WHAT WILL SUFFICE: INCURSIONS INTO MODER

CONTEMPORARY WORLD POETRY

Beginning with the radical breaks of Whitman, Dickinson, and Baudelaire, this course traces how, over the last two centuries, poets across continents have redefined what poetry can be in the face of modernity, exile, revolution, and personal crisis. Our focus will not be on national traditions in isolation but on the resonances and tensions that emerge when poets in different cultures and eras confront similar questions: What forms can poetry take in times of upheaval? How does exile reshape the lyric voice? When does poetry become a vehicle for revolution? And, in Wallace Stevens’s words, what will suffice for poetry when the theatre of the world has changed so profoundly? We will attend closely to the central issue of translation: how meaning and form shift across languages, and how those shifts shape our understanding of what poetry can do.

We will focus on selections from a single author in each class. Readings and viewings will range from canonical figures such as Emily Dickinson, Pablo Neruda, and Anna Akhmatova to experimental voices like Tristan Tzara, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, and Ntozake Shange, alongside contemporary lyricists like Lana Del Rey and Kendrick Lamar.

• Department: English @Barnard
• TR 5:40 p.m.-6:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Victor Zarour Zarzar
  Info
• 3 points

Narrating Immigration Control

“The passport is the noblest part of a human being,” wrote the German exiled writer Bertolt Brecht in the late 1930s. When millions fled Nazi political and racial persecution, and before any country had a designated refugee policy, the immigration and identification system of control as we know it today was relatively new. For the refugees, having the right papers meant a difference between life and death. Visas, passports, and other documents also began to appear in Hollywood films, novels, and critical writing. Almost a century later, Germany, now a destination for refugees from other, war-ridden regions, is still ruled by papers. In this seminar, we will read and watch refugee narratives from these two biggest “refugee crises” in human history. We will study shifting refugee policies and bureaucratic practices along with their roles in cultural imaginations. We will trace the history of passports, visas, and identification as integral to the development of the modern state, and examine their symbolic values in a variety of aesthetic mediums, such as literature, film, dance, and video games.

• Department: Germanic Languages
• R 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Didi Tal
  Info
• 3 points

FIELD WORK & RESEARCH SEMINAR: TODDLER C

FLD WRK&RSRCH SEM:TODDLR CENT

PSYC BC1129/2129 (with or without lab) as well as permission of the instructor.
The Barnard Toddler Center provides the focus for this seminar and research in applied developmental psychology, an amalgam of developmental, educational, and clinical psychology. The seminar integrates theory and research and for AY 20-21 will use daily recordings of the toddler sessions as the centerpiece for understanding early development. The unique context of Covid19 will be used to understand risks in development, especially for vulnerable children and families. Second term students will also conduct research on parenting during the pandemic.

• Department: Psychology @Barnard
• T 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Anna Shusterman
  Info
• 4 points

Contemporary Environmental Issues in Fre

This course explores the intersection of the French language, culture, and environmental issues, using readings, discussions, multimedia resources, and projects to enhance language skills. Students will study and debate topics such as climate change, sustainability, and conservation within the Francophone world, while expanding their vocabulary and improving their ability to analyze and discuss complex issues in French.
Students will apply their knowledge through hands-on assignments and projects, engaging with practical environmental challenges. They will also interact directly with environmental professionals through guest speakers, deepening their understanding of these issues and gaining valuable connections. Additionally, the Department of French is exploring the possibility of offering internships in New York during Spring 2026, related to environmental studies, as an extension of the course.

• Department: French
• TR 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Alexandra Borer
  CULPA: 4 Info
• 3 points

CLINICAL FIELD PRACTICUM

Prerequisites: Three psychology courses and permission of the instructor required during program planning the fall semester before the course is offered. Enrollment limited to 12 students; seniors are given priority. This course introduces students to clinical and counseling work, and to psychodynamic ways of understanding and supporting people in psychological distress. Students secure a clinical placement for the course, and apply readings on psychodynamic notions of parenting, psychopathology, and therapeutic process to their clinical experiences. The course helps students clarify their professional goals, and provides the clinical experience that strengthens applications to social work programs, and that is required for applications to clinical and counseling doctoral programs.

• Department: Psychology @Barnard
• R 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Julia Sheehy
  Info
• 4 points

New Suns: Worlding in Black Speculative

New Suns: Worlding Blk Sc

This course takes Octavia E. Butler’s enigmatic expression, “There’s nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns” as a guide for exploring the politics of Black speculative fiction, science fiction, and fantasy. With literary, sonic, visual, and cinematic examples, including works from Pauline Hopkins, W.E.B. DuBois, Samuel Delany, Wangechi Mutu, Janelle Monae, Sun Ra, Saul Williams, and others, this class considers the contexts of possibility for re/imagining Black pasts, presents and futures. Paying particular attention to how Black speculative fiction creates new worlds, social orders, and entanglements, students will develop readings informed by ecocriticism, science and technology studies, feminist, and queer studies. We will consider the multiple meanings and various uses of speculation and worlding as we encounter and interpret forms of utopian, dystopian, and (post)apocalyptic thinking and practice. No prerequisites.

• Department: English and Comparative Literature
• T 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: C. Riley Snorton
  Info
• 4 points

Contemporary Handicraft in England

Contemp. Handicraft in En

This undergraduate travel seminar examines the resurgence of craft within contemporary art and theory, with a focus on the institutionalization of handicraft in England. With a focus on the multiple legacies of designer William Morris for artists and activists working today, we will read formative theoretical texts regarding questions of process, materiality, skill, bodily effort, domestic labor, and alternative economies of production. In a time when much art is outsourced -- or fabricated by large stables of assistants-- what does it mean when artists return to traditional, and traditionally laborious, methods of handiwork such as knitting, jewelry making, or woodworking? Though our emphasis will be on recent art (including the Black feminist reclamation of quilts, an artist who makes pornographic embroidery, a transvestite potter, queer fiber collectives, do-it-yourself environmental interventions, and anti-capitalist craftivism), we will also examine important historical precedents. Throughout, we will think through how craft is in dialogue with questions of race, nation-building, gendered work, and mass manufacturing. A trip to sites in London and Manchester (such as the textile mills that inspired Marx and Engels and several museum collections) will emphasize the contradictions of "slow" making within the accelerations of capitalism.

