Fall 2021 Courses

Explore Asian art and rock-cut architecture and gain your Global Diversity, HALC, or second Theology credit in Professor Michelle C. Wang’s **ARTH 171: Buddhist Art** class!

All of the courses listed here have received approval for Global Medieval Studies (MVST) credit X-listing. My Access and Classy are not entirely up to date. The Global Medieval Studies program will ensure that you receive MVST credit for these courses.

How to find X-listed Courses

Courses are not currently published in MyAccess or Classy. In the meantime, please take advantage of the courses listed below to aid you as you plan your schedule for the fall.

In MyAccess: Log in to MyAccess, then select the “Student Services” tab. Navigate to “Registration”, choose “Schedule of Classes” from the menu that appears, then select “Fall 2021” from the drop down menu. Click on any subject, then hold down Ctrl + A (on PC) or Command + A (on Mac) to select all courses. Near the bottom of the page, select X-List: MVST, then press “Class Search”. The next web page should list all X-listed MVST courses.

In Classy: Go to Classy | by The Corp and select “MVST” under the drop down menu “Cross-listed with”.

Find our course offerings for the Fall 2021 semester below.

ARAB 201-01: Intro to Islamic Civilization – MW 2:00-3:15pm, R 4:00-5:00pm – Adem – 36365

Core: Diversity/Global; Taught in English; SFS/CULP Core; CORE: HALC

This course is designed as an introduction to Islamic civilization and thought and requires no prior knowledge of Islam or Middle Eastern History. It will focus on the political, social and religious institutions that shaped Islamic civilization as well as on the intellectual and scholarly traditions which characterized the Arab and Muslim world from the pre-Islamic time onwards. Beginning with the geographical, cultural and historical context of the rise of Islam, the life of the Prophet, the Qur’an, it will extend through the pre-modern time, with a special emphasis on texts. The readings consist of a selection of translated primary sources as well as complementary background essays. In addition to the political history of this period, we will discuss a wide range of social and cultural themes including the translation movement, science and literature, art and architecture as well as gender issues.

ARAB 201-02: Intro to Islamic Civilization – MW 2:00-3:15pm, F 4:00-5:00pm – Omar – 39384

Core: Diversity/Global; Taught in English; SFS/CULP Core; Core: HALC, Core: Theology

ARAB 345: 1001 Nights – W 3:30-6:00pm – Colla – 40318

Core: Diversity/Global, Taught in English, SFS/RCST Middle East, Core:HALC – Hum, Art, Lit, Cul, X-List: CPLT, X-List: ENGL, X-List: MAAS, X-List: MSFS

Within the classical Arabic literary tradition, the textual variants known as Alf layla wa-layla have a truly ambiguous status, at once influential and marginal to the understanding and practice of adab. This course will engage with critical readings of Alf layla wa-layla, set into conversation with texts such as al-Tanoukhi’s al-Faraj ba‘d al-shidda and al-Ramhurmuzi’s ‘Aja’ib al-Hind. Readings will be in Arabic.

ARAB 370: Justice in the Islamic Tradition – TR 12:30-1:45pm – Opwis – 37979

Core: Diversity/Global; Taught in English; SFS/CULP Core; SFS/RCST Middle East; Core: HALC; College/SFS/REWA Area 2

What is justice as perceived by Muslims and how do Muslim writers articulate their vision of justice throughout the ages? These questions are a common thread in this course which introduces students to wide variety of writings within the Islamic tradition, with an emphasis on the period from the 7^th to the 16^th century, though also touching on modern Muslim articulations. The course explores the theoretical and practical dimension of how to achieve justice, looks at the way conceptions of justice may change over time, and what factors drive changes in articulation. After situating the Islamic tradition into general conceptions of justice, ranging from Aristotle and Kant to MacIntyre and Walzer, the course focuses on original writings in English translation drawn from different fields of Islamicate writings, covering religious scripture, literary texts, philosophical treatises, historical writings, and legal works that address and reflect conceptions of justice.

