This course will provide an overview of theoretical perspectives and concepts relevant to the study of sexuality, particularly as they relate to public health. This entails exploring perspectives from across the social sciences, with an emphasis on sociology, anthropology, and histroy, and somewhat more limited reference to work in psychology and political science. Drawing upon assigned readings, lectures, discussions and individual assignments, students will develop the capacity to identify the strengths and limitations of perspectives used to frame research and interventions related to sexuality. Although the substantive focus of this course is the theorization of sexuality, over the course of the semester we will address a more fundamental question in public health – namely, what shapes ‘health behaviors’? Developing a sophisticated conceptualization of why people engage in behaviors that have detrimental health consequences, or conversely why they fail to take health-enhancing actions, lays the foundation for effective health promotion policies and programs. Because a great deal of sexual health promotion programming draws implicitly on behavioral science and interpersonal-level determinants of health practices, a goal of this course is to counter-balance that through an emphasis on the broader structural and institutional determinants of sexual practices.
This course is a review of both recent as well as field-changing scholarly work from the last fifty years that shapes and shaped the historiography of the premodern Middle East, broadly defined. It is designed to aid graduate students in this field to understand the history of their craft, of current intellectual debates, and of major historiographical trends. In the process of refining their own understanding and interests in the field, students will also deepen their understanding of the premodern history of the region. This course is relevant for students of the premodern Middle East, premodernists in general, as well as students of the modern Middle East and adjacent regions.
Disparities in health and illness related to social and economic inequality in the U.S. Theoretical and empirical research on factors linked to class, gender, racial and ethnic differences that have been hypothesized to explain the generally poorer health and higher rates of mortality among members of socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. Concepts, theories and empirical evidence will be examined to expand our understanding of the impact of structural factors on health behavior, lifestyles and outcomes.
Over the 17 years that I have taught this course, I have tried to present students with articles that would provide an exposure to the growing body of research, commentaries, and critiques that discuss the relationships between race, ethnicity, and health. The premise upon which our work is based is rather simple: race is highly correlated with health status, but after many years of investigating this association, researchers are not entirely clear what this association means, nor are they clear how to use their research to improve the lot of people of color who are at risk for a wide variety of health conditions. Put more precisely, we don’t know what it is about someone’s race that causes the excess morbidity and mortality that is observed among members of so many ethnic minority groups. Typically, in the first class of the semester, students find this to be a puzzling way of defining the key issues in race and health. Given the dynamics of last year’s presidential elections where race played a huge role, it seems all the more bizarre to suggest that race is a concept of limited value to the science of public health. To students born in this country or who have lived here for an extended period of time, nothing could be more obvious than the fact that race matters. Racism is a fact of American life, and that its victims should suffer poorer health status than mainstream Americans seems almost self-evident. As the semester progresses and as the critique of current health research about race becomes more pronounced in the readings, students of all races, I hasten to add often feel compelled to say: “I don’t care what the articles say, race MATTERS!!!!!” Agreed. Race does matter, and it often matters in ways that are intensely personal, painful, and gut-wrenching. But the point of this course is not to deny the student’s personal experience of race, but rather to ask you to look beyond such experiences to develop a science of public health that specifies how and in what way race “acts” to cause the excess morbidity and mortality we observe in so many communities of color.
Overview of medical anthropology, the examination of health, disease, and medicine in the context of human culture. Examine the relationship between culture, structural factors, and health gain ways to utilize ethnographic, anthropological, and qualitative data in health interventions, policy, and evaluation gain critical skills in evaluating the adequacy and validity of formulations about 'culture' and 'tradition' in health programs and research become familiar with range of work on culture and health, domestically and internationally acquire skill in utilizing data about culture and health at macro and micro levels.
Aspects of the commercial theatre with perspectives from Executives of The Shubert Organization.
The Shubert Organization owns 17 Broadway, 6 Off-Broadway and 2 “road” theatres. It is a multi-million dollar company with significant real estate holdings, a substantial investment portfolio, a major ticketing operation and over 1,500 employees. But whether you are dealing with a 1,750-seat theatre or a converted garage, the issues are the same: What shows should be produced/booked? How to find an audience for them? How to make the most of ever-advancing modes of technology? How to contend with artistic, financial, organizational and legal challenges? The fundamental question: How to present the finest work in the best possible circumstances for the largest number of people in order to achieve the greatest artistic and financial return possible?
Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) has received growing attention over the past several decades as international, domestic, funding agencies and researchers have renewed a focus on an approach to health that recognizes the importance of social, political, and economic systems to health behaviors and outcomes. The long-standing importance of this approach is already reflected in the 1988 Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) landmark report The Future of Public Health and many other publications. The report indicates that communities and community-based organizations are one of six potential partners in the public health system and that building community-based partnerships is a priority area for improving public health. CBPR is not a method but an approach to research and practice that involves the active collaboration of the potential beneficiaries and recognizes and values the contributions that communities and their leaders can make to new knowledge and to the translation of research findings into public health practice and policy. CBPR is a collaborative approach to research that recognizes the value of equitably involving the intended beneficiaries throughout all phases of research and/or intervention design, implementation, and evaluation. CBPR is also an important approach to advance health and social equity and is essentially a way to promote and operationalize health and social equity in research settings.
Behavioral and environmental factors are major determinants of today's most pressing health issues. Community-level behavior change and health promotion interventions are promising strategies to address these issues on a large scale. This course will provide an overview of program planning, implementation, and evaluation – essential public health services and fundamental competencies for professionals working in the field of public health. Although the PRECEDE-PROCEED model will be used as the framework for the course structure and individual assignments, other planning models will also be presented and discussed. By the end of the course, students will develop a deep understanding of the complex processes involved in organizing public health programs, and learn the skills necessary to create a program and evaluation plan in a local community.
Health Literacy is defined in Health People 2010 as “the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information and services for appropriate health decisions” In this course we will explore the multi-layered interactions between health and literacy. We will begin by examining the issues related to literacy in the US and transition to the concept of health literacy. We will discuss issues related to reading comprehension, and usability of health related materials. The class will evaluate the major health literacy assessment instruments, learning how to administer these for different populations. We will focus on the role of language and culture as confounders to health literacy. Time will be spent assessing and then developing appropriate health materials for print, visual, auditory and internet venues. The course will shift towards examination of different health situations utilizing a health literacy approach including the research participants and informed consent, health literacy and medication/adherence, patient-physician communication models, and risk comprehension. Finally we will examine special topics including emergency preparedness. The classes are designed to include a mixture of didactic lectures, analysis of reading materials, group discussion and exercises.
Theoretical Foundations of Sociomedical Sciences is the first in a two-semester seminar series that is required for all doctoral students in the Department of Sociomedical Sciences. This seminar will examine a number of the major theoretical traditions – and enduring problems – that undergird contemporary practice in the sociomedical sciences. The historical review in the fall – like the critical examination of current research projects in the spring – will be guided by the framing interests and signature emphases of the department: urban environs in transformation, social structures and axes of inequality, disparities in morbidity and mortality, agency and identity, social construction and production of health and disease, globalization and marginalization. The overall aim is to familiarize students with the relevant interpretive/analytic traditions, provide a rehearsal stage for testing out particular tools and frameworks in compare- and-contrast exercises, and build the theoretical foundations that will enable them to critically assess contemporary work in the field. Close reading, class discussion, and reflective writing will be the practical means we employ to get there.
This seminar is designed for pre-doctoral students from the Departments of Sociomedical Sciences, Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Population and Family Health who have been accepted to the T32, on Social Determinants of HIV, a training grant sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health. Students in this T32 program are required to take this 2-year seminar (1 credit per semester). The seminar will highlight structural interventions designed to reduce the impact of HIV among underrepresented populations, professional development issues; funding mechanisms such as diversity supplements, diverse research careers for doctoral students in public health, and guest speakers who are experts in HIV structural interventions and social determinants of health. Students will lead many of the seminar discussions and they are given the opportunity to present their work in progress. Graded on a pass/fail basis.
Theatrical experiences are more frequently crossing borders to not only share art around the world, but also to remain financially and culturally sustainable. This is the first course offered by the Theatre Program that looks at the vision and logistics of bringing theatre to places all over the world.
