Prerequisites: Students that are not registering for MDES S1211 will be required to request professor permission (tb46@columbia.edu) to enroll.
Required discussion section for POLS UN1201: INTRO TO AMERICAN POLITICS
Prerequisites: MDES UN1211-UN1212, or the equivalent.
Prerequisites: Prerequisites: MDES UN1211-UN1212 and UN1214 or the equivalent.
Prerequisites: PHYS S1201. May be taken before or concurrently with this course. Laboratory for PHYS S1201D. Assignments to laboratory sections are made after the first lecture, offered Mon/Wed or Tues/Thurs 10.30AM-1.30PM.
Prerequisites: PHYS S1201. May be taken before or concurrently with this course. Laboratory for PHYS S1201D. Assignments to laboratory sections are made after the first lecture, offered Mon/Wed or Tues/Thurs 10.30AM-1.30PM.
Prerequisites: PHYS S1202. May be taken before or concurrently with this course. Laboratory for PHYS 1202X. Assignments to laboratory sections are made after the first lecture. NOTE: Labs meet one day a week (Mon, Tues, Wed or Thurs) 1:00pm - 4:00pm only. There are no evening lab sections.
Prerequisites: PHYS S1202. May be taken before or concurrently with this course. Laboratory for PHYS 1202X. Assignments to laboratory sections are made after the first lecture. NOTE: Labs meet one day a week (Mon, Tues, Wed or Thurs) 1:00pm - 4:00pm only. There are no evening lab sections.
Prerequisites: PHYS S1202. May be taken before or concurrently with this course. Laboratory for PHYS 1202X. Assignments to laboratory sections are made after the first lecture. NOTE: Labs meet one day a week (Mon, Tues, Wed or Thurs) 1:00pm - 4:00pm only. There are no evening lab sections.
Prerequisites: PHYS S1202. May be taken before or concurrently with this course. Laboratory for PHYS 1202X. Assignments to laboratory sections are made after the first lecture. NOTE: Labs meet one day a week (Mon, Tues, Wed or Thurs) 1:00pm - 4:00pm only. There are no evening lab sections.
Prerequisites: PHYS S1202. May be taken before or concurrently with this course. Laboratory for PHYS 1202X. Assignments to laboratory sections are made after the first lecture. NOTE: Labs meet one day a week (Mon, Tues, Wed or Thurs) 1:00pm - 4:00pm only. There are no evening lab sections.
Prerequisites: PHYS S1202. May be taken before or concurrently with this course. Laboratory for PHYS 1202X. Assignments to laboratory sections are made after the first lecture. NOTE: Labs meet one day a week (Mon, Tues, Wed or Thurs) 1:00pm - 4:00pm only. There are no evening lab sections.
Readings in translation and discussion of texts of Middle Eastern and Indian origin. Readings may include the Quran, Islamic philosophy, Sufi poetry, the Upanishads, Buddhist sutras, the Bhagavad Gita, Indian epics and drama, and Gandhis Autobiography.
Prerequisites: Recommended preparation: a working knowledge of high school algebra. May be counted toward the science requirement for most Columbia University undergraduate students. The overall architecture of the solar system. Motions of the celestial sphere. Time and the calendar. Major planets, the earth-moon system, minor planets, comets. Life in the solar system and beyond.
Prerequisites: high school chemistry and algebra, CHEM S0001, or the department's permission. Topics include stoichiometry, states of matter, nuclear properties, electronic structures of atoms, periodic properties, chemical bonding, molecular geometry, introduction to quantum mechanics and atomic theory, introduction to organic, biological chemistry and inorganic coordination chemistry. Topical subjects may include spectroscopy, solid state and materials science, polymer science and macromolecular structures. The order of presentation of topics may differ from the order presented here. Students are required to attend the separate daily morning recitations which accompany the lectures (total time block: MTWR 9:30-12:20). Registering for CHEM S1403D will automatically register students for the recitation section. Students who wish to take the full sequence of General Chemistry Lectures and General Chemistry Laboratory should also register for CHEM S1404Q and CHEM S1500 (see below). This course is equivalent to CHEM W1403 General Chemistry I Lecture.
Prerequisites: CHEM S1403 General Chemistry I Lecture or the equivalent. Topics include gases, kinetic theory of gases, states of matter: liquids and solids, chemical equilibria, acids and bases, applications of equilibria, thermochemistry and spontaneous processes (energy, enthalpy, entropy, free energy) as well as chemical kinetics and electrochemistry. The order of presentation of topics may differ from the order presented here. Students must also attend the daily morning recitations which accompany the lectures (total time block: MTWR 9:30-12:20). Registering for CHEM S1404Q will automatically register students for the recitation section. The continuation of CHEM S1403D General Chemistry I Lecture. Students who wish to take the full sequence of General Chemistry Lectures and General Chemistry Laboratory should also register for CHEM S1403D and CHEM S1500 (see below). This course is equivalent to CHEM UN1404 General Chemistry II Lecture.
Corequisites: CHEM S1404X. To be enrolled in CHEM S1404X, you must be enrolled in CHEM S1406X.
Introduction to the techniques of research employed in the study of human behavior. Students gain experience in the conduct of research, including design of simple experiments, observation and measurement techniques, and the analysis of behavioral data.
Prerequisites: (CHEM UN1403) Introduction to basic experimental techniques in chemistry, including quantitative procedures, chemical analysis, and descriptive chemistry. To be enrolled in CHEM S1500X you must also register for CHEM S1501 Lab Lecture.
