This course examines the processes of colonization and decolonization that define the making of a modern, integrated world (c. 1500 to the present). We will study primary source materials. We focus on the instruments of colonization—the treaty, the charter, the map, the ethnology—and the engines of decolonization—the manifesto, the resistance, the solidarity with the colonial, the demand for self rule. We are interested in the processes and contents of social and cultural contact and exchange, the development of knowledge, and how they shape relations of power; the place of colonialism in the development of western capitalism; and the elements of colonial power and resistance, including ideologies of liberal political philosophy, social Darwinism, and nationalism. We will consider how ideas about race, civilization, religion, self and other, and freedom have evolved over time and shaped the making of the modern world.
This course explores techniques to harness the power of ``big data'' to answer questions related to political science and/or American politics. Students will learn how to use R---a popular open-source programming language---to obtain, clean, analyze, and visualize data. No previous knowledge of R is required.
We will focus on applied problems using real data wherever possible, using R's ``Tidyverse.'' In total, in this course we will cover concepts such as reading data in various formats (including ``cracking'' atypical government data sources and pdf documents); web scraping; data joins; data manipulation and cleaning (including string variables and regular expressions); data mining; making effective data visualizations; using data to make informed prediction, and basic text analysis. We will also cover programming basics including writing functions and loops in R. Finally, we will discuss how to use R Markdown to communicate our results effectively to outside audiences. Class sessions are applied in nature, and our exercises are designed around practical problems: Predicting election outcomes, determining the author of anonymous texts, and cleaning up messy government data so we can use it.
This course explores techniques to harness the power of ``big data'' to answer questions related to political science and/or American politics. Students will learn how to use R---a popular open-source programming language---to obtain, clean, analyze, and visualize data. No previous knowledge of R is required.
We will focus on applied problems using real data wherever possible, using R's ``Tidyverse.'' In total, in this course we will cover concepts such as reading data in various formats (including ``cracking'' atypical government data sources and pdf documents); web scraping; data joins; data manipulation and cleaning (including string variables and regular expressions); data mining; making effective data visualizations; using data to make informed prediction, and basic text analysis. We will also cover programming basics including writing functions and loops in R. Finally, we will discuss how to use R Markdown to communicate our results effectively to outside audiences. Class sessions are applied in nature, and our exercises are designed around practical problems: Predicting election outcomes, determining the author of anonymous texts, and cleaning up messy government data so we can use it.
This course explores the social, cultural, and political dimensions of water primarily through ethnographic studies, in a variety of geographic and spatial contexts, that engage both with water itself and with the things that surround and mix with it (pipes, walls, ditches, dirt, waste, sugar). Anthropology encourages us to consider water in its myriad arrangements and meanings—water can be dynamic, vital, threatening, toxic, a material through which our lives are structured and governed. Its relevance has only become heightened amid the constraints and hazards of climatic and sociopolitical change. We will be attentive to the many forms and combinations that characterize water’s place in our world, finding inspiration in its liquid ways while taking care not to become too occupied with its metaphorical qualities. The course is divided into thematic areas that have taken on critical weight and urgency in recent years: water futures, infrastructure and power, urban ecologies, and (de)colonial waters.
Mathematical foundations of machine learning: Linear algebra, multivariable calculus, and probability and statistics. Comprehensive review and additional treatment of
relevant topics used in the analysis and design of machine learning models. Preliminary exposure to core algorithms such as linear regression, gradient descent, principal
component analysis, low-rank approximations, and kernel methods.
What is the source of truth and authority? What is the origin of the world and how does that determine the social order? Who ought to rule, why, and how? What are the standards for measuring justice and injustice? What is our relationship to the environment around us and how should its resources be distributed among people? How do we relate to those who are different from us, and what does it mean to be a community in the first place? Historically, the answers to these questions that have been described as “religious” and “political” have been the restricted to a specific tradition of Western European Christianity and its secular afterlives. However, these are questions that every society asks, in order to be a society in the first place. This course analyzes how indigenous peoples in the Americas asked and answered these questions through the first three centuries of Western European imperial rule. At the same time, this course pushes students to question what gets categorized as uniquely “indigenous” thought, how, and why.