• Department: Art History and Archaeology
• T 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Julia Bryan-Wilson
  Wikipedia Info
• 4 points

CONTEMP LATIN AMER SHORT FICT

Prerequisites: Third-year bridge course (W3300), and introductory surveys (W3349, W3350). Readings of short stories and novellas by established and emerging writers from Spanish America and Brazil. Defines the parameters of Latin American short fiction by exploring its various manifestations, fantastic literature, protest writing, satire, and realism. Among the authors to be studied will be: Machado de Assis, Borges, Garcia Marquez, Ana Lydia Vega, Clarice Lispector, Silvina Ocampo, and Jose Donoso.

• Department: Spanish and Latin American Culture
• MW 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• Instructor: Alfred Mac Adam
  CULPA: 40 Info
• 3 points

THE GLOBAL COLD WAR

• Department: History
• T 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Paul T Chamberlin
  CULPA: 3 Info
• 4 points

BRAZILIAN SOCIETY & CIV (ENG)

Each week, a historical period is studied in connection to a particular theme of ongoing cultural expression. While diverse elements of popular culture are included, fiction is privileged as a source of cultural commentary. Students are expected to assimilate the background information but are also encouraged to develop their own perspective and interest, whether in the social sciences, the humanities (including the fine arts), or other areas.

• Department: Latin American and Iberian Cultures
• TR 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Joao Nemi Neto
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 3 points

INDEP BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH

Prerequisites: Concurrent with registering for this course, a student must register with the department and provide a written invitation from a mentor; details of this procedure are available at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/biology/courses/w3500/index.htm. Students must register for recitations UN3510 or consult the instructor. Corequisites: BIOL UN3510 The course involves independent study, faculty-supervised laboratory projects in contemporary biology. Concurrent with registering for this course, a student must register with the department, provide a written invitation from a mentor and submit a research proposal; details of this procedure are available at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/biology/courses/w3500/index.htm. A paper summarizing results of the work is required by the last day of finals for a letter grade; no late papers will be accepted. See the course web site (above) for more details. Students can take anywhere from 2-4 points for this course.

• Department: Biological Sciences
• Instructor: Ron M Prywes
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 2-4 points

SUPERVISED READINGS IN PHYSICS

Prerequisites: the written permission of the faculty member who agrees to act as supervisor, and the director of undergraduate studies permission. Readings in a selected field of physics under the supervision of a faculty member. Written reports and periodic conferences with the instructor.

• Department: Physics
• Instructor: Jeremy R Dodd
  CULPA: 25 Info
• 3 points

Intro to Moving Image: Video, Film & Art

Intro Moving Image:Video,

Intro to Moving Image: Video, Film & Art is an introductory class on the production and editing of digital video. Designed as an intensive hands-on production/post-production workshop, the apprehension of technical and aesthetic skills in shooting, sound and editing will be emphasized. Assignments are developed to allow students to deepen their familiarity with the language of the moving image medium. Over the course of the term, the class will explore the language and syntax of the moving image, including fiction, documentary and experimental approaches. Importance will be placed on the decision making behind the production of a work; why it was conceived of, shot, and edited in a certain way. Class time will be divided between technical workshops, viewing and discussing films and videos by independent producers/artists and discussing and critiquing students projects. Readings will be assigned on technical, aesthetic and theoretical issues. Only one section offered per semester. If the class is full, please visit http://arts.columbia.edu/undergraduate-visual-arts-program.

• Department: Visual Arts
• W 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Shelly Silver
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 3 points

The Struggle for Indigenous Sovereignty

Indig Sovereignty in Earl

The United States was founded on Indigenous land and in conversation with Indigenous nations who shared possession to most of the territory claimed by the republic. The expansion of the U.S. beyond the original thirteen states happened in dialogue, and often in open conflict with the Native peoples of North America.  This course will examine the creation and expansion of the American nation-state from the perspective of Indigenous peoples and Indigenous history. Most histories of the Republic equate the founding of the U.S. with the severance of colonial ties to Great Britain and the proceed to characterize America as a post-colonial society. We will study the U.S. as the first New World colonial power, a settler society whose very existence is deeply intertwined with the Indigenous history of North America.

• Department: History
• W 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Michael Witgen
  Info
• 4 points

GENDERED CONTROVERSIES

Love and sex have long been studied as historical constructs influenced by social, political, and economic dimensions. This course aims to expand this discourse by incorporating the often-overlooked lens of technological mediation. Beginning with the premise that romantic love is deeply shaped by the affordances of the technology of the time, a critical awareness of technological mediation in romance –especially of digital technologies, i.e. online dating, social media, or cybersex— allows for a deeper understanding of how social categories such as gender, race, class, ability, or sexuality are technologically-mediated, thereby informing our societal and cultural perceptions of love, dating, and sex. 

 

Sandra Moyano-Ariza is Term Assistant Professor of WGSS and Research Director at BCRW. Her research works at the intersection of pop culture, philosophy, and digital technologies, with interests in the fields of media studies and digital scholarship, contemporary feminist theory, critical race theory, posthumanism, and affect theory.

• Department: Women's, Gender, Sexuality Studies @Barnard
• M 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Lisa Duggan
  Info
• 4 points

INDEP BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH - REC

• Department: Biological Sciences
• T 5:40 p.m.-6:30 p.m.
• W 5:40 p.m.-6:30 p.m.
• T 4:10 p.m.-5 p.m.
• Instructor: Ron M Prywes
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 0 points

ADVANCED WORKSHOP TRANSLA

Maurice Blanchot once described translators as the “hidden masters of culture.” Indeed, though our labor and craft often go unrecognized in the age of Google Translate, translators play an essential role as tastemakers, bridge-builders, advocates, and diplomats, not to mention the most intimate readers and re-writers of literature. In this workshop, we will explore translation as a praxis of writing, reading, and revision. Together, we will also interrogate translation's complex and often fraught role in cultural production. What ethical questions does translation raise? Who gets to translate, and what gets translated? What is the place of the translator in the text? What can translation teach us about language, literature, and ourselves? Readings will include selections from translation theory, method texts, and literary translations across genres, from poetry and prose to essay and memoir. Students will workshop original translations into English and complete brief writing and translation exercises throughout.

