Ethical Leadership

Professor: Brian Mateo  

Course Number: OSUN 120 OSU

CRN Number: 10637

Class cap: 22

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

Mon  Wed     10:10 AM - 11:30 AM OSUN Course

Distributional Area:

None   

This course explores approaches to ethical leadership not just in the abstract, but as a discipline that is focused on action. As an approach to thinking through ethical leadership, the course is structured around the concerns explored in Dr. Mary Gentile's Giving Voice to Values framework. Students will read case studies, develop their own, and share with peers from across the globe, from New York to Bangladesh, Myanmar, Ghana and Colombia.

Civic Engagement and Social Action

Professor: Jonathan Becker and Erin Cannan

Course Number: PS 209

CRN Number: 10413

Class cap: 22

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    10:00 AM - 11:20 AM Barringer 104

Distributional Area:

SA  Social Analysis  D+J Difference and Justice

Crosslists: Human Rights

What does it mean to be engaged with your community? What can students participating in civic engagement projects learn from others in universities in places like Haiti, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh and the United States? This course will examine historical, philosophical and practical elements of civic engagement while exploring the underlying question of what it means to be civically engaged in the early 21st century. Together, students will explore issues related to political participation, civil society, associational life, social justice, and personal responsibility, as well as how issues like race and socio-economic status impact civic participation. The class reflects a balance between study and the practice of engagement, which includes interrogating theoretical notions of civic life, while also empowering students to be active participants in the communities in which they are situated. The culminating project asks students to propose a civic engagement project in their home or local community. This course will feature workshops, lectures and seminar discussions. Special class visits will incorporate experiences of civic leaders, local officials, global not-for-profit leaders, and volunteers from communities proximate to participating OSUN campuses.  This course uniquely combines three types of course offerings into one.  It is an OSUN Network Collaborative Course, an OSUN Online course (meaning it will be primarily offered online) and an Engaged Liberal Arts and Science (ELAS) course.  This means that there are multiple ways we engage with ideas and people. The course is also a core course for OSUN's Certificate in Civic Engagement. There will be additional in-person meetings for students in Bard Annandale.

Ethics of Big Data and AI

Professor: Chrys Margaritidis  

Course Number: OSUN 220 OSU

CRN Number: 10638

Class cap: 22

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue   Fri   10:10 AM - 11:30 AM OSUN Course

Distributional Area:

None   

The course provides a forum for discussion on a selection of topics on the ethical aspects of Big Data and AI through mainly contemporary literature in the areas of ethics, law, and Big Data technology. We then debate case studies on Big Data and reach conclusions regarding the relevant ethical issues. In examining these cases, we will also discuss principles and problems of broader ethical significance. Topics discussed include democracy, trust, identity, privacy, and mass surveillance.

The Russia Paradox: Political History of the Russian Empire(s)

Professor: Victor Apryshchenko  

Course Number: OSUN 225 OSU

CRN Number: 10646

Class cap: 22

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

Mon  Wed     8:30 AM - 9:50 AM OSUN Course

Distributional Area:

None   

What realities, myths, objective patterns, and contradictions are concealed within the notion of the Russian Empire, including its pre-Soviet, Soviet, and post-Soviet incarnations? The country's political history of the last three centuries exemplifies such paradoxes as territorial and political unifications as well as disintegrations; forced Russification as well as ethnic diversity; ideological hegemony and cultural pluralism; blatant corruption, but also charity and compassion.

Psychology of Authoritarianism

Professor: Amy Lowenhaar-Blauweiss  

Course Number: OSUN 238 OSU

CRN Number: 10644

Class cap: 22

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    9:00 AM - 10:20 AM OSUN Course

Distributional Area:

None   

This course explores the psychological dimensions of authoritarianism: psychodynamic factors that predispose individuals to relinquish autonomy; susceptibility to authoritarian phenomena; the authoritarian personality; and the psychology of totalitarianism. Perspectives include political psychology; psychoanalysis; psychohistory; critical theory; political science; social psychology; and sociology, as well as the link between creativity and enhanced resistance to authoritarianism.