“The work of a director can be summed up in two very simple words. Why and How.” -- Peter Brook,
On Directing
As theatre producers and managers, we’ll ask “Why and How” in a preliminary investigation into the missions and mechanics of producing international festivals and tours. We will consider our roles as members of the international performing arts community and our relationships to our artists, our audiences, and our international partners and colleagues.
In this course, graduate students from different disciplines will explore the ‘Orient’ in Manhattan. The course involves the active search for and analysis of Manhattan's urban space to survey its ‘Oriental’ buildings, monuments, parks, public inscriptions, and even ephemeral, everyday spaces that carry the sense of the ‘Orient’ to the city. Cities are physical places, yet, they are also assemblages of different layers of time, and geographies. These layers are designed to create communal identities and evoke recollections of past memories. Focus will be put on the written history of these spaces by searching in archives (in the City of New York) and digging out written and oral information about the histories of the formation of these spaces and their interactions with their surroundings.
The course will cover many monuments, like the famous obelisk in Central Park or the lessknown Jordanian column in Flushing Meadows Park in Queens; public buildings like Central Synagogue on Lexington, the Islamic Cultural Center on Upper East Side Mosque, or Olana State Historic Site in Hudson, NY; but also, the inner decorations of restaurants, bars (the Carlyle Bar) and even oriental Halal shops, as well as ephemeral spaces like international fairs, and Cairene grill boots.
Traditionally, Islamic art and Islamic architecture have been studied separately within art history and architecture history disciplines. The purpose of this course is, in the first place, to bridge the gap between the two disciplines while working across theories of visual culture and critically revisiting urban studies. A further aspect evolves the discourse about architectural ornament as part of the entire approach to ornament as an ‘Oriental’ trope. Thus, canonical discussions about Orientalism will form part of the course’s readings and will contribute to understanding how the architectural ornament of Manhattan forms identities. The course will introduce and discuss theoretical issues concerning urban architecture and ‘Orientalism’ and the making of the image of ‘Others’ in NYC public spaces. It will also provide a historical survey of these spaces and aim to create a novel comprehensive map for ‘Orientalized’ New York.
This course builds on Priorities in Global Health (PHGH P6811). Maintaining a multidisciplinary focus, the course presents five case studies of global health programs for in-depth study. The course first introduces systems thinking and its application to public health. Using a case study approach, students will then study the global and regional politics and local social contexts in which global health problems occur and will learn to analyze the successes and shortcomings of global public health interventions from a systems perspective. The course is open to students enrolled in the Global Health certificate (or by instructor's permission).
Does the long history of South Asia reflect only a teleologic march towards the partition of the subcontinent in 1947? What modes and practices, histories and concepts, which emerged in, say, the second millennium alone allow us a glimpse past the divisions, ruptures and conflicts which pre-dominate contemporary political and historical understanding? This graduate seminar takes the longue durée approach to the study of “Partition” by examining illustrated and illuminated epics and histories from the 14th century to the 19th century. This visual and textual production is put in conversation with modern contemporary artists who interrogated, imagined and wrestled with the Partition. Illustrated texts include: the Awadhi Chandayan (14th c.), Pancatantra via Anvar-i Suhayli (15th c.), and Mahabharata via Razmnama (16th c.). Artists include: Zarina Hashmi (1937-2020), Lala Rukh (1948–2017), Shahzia Sikander (b. 1969) and Varunika Saraf (b. 1981). The class will use collections housed at the MET and will also meet at the MET or IFA
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This course explores the causes, dynamics and outcomes of civil wars and insurgencies. It addresses when and why violence is employed in place of peaceful solutions to conflict and what accounts for individual and mass recruitment into armed organizations. It aims to understand variation in warring groups’ cohesion, repertoires of violence, and relations with civilians, state counterinsurgency methods, and the political economy of conflict. The course concludes by examining war duration and termination. Students will be pushed to grapple with research written in many traditions including philosophical, statistical, game theoretic, and qualitative materials.
The colloquium, brings together all students at the same level within the Ph.D. program and enriches the work of defining the dissertation topic and subsequent research and writing.
This course is designed to introduce all first-year graduate students in History to major books and problems of the discipline. It aims to familiarize them with historical writings on periods and places outside their own prospective specialties. This course is open to Ph.D. students in the department of History ONLY.