• Department: Comparative Literature and Society @Barnard
• M 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• 4 points

HIST APPROACHES TO FEM QUESTNS

This course will provide students with a comparative perspective on gender, race, and
sexuality by illuminating historically specific and culturally distinct conditions in which
these systems of power have operated. Beginning in the early modern period, the
course seeks to destabilize contemporary notions of gender and sexuality and instead
probe how race, sexuality, and gender have functioned as mechanisms of differentiation
embedded in historically contingent processes. Moving from “Caliban to Comstock,”
students will probe historical methods for investigating and critically evaluating claims
about the past. In making these inquiries, the course will pay attention to the
intersectional nature of race, gender, and sexuality and to strategic performances of
identity by marginalized groups. This semester, we will engage research by historians
of sexuality, gender, and capitalism to critically reflect on the relationship between
critical studies of the past and debates about reproductive justice, bodily autonomy, and
gay and lesbian rights in our contemporary moment.

• Department: Women's and Gender Studies
• T 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Sarah Haley
  Info
• 4 points

Comparative Ethnic Politics

This course will explore the politics of ethnicity and ethnic identity using the frameworks, methodologies, and approaches of the political science subfield of comparative politics. Ethnicity—and identity politics more broadly—is enormously important in understanding domestic politics in most countries around the world. While most people would acknowledge that they themselves have an ethnic identity, few would say that they purposefully chose that identity. Compared to other identity categories, ethnicity is assigned at birth without consent or consultation, and is generally thought to be beyond any one individual’s capacity to change it. Yet almost no one would say that this somewhat random assignment procedure makes ethnicity irrelevant. Not only are many people very eager to organize the political world around ethnic identities, but people also derive a sense of meaning and attachment to others as a result of their ethnicity. With the global rise in ethnonationalist populism in many places, this influence is becoming even more pronounced.

This class will explore how and why this specific type of identity has come to hold such enormous importance for the lives of so many people. At an individual level, we will ask where ethnic identities come from, and why ethnic identities at some times take on primary importance for an individual’s sense of self, while at others become less important than other identities such as religion, interest, class, social values, etc. At the group level, we will examine when ethnic identities become politicized, when ethnic communities organize politically into political parties or interest groups, and which groups get representation in the seats of political power and which do not. At the broadest societal level, we will examine how those ethnic identities influence regime type (whether democratic or authoritarian), political party systems, economic development, inequality, and stability.

While it will be helpful to have completed Introduction to Comparative Politics (POLS UN2501), it is not absolutely required to take this class. Please also note that this class is not the same as Ethnic Conflict (POLS UN 3622). While there will inevitably be some overlap between this class and that, this course focuses much more on domestic politics, ethnicity and non-violent democratic processes, and ethnicity in the politics of regime change.

1

• Department: Political Science
• MW 8:40 a.m.-9:55 a.m.
• Instructor: Benjamin P McClelland
  Info
• 3 points

The Historical Imagination in Caribbean

Hist Imagination Caribbea

Caribbean literature offers complicated and vivid portrayals of the Caribbean’s past, and grapples with difficult histories lived by its people that compromised colonial archives can only partially capture. Literary works far exceed the limited narratives of Caribbean history by imagining entire worlds that official documents could never contain, rich selves, cultures and communities built by many generations of Caribbean people. This course is aimed at bringing forth a broader understanding of Caribbean history by examining a body of creative works by feminist and womanist writers that continuously remain attuned to the complexities of the past, which are either underrepresented or absent in the record. Chosen literary texts will also be paired with historical works that will illuminate and contextualize the multiple themes with which these Caribbean authors frequently engage, including slavery, and colonialism, racism and colorism, migration and immigration, gender and sexuality, poverty and globalization. From these pairings, students will explore both the divergences and alignments in how writers and historians approach the work of retelling the past, and will acquire reading and writing skills that will foster thoughtful critical analysis of the ever-changing contours of the Caribbean’s history.

• Department: History
• M 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Natasha J Lightfoot
  CULPA: 5 Info
• 4 points

GLOBAL LITERATURES IN ENGLISH

The title of this course suggests that there are literatures across the “globe” written in English, and that we will study them. But this statement rests on a series of assumptions: the
a priori
existence of a globe with latitudes, longitudes, and borders; a singular category of “literature” produced in different geographical locations across the globe; and finally, that these literatures are written in English. During the course of the semester, we will investigate and (occasionally overturn) all three of these assumptions. 

In order to do so, we will read across different literary genres (short stories and novels, plays, poetry, and essays), while also reading texts that move between these genres or defy them altogether. We will read texts that were originally written in English, as well as texts that have been translated into English, and we will learn and discuss the term “global anglophone” along with the ways in which this term has been challenged. During our collective readings and discussions, we will map the locations that arise in each text
and
the locations out of which these texts arise. We will study the relationship between literature, translation, and mapping, and we will learn and discuss the concept of planetary thinking and writing as an alternative to border and global thinking.

• Department: English @Barnard
• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Atefeh Akbari Shahmirzadi
  Info
• 3 points

SENIOR SEMINAR II

Individual research in Womens Studies conducted in consultation with the instructor. The result of each research project is submitted in the form of the senior essay and presented to the seminar.

• Department: Women's and Gender Studies
• T 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Lila Abu-Lughod
  CULPA: 17 Wikipedia h-index: 48 Info
• 4 points

SENIOR SEMINAR II

Prerequisites: Permission of instructor. Enrollment limited to senior majors. Individual research in Womens Studies conducted in consulation with the instructor. The result of each research project is submitted in the form of the senior essay and presented to the seminar.

