Donald Trump to the rise of ethno-nationalist political parties across Europe and beyond, nationalism has taken center stage as a driving force in international political life.  For even the most casual observer of European and American politics, it is obvious that nationalism plays a foundational role in contemporary movements and ideologies.  It is important to note, however, that nationalism is not a recent phenomenon. Throughout the 20th century, nationalism remained a central animating factor of domestic and international politics.  It is the time where the concept of the nation-state replaced alternative political arrangements to become the dominant ordering principle in world politics.  With the end of the Cold War and the apparent rise in globalization, many anticipated an emerging conflict between nations and states—a conflict that has manifested in a variety of ways.  Nationalism intersects and overlaps countless other areas of political, social, and cultural concern.  This class will explore the historical emergence of nations, their social and political construction, and the means by which they are produced and reproduced in political life.  We will investigate the intersection of nationalism and race, ethnicity, culture, gender, postcoloniality, and subjectivity through authors such as Du Bois, Anderson, Brubaker, Butler, Puar, and Rankine.   This course will be taught concurrently at Bard's international partner institutions. Students will benefit from collaboration with peers at these institutions, as well as have the opportunity to engage students from these institutions on the issues raised by the class. Class size: 22