Graduate

HISC 217A Seminar: Topics in Feminist Theory

Studies in the theory and history of feminist consciousness; analysis of the main areas of a specifically feminist interest; determination of the theoretical bases for a distinctively feminist perspective on the principal problems of the life and human sciences; examination of relations of class, race, and gender in feminist theory and practice.

Credits

5

Requirements

Enrollment is restricted to graduate students.

Repeatable for credit

Yes

Quarter offered

Fall

HISC 217B Seminar: Topics in Feminist Theory

Writing intensivecourse based on readings in course 217A.

Credits

5

Requirements

Prerequisite(s): HISC 217A. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students.

Repeatable for credit

Yes

Quarter offered

Spring

HISC 218A Postcolonial Theory

Study of selected topics in postcolonial theory, including decolonizing critiques of Western knowledges and epistemologies, nationalism, gender and sexuality, cultural representations of neo-colonialism and imperialism, subalternity, history and historical transformation, and global relations of dominations.

Credits

5

Requirements

Enrollment is restricted to graduate students.

Quarter offered

Fall

HISC 222A Theories of Late Capitalism

Looks at the theoretical literature on what is variously called late capitalism/postindustrialism/postfordism, and in that context considers the rise of nationalism and identity politics in the latter part of the 20th century. The primary focus is on the U.S. and Western Europe, but questions of the globalization of capital and the transformation of relations between the West and the Third World are also considered. Written work for the course consists of weekly short papers. (Formerly Theories of Late Capitalism, Nationalism, and the Politics of Identity.)

Credits

5

Instructor

Barbara Epstein

Requirements

Enrollment is restricted to graduate students.

Quarter offered

Fall

HISC 225 The Politics of Affect

Point of departure is the question of the political, posed with respect to psychoanalysis. The underlying question is what the political does to psychoanalysis, but also what the unconscious does to the political.

Credits

5

Instructor

David Marriott

Requirements

Enrollment is restricted to graduate students.

HISC 228 Fundamental Problems of Metapolitics

Focuses on seminal works of political thought: the first half devoted to ancient and modern classics; the second considering several major contemporary reflections. Aims to reconstruct and assess the claims regarding epistemic conditions and criteria of metapolitical judgment.

Credits

5

Instructor

Gopal Balakrishnan

Requirements

Enrollment is restricted to graduate students.

Quarter offered

Spring

HISC 233A Theories of Modernity and Postmodernity

Study of social and cultural theories of modernity and postmodernity; analysis of various conceptualizations of the modern and the postmodern and their relation to production, history, aesthetics, cultural identity, social struggle; texts from a variety of disciplines (literature, sociology, philosophy).

Credits

5

Requirements

Enrollment is restricted to graduate students.

HISC 233B Theories of Modernity and Postmodernity

Writing intensive course based on readings in course 233A.

Credits

5

Requirements

Prerequisite(s): HISC 233A. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students.

HISC 234A Social Movements in the 20th-Century U.S.

The history of major social movements in the 20th-century U.S., including populism, labor, socialism and communism, civil rights, the women's movement, the anti-nuclear movement. Various theoretical perspectives on the rise and fall of social movements.

Credits

5

Instructor

Barbara Epstein

Requirements

Enrollment is restricted to graduate students.

Repeatable for credit

Yes

Quarter offered

Winter

HISC 234B Social Movements in the 20th-Century U.S.

Writing intensive course based on readings in course 234A.

Credits

5

Instructor

Barbara Epstein

Requirements

Prerequisite(s): HISC 234A. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students.

Repeatable for credit

Yes

Quarter offered

Spring

HISC 239A The Dialectical Legacy

From Adorno to Zizek rediscoveries of Hegel have provided the impetus for some of the most innovative currents of 20th-century Marxism. Examines the philosophical and historical problems that Marx inherited from Hegel through close readings of their major works.

Credits

5

Instructor

Gopal Balakrishnan

Requirements

Enrollment is restricted to graduate students.

HISC 239B The Dialectical Legacy

From Adorno to Zizek rediscoveries of Hegel have provided the impetus for some of the most innovative currents of 20th-century Marxism. Examines the philosophical and historical problems that Marx inherited from Hegel through close readings of their major works.

Credits

5

Instructor

Gopal Balakrishnan

Requirements

Enrollment is restricted to graduate students.

HISC 251A Readings in Science Studies

Focus is on recent literature in social, cultural, and historical studies of science, medicine, and technology. This seminar familiarizes students with current scholarly debates, research networks, national traditions, international exchanges, conference proceedings, interdisciplinary projects, and publication sites.

Credits

5

Requirements

Enrollment is restricted to graduate students.

Repeatable for credit

Yes

Quarter offered

Winter

HISC 251B Readings in Science Studies

Second quarter of two-quarter course. Writing-intensive course based on the readings studied in course 251A.

Credits

5

Requirements

Prerequisite: HISC 251A. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students.

Quarter offered

Spring

HISC 253A Topics in Cultural Analysis

Advanced graduate seminar in which students do research on focused topics. Each quarter centered on single thematic area. Students read works of culture-theory and exemplary studies illustrating methodologies, problems, and current controversies. Prerequisite(s): minimum of second-year status in the history of consciousness program; instructor evaluates student's ability to participate. Enrollment restricted to graduate students.

Credits

5

Quarter offered

Fall

HISC 255 Carl Schmitt: Political and Legal Order in Modern Thought

Students study the main translated texts of Carl Schmitt's work, as well as certain secondary commentary on his body of thought. (Formerly course 255A.)

Credits

5

Instructor

Gopal Balakrishnan

Requirements

Enrollment is restricted to graduate students.

Quarter offered

Spring