• Department: Women's, Gender, Sexuality Studies @Barnard
• W 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• T 9 a.m.-10:50 a.m.
• Instructor: Janet Jakobsen
  CULPA: 6 Wikipedia Info
• Instructor: Manijeh Moradian
  Info
• 4 points

NEW/OLD FORMS OF POL PROTEST

This course will introduce the students to the important topic of political protest. Each week we will address different aspects of the phenomenon: from the determinant to the actors and strategies of protest. We will discuss how the forms of protest have changed and the current role of the internet in general and social media in particular. Finally, we will discuss the role of the state and state repression, in particular censorship in the dynamics of protest. Since this is a comparative politics course, we will cover a range of different countries, including the United States, as well as both democratic and authoritarian regimes.

• Department: Political Science
• TR 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• Instructor: Chiara Superti
  CULPA: 3 Info
• 3 points

ADVANCED SENIOR STUDIO II

Advanced Senior Studio II is a critique class that serves as a forum for senior Visual Arts majors to develop and complete one-semester studio theses.  The priorities are producing a coherent body of studio work and understanding this work in terms of critical discourse.  The class will comprise group critiques and small group meetings with the instructor. Field trips and visiting artist lectures will augment our critiques. Please visit: 
https://arthistory.barnard.edu/senior-thesis-project-art-history-and-visual-arts-majors

• Department: Art History @Barnard
• T 2:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: John Miller
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 4 points

ROMARE BEARDEN:HOME IS HARLEM

Prerequisites: This course is limited to 20 students Romare Bearden: Home is Harlem, is an exploration into one of the greatest American artists finding home in Harlem. The noted painter, collagist, intellectual and advocate for the arts, spent his childhood and young adult life in Harlem. Known for chronicling the African-American experience, he found rich sources for artistic expression in the Manhattan neighborhoods above 110th Street.

• Department: Africana Studies (AFSB)
• W 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Diedra Harris-Kelley
  Info
• 4 points

AUTOCRACY AND DEMOCRACY

With longstanding democracies in Europe and the US faltering, autocratic regimes in Russia and China consolidating, and hybrid regimes that mix elements of democracy and autocracy on the rise, scholars, policymakers, and citizens are re-evaluating the causes and consequences of different forms of government.  This course is designed to give students the tools to understand these trends in global politics. Among other topics, we will explore: How do democracies and autocracies differ in theory and in practice?  Why are some countries autocratic? Why are some democratic? What are the roots of democratic erosion?  How does economic inequality influence a country’s form of government? Is the current period of institutional foment different past periods of global instability?  This course will help students keep up with rapidly unfolding events, but is designed primarily to help them develop tools for interpreting and understanding the current condition of democracy and autocracy in the world.

• Department: Political Science
• MW 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Timothy M Frye
  CULPA: 8 Wikipedia h-index: 31 Info
• 3 points

COLL: CONSTRUCTING AND DECONSTRUCTING ST

COLL: CONST&DECONSTR STAT

The course examines the development of states and nations from both historical and comparative perspectives.  It asks why states replaced other forms of political organization (empires, feudalism, warlordism) and why national identities came to replace or dominate other types of identities (religious, ethnic, local) at some times and in some places, but not others.  It explicitly compares the processes of state and nation-building in the past and the contemporary period, drawing on cases from various parts of the world.  The course also considers factors that may be undermining states and nations today.

• Department: Political Science @Barnard
• M 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Sheri Berman
  CULPA: 19 Wikipedia h-index: None Info
• 4 points

COLL:NON-STATE GOV CRIME/WAR

Prerequisites: (POLS UN1501) The conventional wisdom is that crime and civil war are linked to disorder. But these are far from disorderly and ungoverned spaces. Unpacking these settings reveals complex forms of non-state governance constructed by a range of actors, including rebel and guerillas, gangs, vigilantes, and protection rackets – sometimes facilitated by the state.

• Department: Political Science @Barnard
• W 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Eduardo Moncada
  CULPA: 2 h-index: 12 Info
• 4 points

ADVANCED ORGANIC CHEMISTRY LAB

Prerequisites: CHEM UN2493 and CHEM UN2494 , or the equivalent. A project laboratory with emphasis on complex synthesis and advanced techniques including qualitative organic analysis and instrumentation.

• Department: Chemistry
• M 1:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• T 1:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Fay W Ng
  CULPA: 6 Info
• 3 points

JUNIOR SEMINAR IN URBAN STUDIES

CARCERAL GEOGRAPHIES

Prerequisites: Non-majors admitted by permission of instructor. Students must attend first class. Enrollment limited to 16 students per section. Evaluation of current political, economic, social, cultural and physical forces that are shaping urban areas.

• Department: Urban Studies @Barnard
• R 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Christian Siener
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 4 points

JUNIOR SEMINAR IN URBAN STUDIES

JR SEMINAR IN URBAN STUDI

Prerequisites: Non-majors admitted by permission of instructor. Students must attend first class. Enrollment limited to 16 students per section. Evaluation of current political, economic, social, cultural and physical forces that are shaping urban areas.

• Department: Urban Studies @Barnard
• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Noah Allison
  Info
• 4 points

BLACK WOMEN STYLE&PERFRMNCE

• Department: Africana Studies (AFSB)
• F 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Shirley Taylor
  Info
• 4 points

The Arabic Novel

The novel in Arabic literature has often been the place where every attempt to look within ends up involving the need to contend with or measure the self against the European, the dominant culture. This took various forms. From early moments of easy-going and confident cosmopolitan travellers, such as Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq, to later author, such as Tayeb Salih, mapping the existential fault lines between west and east. For this reason, and as well as being a modern phenomenon, the Arabic novel has also been a tool for translation, for bridging gaps and exposing what al-Shidyaq—the man credited with being the father of the modern Arabic novel, and himself a great translator—called ‘disjunction’. We will begin with his satirical, deeply inventive and erudite novel, published in 1855, Leg Over Leg. It is a book with an insatiable appetite for definitions and comparisons, with Words that had been lost or fell out of use (the author had an abiding interest in dictionaries that anticipates Jorge Louis Borges) and with locating and often subverting moments of connection and disconnection. We will then follow along a trajectory to the present, where we will read, in English translation, novels written in Arabic, from Egypt, Syria, Sudan, Morocco and Palestine. We will read them chronologically, starting with Leg Over Leg (1855) and finishing with Minor Detail, a novel that was only published last year.  Obviously, this does not claim to be a comprehensive survey; for that we would need several years and even then, we would fall short. Instead, the hope is that it will be a thrilling journey through some of the most facinating fiction ever written. Obviously, this does not claim to be a comprehensive survey; for that we would need several years and even then, we would fall short. Instead, the hope is that it will be a thrilling journey through some of the most fascinating fiction ever written.

