Spring 2024

This course places Norse and Celtic mythologies in the context of the study of mythology more broadly, seeking parallels and contrasts with other worldviews. The traces of gods, demigods, and heroes of the Norse and Celtic cultures are visible in many forms of human expression: place names, monuments, literature, seasonal celebrations, and religious and other practices. Students will first examine traditional narratives in prose and poetry, then they will follow threads in other disciplines: in art, inscriptions, and iconography; in music from opera to heavy metal; and in film and TV, novels and comics. This humanistic exploration is designed to bring out the values, strengths, fears, and humor woven into and descending from Norse and Celtic influences.

Throughout the history of philosophy, there have been many “renegade” thinkers that deterritorialize the ground of the canonical works and the personas of the academic tradition. Students will examine the works of several renegade thinkers, including Diogenes, Ken Kesey, Robert Anton Wilson, Aldous Huxley, Philip K. Dick, Timothy Leary, Alan Watts, and Ken Wilber. We will investigate the syncretic and interdisciplinary aspects of each philosopher, as well as their relationship with the canonical works and personas.

Many of us think that we somehow know what is in the Bible, even if we rarely encounter it directly. Yet when we do read it, we can sometimes be shocked anew by both its violence and moral energy, the myriad ways that it radiates human suffering, outrage, and spiritual insight, and sometimes even stupefies us with what can seem a bleak portrait of human (and perhaps divine) failings. As Matti Friedman says, “I loved Bible stories as a kid for the same reason that my kids love them now—because they’re not stories for kids.”

Considering the diversity and complexity of the Hebrew Bible, it should not be surprising that the interpretation of the Bible as literature has been a multifarious and ongoing process. Prospective students of faith should take note that this course might pose serious challenges for them: the paradigm that guides this class is that of cultural and literary analysis. Hence we will explore some critical voices for whom the Bible is only a literary text, with no particular discernable theological meaning or correspondence. On the other hand we will also encounter interpreters for whom the Bible is a literary as well as a theological text, and should be savored in all of its ambiguity, symbolism, mystery, and indeterminacy. But it is worth keeping in mind something that author Daniel Handler once said: “The way we understand the stories is the Torah are somewhere between literal and metaphorical. Unlike a lot of other religions, where they’re really stressing the literal all the time.” In this course, a degree of irreverence is always welcome. As Woody Allen once remarked: “I don't believe that God is evil, He’s just an underachiever.”

This course is also intended as an immersion in contemporary uses of the 2,000-year-old tradition of Midrash. Traditional Midrash is the ancient rabbinic tradition of exegesis which theorist Susan Handelman aptly describes: “Texts echo, interact, and interpenetrate.” Thus, in later weeks of this class we explore representative examples of how the modern literary imagination responds to ancient stories and uncovers fresh and often disturbing truths there by brushing those sources up against contemporary realities. Particular attention will be given to identifying and studying specific Biblical passages, stories, symbols and motifs, as they are used today by fiction writers and poets. Especially for feminist writers, the midrash proves an irresistible genre. Given the paucity of women’s voices in the biblical text, the midrash genre, simultaneously modern and traditional, is an ideal outlet for feminist exploration. Assignments will include two written essays (midterms) and shorter informal response papers throughout the semester.

During the European Middle Ages, philosophical thought was enriched by a remarkable degree of intellectual cross-fertilization between representatives of different religious and cultural groups—particularly in the Mediterranean regions. In this class we will read widely from the works of philosophers representing Jewish, Christian, and Islamic religious and cultural traditions to explore how they influenced each other in the process of tackling the enduring philosophical questions that engage us in every historical period. In order to understand the complex philosophical landscape of the medieval world, we will focus particularly on the transmission of ideas across time and space, using specific centers of intellectual exchange such as Baghdad, Alexandria, Sicily, Cordoba, and Toledo.

“Sticks and stones may break bones …” but we know that words can also hurt, offend, ruin careers, and even start wars. How is it possible that words can have such power? What can we learn about our society by investigating its dark linguistic underbelly? In this course, we investigate a range of speech types—curses, oaths, insults, gossip, argument, taboo words, obscenities, blasphemy, slang—and the essential roles they play in our lives. At the same time, we develop a cross-cultural perspective by comparing our own notions of what counts as bad language with ways of speaking that other cultural groups consider rude, vulgar, and even dangerous. We will also explore how different societies set standards for pronunciation, word choice, spelling, speaking and writing, how those standards are enforced, and how and why these standards are so often contested and resisted. Under this heading we consider such issues as plagiarism, libel, hate speech, and the policing of bad grammar.

This course will explore some of the major myths, legends, and folklores of a range of civilizations stretching across Asia, from the Middle East through India and Southeast Asia to China and Japan. Utilizing a variety of theoretical approaches, students will examine how mythologies and legends embody the hopes, fears, and aspirations of the communities that maintain them and in so doing profoundly shape the course of human history.