Students learn how to situate these texts into their intellectual and historical contexts and interpret their authors’ understanding of justice and the world in which they live. The course readings and discussions explore the dynamic interaction between the realm of the religious with literature, politics, law, and philosophy. The course is based on close reading and in-class discussion of these texts, and requires students to write throughout the semester three short papers (5 pages each) on questions raised by the course material as well as a final research paper (10-15 pages). Taught in English.

ARAB 495: The Qur’an and its Interpretations – T 12:30-3pm – Omar – 39889

Core: Diversity/Global; SFS/CULP Core; SFS/RCST Middle East; X-List: MAAS; X-List: MSFS; X-List: WGST; Core: Theology

Since its revelation, the Qur’an has served as a source of spiritual insight, ethico-legal guidance, sacred narratives, and theological principles. We will begin with an overview of the Qur’an’s genesis as an oral revelation and its compilation and transformation into a written and canonized text. We will closely read Qur’anic passages and examine their interpretive traditions as well as explore some major themes, such as creation; the phenomenon of prophecy; the relationship between the Prophet Muhammad and biblical prophets; and the varying interpretations of contested verses related to women and gender. We will examine Qur’anic verses and primary Arabic texts in their historical context as well as how they have been interpreted and appropriated by various claimants to religious authority. Throughout the course, we will gauge the subjective values and assumptions of interpreters (including our own) that contribute to interpretations of the Qur’an. Taught in English.

ARAB 635: Arabic & Islamic Historiography – 5:00-7:30pm – Adem – 39891

X-List: HIST, X-List: MAAS, X-List: MSFS

This graduate seminar is a reading-intensive survey of the principal historical sources in Arabic for Middle Eastern social, intellectual, and political history from the 7th to 15th century and beyond. This survey of Arabic texts and their authors includes: discussion of historical and literary documents, methods of prosopography for Islamic thought and civilization, considerations regarding intellectual history, and assessment of historiographical topics of interest. The course will be taught in English, but prior Arabic language study is required.

ARTH 101: Ancient to Medieval Art – WF 11:00-12:15pm – Tilney – 10145

SFS/IHIS Core; SFS/RCST Western Europe; College/SFS/European Stud Cert; Core:HALC; X-List: CATH

This lecture course surveys the art and architecture from the Paleolithic period through the Gothic period. Within a roughly chronological structure, we will explore the art of these periods in relation to their broader cultural, intellectual, and historical contexts. In addition to emphasizing the developments that define each historical period, we will consider the aesthetic advances made with the painting materials and methods available at the time.

ARTH 122: Art and Architecture of Medieval and Early Renaissance Italy – TBA – Oberer – 22960

SFS/CULP Humanities; Core: HALC

Registration in the class requires department approval. Taught at Villa Le Balze in Fiesole, Italy. Students may enroll by application only, please visit studyabroad.georgetown.edu to apply and to get further information.

ARTH 171: Buddhist Art – MW 11:00-12:15pm – Wang – 38011

SFS/CULP Humanities; SFS/RCST Asia; College/Humanities & Writing II; Core: HALC; College/SFS/REWA Area 3; Core: Theology; Diversity/Global

This course will survey the Buddhist art and architecture of Asia through selected case studies of artworks and sites in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Among the topics to be studied include: representations of the historical Buddha’s life, rock-cut architecture, monastic complexes, painted mandalas, Zen portraits, as well as the roles played by patronage, pilgrimage, and ritual. Our focus upon the Buddhist art and architecture of Asia will allow us to think through not only the historical development of the religion and its visual and architectural forms, but also issues of cross-cultural transmission. In the process, students will gain familiarity not only with the religious and historical context of the artworks and sites and with the basic iconography of Buddhist deities, but also with methods of visual analysis that form the basis of art historical methodology. No prior knowledge of Asian art or religions is required or assumed.