• Department: Comparative Literature and Society @Barnard
• M 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Hisham Matar
  CULPA: 2 Wikipedia Info
• 4 points

Art & Culture in Harlem

Harlem is a community with a long and storied legacy of arts and entertainment that dates back to the late 1800s. Its legacy extends through the many cultural movements that have helped to define the community such as the Harlem Renaissance in the early 1900s, the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s, and Hip Hop in the 1970s and 1980s, to the current renaissance of venues that anchor Harlem as a neighborhood vibrant with varied opportunities for cultural engagement. Harlem is home to several historic and iconic venues devoted to the arts and entertainment such as the Apollo Theater, Dance Theatre of Harlem, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the National Black Theatre. These and many other venues along with many others throughout the neighborhood have helped to anchor Harlem as a beacon for Black creative expression that has been instrumental in shaping American culture. The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, part of the New York Public Library, stands as a repository for much of this history and as an emblem of Harlem’s extensive cultural history. In recent years, Harlem has also seen a burgeoning of new galleries, performance spaces, and cultural events that have reignited and brought new audiences to the community. In this course, we will explore Harlem’s early history and how it evolved from a place known primarily for its entertainment venues to one with a mix of standard and more cutting edge artistic and cultural ventures. Community, politics, and economics will also be considered as we look at various cultural and artistic movements. As part of our exploration, we will examine whether shifts in demographics and the ideas, notions, and sometimes, myths about the neighborhood have influenced arts and entertainment in the community. We will seek to define what distinguishes arts and entertainment in Harlem from other New York City neighborhoods and how Harlem has contributed over the years to Black arts and entertainment in NYC and beyond. This course will include visits to venues and visits from guest speakers, all relative to in-class discussions and deeper exploration of the space arts and entertainment have continued to hold for the community and for the people of Harlem. Along with guided walking tours, visits to selected venues will help to delineate Harlem’s cultural past and its continuing evolution through the work of artists, curators, administrators, scholars, culture bearers, and others. Students are encouraged to attend events at some of the institutions and venu

• Department: Africana Studies (AFSB)
• F 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Shirley Taylor
  Info
• 4 points

DRUGS & POLITICS IN AMERICAS

A major challenge for governments across the Western Hemisphere is the complex relationship between illicit drugs, violence, and politics. We can see this relationship operating at multiple levels, from everyday politics in gang-controlled neighborhoods to the global arenas where governments debate and craft international drug policy. These links also reach back in history to global wars of empire and colonial rule, race relations during and following the collapse of the institution of slavery, and contemporary drug wars being waged across the Western Hemisphere and other parts of the world. Today, the dynamics and consequences of the politics of illicit drugs touch all our lives in different ways, including individual and family struggles with substance abuse, everyday encounters with militarized police, and the strains on democracy and citizenship, among many others. This course will examine some of these dynamics and consequences with a theoretical and empirical focus mainly on Latin America and the United States. Throughout our time together we will connect these pressing issues to broader theories, concepts and empirical findings in political science. The course is divided into several individual modules (denoted below with the headings A – G) under three overarching themes for this semester:

 

1. Politics of Drugs in a Historical Perspective:
The first theme is a broad historical overview of the political origins of illicit drugs and the global drug regime. Some of the main questions we will tackle are: When and why did states label drugs as illicit?  How did domestic and global politics come together to shape the global drug regime and the “war on drugs?” What role did race and gender play in the early social construction of illicit drugs?

 

2. Illicit Drugs, Politics and Governance:
The second theme focuses on contemporary linkages between illicit drugs, violence, and politics. Here we will examine the conditions under which illicit drug markets are either violent or (relatively) peaceful. We will tackle questions like: Do states always seek to dismantle drug markets? What is the relationship between illicit drugs and electoral politics? What role do illicit drugs play in governance by armed non-state actors?  Are states and criminal actors involved in the drug trade always at “war” with each other? 


3. Democracy, Citizenship, and the War on Drugs:
The th

• Department: Political Science @Barnard
• MW 8:40 a.m.-9:55 a.m.
• Instructor: Eduardo Moncada
  CULPA: 2 h-index: 12 Info
• 4 points

COMPOSITION:SITE/EXPERIMENTAL

• Department: Dance @Barnard
• MW 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Caroline Fermin
  Info
• 3 points

DRUGS & POLITICS IN THE AMERICAS - DISC

DRUGS & POLITICS - DISC

Discussion Section for POLS-UN3565 Drugs and Politics in the Americas

• Department: Political Science @Barnard
• 0 points

DRUGS & POLITICS IN THE AMERICAS - DISC

DRUGS & POLITICS - DISC

Discussion Section for POLS-UN3565 Drugs and Politics in the Americas

• Department: Political Science @Barnard
• 0 points

DRUGS & POLITICS IN THE AMERICAS - DISC

DRUGS & POLITICS - DISC

Discussion Section for POLS-UN3565 Drugs and Politics in the Americas

• Department: Political Science @Barnard
• 0 points

DRUGS & POLITICS IN THE AMERICAS - DISC

DRUGS & POLITICS - DISC

Discussion Section for POLS-UN3565 Drugs and Politics in the Americas

• Department: Political Science @Barnard
• 0 points

Left and Right in American History

Left and Right in US Hist

This course examines 20th-century American political movements of the Left and Right. We will cover Socialism and the Ku Klux Klan in the early twentieth century; the Communist Party and right-wing populists of the 1930s; the civil rights movement, black power, and white resistance, 1950s-1960s; the rise of the New Left and the New Right in the 1960s; the Women's liberation movement and the Christian right of the 1970s; and finally, free-market conservatism, neoliberalism, white nationalism and the Trump era. We will explore the organizational, ideological and social history of these political mobilizations. The class explores grass-roots social movements and their relationship to “mainstream” and electoral politics. We will pay special attention to the ways that ideas and mobilizations that are sometimes deemed extreme have in fact helped to shape the broader political spectrum. Throughout the semester, we will reflect on the present political dilemmas of our country in light of the history that we study.