The course is an elective that examines human behaviors in relation to race and gender from psychological, sociological, and technological perspectives. These perspectives will be viewed in terms of contemporary societies throughout the African diaspora. At the end of the term, students will demonstrate their knowledge by creating a presentation for an adverse audience while taking a supportive position of a social issue relating to race and/or gender.

This course explores the concept of women as warriors to investigate how expectations of gender, race, and sexuality influence the historical and cultural construction of these women. Course materials move from the original Wonder Woman figure in popular culture to the lived experiences of female warriors in various cultures.

This is an introductory study of an esoteric Buddhist tradition in Burma/Myanmar known as the Weikza-lam, or “Path of the Buddhist Wizard.” This popular cult is dedicated to the attainment of supernormal powers and extraordinary long life. Students will examine primary and secondary sources in a variety of media to explore the beliefs, practices, and material culture of the Weikza-lam within the context of the ethnography, history, and mythology of Burmese Buddhism.

This course brings the sciences and humanities together to examine representations of mental illness, brain trauma, and addiction in films like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Frances, The Madness of King George, King of Hearts, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and others.

This course has two components, one theoretical and the other practical. The first is a survey of contemporary work in the philosophy of film and will focus especially on the nature of our emotional, cognitive, and ethical engagement with the moving image. The second will introduce students to the practice of philosophical film criticism, that is, the activity of interpreting specific films as raising questions about the nature of selfhood, knowledge, morality, oppression, and other matters of philosophical import.

This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding African American cultural traditions throughout the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries. Each week we will explore examples of African American music, art, poetry, literature, history, religion, language, and folk traditions. In addition to writing, students will complete assignments that reflect these varied cultural styles.

When George Lucas began making the second film in the first Star Wars trilogy, he consulted with famed myth-critic Joseph Campbell, who advised Lucas on what has become known as “the hero journey.” Heroes, in other words, are not born—they are made. They often start out as very ordinary people living very ordinary lives, and more often than not, they aren’t the kind of people who go about looking for adventures. They certainly don’t think of themselves as heroes. But as Campbell demonstrates, it’s the ordinary person who often becomes the hero in adventures ranging from fairy tales to epic literature. We can see it in some of the oldest works of ancient peoples and in modern stories such as Harry Potter, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and, of course, Star Wars. Heroes don’t have to be male or white either. Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz fits the bill perfectly, as does the life of Frederick Douglass. This course will explore a variety of hero journeys, told in literature and film. We’ll examine the stories themselves, the time of their making, along with the history and cultural context, and ask why such stories, told in so many different ways in so many different eras, can have such similar plotlines in so many important ways. If Campbell is right, the answer is that while cultures change, humans remain largely the same. Whoever we are, whenever and wherever we live, we all ask the same questions of the world around us. Stories of “the hero journey” tell who we are and lay out the road of adventure we ourselves are on. Campbell would say that college itself is part of the hero journey you’re on right now. Why not take a class that puts your own hero journey into focus?

This is an introductory study of an esoteric Buddhist tradition in Burma/Myanmar known as the Weikza-lam, or “Path of the Buddhist Wizard.” This popular cult is dedicated to the attainment of supernormal powers and extraordinary long life. Students will examine primary and secondary sources in a variety of media to explore the beliefs, practices, and material culture of the Weikza-lam within the context of the ethnography, history, and mythology of Burmese Buddhism.

This course brings the sciences and humanities together to examine representations of mental illness, brain trauma, and addiction in films like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Frances, The Madness of King George, King of Hearts, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and others.

This course has two components, one theoretical and the other practical. The first is a survey of contemporary work in the philosophy of film and will focus especially on the nature of our emotional, cognitive, and ethical engagement with the moving image. The second will introduce students to the practice of philosophical film criticism, that is, the activity of interpreting specific films as raising questions about the nature of selfhood, knowledge, morality, oppression, and other matters of philosophical import.

This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding African American cultural traditions throughout the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries. Each week we will explore examples of African American music, art, poetry, literature, history, religion, language, and folk traditions. In addition to writing, students will complete assignments that reflect these varied cultural styles.

“Sticks and stones may break bones …” but we know that words can also hurt, offend, ruin careers, and even start wars. How is it possible that words can have such power? What can we learn about our society by investigating its dark linguistic underbelly? In this course, we investigate a range of speech types—curses, oaths, insults, gossip, argument, taboo words, obscenities, blasphemy, slang—and the essential roles they play in our lives. At the same time, we develop a cross-cultural perspective by comparing our own notions of what counts as bad language with ways of speaking that other cultural groups consider rude, vulgar, and even dangerous. We will also explore how different societies set standards for pronunciation, word choice, spelling, speaking and writing, how those standards are enforced, and how and why these standards are so often contested and resisted. Under this heading we consider such issues as plagiarism, libel, hate speech, and the policing of bad grammar.

This class will discuss and analyze language in the era of the internet. Some topics we will discuss include informal writing, language and society, internet people, emojis, memes, ways in which we use typographical symbols to express tone and voice, and new metaphors being constructed with the advent of internet language.