This course endeavors to understand the development of the peculiar and historically conflictual relationship that exists between France, the nation-states that are its former African colonies, and other contemporary African states. It covers the period from the 19th century colonial expansion through the current ‘memory wars’ in French politics and debates over migration and colonial history in Africa. Historical episodes include French participation in and eventual withdrawal from the Atlantic Slave Trade, emancipation in the French possessions, colonial conquest, African participation in the world wars, the wars of decolonization, and French-African relations in the contexts of immigration and the construction of the European Union. Readings will be drawn extensively from primary accounts by African and French intellectuals, dissidents, and colonial administrators. However, the course offers neither a collective biography of the compelling intellectuals who have emerged from this relationship nor a survey of French-African literary or cultural production nor a course in international relations. Indeed, the course avoids the common emphasis in francophone studies on literary production and the experiences of elites and the common focus of international relations on states and bureaucrats. The focus throughout the course is on the historical development of fields of political possibility and the emphasis is on sub-Saharan Africa. Group(s): B, C Field(s): AFR, MEU
In a 2015 interview with David Simon (creator of
The Wire
) President Barak Obama offered that
The Wire
is, "one of the greatest -- not just television shows, but pieces of American art in the last couple of decades."
The Wire
combines hyperrealism (from a-quasi anthropological capture of syntax and dialect that recalls the language of Langston Hughes and Zora Neal Hurston to a preference for actors who lived “the game” in Baltimore’s inner city) with the reinvention of fundamental American themes (from picaresque individualisms, to coming to terms with the illusory “American dream”, to a fundamental loss of faith in American institutions), and engages in a scathing expose of the shared dysfunction among the bureaucracies (police, courts, public schools etc.) that manage a troubled American inner city. On a more macro level
The Wire
humanizes (and therefore vastly problematizes) assumptions about the individual Americans’ who inhabit America’s most dangerous urban environments from gang members to police officers to teachers and even ordinary citizens.
The Wire
, of course, did not single-handedly reshape American television. Scholars like Martin Shuster refer to this period of television history as “new television.” That is, the product of new imaginations that felt television had exhausted its normative points of reference, subject matter and narrative technique. Many of the shows from this period sought to reinvent television for interaction with an evolving zeitgeist shaped by shared dissolution with 21st century American life: “I’d been thinking: it’s good to be in a thing from the ground floor, I came too late for that, I know. But lately I’m getting the feeling I might be in at the end. That the best is over,” Tony Soprano confides to Dr. Malfi in S1.E1 of the Sopranos. Series that fall within this rubric include (in chronological order):
The Sopranos
;
The Wire
;
Deadwood
;
Madmen
; and
Breaking Bad.
This course will examine British women writers including Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf in the context of the (long-) nineteenth-century "Woman Question". Our inquiry will engage the controversy over a woman’s status in terms of the social and political debates of early feminism as well as the enigma of “woman’s nature” in light of the rise of psychology and psychoanalysis in the period. We will consider how women writers negotiate these current social and psychological discourses in the stories they tell about themselves and others: how do they portray a woman’s life, especially as it manifests the tension George Eliot articulates between “inward impulse and outward fact”? We will pay attention to representations of gender, subjectivity, interiority, desire, domestic affections, friendship, education, economic and professional experience, faith, and creativity as reflecting the struggle, rising influence, and emergent identity of woman. In addition to novels, poetry, and drama, we will read excerpts of critical essays from among our primary authors and other prominent thinkers of the period, such as Wollstonecraft, Martineau, Taylor Mill, and Freud, who, by the early twentieth century, still famously puzzles: “What does a woman want?”
This class focuses on the role of a creative producer during development of low budget film. Students will learn the framework for identifying good stories and developing them into a 3-5 minute short screenplay. We will explore the fundamental aspects of script development and the collaborative relationship between a producer and writer during the development phase. Students will learn critical elements such as writing an effective logline, treatment, and screenplay, and how to provide constructive notes and script analysis thereafter. Through lectures, screenings, writing assignments, and discussions, students will complete the course having written a first draft of a short screenplay, revision and set of written notes as a producer.
This practical lab focuses on the fundamental aspects of development, planning and preparation for low budget films. While using a short film script as their own case study – students will learn pitching, development, script breakdown, scheduling, budgeting and fundraising. Discussion of legal issues, location scouting, deliverables, marketing, distribution and film festival strategy will allow students to move forward with their own projects after completing the class. Using weekly assignments, in-class presentations and textbook readings to reinforce each class discussion topic, students will complete the class having created a final prep/production binder for their project, which includes the script breakdown, production schedule, line item budget, financing/fundraising plan and film festival strategy for their chosen script.
