This course is a rigorous introduction to the formal study of rhetoric. Often defined as the “art of persuasion,” rhetoric helps us understand the complexities of marshaling others to see, believe and act in particular ways. Reading a range of rhetorical theory—from the ancient to the contemporary—students will investigate how language is used to create meaning, construct identity, organize social groups, and produce change. Because argument and persuasion inherently involve ethical questions of power, students will also consider who and what benefits or is marginalized by particular assumptions, claims and practices. The course emphasizes cultural rhetoric and rhetorical genre theory to ask what different types of texts do, what cultural role they play in shaping knowledge, and what ideologies they embody. Students will analyze the rhetoric observed in a range of media—academic research, public communication, digital material, data visualization—and compose arguments, identifying assumptions, misinformation/disinformation, and counter arguments. Students engage with rhetorical theory to pose complex questions about important social issues, consider the discursive requirements of the moment, and write intentionally for a target audience.

This course is a scholarly investigation into the cultural, historical, social, psychological, religious and spiritual, literary and performative dimensions of world myth. It examines different approaches to the study of myth emerging from disciplines such as anthropology, history, literary studies, and psychology. Special attention will be paid to the effects of these narratives on literature and other kinds of cultural texts, past and present. We will also use myth to develop, and critically reflect on, comparative approaches to world cultures.

This course presents a study of global literature by engaging in critically informed analysis of texts from different geographical regions or cultural perspectives. Students will discover new modes for thinking about what global literature is, and how globalizing impulses have changed and shaped our world. One of the goals of the class is to analyze and discuss the works in their respective socio-historical contexts, with a special focus on the theme of encounter or contact zones. The impact of various factors such as migration, nationality, class, race, gender, generation, and religion will also be taken into consideration. The course can be repeated up to two times, for 6 semester credit hours, as long as the topics are different.

This course will examine variable topics within the scope of European history. In particular students will study the major European institutions, cultures, and societies as they have evolved throughout history, for example, the role of religion in European history, the rise of European nationalism, the age of discovery and colonialism/imperialism, or the various economic systems (feudalism, capitalism, communism, socialism). Students will also study Europe’s relationship both with other European powers as well as with the wider world.

This course will explore of how the contemporary global order in the 21st century has emerged from the historical events, processes and trends of the past 500-plus years. Since 1500, the world has changed dramatically, from several mostly—or entirely—separate and autonomous regions to a single interconnected system of people and societies. We will consider the political, social, economic, and technological developments as well as the intercultural and transregional contacts and interactions that helped create these changes.

This course will cover the military, diplomatic, political, social, and cultural history of World War II. It will focus on the causes of the war, the battles that decided the war, the leaders (civilian and military) who made the key decisions, and how the war changed society. The purpose of the course is to acquaint students with the political, social, economic, military, and cultural history of WWII and that conflict's impact upon our own era.

This course uses popular films to examine World War I as the global conflict that set the stage for the rise of communism, fascism, and subsequent wars in twentieth-century Europe. Students will gain an understanding of the major causes and outcomes of World War I while investigating how the war transformed class, gender, and racial politics in Europe. Special attention will be paid to the combat/trench experience, the home front/war front divide, the German occupation of Belgium and Northern France, “total war,” the politics of shell-shock and disability, and the legacies of grief, mourning, and commemoration. Because World War I so greatly divided its participants, little consensus about the war’s meaning emerged in its aftermath. Filmmakers have consequently used World War I as a blank slate on which to project political fantasies, condemn elements of their own societies, or imagine the future. Students will use secondary historical literature and original primary sources to analyze filmic representations of World War I and consider how filmmakers have deliberately misrepresented the past or constructed particular narratives about the war to serve their own ends. This course will therefore equip students to think critically about representations of the historical past in popular culture.