ARTH 365: Latin American Art I – TR 11:00-12:15pm – Huezo – 39844

Core: HALC; Diversity/Global

The course examines the art of Mesoamerican before the Conquest (ca. 10th century BCE) and up to the period of independence (early 19th century CE). Organized chronologically, the course studies the art of Mesoamerica, early contact between Europeans and Indigenous Americans, the introduction of European art in Latin America, and the innovative transformation of both native and European art as a result of the conquest. By analyzing a variety of materials and topics that include architecture, paintings, sculptures, codices, and prints, the course places particular emphasis on the interaction between native traditions and imported ideas in relationship to religion, race, gender, politics, rituals, and daily life. While considering several important art movements, the course introduces students to the major theoretical issues regarding Latin American art and its interpretation.

ARTH 463: Earth, Art: China – M 2:00-4:30pm – Wang – 40312

Core: Diversity/Global

This seminar examines earth as material, site, and concept for art-making in China from prehistoric times to the present day. Although Chinese ritual and connoisseurial texts privileged ritual objects made of bronze and works of painting and calligraphy made from ink and silk, the earliest extant artifacts in China are ceramic vessels made from clay. Furthermore, knowledge of how to work with clay and earth was critical to the production of objects and sites both miniscule and monumental in scale: from small terracotta figurines of the silk routes to the Great Wall of China. In this seminar, we will consider the artisanal knowledge that emerged from the very earth of China, as well as frameworks such as site-specificity, new materialism, and environmental humanities. For MVST credit if research project addresses a pre-1500 topic.

CHIN 362: Intro to Classical Chinese – TR 3:30-4:45pm – Kafalas – 23598

Classical Chinese is the language of the bulk of the Chinese textual tradition from early historical and philosophical writings down to the early twentieth century. This course introduces the basic structures and vocabulary of that language, which still has a large influence on the formal written prose of modern newspapers and documents. Prerequisite: -212 or permission of instructor.

CLSL 207: Vergil Through the Ages – MW 9:30-10:45 – Haynes – 39841

Core:HALC – Hum, Art, Lit, Cul, Literature in Translation

No course description.

ENGL 091-01: History of Literature, Media, and Culture I – MW 2-3:15 – Wickham-Crowley – 28791

How do we negotiate coverage of 1200 years of literature, c. 600 to 1800, in a single term? Students and professors alike have their issues with survey courses—this course, an introduction to the English major, is no exception. We will try to sample significant works in the literature of Britain while avoiding a chronological slog, casting a few glances at material culture, such as architecture and manuscripts, along the way. But what does that word “significant” mean here? New literary forms? Suppressed voices? New influences or styles? Cultural change? Famous writers? Join us and see what we find.

ENGL 091-02: History of Literature, Media, and Culture I – MW 3:30-4:45 – Wickham-Crowley – 23323

ENGL 108: Chaucer and the Fourteenth Century – TR 3:30-4:45pm – Hirsh – 35188

Core: Diversity/Domestic; Core: HALC; X-List: CATH

A reading and discussion of Chaucer’s great (if unfinished) master-work, the Canterbury Tales, a work of first importance to anyone who reads (or writes) narrative fiction. Students will read the work in original Middle English in which Chaucer wrote it, and discuss it in small and in large groups, focusing upon the work’s narrative strategies, intellectual constructions, and artistic accomplishment. They will also write, in a variety of ways, about those aspects which particularly take their interest.

GERM 043: Witches in History, Literature, and Film – TR 9:30-10:45am – Grayck – 26897

Taught in English; SFS/CULP Humanities; SFS/CULP Core; Core: HALC; X-List: CATH; X-List: ENGL; X-List: WGST

This course is an entry point to the Cultural Humanities and Arts at Georgetown University. It examines the construction and representation of the witch in the context of history, literature, and film, with an emphasis on historical and cultural products from German-speaking areas and Europe more broadly. The course investigates what is clearly one of the most disturbing and inexplicable occurrences in human history. Unlike the Holocaust, to which the witch hunts are frequently compared, the persecution of witches cannot be viewed as a relatively brief and unusually violent historical anomaly, since it continued over several hundred years; the witch hunts cannot be explained in the context of national specificity since they spanned almost the entire European continent and migrated to early America; nor can these events be blamed on any single “madman.” As a historical phenomenon, the witch persecution defies simplistic explanations and thus lends itself particularly well to the kinds of investigation this course intends. In order to examine the construction and representation of the witch in the context of history, literature, and film, the course explores three specific textual areas: historical and trial records on the “Burning Times” in early modern Europe, with an emphasis on the German lands; literary works and films with a focus on cultural products from German-speaking areas and Europe (such as fairy tales, from the Brothers Grimm to Disney, and contemporary filmic depictions of the witch theme); and scholarship interpreting and analyzing historical, literary, and other artistic sources.

