In this course we will read texts and watch films that illuminate the historical trajectory of North and West Africa, and reflect on issues of colonization, decolonization, and migration.

LTAF 120

LTAF 120 Africa

Latinx Soundscape - This course explores the connections between Latin American and Latinx soundscapes in the United States. Through a diverse body of primary materials, we will analyze topics such as racialization, territory, empire, economic crisis, the aftermath of environmental ‘disasters’, displacement, privatization, gender struggles, identity, belonging, and diasporic imagination. From salsa to the newest trends in Latinx youth cultures, such as hip-hop and reggaeton, students will think about sound as a contact zone.

LTAM 100 The Americas

Please contact instructor for course description.

LTCH 101 Chinese

LTCH 101 Asia

This course asks students to critically analyze popular culture texts in contemporary and/or historical contexts. Works under consideration may include (but are not limited to) music, performance, fashion, film, TV, streaming/social media, video games, fan art, and fan fiction.

Please contact instructor for course description.

This course will offer a series of discussions about the stakes of literary, artistic, and intellectual work in how the idea of “Japan” is shaped and transformed the histories and legacies of empire-building and nationalism since the early twentieth-century to the present.

This course presents an overview of Chinese film from the silent era in the early twentieth century to the present. We will analyze cinematic masterpieces to gain an introduction to China’s rich cultural heritage, and discuss their significance as art, history, and culture. We will view a selection of internationally acclaimed Chinese films and place each film in historical context, considering both the aesthetic form and the socio-political content of the film. To this end we will analyze the most influential films by different generations of filmmakers during the first and second Golden Ages of Chinese Cinema (1922-1949), the Chinese revolutionary period (1949-1966), the Fifth Generation of Chinese Filmmakers (1984-1990’s), the Urban Sixth Generation, Taiwanese New Wave Cinema, and contemporary Hong Kong Cinema. We will also look at how Chinese filmmakers made history, how they responded to wars, revolution, and social change, and how they participated in global trends. No previous knowledge of Chinese literature or film is required, and all films will have English sub-titles.

LTEA 120A

LTEA 120A Asia

The course is a survey of Taiwan films it is in three parts: colonial, national, and global. We will screen ten representative films by such directors as Hou Hsiao-hsien, Edward Yang, Ang Lee, and many others. The course can be taken to fulfill Chinese language requirements.

LTEA 120B

LTEA 120B Asia

This course explores how speculative fiction adapts, interrogates, critiques, and imagines social, cultural, and historical phenomena in Japan since the late 1940s. Readings will explore various subgenres of science fiction (cyberpunk, dystopic fiction, horror, fantasy) in film, literature, and graphic novels in conversation with diverse approaches to literary theory and cultural criticism.

LTEA 132 Asia

This course is a survey of literary and cinematic representations of masculinities from South Korea and Korean America. We will read and view major literary works and films, paying close attention to the centrality of masculinity as constituted relationally to patriarchy and femininity. Through our focus on the shifting and heterogeneous conceptualizations of masculinity, we will analyze the literary and filmic works’ representation of the broader historical issues ranging from Japanese colonialism, the national division/ the U.S. occupation, the Korean War, South Korean participation in the Vietnam War, military dictatorship, labor/dissident movements, multi-ethnicization of South Korea and the global dissemination of K-pop. We will also compare “South Korean masculinities” to the ways in which “Korean American masculinities” have been constructed in the US context of racialization and minoritization of Asians and Asian Americans.

LTEA 143 Asia

This course will explore what has been a driving force for modernization on the Korean peninsula from the colonial era to contemporary South Korea, i.e., developmentalism. We will study the impact of the past and ongoing extraction, exploitation and devastation of human proletarian labor and the environment as “resources” in colonial Korea and in post-Liberation South Korea. We will critically examine the historically inextricable linkage between the ideology of development and the emerging environmentalism. We will engage with various types of textual sources, including literature, films, and documentaries from the peninsula as well as scholarly works produced in the West.

