Required zero-credit/ungraded discussion for The Year 1000: A World History lecture (HIST UN1942). Discussion section day & times to be determined.
Research Methods in Neuroscience: Circuits and Cells offers students a unique opportunity to combine theoretical knowledge with practical skills development. This course pairs a weekly lecture with hands-on laboratory experiences, giving students a chance to see what day to day neuroscience research entails. The first three weeks of the semester will cover introductory topics in neuroscience, the scientific method, and experimental design. Then students will participate in three 3-week long modules covering human cognition, animal behavior, and neurological disease. The last two weeks of the course will be spent preparing students for a successful undergraduate research experience. Throughout the semester students will read scientific review articles to deepen their understanding of the lecture material and to contextualize that week’s lab experience.
This is the lab component for PSYC UN1950 Neuroscience Methods: Cells and Circuits.
This course builds on fundamentals of psychological and behavioral science by exploring reproducibility and replication on a global level. Students will learn from a wide range of studies and their real-world implications.
This lecture course introduces students to key concepts and questions in the anthropological study of power and politics. What is power? How and when is it concentrated? What is authority? What are its sources? By what forms and means has rule and rulership been conceived in diverse societies? How do anthropologists think about the nation and the state distinctly from the ways in which these categories have been conceptualized in political science and political theory, or by historians of exclusively Western (post-Westphalian) polities? The course materials include anthropological texts and classic works from those adjacent disciplinary traditions, as well as texts from literary and other fields.
Differential and integral calculus of multiple variables. Topics include partial differentiation; optimization of functions of several variables; line, area, volume, and surface integrals; vector functions and vector calculus; theorems of Green, Gauss, and Stokes; applications to selected problems in engineering and applied science.
Why does literature affect us as it does, why might you want to understand its history, strategies, and meaning, and how exactly do you go about that? This course won’t give you
the
answer, because there is no single answer. It will instead point the way toward the multitude of possible answers, giving you a variety of critical tools for exploring these questions, and deepening your powers as a thinker, reader, and writer.
The course consists of weekly lectures by department faculty members (ENGL 2000) and small weekly seminars with advanced doctoral candidates (ENGL 2001). The lectures will introduce you to texts from across literary history and in various genres (poetry, drama, prose narrative, etc.), giving you an opportunity to learn from and get to know our renowned faculty members. The intimate seminar setting will give you an opportunity to delve further into these texts and techniques, debate their meaning with one another and an expert guide, and engage in exercises that advance your critical writing and interpretive skills, putting into practice what you’ve learned. You will encounter the wide variety of critical approaches taken by our faculty, your seminar leader, and the discipline at large, while learning to expand upon these approaches and make them your own.
The course is required for English majors and minors (who should take it as early as possible in their Columbia careers), but it is for everyone: advanced students of literature or those new to literary study; committed majors or those still exploring; anyone seeking the excitement and immersion this course offers.
(
Note
: Students who register for ENGL UN2000 must also register for one of the sections of ENGL UN2001.)
"The Core as Praxis/Fieldwork” provides students with the opportunity to explore the connections among texts from the Core Curriculum, their work in their major field of study, and their work in a professional environment outside of Columbia’s campus. Students will be guided through a process of reflection on the ideas and approaches that they develop in Core classes and in the courses in their major, to think about how they can apply theory to practice in the context of an internship or other experiential learning environment. Students will reread and revisit a text that they have studied previously in Literature Humanities or in Contemporary Civilization as the basis for their reading and writing assignments over the semester.
To be eligible, students must (1) be engaged during the semester in an internship or other experiential learning opportunity, (2) have completed the sophomore year, and (3) have declared their major (or concentration)
. HUMAUN2000 may not be taken with the Pass/D/Fail option. All students will receive a letter grade for the course. Students can take HUMAUN2000 twice.
Introduction to essential data engineering methods. Potential topics include Arrays, Linked Lists, Stacks and Queues, Trees and Graphs, Hash Tables, Search Algorithms and Efficiency, Relational databases, SQL, NoSQL, and Data Wrangling. Practice both theory and applications using Python programming.
Introduction to understanding and writing mathematical proofs. Emphasis on precise thinking and the presentation of mathematical results, both in oral and in written form. Intended for students who are considering majoring in mathematics but wish additional training. CC/GS: Partial Fulfillment of Science Requirement.