This course is designed to teach quantitative analysis to social and behavioral sciences students. It integrates an introduction to quantitative analysis with social science applications in public health, with instruction in use of the R statistical package. This course builds on the Quantitative Foundations concentration of the ReMA Studio of the Core and Intro to Sociomedical Science Research Methods (P8774). Weekly lectures will cover quantitative analysis with a focus on linear regression. Course lectures will begin with graphic and tabular methods for exploring and summarizing distribution of a single variable and the relationships between two and three variables. The course will then proceed with a nontechnical instruction in the application of the single equation regression model. It will introduce students to the standard linear additive model and interpretation of key model parameters. It will cover assumptions of the linear model and discuss some alternatives to the linear model when assumptions are violated. Weekly computer labs will instruct students in R programming. The lab content will parallel lecture material on quantitative analysis including writing basic R programming language. Students will learn to select and use online public use “sociomedical” data sets (e.g., NYC Community Health, NHIS, NHANES, GSS, BRFSS, YRBSS surveys, etc.) for use in the course and in their final project. The course will further emphasize the art of tabular, graphic, and written presentation of the results of quantitative analysis. This is an applied course, emphasizing hands-on work using statistical programming and skill building appropriate for research positions or further graduate study.
This class will provide an overview of qualitative research methods to help you develop an applied and advanced understanding of the possibilities that qualitative research offers. In this course you will practice designing a qualitative research study, and collecting, coding and analyzing data. Further, you will read methods literature and qualitative studies as well as critique qualitative work.
Course lectures will begin with foundations in the principles and practice of social science research in public health using qualitative research methodologies. The course will then proceed with a focus on the main types of qualitative data collection: ethnographic methods, interviewing focus groups, and mixed methods. It will introduce you to the idea of emergent themes, including a grounded theory approach. It will explore the importance of triangulation and other strategies for improving validity and reliability in qualitative research. Several classes will be dedicated using Atlas.ti programming. You will collect and analyze qualitative data in this course and participate in live classroom-based exercises (e.g. interviewing, focus group, coding) in smaller groups that allow time for discussion and re-doing.
The course will further emphasize the art of coding, thematic analysis, and written presentation of the results of qualitative analysis. This is an applied course, emphasizing hand-on work gathering and analyzing qualitative data and skill building appropriate for research positions, further graduate study, or applied public health settings where learning from observation or speaking with people is important. This course builds on the Qualitative Foundations of the Core and Intro to Sociomedical Science Research Methods (P8774).
How do international and global perspectives shape and conceptualization, research, and writing of history? Topics include approaches to comparative history and transnational processes, the relationship of local, regional, national, and global scales of analysis, and the problem of periodization when considered on a world scale.
The workshop provides a forum for advanced PhD students (usually in the 3rd or 4th year) to draft and refine the dissertation prospectus in preparation for the defense, as well as to discuss grant proposals. Emphasis on clear formulation of a research project, sources and historiography, the mechanics of research, and strategies of grant-writing. The class meets weekly and is usually offered in both fall and spring semesters.
Consistent attendance and participation are mandatory.
What is media and mediation? How do aesthetics, techniques and technologies of media shape perception, experience, and politics in our societies? And how have various forms of media and mediation been conceptualized and practiced in the Chinese-language environment? This graduate seminar examines critical issues in historical and contemporary Chinese media cultures, and guides students in a broad survey of primary texts, theoretical readings, and research methods that place Chinese media cultures in historical, comparative and interdisciplinary perspectives. We discuss a variety of media forms, including paintings and graphic arts, photography and cinema, soundscapes and the built environment, and television and digital media. The class covers a time span from mid-19 th century to the present, and makes use of the rich holdings at the Starr East Asian Library for historical research and media archaeology.
Open to MA and PhD students. Advanced undergraduates need to have instructor's approval.
Language prerequisites: intermediate or advanced Chinese; rare exceptions upon instructor’s approval.
Supervised Reserach for Classical Studies Graduate Students.
All graduate students are required to attend the department colloquium as long as they are in residence. No degree credit is granted.
MFA Film students in their 3rd, 4th and 5th years register for this class to maintain full-time enrollment status.
Theoretical or experimental study or research in graduate areas in mechanical engineering and engineering science.
Research Arts for MFA Writing Program - Students Must Have Completed 60 Points to Register