LTEA 145 Asia

This course surveys English literature from the Anglo-Saxon era to the Early Modern period (8TH to 17TH centuries) and introduces students to the university-level study of Medieval and Renaissance literature. From the adventures of the warrior Beowulf to the temptation and fall of Adam and Eve in Milton’s Paradise Lost, we will trace the development of English literature and culture through the centuries, from Old English to Middle English to Modern English. Lectures will discuss the assigned readings and their cultural, social, and political contexts while asking students to engage in critical analysis, close reading, and other forms of textual interpretation. At the same time, we will identify and analyze the specific artistic techniques and rhetorical strategies (including verse form, symbol, allegory, and other forms of figurative language) that shape and enliven these lasting works of art. Students will learn how Medieval and Renaissance cultures were unlike those of our own time, but they will also consider how these early texts and their authors continue to speak to us today.

Please contact instructor for course description.

The course will explore the big questions that Shakespeare posed to his audiences, on topics that still matter very much to us today—including love, war, power, race, sex, mortality, good and evil. Readings will encompass a variety of plays from the second half of his career. We will pay close attention to Shakespeare’s masterful way with words and images, with complex plots and compelling characters but at the same time, we will connect our close readings of Shakespeare’s dazzling language to broader interpretive investigations of these texts and their patterns of meaning. As much as possible, the class will view and discuss film versions and adaptations of the plays in order to understand these texts as scripts intended for live performance.

LTEN 113

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LTEN 152 The Americas

This course examines the politics, aesthetic practices, and possibilities of “rasquachismo” in Chicanx/é and, more broadly, Latinx/é cultural expressions. Theorized by Tomás Ybarra-Frausto in 1989, rasquachismo is described as a Mexican American sensibility “exemplified in objects, places, and social comportment” that resourcefully repurpose what is at hand for what is needed (7). Throughout the quarter, we will consider how this creative and innovative approach is expressed in a variety of culturally produced sites from city streets and homes to prose, poetry, art, music, and film. Moreover, we will follow the political stakes of rasquache practice and address the ways it has been taken up beyond the Chicanx/é community as it travels, transforms, and is reimagined across the Mexico/US borderlands and beyond.

LTEN 169 The Americas

Chicanx/é Mobilities & Travel Narratives  -This course examines Chicanx/é travel narratives. It explores how Mexican American travel and mobility reveals the function of space, place, national borders, and social practices. Through a survey of Chicanx travel literature, we will critically engage how Chicanx/é mobility charts terrains of struggle and new strategies for change. Moreover, we will address some of the following questions: What is the travel genre? How does Chicanx/é mobility align with this tradition? How is mobility tied to ideas of race, class, gender, and sexuality? And what does it mean to be a “good” mobile citizen?

LTEN 180 The Americas

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LTEN 181 The Americas

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LTEN 185 The Americas

This course will consider the history and historical legacy of the British empire. We will read anglophone fiction and poetry to uncover how the effects of British imperialism have been represented in literature, as well as the way those legacies are still active today.

The British empire was a globe-spanning enterprise that at its largest extent covered up to a quarter of the world’s landmass. Through both direct and indirect rule, and among its many settler colonies, the British extracted natural resources, taxed and traded, and established hierarchies of race and labor. The empire was also a cultural endeavor, based in ideologies of civilization and social improvement, and spread through the institution of English as a global language and through cultural products, including literature. Thus, in this class we will read postcolonial novels, largely written in English, that are part of the historical and cultural legacy of empire. We will see how postcolonial subjects grapple with the social world wrought by imperialism, and how the hierarchies, violences, and politics instituted by British colonialism live on and transform in the postcolonial period. Throughout, we will consider how literature renders long histories visible, even when those histories are traumatic.

Knights, castles, sea monsters, sorcerers, potions, spells, magical forests, enchanted weapons, a flying horse, love, of course, and even a journey to the moon: Ludovico Ariosto's The Madness of Orlando combines all the elements of what will become the Fantasy genre, and more. In this course we will read and analyze this Italian Renaissance masterpiece, in a contemporary English prose translation, and we shall explore how these elements have traveled through time and cultures.
2 quizzes, a final project, and an oral presentation.