This seminar investigates the concepts of ethnicity, race, and identity, in both theory and practice,
through a comparative survey of several case studies from the Pre-Modern history of the Middle East.
The course focuses on symbols of identity and difference, interpreting them through a variety of
analytical tools, and evaluating the utility of each as part of an ongoing exploration of the subject. The
survey considers theories of ethnicity and race, as well as their critics, and includes cases from the
Ancient World (c. 1000 BCE) through the Old Regime (c. 1800 CE).
Students in this course will gain a familiarity with major theories of social difference and alterity, and
utilize them to interpret and analyze controversial debates about social politics and identity from the
history of the Middle East, including ancient ethnicity, historical racism, Arab identity, pluralism in the
Islamic Empire, and slavery, among others. In addition, students will spend much of the semester
developing a specialized case study of their own on a historical community of interest. All of the case
studies will be presented in a showcase at the end of the semester.
All assigned readings for the course will be in English. Primary sources will be provided in translation.
The course meets once a week and sessions are two hours long.
The course provides an overview of environmental law for students without a legal background. It examines U.S. statutes and regulations regarding air, water, hazardous and toxic materials, land use, climate change, endangered species, and the like, as well as international environmental issues. After completing the course students should be equipped to understand how the environmental laws operate, the role of the courts, international treaties and government agencies in implementing environmental protection, and techniques used in addressing these issues.
This course delves into drawing as an expansive, exploratory practice that underpins all forms of visual art. Designed primarily as a hands-on workshop, the class is enriched with slide lectures, video presentations, and field trips. Throughout the semester, students will engage in individual and group critiques, fostering dialogue about their work. Beginning with still life and progressing to drawings of artworks, artifacts, and figure studies, the course investigates drawing as a dynamic practice connected to a wide array of visual cultures.
Required recitation session for students enrolled in APMA E2000.
Prerequisites: Students who register for ENGL UN2001 must also register for ENGL UN2000 Approaches to Literary Study lecture. This course is intended to introduce students to the advanced study of literature, through a weekly pairing of a faculty lecture (ENGL 2000) and small seminar led by an advanced doctoral candidate (ENGL 2001). Students in the course will read works from across literary history, learning the different interpretive techniques appropriate to each of the major genres (poetry, drama, and prose fiction). Students will also encounter the wide variety of critical approaches taken by our faculty and by the discipline at large, and will be encouraged to adapt and combine these approaches as they develop as thinkers, readers, and writers. ENGL 2000/2001 is a requirement for both the English Major and English Minor. While it is not a general prerequisite for other lectures and seminars, it should be taken as early as possible in a student's academic program.
Prerequisites: some calculus or the instructor's permission. Intended as an enrichment to the mathematics curriculum of the first years, this course introduces a variety of mathematical topics (such as three dimensional geometry, probability, number theory) that are often not discussed until later, and explains some current applications of mathematics in the sciences, technology and economics.
This course provides a hands-on introduction to techniques commonly used in current neurobiological research. Topics covered will include neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and invertebrate animal behavioral genetics. Participation in this course involves dissection of sheep brains and experimentation with invertebrate animals.
Prerequisites: (VIAR UN1000) Examines the potential of drawing as an expressive tool elaborating on the concepts and techniques presented in VIAR UN1001. Studio practice emphasizes individual attitudes toward drawing while acquiring knowledge and skills from historical and cultural precedents. Portfolio required at the end.
Prerequisites: a working knowledge of calculus. Corequisites: the second term of a course in calculus-based general physics. Continuation of ASTR UN2001; these two courses constitute a full year of calculus-based introduction to astrophysics. Topics include the structure of our galaxy, the interstellar medium, star clusters, properties of external galaxies, clusters of galaxies, active galactic nuclei, and cosmology.
Second Year Chinese II (CHNX2002) is the continuation of Second Year Chinese I (CHNSX2001). It is designed for students who have completed a rigorous three-semester college-level Mandarin course or its equivalent. This course aims to develop proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing at the Intermediate High to Advanced Low levels according to the ACTFL guidelines. Students will engage with real-world scenarios relevant to studying abroad and gain a deeper understanding of modern Chinese society and culture. Emphasis is placed on narration, description, comparison, and the development of intercultural competence through comparative cultural analysis. Course materials include dialogues and narratives to support vocabulary, grammar, communication, and cultural learning.
