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.
This course offers intensive practice in writing on dance and explores a range of
approaches to dance criticism from the 1940s through today. Starting from the premise
that criticism can be an art form in itself, we ask: What are the roles and responsibilities
of a critic? How do our own identities and experiences inform how we see and write?
With the proliferation of dance in digital spaces, what new possibilities arise for dance
criticism? Class meetings include discussion, writing exercises, and peer workshops.
Assignments involve viewing performances outside of class.
Philosophical problems at the foundations of quantum theory, especially those having to do with the uncertainty of relations and nature of quantum mechanical indeterminacy. Exploration of a variety of interpretation and hidden variable theory.
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.
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.
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.
Research and scholarly writing in chosen topics relating to dance. Methods of investigation are drawn from prominent archival collections and personal interviews, as well as other resources. Papers are formally presented to the Dance Department upon completion.
This lab-based course introduces students to advanced methods in cognitive neuroscience, focusing on the application of electroencephalography (EEG) for real-time recording of brain activity. Unlike traditional approaches that study how the brain responds to different external stimuli or task demands, this course centers on spontaneous brain activity that occurs during rest or just before experimental events. Whether or not spontaneous brain activity is just meaningless noise remains an active area of research in cognitive neuroscience. Some researchers believe that spontaneous brain activity may be an important factor shaping our subjective experience of the world. However, the underlying mechanisms remain elusive in part due to the challenges in objectively defining and measuring subjective experience.
In this course, students will address this challenge by developing methods to study the relationship between spontaneous brain activity and subjective experience, with a particular focus on mind-wandering and the sensory phenomena elicited by Ganzflicker and Ganzfeld stimulation. The course culminates in independent research projects where students test their hypotheses by collecting and analyzing behavioral and EEG data. Key questions to address include: can spontaneous fluctuations in brain activity account for why people sometimes zone out while performing a task? Can the same fluctuations explain why people sometimes have different sensory experiences despite constant external stimuli? Do individual variations in spontaneous brain activity help explain why some people are more likely to report such experiences?
Note: The course involves weekly in person meetings as well as asynchronous work on data acquisition, analysis, and primary article readings for approximately 6 additional hours per week (on average).
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.
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.
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.
A research and writing workshop designed to help students plan and execute a major research project, and communicate their ideas in a common scholarly language that crosses disciplinary boundaries. Content is determined by students thesis topics, and includes general sessions on how to formulate a proposal and how to generate a bibliography. Students present the fruits of their research in class discussions, culminating in a full-length seminar presentation and the submission of the written thesis.
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.
Prerequisites: CHEM BC3328 and permission of instructor. Individual research projects at Barnard or Columbia, culminating in a comprehensive written report.
Prerequisites: CHEM BC3328 and permission of instructor. Individual research projects at Barnard or Columbia, culminating in a comprehensive written report.
Prerequisites: CHEM BC3328 and permission of instructor. Individual research projects at Barnard or Columbia, culminating in a comprehensive written report.
Prerequisites: CHEM BC3328 and permission of instructor. Individual research projects at Barnard or Columbia, culminating in a comprehensive written report.
Introduction to continuous systems with the treatment of classical and state-space formulations. Mathematical concepts, complex variables, integral transforms and their inverses, differential equations, and relevant linear algebra. Classical feedback control, time/frequency domain design, stability analysis, Laplace transform formulation and solutions, block diagram simplification and manipulation, signal flow graphs, modeling physical systems and linearization. state-space formulation and modeling, in parallel with classical single-input single-output formulation, connections between the two formulations. Transient and steady state analysis, methods of stability analysis, such as root locus methods, Nyquist stability criterion, Routh Hurwitz criterion, pole/zero placement, Bode plot analysis, Nichols chart analysis, phase lead and lag compensators, controllability, observability, realization of canonical forms, state estimation in multivariable systems, time-variant systems. Introduction to advanced stability analysis such as Lyapunov stability and simple optimal control formulation. May not take for credit if already received credit for EEME E4600.