LTEU 140 The Mediterranean

LTEU 140 Europe

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LTEU 154 Europe

First course in the intermediate sequence designed to be taken after LIFR1C/CX. Short stories, comic strips and movies from various French-speaking countries are studied to strengthen oral and written language skills while developing reading competency and cultural literacy. A thorough review of grammar is included. Taught entirely in French.. May be applied towards a minor in French literature. The discussion class on Thursday is not required and is used for extra support or practice.
Successful completion of LTFR 2A satisfies the language requirement in Revelle and in Eleanor Roosevelt colleges. Prerequisite: LIFR 1C/CX or equivalent or a score of 3 on the AP French language exam or a score of 4 or 5 on the Language Placement Exam.

Plays from the 19th and 20th centuries as well as movies are studied to strengthen the skills developed in LTFR 2A. Includes a grammar review. Taught entirely in French.
May be applied towards a minor in French literature or towards fulfilling the secondary literature requirement.
The discussion class on Thursday is not required and is used for extra support or practice
Prerequisite: LTFR 2A or equivalent or a score of 4 on the AP French language exam.

Dès le 19e siècle, l'intrigue policière cherche à témoigner de la réalité sociale. Après avoir brièvement analysé les circonstances qui ont permis l'émergence de ce genre narratif, nous nous concentrerons sur des textes et films contemporains en français dans lesquels l'intrigue policière est prétexte à un commentaire sur le rôle de la mémoire, la construction de l'Histoire...
Le cours sera enseigné entièrement en français.
May be applied towards a minor or a major in French literature. Counts towards a concentration in French regional concentration on Europe and the Mediterranean. Prerequisite: LTFR 2C or equivalent or consent of instructor.

LTFR 104 French

LTFR 104 The Mediterranean

LTFR 104 Europe

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In this course, students will read Plato’s Crito in the original Ancient Greek. This Socratic dialogue serves as both an excellent text for advancing Greek reading skills and an entry point into philosophical and civic questions. The course balances language acquisition with the exploration of key ethical and political ideas in their historical and cultural context.

More than a philosophical exchange, the Crito offers a revealing look into the social, legal, and political fabric of ancient Athens. Through close reading and translation, students will examine themes such as justice, civic duty, the rule of law, and the conscience of the individual within the polis. The dialogue prompts reflection on the legitimacy of laws, the responsibilities of citizenship, and the tension between personal interest and public obligation.

Requirements include regular preparation and in-class presentation

LTGK 104

LTGK 104 Greek

LTGK 104 The Mediterranean

LTGK 104 Europe

This intermediate-level course is conducted entirely in German and emphasizes the four language skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing while focusing on cultural awareness, developing higher level literacy skills and a review of grammar. Course activities include cultural readings on historical content as well as current events, discussion of films and classroom practice in the target language.

Italian Language and Culture through Food and Travel  -Food is culture in Italy: it is the expression of history, geography, tradition, and art.
Learning Italian is not just learning a language, but partaking of the culture this language allows you to enter.
Italian 2A/2B/50 is a grammar review, through the language of food and travel, meant to give you an "insider's perspective" on Italian culture at all levels, including music, film, sport, gestures, and of course, recipes!
3 quizzes, 1 exam, and oral presentations.

First year Korean 1A (5 units) is the first part of the Beginning Korean series. This course is designed to assist students to develop low-beginning level skills in the Korean language. These skills are speaking, listening, reading, and writing, as well as cultural understanding. This course will begin by introducing the writing and sound system of the Korean language. The remainder of the course will focus on grammatical patterns such as basic sentence structures, some grammatical points, and expressions. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to do the following in Korean:

Speaking: Students are able to handle successfully a limited number of uncomplicated communicative tasks by creating with the language in straightforward social situation. Conversation is restricted to some of the concrete exchanges and predictable topics necessary for survival in the target-language culture. They can express personal meaning by combining and recombining what they know and what they hear from their interlocutors into short statements and discrete sentences.