Prerequisites: EEEB UN2001 Second semester of introductory biology sequence for majors in enviromnental biology and environmental science, emphasizing the ecological and evolutionary aspects of biology. Also intended for those interested in an introduction to the principles of ecology and evolutionary biology.
This course is for students interested in learning how to conduct scientific research. They will learn how to (i) design well-controlled experiments and identify “quack” science; (ii) organize, summarize and illustrate data, (iii) analyze different types of data; and (iv) interpret the results of statistical tests.
Charge, electric field, and potential. Gausss law. Circuits: capacitors and resistors. Magnetism and electromagnetism. Induction and inductance. Alternating currents. Maxwells equations. This is a calculus-based class. Familiarity with derivatives and integrals is needed.
PLEASE NOTE: Students who take PHYS BC2002 may not get credit for PHYS BC2019 or PHYS BC2020.
This course offers an introduction to the intellectual, social, political, and cultural formations resulting from the revelation of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century until around 1800 CE. It is a “civilization” course and is introductory in nature. It is not a course in Islamic history, religion, philosophy, art, science, or literature, although all of these will be considered in various ways throughout the semester. The intent of the course is to survey the structures, themes, keywords, and subjects that are of interest for the study of Islamic societies, and to encounter a sampling of the historical sources that inform such surveys. Whether through documents, letters, sermons, explanations, publications, songs, or literature, the intention is to use historical sources in order to illuminate our understanding of the events of the past, and in particular, to help the student evaluate narratives about the past for themselves.
The course consists of a lecture and a recitation. All students must be registered for and attend both. The lectures will contextualize the required readings and primary sources, and students will participate in discussions about them in recitation. In addition to weekly readings, assignments include a weekly response post (~1 page), a midterm exam and a final exam. All of the course materials are presented in English
This course offers a chronological study of the Anglophone, Hispanophone, and Francophone insular Caribbean through the eyes of some of the region’s most important writers and thinkers. We will focus on issues that key Caribbean intellectuals--including two Nobel prize-winning authors--consider particularly enduring and relevant in Caribbean cultures and societies. Among these are, for example, colonization, slavery, national and postcolonial identity, race, class, popular culture, gender, sexuality, tourism and migration. This course will also serve as an introduction to some of the exciting work on the Caribbean by professors at Barnard College and Columbia University (faculty spotlights).
Introduction to the theory and practice of “ethnography”—the intensive study of peoples’ lives as shaped by social relations, cultural images, and historical forces. Considers through critical reading of various kinds of texts (classic ethnographies, histories, journalism, novels, films) the ways in which understanding, interpreting, and representing the lived words of people—at home or abroad, in one place or transnationally, in the past or the present—can be accomplished. Discussion section required.
This is a seminar course that covers the basics of mathematical proofs and in particular the epsilon-delta argument in single variable calculus.
Students who have little experience with mathematical proofs are strongly encouraged to take this course concurrently with Honors Math, Into to Modern Algebra, or Intro to Modern Analysis.
Interdisciplinary and thematic approach to the African diaspora in the Americas: its motivations, dimensions, consequences, and the importance and stakes of its study. Beginning with the contacts between Africans and the Portuguese in the 15th century, this class will open up diverse paths of inquiry as students attempt to answer questions, clear up misconceptions, and challenge assumptions about the presence of Africans in the New World.
A continuation of painting I - III, open to all skill levels. Students will further develop techniques to communicate individual and collective ideas in painting. This course will focus on individual and collaborative projects designed to explore the fundamental principles of image making. Students acquire a working knowledge of traditional studio skills and related concepts in contemporary art through class critiques, discussion, and individual meetings with the professor. Reading materials will provide historical and philosophical background to the class assignments. Class projects will range from traditional to experimental and multi-media. Image collections will be discussed in class with an awareness of contemporary image production.
Prerequisites: BIOL UN2005, or the instructors permission. Lecture and recitation. Recommended second term of biology for majors in biology and related majors, and for premedical students. Cellular biology and development; physiology of cells and organisms. SPS, Barnard, and TC students may register for this course, but they must first obtain the written permission of the instructor, by filling out a paper Registration Adjustment Form (Add/Drop form). The form can be downloaded at the URL below, but must be signed by the instructor and returned to the office of the registrar.
http://registrar.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/content/reg-adjustment.pdf
. Students must register for a recitation section BIOL UN2016.