• Department: History
• R 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Kimberly K Phillips-Fein
  Info
• 4 points

French Algeria, 1830-1962

This course provides an introduction to the colonial history of Algeria and France in the 19th and 20th centuries, at the high point of European imperial expansion. It covers the violent conquest of the Regency of Algiers starting in 1830, followed by population removal and settlement by the French; successive political regimes, forms of legal discrimination, and attempts at turning this North African territory into an integral part of the French Republic; and finally the emergence of Algerian nationalism, leading up to the war of liberation and independence in 1962. Algeria was the jewel of the French Empire, its only real settler colony; its independence became a beacon of post-colonial struggles, inaugurating an era of entangled memories and forgetting that continues today.

• Department: French
• T 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Thomas Dodman
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 3 points

DEVISING IMMERSIVE PERFORMANCE

This course is designed as a workshop in both immersive devising and performance skills, revolving around the creation and execution of an immersive experience. Through a collaborative devising process, students will explore possibilities of environmental, site-specific, experiential, and ambulatory design. Students will develop compositional structures and strategies for creating content, create and develop embodied characters, as well as design and physically navigate the particular architecture of a performance environment. Students will also hone skills specific to interactive performance such as maneuvering audience, gaze, breath work, and choice making and improvisation within the parameters of storytelling.

• Department: Dance @Barnard
• TR 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Elisa R Davis
  Info
• 3 points

Ten Books to Understand Capitalism

Ten Books Undrstand Capit

In this seminar, we will read a selection of masterpieces in economics to explore how economic thought on capitalism has changed over time. Through weekly discussions, we will examine a number of must-read volumes that shape the field of economics and more broadly, the social sciences today. We will also develop a general understanding of the different epochs of economic thinking about the evolving capitalist system. We will analyze classics such as Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, Karl Marx’s Capital, and John M. Keynes’ General Theory, as well as more recent classics that have deeply influenced social science thinking in the second half of the XX century. This seminar is intended both for students in history, the humanities and the social sciences who have an interest in understanding the evolution of the economics discipline in historical perspective, and for economics students who want to develop an historical understanding of their discipline.

• Department: History @Barnard
• T 9 a.m.-10:50 a.m.
• Instructor: Michele Alacevich
  Info
• 4 points

The Scholar and Feminist Conference: Fem

Feminist Knowledge and Ac

For fifty years, the Barnard Center for Research on Women’s Scholar and Feminist conference has provided a vital forum for leading feminist thinkers to test ideas and ignite debates on the most pressing issues of their time. This course offers a special opportunity for students to engage with the Scholar and Feminist at a historic moment: in February 2026, BCRW will host the 50th conference. We will use the history of the Scholar and Feminist conference as a guide to trace the making of feminist knowledge over the past fifty years. In addition to reading about the scholarly context of the conference, students will do archival work in preparation for attending and analyzing the anniversary gathering. Students will engage with key feminist debates that have been part of the conference’s history. They will consider how conferences function as spaces of research production and movement-building, exploring how the lessons of past controversies and solidarities can inform feminist scholarship and action in the present. Readings will draw from BCRW’s
Scholar & Feminist Online
and the Barnard archives, alongside key theoretical feminist texts, to consider how movements, controversies, and institutional struggles have shaped the field. Together, we will ask: how has the conference created new possibilities for scholarship and activism, and why are these questions urgent in a moment when feminist knowledge and institutions are under attack?

• Department: Women's, Gender, Sexuality Studies @Barnard
• F 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Margot L Kotler
  Info
• 4 points

SR SEM IN BIOLOGY

Required for all majors who do not select the year-long Senior Thesis Research & Seminar (BIOL BC3593 & BC3594) to fulfill their senior capstone requirement. These seminars allow students to explore the primary literature in the Biological Sciences in greater depth than can be achieved in a lecture course. Attention will be focused on both theoretical and empirical work. Seminar periods are devoted to oral reports and discussion of assigned readings and student reports. Students will write one extensive literature review of a topic related to the central theme of the seminar section. 
Topics vary per semester and include, but are not limited to:
 Plant Development
, 
Animal Development & Evolution,
 Molecular Evolution, Microbiology & Global Change, Genomics, Comparative & Reproductive Endocrinology, and Data Intensive Approaches in Biology.

• Department: Biological Sciences @Barnard
• F 9:10 a.m.-11 a.m.
• Instructor: Rishita Shah
  Info
• 4 points

GUIDED RESEARCH & SEMINAR

This year-long course is open to junior and senior Biology majors and minors. Students will complete an independent research project in Biology under the guidance of a faculty mentor at Barnard or another local institution. Attendance at the weekly seminar is required. By the end of the year, students will write a scientific paper about their project and give a poster presentation about their research at the Barnard Biology Research Symposium.

Completion of this year-long course fulfills two upper-level laboratory requirements for the Biology major or minor. This course must be taken in sequence, beginning with BIOL BC3591 in the Fall and continuing with BIOL BC3592 in the Spring. Acceptance into this course requires confirmation of the research project by the course instructors. A Barnard internal mentor is required if the research project is not supervised by a Barnard faculty member. This course cannot be taken at the same time as BIOL BC3593-BIOL BC3594.

• Department: Biological Sciences @Barnard
• M 1:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• 4 points

GUIDED RESEARCH & SEMINAR

This year-long course is open to junior and senior Biology majors and minors. Students will complete an independent research project in Biology under the guidance of a faculty mentor at Barnard or another local institution. Attendance at the weekly seminar is required. By the end of the year, students will write a scientific paper about their project and give a poster presentation about their research at the Barnard Biology Research Symposium.