Corequisites: PHIL V3611 Required Discussion Section (0 points). Systematic treatment of some major topics in metaphysics (e.g. modality, causation, identity through time, particulars and universals). Readings from contemporary authors.
How does what happens inside a country affect what it does in the international arena? In this course we examine how domestic politics influence international behavior. This of course includes regime type--do democracies behave differently from autocracies, whether in initiating conflict or willingness to cooperate? How might democratic backsliding affect a country's foreign policy, including its alliances? How does regime type affect the capacity to fight and win wars? We will also examine the impact of group interests, the electoral cycle, and bureaucratic dynamics, as well as bargaining--national leaders face a two-level bargaining game while dealing with other states as well as domestic actors. In both discussion and writing assignments you will apply theoretical insights to international politics today as well as to selected historical cases.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Why does war happen, given its huge costs for either side? Why do groups of people systematically kill other groups of people? What do we need to know to prevent war if possible, and prepare for it when necessary? Are wars the purposeful, rational pursuit of policy, the result of miscalculation and misperception, or the result of seemingly inexorably forces over which there is little control? Why are wars sometimes avoided in situations that seem likely to breed conflict? In this course we critically examine the major theoretical approaches to these questions. You will select one or more wars and write a research paper addressing an important theoretical question through your analysis of your cases.
Discussion section for Religion in the City. Students must register for main lecture course UN3604 to be added to discussion section.
For those whose knowledge is equivalent to a student who’s completed the Second Year course. The course develops students’ reading comprehension skills through reading selected modern Tibetan literature. Tibetan is used as the medium of instruction and interaction to develop oral fluency and proficiency.
Prerequisites: PSYC UN1010, PSYC UN2280, PSYC UN2620, or PSYC UN2680, and the instructors permission. Considers contemporary risk factors in childrens lives. The immediate and enduring biological and behavioral impact of risk factors.
Discussions of the student's Independent Research project during the fall and spring terms that culminate in a written and oral senior thesis. Each project must be supervised by a scientist working at Barnard or at another local institution.
This course explores the origins and dynamics of ethnic conflict through the lens of several different theoretical approaches. How and where does ethnic conflict emerge and why does it endure? Is it greed or grievance, identity or interest? Why do some cases of ethnic tension and racial hatred boil over into bloodshed and carnage, while other conflict situations simmer well below the level of violence? Why are some inter-group conflicts so explosive and intractable while others yield to compromise and resolution? How is ethnic conflict influenced by factors such as religious nationalism, regime type, economic inequality, demographic shifts, and climate change? Leveraging a range of theoretical frameworks, students will engage with historical case studies and grapple with contemporary issues to understand the causes and conditions involved in conflict emergence, continuation, and resolution.
Prerequisites: (PSYC UN1001) Instructor permission required. A seminar for advanced undergraduate students exploring different areas of clinical psychology. This course will provide you with a broad overview of the endeavors of clinical psychology, as well as discussion of its current social context, goals, and limitations.
What links concepts of theatre and concepts of democracy? How does theatre promote democracy, spectators’ civic participation, and vice versa, how do concepts and modes of theatre prevent the spectators from assuming civic positions both within and outside a theatrical performance? Arranged in three sections—“Tragedies and Democracies,” “Theatrical Propriety and Liberal Democracy,” and “Rhapsody for Theatre”—this class explores both the promotion and the denial of democratic discourse in the practices of dramatic writing and theatrical performance.