A continuation of painting I - III, open to all skill levels. Students will further develop techniques to communicate individual and collective ideas in painting. This course will focus on individual and collaborative projects designed to explore the fundamental principles of image making. Students acquire a working knowledge of traditional studio skills and related concepts in contemporary art through class critiques, discussion, and individual meetings with the professor. Reading materials will provide historical and philosophical background to the class assignments. Class projects will range from traditional to experimental and multi-media. Image collections will be discussed in class with an awareness of contemporary image production.
Lecture and recitation. No previous study of Islam is required. The early modern, colonial, and post-colonial Islamic world studied through historical case studies, translated texts, and recent anthropological research. Topics include Sufism and society, political ideologies, colonialism, religious transformations, poetry, literature, gender, and sexuality.
The teen brain has received a lot of media coverage with advances in brain imaging techniques that
provide a voyeuristic opportunity for us to look under the hood of the behaving adolescent brain. This
course will cover empirical and theoretical accounts of adolescent-specific changes in brain and behavior
that relate to the development of self control. These accounts of adolescent brain and behavior will then
be discussed in the context of relevant legal, social and health policy issues. Lectures and discussion will
address: Under what circumstances self control appears to be diminished in adolescents. How do
dynamic changes in neural circuitry help to explain changes in self control across development? When
does the capacity for self control fully mature? Are these changes observed in other species? How might
these changes be evolutionarily adaptive and when are they maladaptive? How might understanding
adolescent brain and behavioral development inform interventions and treatments for maladaptive
behavior or inform policy for changing the environment to protect youth?
Examination of gender differences in the U.S. and other advanced industrial economies. Topics include the division of labor between home and market, the relationship between labor force participation and family structure, the gender earnings gap, occupational segregation, discrimination, and historical, racial, and ethnic group comparisons.
This course rethinks the ;birth of cinema; from the vantage of ;when old media was new.; Following standard approaches, it moves from actualities to fiction, from the ;cinema of attractions; to narrative, from the cinematographe to cinema, from cottage industry to studio system. Units in silent film music, early genres, film piracy and copyright, word and moving image, and restoration--the film archivists dilemma in the digital era. FILM W2011
Matrices, vector spaces, linear transformations, eigenvalues and eigenvectors, canonical forms, applications. (SC)
Only the most recent chapters of the past are able to be studied using traditional historiographical methods focused on archives of textual documents. How, then, are we to analyze the deep history of human experiences prior to the written word? And even when textual archives do survive from a given historical period, these archives are typically biased toward the perspectives of those in power. How, then, are we to undertake analyses of the past that take into account the lives and experiences of all of society’s members, including the poor, the working class, the colonized, and others whose voices appear far less frequently in historical documents? From its disciplinary origins in nineteenth century antiquarianism, archaeology has grown to become a rigorous science of the past, dedicated to the exploration of long-term and inclusive social histories.
“Laboratory Methods in Archaeology” is an intensive introduction to the analysis of archaeological artifacts and samples in which we explore how the organic and inorganic remains from archaeological sites can be used to build rigorous claims about the human past. The 2022 iteration of the course centers on assemblages from two sites, both excavated by Barnard’s archaeological field program in the Taos region of northern New Mexico: (1) the Spanish colonial site of San Antonio del Embudo founded in 1725 and (2) the hippie commune known as New Buffalo, founded in 1967. Participants in ANTH BC2012 will be introduced to the history, geology, and ecology of the Taos region, as well as to the excavation histories of the two sites. Specialized laboratory modules focus on the analysis of chipped stone artifacts ceramics, animal bone, glass, and industrial artifacts.
The course only demands participation in the seminars and laboratory modules and successful completion of the written assignments, but all students are encouraged to develop specialized research projects to be subsequently expanded into either (1) a senior thesis project or (2) a conference presentation at the Society for American Archaeology, Society for Historical Archaeology, or Theoretical Archaeology Group meeting.
Linear algebra with a focus on probability and statistics. The course covers the standard linear algebra topics: systems of linear equations, matrices, determinants, vector spaces, bases, dimension, eigenvalues and eigenvectors, the Spectral Theorem and singular value decompositions. It also teaches applications of linear algebra to probability, statistics and dynamical systems giving a background sufficient for higher level courses in probability and statistics. The topics covered in the probability theory part include conditional probability, discrete and continuous random variables, probability distributions and the limit theorems, as well as Markov chains, curve fitting, regression, and pattern analysis. The course contains applications to life sciences, chemistry, and environmental life sciences. No a priori background in the life sciences is assumed.