Technology, Humanity & the Future

Professor: Krista Caballero  

Course Number: ARTS 240 OSU

CRN Number: 10540

Class cap: 22

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    10:10 AM - 11:30 AM OSUN Course

Distributional Area:

AA  Analysis of Art   

In both theory and practice, this course is designed to explore the intersections of technology, justice, and creative practice. One of our central lines of inquiry will be: How might technology be utilized in ethical and just ways to (re)imagine our human cultural practices and resulting ecological impact? In approaching this question, we will consider ways that artists and community activists are pushing boundaries to both critically and creatively address the future of technology and issues relating to identity and privacy, data sovereignty and governance, e-waste and rare earth mining, deepfakes and AI. Key theoretical texts from scholars such as Felix Guattari, Safiya Umoja Noble, Hito Steyerl, Gregory Cajete, Shannon Mattern, Lev Manovich, and Lisa Nakamura will ground our exploration alongside a series of guest lectures by a diverse group of artists, scholars and activists across the OSUN network. Through readings and discussions, this course will explore technology across historical periods and how past forms help shape our current moment. Students will also work intensively to develop creative projects that blur boundaries between physical and digital media, integrate field-based research, and experiment with interdisciplinary practices of making.

The Representation of Justice in Films

Professor: Sabine El Chamaa  

Course Number: OSUN 315 OSU

CRN Number: 10645

Class cap: 15

Credits: 3

Schedule/Location:

    Fri   9:30 AM - 12:00 PM OSUN Course

Distributional Area:

None   

The course delves into the changing historical and cultural notions of justice and injustice, while questioning ideologies inherent in the politics of representation. Students will acquire the analytical tools to read films as text through an interdisciplinary lens, drawing from readings in film theory, law and film studies, sociology and post-colonial studies. The course will require film viewings, and will be taught through a combination of lectures and debates. The course has no prerequisites but students who have taken film courses would benefit from this class.

Kleptocracy

Professor: Daniel Calingaert  

Course Number: OSUN 320 OSU

CRN Number: 10639

Class cap: 15

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

Mon  Wed     8:30 AM - 9:50 AM OSUN Course

Distributional Area:

None   

This course explores the causes, manifestations, and consequences of kleptocracy, both in diverse country contexts and internationally. It examines how kleptocracy emerged and has operated in Afghanistan, Russia, South Africa, and elsewhere and enriches select elites and their networks at the public's expense. The course then delves into the international enabling environment for grand corruption and the effects of kleptocracy on democratic governance and political stability. Prerequisites: Principles of Microeconomics or other economics course; and Introduction to Political Science or Comparative Politics or equivalent.

Return of the Dead: Ghosts in Literatures of Violence

Professor: Zahid Rafiq  

Course Number: OSUN 325 OSU

CRN Number: 10642

Class cap: 15

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

  Wed     8:00 AM - 10:20 AM OSUN Course

Distributional Area:

None   

In this course we will study literatures of violence inhabited by ghosts and ask of the texts and of ourselves, what are these ghosts, how do they act, what do they want? Can ghosts be a cry for justice, a belief that the vanquished might return, a threat that trampled dust may gather into a storm? A king’s ghost seeking revenge for his murder, a baby haunting her mother’s house, and in a war-zone a corpse hunting those responsible for killings, we shall reflect closely on ghostly existences. The course will focus on close and critical reading where we discuss the text, the subtexts, the characters, and also the larger implications of the writing. Texts will include writings by William Shakespeare, Toni Morrison, Shehan Karunatilaka, Ahmed Saadawi, Eka Kurniawan, Edgar Allan Poe, Henry James, and short stories from across the world. We will also watch several movies as part of the course. 

The Beautiful Game: A Global History of Soccer

Professor: Lloyd Hazvineyi  

Course Number: HIST 392 OSU

CRN Number: 10415

Class cap: 15

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue      8:00 AM - 10:00 AM OSUN Course

Distributional Area:

HA  Historical Analysis   

Crosslists: Global & International Studies; Human Rights; Politics

Soccer has enthralled and excited many audiences throughout the centuries. From the factory workers in Victorian England, to colonial prisoners such as Nelson Mandela incarcerated on Robben Island, to the streets of Sao Paulo Brazil, soccer has been one of the most consequential and celebrated sports. This course takes the position that soccer is more than just a game, and invites students to consider and examine the cultural, social and political meanings which societies around the world have attached to the beautiful game. The class situates the global history of soccer in the context of themes which include industrialization, settler colonialism, race, segregation, empire, violence and corruption. As such, the class engages explicit political dimensions of soccer such as Catalan nationalist ambitions in Spain, which are often expressed in the Spanish derby, the El Classico between Barcelona (from the Catalan region) and Real Madrid (from Madrid). The class also explores how soccer became entangled in anti-apartheid and anti-colonial struggles across the African continent. Through class readings, discussions and documentary screenings, students will be expected to examine and comment on how dominant ideas about race, belonging, as well as social hierarchies have been negotiated on the field of play. The class foregrounds questions which seek to understand the role of sport in society, interrogating how soccer has not only mirrored society’s prejudices, but has often reproduced them.