This class will focus on John Milton’s 1667 epic poem about the creation of the world and the fall of humanity; Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel about a scientist’s creation of life; and Toni Morrison’s 1997 novel about a small, rural, all-black town in Oklahoma. In addition to the explicit echoes between these books, each work is interested in the relationship between the natural world and human beings; gender difference, relations between the sexes, and the reproduction of human life; and the bases of, and threats to, an ideal society. By reading these three works of art in sequence, we will thus look at how authors engage similar issues in different ways, paying particular attention to the role of history, nation, genre, politics, literary tradition, and authorial identity. Finally, we will consider the ways in which authors’ revising, refuting, and re-envisioning of “source” texts affects our readings of the “source” texts as much as the new.
Research training course. Recommended in preparation for laboratory related research.
Research training course. Recommended in preparation for laboratory related research.
Candidates for the B.S. degree may conduct an investigation of some problem in chemical engineering or applied chemistry or carry out a special project under the supervision of the staff. Up to 6 points may be counted toward the technical elective content requirement. (Note that if more than 3 points of research are pursued, an undergraduate thesis is required.)
Research experience for undergraduate students interested in gaining hands-on practical experience in research. Students work with full-time faculty in their department on a research topic in their discipline.
Research experience for undergraduate students interested in gaining hands-on practical experience in research. Students work with full-time faculty in their department on a research topic in their discipline.
Research experience for undergraduate students interested in gaining hands-on practical experience in research. Students work with full-time faculty in their department on a research topic in their discipline.
May be repeated for credit, but no more than 6 points of this course may be counted toward the satisfaction of the B.S. degree requirements. Candidates for the B.S. degree may conduct an investigation in materials science or carry out a special project under the supervision of the staff. Credit for the course is contingent upon the submission of an acceptable thesis or final report.
“Find a subject you care about and which in your heart you feel others should care about. It
is this genuine caring, not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and
seductive element in your style.” Kurt Vonnegut
What makes the essay of personal experience an essay rather than a journal entry? How can
one's specific experience transcend the limits of narrative and transmit a deeper meaning to any
reader? How can a writer share the wisdom gained from personal experience without
lecturing her reader? In The Art of the Essay, we explore the answers to these questions by
reading personal essays in a variety of different forms. We begin with Michel de Montaigne, the
16th-century philosopher who popularized the personal essay as we know it and famously
asked, “What do I know?" We then follow the development of the form as a locus of rigorous
self-examination, doubt, persuasion, and provocation. Through close reading of a range of
essays from writers including Annie Dillard, Salman Rushdie, Langston Hughes, Jamaica Kincaid, and June
Jordan, we analyze how voice, form, and evidence work together to create a world of meaning
around an author's experience, one that invites readers into conversations that are at once
deeply personal and universal in their consequences and implications.
GRKM3936OC Hellenism and the Topographical Imagination
, 3 points. Instructor: Dimitris Antoniou, Associate Research Scholar and Lecturer in Hellenic Studies,
Columbia Summer Global Core: The Athens
Experience
examines the way particular spaces—cultural, urban, literary—serve as sites for the production and reproduction of cultural and political imaginaries. It places particular emphasis on nationalism and the theme of the
polis
(the city) as well as on spatial representations of and responses to notions of the Hellenic across time. What understandings of Greek culture, society, and environment emerge from cartography, scientific expeditions, archaeological excavations, and, more recently, economic and artistic commissions? In what ways does the idea of crisis (economic, environmental, public health) shape understandings of Greek everyday life and cultural production today? We will engage in a historically informed study of the “right now” and learn through collaborative work, cross-media exploration, and a project-based approach. The program will be structured around the Global Core course
Hellenism and the Topographical Imagination
and will consist of classroom seminars centered on the study and discussion of texts, films, and cultural artifacts; site visits, fieldtrips, and walking tours; and workshop sessions, all of which will prepare students for this year’s final project—curating a permanent exhibition in the new Athens Global Center examining the neoclassical building’s important place in the capital’s cultural and political life.
To enroll in this course, you must apply to the
Columbia Summer Global Core: The Curatorial Project Program
through the Center for Undergraduate Global Engagement (UGE).
Global Learning Scholarships
available.
Tuition
charges apply.