This course is best suited for students who wish to focus on applications and practical approaches to problem solving. It is recommended to students majoring in engineering, technology, life sciences, social sciences, and economics.
Math majors, joint majors, and math concentrators must take MATH UN2010 Linear Algebra or MATH UN1207 Honors Math A, which focus on linear algebra concepts and foundations that are needed for upper-level math courses. MATH UN2015 (Linear Algebra and Probability) does NOT replace MATH UN2010 (Linear Algebra) as prerequisite requirements of math courses. Students may not receive full credit for both courses MATH UN2010 and MATH UN2015. Students who have taken MATH UN2015 and consider taking higher level Math courses should contact a major advisor to discuss alternative pathways.
Prerequisites: Prerequisites: Course does not fulfill Biology major requirements or premedical requirements. Enrollment in laboratory limited to 16 students per section. Corequisites: BIOL UN2006 Prerequisites: Course does not fulfill Biology major requirements or premedical requirements. Enrollment in laboratory limited to 16 students per section. Exploration of the major discoveries and ideas that have revolutionized the way we view organisms and understand life. The basic concepts of cell biology, anatomy and physiology, genetics, evolution, and ecology will be traced from seminal discoveries to the modern era. The laboratory will develop these concepts and analyze biological diversity through a combined experimental and observational approach.
Prerequisites: Prerequisites: Course does not fulfill Biology major requirements or premedical requirements. Enrollment in laboratory limited to 16 students per section. Corequisites: BIOL UN2006 Prerequisites: Course does not fulfill Biology major requirements or premedical requirements. Enrollment in laboratory limited to 16 students per section. Exploration of the major discoveries and ideas that have revolutionized the way we view organisms and understand life. The basic concepts of cell biology, anatomy and physiology, genetics, evolution, and ecology will be traced from seminal discoveries to the modern era. The laboratory will develop these concepts and analyze biological diversity through a combined experimental and observational approach.
Prerequisites: Prerequisites: Course does not fulfill Biology major requirements or premedical requirements. Enrollment in laboratory limited to 16 students per section. Corequisites: BIOL UN2006 Prerequisites: Course does not fulfill Biology major requirements or premedical requirements. Enrollment in laboratory limited to 16 students per section. Exploration of the major discoveries and ideas that have revolutionized the way we view organisms and understand life. The basic concepts of cell biology, anatomy and physiology, genetics, evolution, and ecology will be traced from seminal discoveries to the modern era. The laboratory will develop these concepts and analyze biological diversity through a combined experimental and observational approach.
Prerequisites: Prerequisites: Course does not fulfill Biology major requirements or premedical requirements. Enrollment in laboratory limited to 16 students per section. Corequisites: BIOL UN2006 Prerequisites: Course does not fulfill Biology major requirements or premedical requirements. Enrollment in laboratory limited to 16 students per section. Exploration of the major discoveries and ideas that have revolutionized the way we view organisms and understand life. The basic concepts of cell biology, anatomy and physiology, genetics, evolution, and ecology will be traced from seminal discoveries to the modern era. The laboratory will develop these concepts and analyze biological diversity through a combined experimental and observational approach.
Prerequisites: Prerequisites: Course does not fulfill Biology major requirements or premedical requirements. Enrollment in laboratory limited to 16 students per section. Corequisites: BIOL UN2006 Prerequisites: Course does not fulfill Biology major requirements or premedical requirements. Enrollment in laboratory limited to 16 students per section. Exploration of the major discoveries and ideas that have revolutionized the way we view organisms and understand life. The basic concepts of cell biology, anatomy and physiology, genetics, evolution, and ecology will be traced from seminal discoveries to the modern era. The laboratory will develop these concepts and analyze biological diversity through a combined experimental and observational approach.
PHYS BC2020 Electricity & Magnetism -- Lecture Only is required as a pre- or co-requisite for this lab.
Prerequisite: Physics BC2001 or the equivalent.
Charge, electric field, and potential. Gauss's law. Circuits: capacitors and resistors. Magnetism and electromagnetism. Induction and inductance. Alternating currents. Maxwell's equations. This is a calculus-based class. Familiarity with derivatives and integrals is needed.
May be retaken for full credit.