Qualitative Research Methods

Professor: Victor Apryshchenko  

Course Number: HIST 394 OSU

CRN Number: 10684

Class cap: 20

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue      8:30 AM - 11:30 AM OSUN Course

Distributional Area:

HA  Historical Analysis   

The course seeks to expand the range of voices involved in the researching and writing global history. Employing the same networked, blended model used in ‘A History of the World’, the course trains students in history methods and project design. Students, collaborating with each other and with instructor, develop and answer research questions before carrying out independent research projects. At the end of the course, they share their findings with the class, creating opportunities for students to see and explore connections, parallels, and intersections between their diverse projects. The course inverts traditional hierarchies of knowledge production by helping displaced learners and their neighbors build the research and critical thinking skills needed to create and share historical narratives—turning them from consumers to producers of historical knowledge.

Does Might Make Right?

Professor: Thomas Bartscherer  

Course Number: HR 346 OSU

CRN Number: 10636

Class cap: 15

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue      9:10 AM - 11:30 AM OSUN Course

Distributional Area:

MBV  Meaning, Being, Value   

Crosslists: Classical Studies; Literature

Speaking at the United Nations in September, 2021, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield noted that in ratifying the Charter of the UN and adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the member states were disavowing the idea, as she put it, that "might makes right," and committing themselves instead to "a new set of self-binding principles" that aim to "prevent conflict, alleviate human suffering, defend human rights, and engage in an ongoing dialogue to improve the lives of all people." Her remarks evoke a famous passage from an English translation of the Greek historian Thucydides, often cited as the classical statement of political realism: "The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must." In this course, we will focus on the vibrant debate over the question of whether "might makes right" that occurs in the literary, historical, and philosophical writings of Athens in the fifth century BCE. Most of the texts we read will be ancient, but the questions they address are of urgent contemporary concern. We will look at the original context of that passage, wherein Thucydides conducts a subtle analysis of the claims of justice against the prerogatives of force. We will also see how this debate plays out in the philosophical writings of Plato and Aristotle and in contemporaneous literary texts, including the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. We will also compare material in ancient texts from other traditions, including the Buddhist Edicts of Asoka, the Hebrew Bible, and the Christian New Testament. Our aims will be: to see how these cultures, so different from the one that brought forth the UN?s Universal Declaration, grappled with this enduring dilemma; to trace the influence of the these ancient texts on modern conceptions of human rights; and to bring these diverse perspectives to bear on our own thinking about "might" and "right." All readings will be in English.

Civic Engagement and Social Action

Professor: Jonathan Becker and Erin Cannan

Course Number: PS 209

CRN Number: 10413

Class cap: 22

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    10:00 AM - 11:20 AM OSUN course

Distributional Area:

SA  Social Analysis  D+J Difference and Justice

Crosslists: Human Rights

What does it mean to be engaged with your community? What can students participating in civic engagement projects learn from others in universities in places like Haiti, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh and the United States? This course will examine historical, philosophical and practical elements of civic engagement while exploring the underlying question of what it means to be civically engaged in the early 21st century. Together, students will explore issues related to political participation, civil society, associational life, social justice, and personal responsibility, as well as how issues like race and socio-economic status impact civic participation. The class reflects a balance between study and the practice of engagement, which includes interrogating theoretical notions of civic life, while also empowering students to be active participants in the communities in which they are situated. The culminating project asks students to propose a civic engagement project in their home or local community. This course will feature workshops, lectures and seminar discussions. Special class visits will incorporate experiences of civic leaders, local officials, global not-for-profit leaders, and volunteers from communities proximate to participating OSUN campuses.  This course uniquely combines three types of course offerings into one.  It is an OSUN Network Collaborative Course, an OSUN Online course (meaning it will be primarily offered online) and an Engaged Liberal Arts and Science (ELAS) course.  This means that there are multiple ways we engage with ideas and people. The course is also a core course for OSUN's Certificate in Civic Engagement. There will be additional in-person meetings for students in Bard Annandale.