CRN	93474	Distribution	C
Course No.	HR / SST 101
Title	Introduction to Human Rights
Professor	Thomas Keenan
Schedule	Mon Wed 3:00 pm – 4:20 pm OLIN 205

PIE Core Course

An intensive introduction to contemporary discussions of human rights in a broad historical and theoretical context. We will examine the philosophical background of these contested categories, "human" and "right," and explore the political, social, cultural, and aesthetic dimensions of claims made in these terms. What are humans and what count as rights, if any? Where does the idea come from? We will ask about the foundations of rights claims; about legal and violent ways of advancing, defending and enforcing them; about the documents and institutions of the human rights movement; and about the questionable 'reality' of human rights in our world. Is there such a thing as "our" world? We will look at debates over the universality of rights, over humanitarian intervention and war crimes, over the limited or illimited character of rights, over terrorism and democracy, and over the links between rights and globalization, among other topics. Using contemporary news media sources, including screenings and the Internet, we will examine some difficult cases and troubled places, including our own. Readings from J.-J. Rousseau and Immanuel Kant, Nuruddin Farah and Hannah Arendt, David Rieff and Michael Ignatieff, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union.

CRN	93092	Distribution	A/C
Course No.	SST 111
Title	The Question Race
Professor	Aureliano DeSoto
Schedule	Mon Wed 10:00 am - 11:20 am OLIN 308

Cross-listed: American Studies, CCSRE, Human Rights

Race remains one of the most prominent divisions in human societies around the globe. This course seeks to introduce students to race, posed as a series of questions: What is race? Why is race important? How does race affect social, political, and cultural arguments? The course offers a wide series of readings, focused both on the national and international dimension of race and identity, to begin to answer some of these questions in a broad-based, introductory manner. This is a required core course for concentrators in Critical and Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity. Open to all students.

CRN	93016	Distribution	A/C
Course No.	SST 220
Title	Marxism and Radical Social Theory
Professor	Joel Kovel
Schedule	Mon Wed 10:00 am - 11:20 am OLIN 201

Cross-listed: Human Rights, Political Studies

Though one of the most consequential doctrines of modern history, Marxism is now in grave crisis and has been written off by many. This course will explore the essentials of Marxism, evaluate its various interpretations, and assess its future in light of recent capitalist victories. Roughly half the sessions will be devoted to the basic writings of Marx and the remainder to key texts of other Marxist thinkers, for example, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Gramsci and Marcuse, among others. Limited to 25 students. Open to first-year students.

CRN	93091	Distribution	A/C
Course No.	SST 232
Title	Introduction to Race and Visual Analysis
Professor	Aureliano DeSoto
Schedule	Mon 2:00 pm -5:00 pm WEIS THTR. Wed 2:00 pm -4:00 pm OLIN 201

Cross-listed: American Studies, CCSRE, Film and Electronic Arts

Film has been an enormously important phenomenon in determining how audiences see themselves and the world around them. This introductory course focuses on cinematic representations of race and scholarly analysis, with weekly screenings and readings focused around a single film. Films for the course include commercial mainstream productions as well as independent and alternative film and video The goals of the course are to give students the initial tools in reading and analyzing images: reading and describing film images, doing a sequence analysis, and the ability mix shot analysis and interpretation in a small, focused essay.

CRN	93093	Distribution	B/C
Course No.	SST 305
Title	Latina/o Cultural Polemics
Professor	Aureliano DeSoto
Schedule	Tu 10:30 am - 12:50 pm OLIN 305

Cross-listed: American Studies, CCSRE, Gender Studies, Human Rights, LAIS

This course offers a detailed study of the dimensions of debate by Latina/o cultural producers and scholars regarding the issues confronting Latina/o communities through readings of Latina/o polemical writing, including radical memoir, manifesto, political poetry, performance art, independent film, and the critical essay. Topics include: cultural nationalism, sexual identities, feminist politics, political action and resistance, borderlands theory, and the rhetoric of cultural identity. This course serves as a junior seminar for concentrators in Critical and Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity.

CRN	93017	Distribution	A/C
Course No.	SST 332
Title	The Ecological Crisis
Professor	Joel Kovel
Schedule	Mon 1:30 pm -3:50 pm OLIN 101

Cross-listed: Environmental Studies, Human Rights

The course surveys the ecological crisis in all its dimensions: biological, political, economic, technological, scientific, cultural, psychological, ethical, philosophical, and spiritual. Does it have an “efficient cause,” a main dynamism that can be isolated and overcome? The dominant system of production, capitalism, is investigated in this light. Finally, the course considers the overriding questions, What is to be done? What social, technological, psychological, and spiritual changes are necessary to overcome the crisis; how do existing ecological movements measure up against these goals?