HIST 007: Intro Early History: Europe I – MW 10:00-10:50am – Shedel

Core: Diversity/Global, SFS/CORE Macro-Integ History

The core requirement in History for COLLEGE students is as follows: 1 HIST Focus course: HIST 099, any section. Please note that HIST 099 must be taken at GU. 1 introductory History survey: 007, 008, 106, 107, 111, 112, 128, 129, 158, 159, 160, 161, 225, or 227. Note that students who receive AP or IB credit or placement for History CANNOT take HIST 007, 008, or 099 for credit and should instead complete the requirement with courses in the 100-499 range. HIST 007 Intro Early History: World I or Europe I The various sections of HIST 007 have different focuses, for which see below; moreover, each instructor may develop or stress particular themes within her/his focus. Students are urged to consult syllabi available on line or at the History Department. The World I sections examine the history of the human experience from a global perspective. The bulk of the semester concerns societies and states from the time of ancient civilizations to about 1500 AD. The course pays particular attention to political, economic, and social changes, but also considers cultural, technological, and ecological history. The evolving relationship between human identities and their social and material environments forms one of the major points of analytical focus for this course. The overarching goal is to provide a general framework for the history of the world to help students understand the big picture, and to help them to contextualize what they will later study about history, politics, religion–in short, about the human experience. The Europe I sections offer an analysis of the major political, social, economic, diplomatic, religious, intellectual, and scientific developments in European Civilization to 1789. A quarter of the seats have been reserved for first years.

HIST 007/62: Intro Early History: Europe I – TBA – Brizio – 38371

HIST 099-05/08: History Focus: The Italian Renaissance – TRF 3-3:50 – Astarita – 35836

The general aim of HIST 099 is to introduce students to various elements of historical work and thinking, within the context of looking at a particular historical period, event, or theme in some depth. Though lectures and discussion will focus on particular topics, there will also be class exercises, assignments, and readings that will allow instructors and students to explore how historians identify, define, and employ primary sources of all types, how historians analyze those sources, how they formulate questions, how they engage with the work of prior historians, and how they aim to reconstruct various elements of the human experience in particular times and places.

HIST 122: History of China I – TR 9:30-10:45am – Spendelow – 11486

Core: Diversity/Global; SFS/CORE History: Early Reg; MSB/IB Area Course

The course is introductory, has no prerequisites, and assumes no prior knowledge of China or its language. The organization of the course is basically chronological, but within that framework we will be approaching China from a wide range of viewpoints, taking up political, economic, social, religious, philosophical, and artistic developments. In this fall semester, we will cover the formation of China’s social, political, and intellectual culture and its development through various dynastic regimes, up through the end of the Ming Dynasty in the late 16th century. In addition, in this semester we will explore the historical roots of several claims made by the People’s Republic of China in the 21st century, including linkages with Xinjiang, Central Asia, and Tibet; the “Silk Road” origins of the 2013 “One Belt, One Road” project, and China’s aspirations for a blue-water navy. The course has two basic goals: (1) to present a basic introduction to the traditions and legacies of the history and culture of China, including conflicting, even contradictory, interpretations of these traditions/legacies; and (2) to use the specific study of China as a means for developing more general skills in the discipline of historical analysis.