Prerequisites: None Humans don’t just eat to live. The ways we prepare, eat, and share our food is a complex reflection of our histories, environments, and ideologies. Whether we prefer coffee or tea, cornbread or challah, chicken breast or chicken feet, our tastes are expressive of social ties and social boundaries, and are linked to ideas of family and of foreignness. How did eating become such a profoundly cultural experience? This seminar takes an archaeological approach to two broad issues central to eating: First, what drives human food choices both today and in the past? Second, how have social forces shaped practices of food acquisition, preparation, and consumption (and how, in turn, has food shaped society)? We will explore these questions from various evolutionary, physiological, and cultural viewpoints, highlighted by information from the best archaeological and historic case studies. Topics that will be covered include the nature of the first cooking, beer-brewing and feasting, writing of the early recipes, gender roles and ‘domestic’ life, and how a national cuisine takes shape. Through the course of the semester we will explore food practices from Pleistocene Spain to historic Monticello, with particular emphasis on the earliest cuisines of China, Mesoamerica, and the Mediterranean.
Human beings create second, social, skins for themselves. Everyone designs interfaces between their bodies and the world around them. From pre-historic ornaments to global industry, clothing has always been a crucial feature of people’s survival, desires, and identity. This course studies clothing from the perspectives of anthropology, architecture, art, craft, economics, labor, law, psychology, semiotics, sociology, and sustainability. Issues include gender roles, local traditions, world-wide trade patterns, dress codes, the history of European fashion, dissident or disruptive styles, and the environmental consequences of what we wear today.
Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud have significantly transformed what and how we know. The lecture will explore key concepts from their revolutionary ideas and introduce essential theories vital to the humanities and social sciences, including historical materialism, post-metaphysical philosophy, critical theory, and psychoanalysis. Discussions will focus on some of their most important texts, which continue to shape our critical understanding of society, culture, and human subjectivity. We will especially highlight the similarities and rivalries in their approaches. No prior knowledge of their works is necessary. All texts will be read and discussed in English translation.
What is the relationship between religion and human rights? How have different religious traditions conceived of “the human” as a being worthy of inherent dignity and respect, particularly in moments of political, military, economic, and ecological crisis? How and why have modern regimes of human rights privileged some of these ideas and marginalized others? What can these complicated relationships between religion and human rights explain some of the key crises in human rights law and politics today, and what avenues can be charted for moving forward? In this class, we will attempt to answer these questions by first developing a theoretical understanding of some of the key debates about the origins, trajectories, and legacies of modern human rights’ religious entanglements. We will then move on to examine various examples of ideas about and institutions for protecting “humanity” from different regions and histories. Specifically, we will examine how different societies, organizations, and religious traditions have addressed questions of war and violence; freedom of belief and expression; gender and sexual orientation; economic inequality; ecology; and the appropriate ways to punish and remember wrongdoing. In doing so, we will develop a repertoire of theoretical and empirical tools that can help us address both specific crises of human rights in various contexts, as well as the general crisis of faith and and observance of human rights as a universal norm and aspiration for peoples everywhere.
Over the past thousand years, modern capitalism has expanded from its European starting point to the entire world. Modern economic activity started with a commercial revolution in the late Middle Ages, concentrated in European city states like Venice and Genoa. From the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries, European colonialism spread this commercial revolution around the globe. The Industrial Revolution in northwestern Europe led to unprecedented and sustained economic growth, which allowed European nations to dominate the rest of the world economically, politically, and militarily, with mixed results for the rest of the world. Over the past hundred years, global capitalism has continued to present countries, and the people in them, with enormous opportunities, crushing constraints, and major political dilemmas.
The course is an introductory overview of the economics and politics of international economic activity in historical and theoretical perspective.
Over the past thousand years, modern capitalism has expanded from its European starting point to the entire world. Modern economic activity started with a commercial revolution in the late Middle Ages, concentrated in European city states like Venice and Genoa. From the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries, European colonialism spread this commercial revolution around the globe. The Industrial Revolution in northwestern Europe led to unprecedented and sustained economic growth, which allowed European nations to dominate the rest of the world economically, politically, and militarily, with mixed results for the rest of the world. Over the past hundred years, global capitalism has continued to present countries, and the people in them, with enormous opportunities, crushing constraints, and major political dilemmas.
The course is an introductory overview of the economics and politics of international economic activity in historical and theoretical perspective.