Please note the program dates are different from the Summer Sessions Terms. Visit the
UGE
This seminar explores the intertwined histories of the Ottoman Empire and the United States during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through migration, mobility, and cultural exchange. It examines why diverse Ottoman subjects (Armenian, Greek, Turkish, Arab, Jewish, etc.) migrated to the United States and how they navigated life and contributed to the country’s evolving social and cultural fabric. Students will analyze migration experiences, community formations, and identity negotiations while considering how race, religion, class, and gender shaped the lives of transnational Ottoman communities in America. The course also investigates how Americans imagined the Ottoman world through missionary writings and journalism, and how Ottoman migrants themselves influenced these representations. Combining global and local perspectives, the seminar draws on historical, cultural, and sociological methods. Field-based learning, including visits to historic sites in New York City once home to Ottoman immigrant communities, complements classroom discussions.
1-4 points. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisites: the instructors permission. Except by special permission of the director of undergraduate studies, no more than 4 points of individual research may be taken in any one term. This includes both PSYC UN3950 and PSYC UN3920. No more than 8 points ofPSYC UN3950 may be applied toward the psychology major, and no more than 4 points toward the concentration. Readings, special laboratory projects, reports, and special seminars on contemporary issues in psychological research and theory.
1-4 points. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisites: the instructors permission. Except by special permission of the director of undergraduate studies, no more than 4 points of individual research may be taken in any one term. This includes both PSYC UN3950 and PSYC UN3920. No more than 8 points ofPSYC UN3950 may be applied toward the psychology major, and no more than 4 points toward the concentration. Readings, special laboratory projects, reports, and special seminars on contemporary issues in psychological research and theory.
What can we know? What is knowledge? How is it different from belief? Are there irrational beliefs? Are false beliefs a mark of irrationality? These are just some of the topics that we will explore as we read various classical works in epistemology.
May be repeated for credit, but no more than 3 total points may be used for degree credit. Only for Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering undergraduate students who include relevant off-campus work experience as part of their approved program of study. Final report and letter of evaluation required. May not be used as technical or nontechnical electives or to satisfy any other Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering major requirements. May not be taken for pass/fail credit or audited.
Obtained internship and approval from faculty adviser. Written application must be made prior to registration outlining proposed internship and study program. Final reports required. May not be taken for pass/fail credit or audited. Fieldwork credits may not count toward any major core, technical elective, and nontechnical requirements. International students must also consult with the International Students and Scholars Office. Note: only for EAEE undergraduate students who need relevant off-campus work experience as a part of their program of study as determined by instructor.
Independent projects involving experimental, theoretical, computational, or engineering design work. May be repeated, but no more than 3 points of this or any other projects or research course may be counted toward the technical elective degree requirements as engineering technical electives.
Independent project involving theoretical, computational, experimental, or engineering design work. May be repeated, but no more than 3 points may be counted toward degree requirements. Projects requiring machine-shop use must be approved by the laboratory supervisor. Students must submit both a project outline prior to registration and a final project write-up at the end of the semester.
May be repeated for credit, but no more than 3 total points may be used toward the 128credit degree requirement. Only for APAM undergraduate students who include relevant off-campus work experience as part of their approved program of study. Final report and letter of evaluation required. Fieldwork credits may not count toward any major core, technical, elective, and nontechnical requirements. May not be taken for pass/fail credit or audited.
May be repeated for credit, but no more than 3 total points may be used toward the 128-credit degree requirement. Only for BMEN undergraduate students who include relevant off-campus work experience as part of their approved program of study. Final report and letter of evaluation required. Fieldwork credits may not count toward any major core, technical, elective, and non-technical requirements. May not be taken for pass/fail credit or audited.
Provides work experience on chemical engineering in relevant intern or fieldwork experience as part of their program of study as determined by the instructor. Written application must be made prior to registration outlining proposed internship/study program. A written report describing the experience and how it relates to the chemical engineering core curriculum is required. Employer feedback on student performance and the quality of the report are the basis of the grade. This course may not be taken for pass/fail or audited. May not be used as a technical or nontechnical elective. May be repeated for credit, but no more than 3 points total of CHEN E3999 may be used for degree credit.
CEEM undergraduate students only. Written application must be made prior to registration outlining proposed internship/study program. Final reports required. May not be taken for pass/fail credit or audited. International students must also consult with the International Students and Scholars Office.
May be repeated for credit, but no more than 3 total points may be used toward the 128-credit degree requirement. Only for MECE undergraduate students who include relevant on-campus and off-campus work experience as part of their approved program of study. Final report and letter of evaluation required. Fieldwork credits may not count toward any major core, technical, elective, and nontechnical requirements. May not be taken for pass/fail credit or audited.