HIST 124: History of Japan I – TR 2-3:15pm – Spendelow – 40213

Core: Diversity/Global; SFS/CORE History: Early Reg; MSB/IB Area Course

This course begins a two-part sequence offering a general history of Japan from the earliest records of Japanese civilization through to the present. The course is introductory, has no prerequisites, and assumes no prior knowledge of Japan or its language. The organization of the course is basically chronological, but within that framework we will be approaching Japan from a wide range of viewpoints, taking up political, economic, social, religious, philosophical, and artistic developments. In this fall semester, we will cover the formation of Japan’s social, political, and intellectual culture, including the formation of Japan’s distinctive identity and the tensions between centrifugal and centripetal forces. We will also examine changes in Japan’s relationship to East Asia and, by the 16th century, the rest of the planet. The course ends with the collapse of the last of the shogunal/military governments in the 1860s, paving the way for Japan’s “modernization” in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The course has two basic goals: (1) to present a basic introduction to the traditions and legacies of the history and culture of Japan, including conflicting, even contradictory, interpretations of these traditions/legacies; and (2) to use the specific study of Japan as a means for developing more general skills in the discipline of historical analysis.

HIST 160/01-06: Middle East I – T 9:30-10:45am – Agoston – 28496

Core: Diversity/Global; SFS-Q/Core Regional History I; SFS/CORE History: Early Reg; SFS/CORE Macro-Integ History; MSB/IB Area Course

The core requirement in History for COLLEGE students is as follows: 1 HIST Focus course: HIST 099, any section. Please note that HIST 099 must be taken at GU. 1 introductory History survey: 007, 008, 106, 107, 111, 112, 128, 129, 158, 159, 160, 161, 225, or 227. Note that students who receive AP or IB credit or placement for History CANNOT take HIST 007, 008, or 099 for credit and should instead complete the requirement with courses in the 100-499 range. Through lectures, readings, class discussion and audio-visual material, this course examines the history of the Middle East from the late sixth to the late seventeenth centuries. The lectures focus on broader topics, such as the emergence of Islam; the history of major Middle Eastern empires; changing geo-strategic and cultural conditions; and the evolution and functioning of classical and medieval Muslim institutions. Discussion sections will enable students to deepen their knowledge regarding local diversities within the unifying systems of Muslim beliefs, law, and administration; the material and intellectual exchanges and interactions between the Muslim world and non-Muslim communities and polities; and Muslim reactions to the Crusades and the Mongol invasions. Some seats have been reserved for first years.
Some seats in this class are reserved.

HIST 170: History of Russia I – TR 9:30-10:45am – Afinogenov – 11505

Core: Diversity/Global; SFS/CORE History: Early Reg; College/SFS/European Stud Cert; MSB/IB Area Course; College/SFS/REWA Area 3

The Slavs, Origins of Russia, Kiev, the Mongol period, Muscovy, Imperial Russia to 1825 with special attention to autocracy, serfdom, foreign policy, the Orthodox Church, Westernization, society, culture, and the birth of the revolutionary movement.

HIST 230: Europe after Rome – TR 3:30-4:45pm – Newfield – 32436

SFS/IHIS Core, SFS/IPOL Electives, SFS/RCST Western Europe, College/SFS/European Stud Cert, X-List: CATH, X-List: CLSS

Profound political, cultural and environmental transformations occurred in Europe between the fourth and the tenth centuries CE. As the Roman Empire gave way to “Dark Age” kingdoms, the ways of life of ordinary people and elites, within and beyond Rome’s former limits, forever changed. This course draws upon traditional historical sources as well as the material record (bones, buildings, soils and trees) to delve into the human and natural processes that defined the era. Diverse topics are addressed, from saints and popes, to barbarian migrations and recurrent plague, to multiculturalism and Christianization, to climate change and economic fragmentation. Although focused on Europe, the course also considers connections with Rome’s Byzantine and Muslim heirs.

HIST 360: Islam and War – W 9:30am-12:00pm – Agoston – 35872

Core: Diversity/Global, SFS/IHIS Core, SFS/IPOL Security Studies, SFS/RCST Middle East, College/SFS/REWA Area 2, X-List: MVST

This course examines Islamic warfare from the earliest Muslim conquests through WWI. After discussing classical Islamic conceptions of war and peace, the course examines the early Muslim conquests, the Crusades, the Mongol invasion of the Islamic world, and the wars of the Mamluk, Ottoman, and Safavid Empires. In the second part of the course we consider topics such as land, naval, and siege warfare, military manpower and military slavery in Islam, war financing, military technology, weapons and tactics, logistics and provisioning, fortresses and border defense, and the impact of war upon societies. The last phase of the course studies military modernization attempts of the Ottoman Empire and Egypt in the nineteenth century, and the ultimate defeat of modernized Muslim armies by the combined forces of ethnic nationalism and Great Power imperialism. In this section we also consider the increased destructiveness of modern warfare for non-combatants and the displacement of civilian populations.