Prerequisites: Open to all Barnard and Columbia undergraduates. Permission of Department through audition required. Students cast as actors in a departmental stage production register for this course; course emphasizes the collaborative nature of production, and appropriate research and reading required in addition to artistic assignments. Auditions for each semester's stage productions held 6pm on the first Tuesday and Wednesday class days of each semester. For required details, consult "Auditions" on the Barnard Theatre Department website in advance:
theatre.barnard.edu/auditions
.
In this course we will study major works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) in the Enlightenment cultures of players, listeners, and the operatic stage. Drawing on the influential persona theory of Edward T. Cone (
The Composer’s Voice
) that seeks to answer the question “If music is a language, then who is speaking?” we will consider the multiple personas Mozart constructed as vehicles for musical expression. For instrumental music (chamber music, concerto, symphony, fantasia) our topics will include musical sociability, the agency of instrumental protagonists, and the projection of affective states. For comic opera, the natural home of deceptive practices, we will consider the many ironies of persuasion. To what extent is the composer “in the work”? These insights may be applied to other composers in the western classical tradition. Reading knowledge of music is NOT required in this course.
May be retaken for full credit.
Prerequisites: Open to all Barnard and Columbia undergraduates. Permission of Department through audition required. Students cast as actors in a Senior Thesis in Directing register for this course. Auditions for each semester's stage productions held 6pm on the first Tuesday and Wednesday class days of each semester. For required details, consult "Auditions" on the Barnard Theatre Department website in advance:
theatre.barnard.edu/auditions
This upper-level lecture course will introduce students to the development of the nervous system. Topics will include: the formation of nerve cells, their migration, axonal pathfinding, and synapse formation. The course will discuss how these processes are influenced by experience, and various roles they play in neurodevelopmental disorders.
May be retaken for full credit.
Prerequisites: Open to all Barnard and Columbia undergraduates. Permission of Department through audition required. Students cast as actors in a Senior Thesis in Directing register for this course. Auditions for each semester's stage productions held 6pm on the first Tuesday and Wednesday class days of each semester. For required details, consult "Auditions" on the Barnard Theatre Department website in advance:
theatre.barnard.edu/auditions
May be retaken for full credit.
Prerequisites: Open to all Barnard and Columbia undergraduates. Permission of Department through audition required. Students cast as actors in a Senior Thesis in Directing register for this course. Auditions for each semester's stage productions held 6pm on the first Tuesday and Wednesday class days of each semester. For required details, consult "Auditions" on the Barnard Theatre Department website in advance:
theatre.barnard.edu/auditions
This course provides a comprehensive introduction to methods and theory in archaeology – by exploring how archaeologists work to create narratives about the past (and the present) on the basis on the material remains of the past. The course begins with a consideration of how archaeologists deal with the remains of the past in the present: What are archaeological sites and how do we ‘discover’ them? How do archaeologists ‘read’ or analyze sites and artifacts? From there, we will turn to the question of how archaeologists interpret these materials traces, in order to create narratives about life in the past. After a review of the historical development of theoretical approaches in archaeological interpretation, the course will consider contemporary approaches to interpreting the past.
Discussion section for course ANTH UN2028 THINK LIKE AN ARCHAEOLOGIST
Discussion section for course ANTH UN2028 THINK LIKE AN ARCHAEOLOGIST
Discussion section for course ANTH UN2028 THINK LIKE AN ARCHAEOLOGIST
Discussion section for course ANTH UN2028 THINK LIKE AN ARCHAEOLOGIST
Discussion section for course ANTH UN2028 THINK LIKE AN ARCHAEOLOGIST
Discussion section for course ANTH UN2028 THINK LIKE AN ARCHAEOLOGIST
Prerequisites: MATH UN1102 and MATH UN1201 or the equivalent. Special differential equations of order one. Linear differential equations with constant and variable coefficients. Systems of such equations. Transform and series solution techniques. Emphasis on applications.