Completion of this year-long course fulfills two upper-level laboratory requirements for the Biology major or minor. This course must be taken in sequence, beginning with BIOL BC3591 in the Fall and continuing with BIOL BC3592 in the Spring. Acceptance into this course requires confirmation of the research project by the course instructors. A Barnard internal mentor is required if the research project is not supervised by a Barnard faculty member. This course cannot be taken at the same time as BIOL BC3593-BIOL BC3594.

• Department: Biological Sciences @Barnard
• M 1:10 p.m.-3 p.m.
• 4 points

NEUROSCIENCE GUIDED RESEARCH

Neuroscience research commonly generates datasets that are increasingly complex and large. Open science and data sharing platforms have emerged across a wide range of neuroscience disciplines, laying the foundation for a transformation in the way scientists share, analyze, and reuse immense amounts of data collected in laboratories around the world. This class is designed to introduce students to several open source databases that span multiple investigative levels of neuroscience research. Students will utilize the datasets to conduct individual research projects.

• Department: Neuroscience & Behavior @Barnard
• M 1:10 p.m.-5 p.m.
• Instructor: Luca Iemi
  Info
• 4 points

SR PROJECT:REPERTORY FOR DANCE

Independent study for preparing and performing repertory works in production to be presented in concert.

• Department: Dance @Barnard
• TR 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• Instructor: Colleen Thomas
  CULPA: 6 Info
• Instructor: Marjorie Folkman
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 3 points

SENIOR THESIS RESEARCH & SEMINAR

SR THESIS RESEARCH & SEMI

This year-long course is open to senior Biology majors. Students will complete an independent research project in Biology under the guidance of a faculty mentor at Barnard or another local institution. Attendance at the weekly seminar is required. By the end of the year, students will write a scientific paper about their project and give an oral presentation about their research at the Barnard Biology Research Symposium.

Completion of this year-long course fulfills the senior capstone requirement for the Biology major. This course must be taken in sequence, beginning with BIOL BC3593 in the Fall and continuing with BIOL BC3594 in the Spring. Acceptance into this course requires confirmation of the research project by the course instructors. A Barnard internal mentor is required if the research project is not supervised by a Barnard faculty member. This course cannot be taken at the same time as BIOL BC3591-BIOL BC3592.

• Department: Biological Sciences @Barnard
• M 1:10 p.m.-3 p.m.
• 4 points

SENIOR THESIS RESEARCH & SEMINAR

SR THESIS RESEARCH & SEMI

This year-long course is open to senior Biology majors. Students will complete an independent research project in Biology under the guidance of a faculty mentor at Barnard or another local institution. Attendance at the weekly seminar is required. By the end of the year, students will write a scientific paper about their project and give an oral presentation about their research at the Barnard Biology Research Symposium.

Completion of this year-long course fulfills the senior capstone requirement for the Biology major. This course must be taken in sequence, beginning with BIOL BC3593 in the Fall and continuing with BIOL BC3594 in the Spring. Acceptance into this course requires confirmation of the research project by the course instructors. A Barnard internal mentor is required if the research project is not supervised by a Barnard faculty member. This course cannot be taken at the same time as BIOL BC3591-BIOL BC3592.

• Department: Biological Sciences @Barnard
• M 1:10 p.m.-3 p.m.
• 4 points

RSRCH/SEM-NEUROSCNC&BEHAVIOR

Prerequisites: Open to senior Neuroscience and Behavior majors. Permission of the instructor. This is a year-long course. By the end of the spring semester program planning period during junior year, majors should identify the lab they will be working in during their senior year. Discussion and conferences on a research project culminate in a written and oral senior thesis. Each project must be supervised by a scientist working at Barnard or at another local institution. Successful completion of the seminar substitutes for the major examination.

• Department: Neuroscience & Behavior @Barnard
• R 4:10 p.m.-5:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Peter D Balsam
  CULPA: 25 Info
• Instructor: Alex White
  h-index: 13 Info
• Instructor: Russell D Romeo
  CULPA: 9 Info
• Instructor: Kevin G Bath
  Info
• 4 points

GUIDED RESEARCH

Similar to BIOL BC3591-BIOL BC3592, this is a one-semester course that provides students with degree credit for unpaid research 
without 
a seminar component. You may enroll in BIOL BC3597 for between 1-4 credits per semester. As a rule of thumb, you should be spending approximately 3 hours per week per credit on your research project.

A 
Project Approval Form
 must be submitted to the department each semester that you enroll in this course. Your Barnard research mentor (if your lab is at Barnard) or internal adviser in the Biology Department (if your lab is elsewhere) must approve your planned research 
before
 you enroll in BIOL BC3597. You should sign up for your mentor's section. 

This course does not fulfill any Biology major requirements.  It is open to students beginning in their first year.

• Department: Biological Sciences @Barnard
• Instructor: Elizabeth P Bauer
  CULPA: 3 h-index: 21 Info
• Instructor: Hilary Callahan
  CULPA: 4 h-index: 17 Info
• Instructor: John Glendinning
  CULPA: 23 h-index: 39 Info
• Instructor: Jordan Balaban
  Info
• Instructor: Jj L Miranda
  CULPA: 3 Info
• Instructor: Alison Pischedda
  CULPA: 3 h-index: 11 Info
• Instructor: Jonathan Snow
  CULPA: 7 h-index: 18 Info
• Instructor: Brian Morton
  CULPA: 21 Info
• Instructor: Jennifer H Mansfield
  CULPA: 2 h-index: 15 Info
• Instructor: Gabrielle Corradino
  Info
• Instructor: Jessica Goldstein
  CULPA: 14 Info
• Instructor: Emlyn J Resetarits
  Info
• 1-4 points

PROBLEMS IN CHEMISTRY

Prerequisites: CHEM BC3328 and permission of instructor. Individual research projects at Barnard or Columbia, culminating in a comprehensive written report.

