Graduate Course Descriptions

The following directory lists the graduate courses which the University expects to offer, although the University in no way guarantees that all such courses will be offered in any given academic year, and reserves the right to alter the list if conditions warrant. Click on the links below for a list of courses in that subject area. You may then click “View Classes” to see scheduled classes for individual courses.

5250. Topics in Transnational Jewish History

Also offered as: HEJS 5250, HIST 5250

3.00 credits | May be repeated for a total of 6 credits.

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Topics in Jewish history, both transnational in space (European, American, global) and diachronic in time (Early Modern to Late Modern). May be repeated with a change of topic to a maximum of six credits.

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5272. French Philosophy

Also offered as: FREN 5272

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Introduction to the French philosophical tradition from the Enlightenment to the post-structuralist revolution. Topics include theories of freedom, knowledge, power, language, subjectivity, sexuality, and the mind/body dialectic. Critical practice applied to literature, film, and other genres. Taught in English.

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5301. Variable Topics

3.00 credits | May be repeated for a total of 9 credits.

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Possible topics include literature and the other arts, the sociology of literature, literature and psychology, and themes. May be repeated for up to nine credits with a change of topic.

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5302. Introduction to Literary Theory

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Historical survey of theoretical paradigms or schools of literary theory. Topics may include literary representation, the relationship between literature and society, interpretation and meaning, ideology. Emphasis on the aims of theory, its object, and its status vis à vis other disciplines of the human sciences.

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5304. Studies in Literary History

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Periods, movements, and literary relations involving several national literatures. Possible topics include the Baroque, the Enlightenment, Symbolism, and the Avant-Garde.

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5305. Comparative Studies in Romanticism

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

West European Romanticism, the Bildungsroman, the quest, stories of the fantastic, and the greater Romantic lyric. Includes works of Goethe, Coleridge, Poe, Hugo and Leopardi.

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5306. Studies in Form and Genre

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Aspects of epic, drama, poetry, or narrative, such as the classical epic, the historical drama, the pastoral poem, or the picaresque novel.

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5308. Marxist Literary Criticism

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Introduction and survey of Marxist texts from Marx and Engels to Gramsci, Lukacs, Frankfurt School theoreticians, and contemporary theorists, feminists, and third-world practitioners.

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5310. Psychoanalysis and Literature

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Introduction to the literary and cultural application of psychoanalytic theory to the reading of literary texts; psychoanalytic interpretation from Freud to Lacan and feminist Lacanians.

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5311. Introduction to Semiotics

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Historical development and fundamentals of semiotics. Classical and structural models. Varying emphasis on a particular theory and its development.

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5313. Theory and Practice of Translation

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

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5317. Studies in Comparative Culture

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

The intersection of ideas concerning urbanization and modernism through the medium of literature, architecture, fine arts, and film.

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5318. Special Studies

1.00 - 6.00 credits | May be repeated for a total of 9 credits.

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

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5324. Teaching for Intercultural Citizenship and Human Rights I

Also offered as: ALDS 5324, GERM 5324

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Explores the role of intercultural competence and human rights education from a variety of perspectives, including applied linguistics, education, psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, and pragmatics. Through readings, online and face-to-face discussions, role-plays, scenarios, and presentations students will critically reflect on models of intercultural competence and human rights education and their relation to (student) outcomes; examine the role of social justice and human rights within the teaching of intercultural competence; and integrate and assess intercultural competence in teaching. Taught in English.

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5325. Teaching for Intercultural Citizenship and Human Rights II

Also offered as: ALDS 5325, GERM 5325

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Continued exploration of the role of intercultural competence and human rights education from a variety of perspectives, including applied linguistics, education, psychology, neuroscience, philosophy and pragmatics. Students will design a research project or curricular unit for a specific purpose in which they apply models of intercultural competence/ citizenship and human rights in practice. Taught in English.

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5338. Hegel and Revolution

Also offered as: FREN 5338

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Examines the logical underpinnings of Hegel’s foundational positions on epistemology, ethics, history, and political theory and their valences in twentieth-century French thought. Enables graduate students not only to understand the analytical basis for contemporary debates in critical theory, but also to develop their own theoretical frameworks for future research. Taught in English.

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5350. Theater and Human Rights

Also offered as: GERM 5350

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Exploration of theater and related performing arts as forms of artistic expression and public debate. Analysis of specific characteristics of modern and contemporary theater and exploration of theater's engagement with human rights discourse and interventions in the public sphere. Theoretical texts and recordings of performances will inform class discussions.

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5355. German Jewish Literature and Human Rights

Also offered as: GERM 5355, HEJS 5355

3.00 credits

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

Exploration of German Jewish Literature as a form of artistic expression and public debate. Discussion of German Jewish literary writing and its relationship with human rights discourses since the Enlightenment.

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5395. Special Topics

3.00 credits | May be repeated for a total of 9 credits.

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

May be repeated for up to nine credits with a change in content.

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5398. Variable Topics

3.00 credits | May be repeated for a total of 9 credits.

Prerequisites: None.

Grading Basis: Graded

May be repeated for up to nine credits with a change in content.

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5399. Independent Study

1.00 - 3.00 credits | May be repeated for a total of 9 credits.

Prerequisites: Instructor consent.

Grading Basis: Graded

May be repeated for up to nine credits with a change in content.

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