Listening: Students are able to understand some information from sentence-length speech, one utterance at a time, in basic personal and social contexts, though comprehension is often uneven.

Reading: Students are able to understand some information from the simplest connected texts dealing with a limited number of personal and social needs, although there may be frequent misunderstandings.

Writing: Students are able to meet some limited practical writing needs. They can create statements and formulate questions based on familiar material. Most sentences are re-combinations of learned vocabulary and structure.

Prerequisite: No prior study of Korean is required.

Second Year Korean 2A is the first part of the Intermediate Korean. Students in this course are assumed to have previous knowledge of Korean, which was taught in the Korean 1A, 1B, and 1C courses. Students in this course will learn low-intermediate level skills in the areas of listening, speaking, reading, and writing in Korean, as well as expand their cultural understanding. Upon completion of this course, students are expected to acquire and use more vocabularies, expressions and sentence structures and to have a good command of Korean in various conversational situations. Students are expected to write short essays using the vocabularies, expressions, and sentence structures introduced. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to do the following in Korean:

Speaking: Students are able to handle a variety of communicative tasks. They are able to participate in most informal and some formal conversations on topics related to school, home, and leisure activities. Students demonstrate the ability to narrate and describe in the major time frames in paragraph-length discourse. They show the ability to combine and link sentences into connected discourse of paragraph length.

Listening: Students are able to understand short conventional narrative and descriptive texts with a clear underlying structure though their comprehension may uneven. They understand the main facts and some supporting details. Comprehension may often derive primarily from situation and subject-matter knowledge.

Reading: Students are able to understand conventional narrative and descriptive texts with a clear underlying structure though their comprehension may be uneven. These texts predominantly contain high-frequency vocabulary and structure. Students understand the main ideas and some supporting details. Comprehension may often derive primarily from situational and subject-matter knowledge.

Writing: Students are able to meet basic work and/or academic writing needs. They are able to compose simple summaries on familiar topics. They are able to combine and link sentences into texts of paragraph length and structure. They demonstrate the ability to incorporate a limited number of cohesive devices.

Prerequisite: LTKO 1C or an equivalent level of proficiency in Korean language.

Third Year Korean 130F (4 units) is the first part of the advanced Korean. Students in this course are assumed to have previous knowledge of Korean, which was taught in the Korean 2A, 2B, and 2C courses. Students in this course will learn low-advanced level skills in the areas of listening, speaking, reading, and writing in Korean, as well as expand their cultural understanding. Upon completion of this course, students are expected to acquire and use more vocabularies, expressions and sentence structures and to have a good command of Korean in formal situations. Students are expected to read and understand daily newspapers and daily news broadcasts. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to do the following in Korean:

Speaking: Students are able to communicate with accuracy and fluency in order to participate fully and effectively in conversations on a variety of topics in formal and informal settings from both concrete and abstract perspectives. They discuss their interests and special fields of competence, explain complex matters in detail, and provide lengthy and coherent narrations, all with ease, fluency, and accuracy. They present their opinions on a number of issues of interest to them, and provide structured arguments to support these opinions.
Listening: Students are able to understand speech in a standard dialect on a wide range of familiar and less familiar topics. They can follow linguistically complex extended discourse. Comprehension is no longer limited to the listener's familiarity with subject matter, but also comes from a command of the language that is supported by a broad vocabulary, an understanding of more complex structures and linguistic experience within the target culture. Students can understand not only what is said, but sometimes what is left unsaid.
Reading: Students are able to understand texts from many genres dealing with a wide range of subjects, both familiar and unfamiliar. Comprehension is no longer limited to the reader's familiarity with subject matter, but also comes from a command of the language that is supported by a broad vocabulary, an understanding of complex structures and knowledge of the target culture. Students at this level can draw inferences from textual and extralinguistic clues.
Writing: Students are able to produce most kinds of formal and informal correspondence, in-depth summaries, reports, and research papers. They demonstrate the ability to explain complex matters, and to present and support opinions by developing cogent arguments and hypotheses. They demonstrate a high degree of control of grammar and syntax, of general vocabulary, of spelling or symbol production, of cohesive devices, and of punctuation.