• Department: Chemistry @Barnard
• Instructor: Christian Rojas
  CULPA: 24 Info
• Instructor: Marisa C Buzzeo
  CULPA: 2 Info
• Instructor: Dina C Merrer
  CULPA: 24 Info
• Instructor: Andrew C Crowther
  CULPA: 1 Info
• Instructor: Michael Campbell
  Info
• Instructor: Rachel Austin
  CULPA: 18 Wikipedia h-index: 28 Info
• Instructor: Christina Vizcarra
  CULPA: 1 Info
• Instructor: Rebecca Donegan
  Info
• 2 points

PROBLEMS IN CHEMISTRY

Prerequisites: CHEM BC3328 and permission of instructor. Individual research projects at Barnard or Columbia, culminating in a comprehensive written report.

• Department: Chemistry @Barnard
• 2 points

PROBLEMS IN CHEMISTRY

Prerequisites: CHEM BC3328 and permission of instructor. Individual research projects at Barnard or Columbia, culminating in a comprehensive written report.

• Department: Chemistry @Barnard
• Instructor: Christian Rojas
  CULPA: 24 Info
• Instructor: Marisa C Buzzeo
  CULPA: 2 Info
• Instructor: Dina C Merrer
  CULPA: 24 Info
• Instructor: Andrew C Crowther
  CULPA: 1 Info
• Instructor: Michael Campbell
  Info
• Instructor: Rachel Austin
  CULPA: 18 Wikipedia h-index: 28 Info
• Instructor: Christina Vizcarra
  CULPA: 1 Info
• Instructor: Rebecca Donegan
  Info
• 4 points

PROBLEMS IN CHEMISTRY

Prerequisites: CHEM BC3328 and permission of instructor. Individual research projects at Barnard or Columbia, culminating in a comprehensive written report.

• Department: Chemistry @Barnard
• 4 points

Approaches to Global Thought

Challenges confronting the world today require multiple perspectives, approaches, and methods to grasp their complexity and devise responses and solutions. Whether addressing the climate crisis, public health threats, global and local inequities, social problems, geopolitical tensions, or any number of other problems, all demand the expertise developed in disciplinary training as well as flexible thinking and the ability to collaborate and solve problems across disciplinary boundaries. This course places students with different majors into conversation with each other to consider the approaches of their own disciplines, learn about the methodological “tool kits” of other fields, investigate examples of transdisciplinary research, and work with their classmates to design their own problem-centered collaborative projects.

• Department: Committee on Global Thought
• R 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Laura L Neitzel
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 4 points

INTL LAW & U.N. IN PRACTICE

Prerequisites: POLS UN1601 or HRTS UN3001 An equivalent course to POLS UN1601 or HRTS UN3001 may be used as a pre-requisite, with departmental permission. Examines the development of international law and the United Nations, their evolution in the Twentieth Century, and their role in world affairs today. Concepts and principles are illustrated through their application to contemporary human rights and humanitarian challenges, and with respect to other threats to international peace and security. The course consists primarily of presentation and discussion, drawing heavily on the practical application of theory to actual experiences and situations. For the Barnard Political Science major, this seminar counts as elective credit only. (Cross-listed by the Human Rights Program.)

• Department: Human Rights (HRTB)
• T 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Martin S Flaherty
  CULPA: 1 Wikipedia Info
• 4 points

As If: Anthropologies of the Future

This seminar engages--through science fiction and speculative fiction, film, and companion readings in anthropology and beyond—a range of approaches to the notion of the “future” and to the imagination of multiple futures to come.  We will work through virtual and fictive constructions of future worlds, ecologies, and social orders “as If” they present alternative possibilites for pragmatic yet utopian thinking and dreaming in the present (and as we’ll also consider dystopian and “heterotopian” possibilities as well).

• Department: Anthropology
• T 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Marilyn Ivy
  CULPA: 11 Wikipedia Info
• 4 points

REHEARSAL&PERFRMNCE IN DANCE

Prerequisites: Audition. Do not register for this course until you have been selected at the audition. Subject to cap on studio credit. Can be taken more than once for credit up to a maximum of 3 credits a semester. Students are graded and take part in the full production of a dance as performers, choreographers, designers, or stage technicians.

• Department: Dance @Barnard
• MW 6:10 p.m.-9 p.m.
• Instructor: Ehizoje J Azeke
  Info
• Instructor: Dormeshia Sunbry-Edwards
  Info
• 0-3 points

REHEARSAL&PERFRMNCE IN DANCE

Prerequisites: Audition. Do not register for this course until you have been selected at the audition. Subject to cap on studio credit. Can be taken more than once for credit up to a maximum of 3 credits a semester. Students are graded and take part in the full production of a dance as performers, choreographers, designers, or stage technicians.

• Department: Dance @Barnard
• TR 6:10 p.m.-9 p.m.
• 0-3 points

INDEPENDENT STUDY

This course can be worth 1 to 4 credits (each credit is equivalent to approximately three hours of work per week), and requires a Barnard faculty as a mentor. The course will be taken for a letter grade, regardless of whether the student chooses 1, 2, 3, or 4 credits. The expectations for each of these options are as follows: 1 credit, 3h/week commitment, 5-10 page "Research Report" at the end of the term; 2 credits, 6h/week commitment, 5-10 page "Research Report" at the end of the term; 3 credits, 9h/week commitment, 15-20 page "Research Report" at the end of the term; 4 credits, 12h/week commitment, 15-20 page "Research Report" at the end of the term. "Research Report" is a document submitted to the person grading the student, the instructor of record for the section in which the student has enrolled. If a student is working off-site, then input from the off-site research mentor will inform the grading. The "Research Report" can take a variety of forms: progress reports on data collected, training received, papers read, skills learned, etc.; or organized notes for lab notebooks, lab meetings, etc.; or manuscript-like papers with Intro, Methods, Results, Discussion; or some combination thereof, depending on the maturity of the project.  Ultimately, this will take different forms for different students/labs.

• Department: Psychology @Barnard
• Instructor: Robert Brotherton
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 1-4 points