IDST 010: Science and Religion – TR 3:30-4:45 – Collins

This Ignatius seminar is designed for first-year students with advanced placement in history who have an interest in pursuing the study of history at the upper level; some knowledge of European history and any science background will be helpful but is not necessary. Science and religion have played powerful roles in shaping Western civilization: unparalleled resources – human, financial, and natural – have been invested in each of them, and they can be associated with many of the West’s proudest accomplishments and cruelest wrongdoings. Thought of together, science and religion conventionally conjure up images of conflict. They are envisioned as rival forces associated with contending institutions and serving opposing interests. Historical controversies over the structure of the cosmos and modern-day debates over the science curriculum in U.S. high schools offer support to the conclusion that science and religion exist in an unrelenting state of war. The aim of this seminar is to test that generalization by examining the actual history, focusing on key episodes in which scientific and religious interests have intersected.

ITAL 387: Love & Friendship in Medieval Italian Literature – MW 3-4:15 – Ciabattoni – 40115

SFS/RCST Western Europe, Core:HALC – Hum, Art, Lit, Cul, X-List: MVST; Literature in Translation

This course traces the evolving meaning of the term “amistà” (“Friendship) in the Italian literature of 13th and 14th centuries. The notion of friendship allowed a certain degree of ambiguity since Classical Antiquity, signifying in Latin poetry alternatively an erotic relationship and a non-erotic, same-sex relationship. Christian poets such as Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarch dramatize the notion of friendship in a way that exploits poetically the term’s ambiguity in an attempt to reconcile between divine love (Agape, or charity) and human love (Eros). Readings will include Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio. A portion of this course will be devoted to reading facsimile editions of 14th-century manuscripts, including Petrarch’s partially autograph copy of his Songbook (Vat. Lat. 3195) and Boccaccio’s autograph of the Decameron (Hamilton 90). Course conducted in Italian.

SPAN 241: Spain Literature and Culture I – TR 11:00am-12:15pm – Silva – 15294

Core: Diversity/Global, SFS/CULP Humanities, SFS/CULP Core, SFS/RCST Western Europe, Core:HALC – Hum, Art, Lit, Cul, MSB/Humanities & Writing II

Prerequisite: SPAN-102, SPAN-104, or SPAN-110 with a grade of B+ or higher or placement exam. SPAN 241 is an introduction to Spanish literature from the twelfth through the seventeenth centuries and an introduction to the study of pre-modern literatures and cultures.

THEO 001: The Problem of God – Toom

This course examines the religious dimension of human experience; that is, some of the “big questions” that many do not want or even dare to ask before they absolutely have to. It focuses on the issues of God’s existence, possibility of knowing and saying anything about God, compatibility of the notions of a loving God and evil in the world, and the concept of God in major world religions.

THEO 077: Christian Mysticism – MW 2:00-3:15pm – Toom – 36041

X-List: CATH, Core: Theology

In both its physical and metaphysical dimensions, the question of our “place” in relation to the “world” or “nature” becomes urgent as we argue about anthropocentrism, weigh our individual and social interests against the planetary whole in which we participate, and recalibrate (even reinvent) the values and value hierarchies that ground our decisions. This module will look at Lynn White’s famous attack on (alleged) Christian anthropocentrism, Max Scheler’s The Human Place in the Cosmos, Erazin Kohák’s “A Human’s Place in Nature.” the film The Journey of the Universeproduced by the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, James Cameron’s film Avatar, and Heidegger’s “The Question concerning Technology.” Students will write three brief critical studies (choosing three of five options) and a final analysis relating this module to their work in other modules of this multi-disciplinary study of climate change.