Prerequisite: LTKO 2C or an equivalent level of proficiency in Korean language.

LTKO 130F Korean

LTKO 130F Asia

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LTLA 100

LTLA 100 Latin

LTLA 100 The Mediterranean

LTLA 100 Europe

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LTRU 104B Russian

LTRU 104B Europe

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LTRU 150 Russian

LTRU 150 Europe

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En este seminario analizaremos la experiencia de la gente latina en los Estados Unidos, el papel del lenguaje y la cultura en dicha experiencia y la reproducción de las ideologías lingüísticas y culturales en la sociedad estadounidense.

In this seminar we will discuss the experiences of Latinxs in the USA, the role of language and culture in their experiences, and the production of language and cultural ideologies in US society.

This course will be taught bilingually. Students may participate in Spanish, English or any combination of the two.

Please contact instructor for course description.

LTSP 100A Spanish

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LTSP 100F Spanish

This course, taught in Spanish, explores various forms of cultural production centered on the notions of colonialism and resistance in Abiayala/Latin America. We will engage a wide range of sources, which include but are not limited to literary works, chronicles, letters, wills, art, architecture, and maps. We will read some of the most canonical writers and texts from what is known as Latin America’s “colonial period”. We will also examine authors who disrupt traditional narratives of what has been called “Spanish America” and study representations by contemporary writers and artists. Through readings and analysis of other cultural objects, we will reflect on colonial legacies in topics such as race, territory, autonomy, as well as traditions of resistance on the continent and beyond.

LTSP 116

LTSP 116 Spanish

LTSP 116 The Americas

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LTSP 172 Spanish

LTSP 172 The Americas

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LTSP 174 Spanish

We live in an extraordinary moment in time marked by a rapidly changing climate, a sixth mass extinction event, and the intertwined histories of empire, industry, and capital -- all of which have sparked urgent calls for technofixes that might thwart environmental catastrophe and a future without “us.” This begs the question: why study literature now, in a world many assume can only be salvaged for human (and nonhuman) habitation by STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics)? What can literary studies meaningfully contribute to our world at present—one wherein humanities degree programs are under threat?

Over the course of this term, you will develop your own answers to these questions. You will do so via the core objects, methods, and skills of literary studies. Reading widely across genres, we will consider how the study of literature opens up pressing ecopolitical questions and problems. These include: the fraught categories of nature, culture, and the non/human the marginalization of particular human communities on the basis of race, ethnicity, sex/uality, and class the complex entanglements of past, present, and future the push for environmental justice and collective flourishing and the critical work of aesthetic representation in the here and now.

Please contact instructor for course description.

Please contact instructor for course description.

Please contact instructor for course description.

Please contact instructor for course description.

Martin Scorsese emerges as a manifest social critic/documentarist, who dares research the dark side of the psyche, from the psychotic Vietnam Vet in Taxi Driver to the narcissistic mafiosi protagonists of Goodfellas (& Wolf of Wall Street)… to the fully delusional schizophrenic character of Shutter Island.
Film clips, selected from his long career, will be studied in depth to underscore his cinematic virtuosity and to elaborate upon his possible philosophical vision: Taxi Driver (1976, Cannes Palme d’or), Raging Bull (1980), Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990, Silver Lion Venice Film Festival & Baftas), The Departed (2006, Oscar Best Film & Director), Shutter Island (2010), Hugo (2011, Golden Globe), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013.)
Starting from the Hollywood 1970s "Indies —New Wave,” Scorsese is now a legendary US filmmaker, whose films command an encyclopedic knowledge of the history of cinema. Part of the work of our course will be to delineate and to elaborate his deep filmic research into the specificity of personality disorders among several of his protagonists, (psychopath, sociopath, borderline, bipolar, psychotic, schizophrenic, etc.) along with his mastery of the means of cinema.

LTWL 183

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Please contact instructor for course description.