Prerequisites: A good working knowledge of calculus, including derivatives, single and double, limits, sums and series. Life is a gamble and with some knowledge of probability / statistics is easier evaluate the risks and rewards involved. Probability theory allows us take a known underlying model and estimate how likely will we be able to see future events. Statistical Inference allows us to take data we have seen and estimate the missing parts of an unknown model. The first part of the course focus on the former and the second part the latter.
Introduction to
Classical Japanese I JPNS4007OC, 4 points
.
You are required to take Introduction to
Classical Japanese II, JPNS4008OC, 4 points with this course.
Instructor:
Matthew Fraleigh
This course is intended primarily for beginning students who have no prior knowledge of Classical Japanese (bungo 文語 / kobun 古文 / kogo 古語, etc.). It is designed to give students a systematic and intensive introduction to the grammar of classical Japanese. Texts are taken mainly from the Heian and medieval periods, though texts from later periods will also be introduced. It is expected that by the end of the course students will have acquired a firm foundation in classical Japanese grammar and will be able to read classical Japanese texts with the aid of a dictionary. Students will generally find that they also have an improved grasp of modern Japanese grammar and will also gain experience in using Japanese-Japanese dictionaries. The course will also include some instruction in reading cursive Japanese, primarily variant kana (hentaigana).
To enroll in this course, you must apply to the
Kyoto Consortium (KCJS) Summer: Classical Japanese Program
th
rough the Center for Undergraduate Global Engagement (UGE).
Global Learning Scholarships
available.
Tuition
charges apply.
Please note the program dates are different from the Summer Sessions Terms. Visit the
UGE
website for the start and end dates for the Columbia Summer in Paris program. Email
uge@columbia.edu
with any questions you may have.
Introduction to
Classical Japanese II JPNS4008OC, 4 points
.
You are required to take Introduction to
Classical Japanese 1I, JPNS4007OC, 4 points with this course
Instructor: Matthew Fraleigh
This course is intended primarily for beginning students who have no prior knowledge of Classical Japanese (bungo 文語 / kobun 古文 / kogo 古語, etc.). It is designed to give students a systematic and intensive introduction to the grammar of classical Japanese. Texts are taken mainly from the Heian and medieval periods, though texts from later periods will also be introduced. It is expected that by the end of the course students will have acquired a firm foundation in classical Japanese grammar and will be able to read classical Japanese texts with the aid of a dictionary. Students will generally find that they also have an improved grasp of modern Japanese grammar and will also gain experience in using Japanese-Japanese dictionaries. The course will also include some instruction in reading cursive Japanese, primarily variant kana (hentaigana).
Course Schedule:
The course will be taught Monday-Friday in a four hour block (with two short breaks), and the current plan is to hold class from 8 am to 12 noon EST. As part of the application process, applicants will be surveyed about their schedules and it is possible that some adjustments will be made to the class meeting time to accommodate participants in different time zones. The final course schedule will be determined and shared with potential students prior to when students need to confirm participation in the course.
To enroll in this course, you must apply to the
Kyoto Consortium (KCJS) Summer: Classical Japanese Program
through the Center for Undergraduate Global Engagement (UGE).
Global Learning Scholarships
available.
Tuition
charge
Pushing back against this trope of homelessness, this course illuminates the robust, vibrant, and multifacetted
qualities of a home in the Diaspora, lasting for over a millennium, that both Ashkenazi and Sephardi
Jews managed to create for themselves in lands, predominantly populated by Slavs. They did so despite the
many constraints of legal and religious discrimination, threats of physical violence, displacement, and countless
forms of exclusion from dominant society. Moving across centuries, countries, and languages, we will revisit the
contributions of the Jews to their so called “host cultures” by way of diverse media—literary and non-fictional
works, memoirs, artistic works, songs, feature and documentary films, journalistic pieces, and more. By the end
of this journey, we will have gained a deeper understanding of the ways in which the Jews and Slavs have been
intimately imbricated and intertwined since times immemorial.
All course materials are available in English. No reading knowledge of Russian or other Slavic languages
is required. Course participants with the reading knowledge of any region-specific language are encouraged to
consult the respective originals, provided by the instructor upon request. This course will be of interest to those
majoring in Slavic and/or Jewish Studies, as well as anyone interested in Comparative Literature, History, Art
History, and Film and Visual Studies.