This course seeks to introduce students to the diversity of doctrines held- and practices performed by Buddhists in Southeast Asia. By focusing on how specific beliefs and practices are tied to particular locations and particular times we will be able to explore in detail the religious institutions, artistic, architectural, and musical traditions, textual production and legal and doctrinal developments of Buddhism over time and within its socio-historical context. Religion is never divorced from its place and its time. Furthermore, by geographically and historically grounding the study of these religions we will be able to examine how their individual ethical, cosmological and soteriological systems effect local history, economics, politics and material culture. We will concentrate first on the person of the Buddha, his many biographies and how he has been followed and worshipped in a variety of ways from Mandalay, Myanmar to Phrae, Thailand, and beyond. From there we touch on the foundational teachings of the Buddha with an eye to how they have evolved and transformed over time. Finally, we focus on the practice of Buddhist ritual, magic and ethics in monasteries and among lay communities across Southeast Asia. This section will confront the way Buddhists have thought of issues such as “Just-War,” Women’s Rights and Abortion, Material Culture, etc.. While no one semester course could provide a detailed presentation of the beliefs and practices of Southeast Asian Buddhism, my hope is that we will be able to look closely at certain aspects of the tradition by focusing on how they are practiced across the region. While we will focus on the Theravada lineage of Buddhism, we will also look at Mahayana practices in places like Vietnam and Malaysia, as well as Buddhist encounters with Hindu, Muslim, Catholic, and Taoist practices in the region.
The course explores the relationship between music and myth in Western culture, with particular emphasis on the role that mythological narratives continued to play in societies where rituals and other forms of symbolic behavior were gradually displaced and abandoned. Greek civilization provided the model for a dramatic representation of human behavior rooted in the union of music and myth. Despite the decline of ritual in modern Western societies, the model of ancient tragedy continued to inspire ritual-like performances of mythological themes in complex literary, musical, and theatrical works. We will develop in-depth analyses of myths
that gave rise to particularly influential and rich musical traditions, including those of Odysseus, Orpheus, Oedipus, Ariadne, and Semele, as well as Wagner’s use of Norse mythology. In the process, we will investigate how myths were borrowed, adapted, reinterpreted, transformed, or recreated within the context of changing cultural configurations and against the backdrop of different claims about the meaning of the knowledge preserved and transmitted as myth.
This course brings our survey of the development of the art, technology, and industry of motion images up to the present. During this era, most people no longer watched movies (perhaps the most neutral term) in theaters, and digital technology came to dominate every aspect of production, distribution, and exhibition. Highlighted filmmakers include Michael Haneke, Lars von Trier, Wong Kar-wei, and Steve McQueen. Topics range from contemporary horror to animation. Requirements: short (2-3 pages) papers on each film shown for the class and a final, take-home exam. FILM W2041
Prerequisites: A grade of 5 on the Chemistry Advanced Placement exam and an acceptable grade on the Department placement exam. Corequisites: CHEM UN1507 Premedical students may take CHEM UN2045, CHEM UN2046, CHEM UN1507 and CHEM UN2545 to meet the minimum requirements for admission to medical school. This course covers the same material as CHEM UN2443-CHEM UN2444, but is intended for students who have learned the principles of general chemistry in high school OR have completed CHEM UN1604 in their first year at Columbia. First year students enrolled in CHEM UN2045-CHEM UN2046 are expected to enroll concurrently in CHEM UN1507. Although CHEM UN2045 and CHEM UN2046 are separate courses, students are expected to take both terms sequentially. A recitation section is required. Please check the Directory of Classes for details and also speak with the TA for the course.
This is an introductory lecture course to the study of Afro-diasporic religions particularly its evolution from the period of transatlantic slavery to present. Students will explore the linkages between Africa and its diaspora, particularly Latin America and the Caribbean and the United States. Through an interdisciplinary approach and Black feminist lens, with a focus on the historical, ethnographical, and philosophical, the course will traverse through selected religions and regions such as Santería & Lucumí in Cuba and Puerto Rico, Vodou in Haiti and Dominican Republic, Obeah and Rastafari in Jamaica, Camdomblé in Brazil, Islam in Guyana, African American Christianity and Hoodoo, and Obeah and Orisha tradition in Trinidad and Tobago. Collectively we will explore questions of Black diasporic liberatory practices and formation, queerness, transness, spiritual possession, resistance, and ancestral veneration. Through a combination of lectures, readings, films, audio recordings, and guest presentations, we will explore the historical development, contemporary manifestations, and contentions of these spiritual traditions; their connections and dissimilarities; their impact on visual artists and writers; their relationship to Christianity by way of colonization, and their meaning in the context of the ongoing struggle of Black people to imagine and embody sane, inclusive, healthy alternatives to a pervasive model of white supremacy.
Corequisites: TO BE ENROLLED IN UN2045, YOU MUST REGISTER FOR UN2047 RECITATION