Corequisites: CHEM S1500 Lab lecture for CHEM S1500 General Chemistry Laboratory.
This course provides a broad overview of the comparative politics subfield by focusing on critical substantive questions about the world today. The course is organized around four questions: 1. Why can only some people depend upon the state to enforce order? 2. Why are some countries more democratic than others? 3. What different institutional forms does democratic government take? 4. Are some institutions more likely than others to produce significant social outcomes such as representation, accountability, redistribution, and democratic stability? Because the study of comparative politics requires knowledge of specific cases, we will focus on eight countries: China, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, and the United Kingdom. This course will prepare students for higher-level courses in political science in two ways. First, it will teach students to make and evaluate arguments about politics. Second, it will make students aware of to the methods political scientists use in their research.
This is the required discussion section for POLS UN1501.
A survey of major concepts and issues in international relations. Issues include anarchy, power, foreign policy decision-making, domestic politics and foreign policy, theories of cooperation and conflict, international security and arms control, nationalism, international law and organizations, and international economic relations.
This is the required discussion section for POLS UN1601.
Introductory course to analog photographic tools, techniques, and photo criticism. This class explores black & white, analog camera photography and darkroom processing and printing. Areascovered include camera operations, black and white darkroom work, 8x10 print production, and critique. With an emphasis on the student’s own creative practice, this course will explore the basics of photography and its history through regular shooting assignments, demonstrations, critique, lectures, and readings. No prior photography experience is required.
Since Walter Benjamin’s concept of “work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction” (1935), photography has been continuously changed by mechanical, and then digital, means of image capture and processing. This class explores the history of the image, as a global phenomenon that accompanied industrialization, conflict, racial reckonings, and decolonization. Students will study case studies, read critical essays, and get hands-on training in capture, workflow, editing, output, and display formats using digital equipment (e.g., DSLR camera) and software (e.g., Lightroom, Photoshop, Scanning Software). Students will complete weekly assignments, a midterm project, and a final project based on research and shooting assignments. No Prerequisites and no equipment needed. All enrolled students will be able to check out Canon EOS 5D DSLR Camera; receive an Adobe Creative Cloud license; and get access to Large Format Print service.
Prerequisites: MATH S1201 Calculus III, or the equivalent. Matrices, vector spaces, linear transformation, Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors, canonical forms, applications.
Prerequisites: MATH S1201 Calculus III, or the equivalent. Matrices, vector spaces, linear transformation, Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors, canonical forms, applications.
Linear algebra with a focus on probability and statistics. The course covers the standard linear algebra topics: systems of linear equations, matrices, determinants, vector spaces, bases, dimension, eigenvalues and eigenvectors, the Spectral Theorem and singular value decompositions. It also teaches applications of linear algebra to probability, statistics and dynamical systems giving a background sufficient for higher level courses in probability and statistics. The topics covered in the probability theory part include conditional probability, discrete and continuous random variables, probability distributions and the limit theorems, as well as Markov chains, curve fitting, regression, and pattern analysis. The course contains applications to life sciences, chemistry, and environmental life sciences. No a priori background in the life sciences is assumed.
This course is best suited for students who wish to focus on applications and practical approaches to problem solving. It is recommended to students majoring in engineering, technology, life sciences, social sciences, and economics.
Math majors, joint majors, and math concentrators must take MATH UN2010 Linear Algebra or MATH UN1207 Honors Math A, which focus on linear algebra concepts and foundations that are needed for upper-level math courses. MATH UN2015 (Linear Algebra and Probability) does NOT replace MATH UN2010 (Linear Algebra) as prerequisite requirements of math courses. Students may not receive full credit for both courses MATH UN2010 and MATH UN2015. Students who have taken MATH UN2015 and consider taking higher level Math courses should contact a major advisor to discuss alternative pathways.
Linear algebra with a focus on probability and statistics. The course covers the standard linear algebra topics: systems of linear equations, matrices, determinants, vector spaces, bases, dimension, eigenvalues and eigenvectors, the Spectral Theorem and singular value decompositions. It also teaches applications of linear algebra to probability, statistics and dynamical systems giving a background sufficient for higher level courses in probability and statistics. The topics covered in the probability theory part include conditional probability, discrete and continuous random variables, probability distributions and the limit theorems, as well as Markov chains, curve fitting, regression, and pattern analysis. The course contains applications to life sciences, chemistry, and environmental life sciences. No a priori background in the life sciences is assumed.
This course is best suited for students who wish to focus on applications and practical approaches to problem solving. It is recommended to students majoring in engineering, technology, life sciences, social sciences, and economics.
Math majors, joint majors, and math concentrators must take MATH UN2010 Linear Algebra or MATH UN1207 Honors Math A, which focus on linear algebra concepts and foundations that are needed for upper-level math courses. MATH UN2015 (Linear Algebra and Probability) does NOT replace MATH UN2010 (Linear Algebra) as prerequisite requirements of math courses. Students may not receive full credit for both courses MATH UN2010 and MATH UN2015. Students who have taken MATH UN2015 and consider taking higher level Math courses should contact a major advisor to discuss alternative pathways.
Prerequisites: MATH UN1102 and MATH UN1201 or the equivalent. Special differential equations of order one. Linear differential equations with constant and variable coefficients. Systems of such equations. Transform and series solution techniques. Emphasis on applications.
Prerequisites: MATH UN1102 and MATH UN1201 or the equivalent. Special differential equations of order one. Linear differential equations with constant and variable coefficients. Systems of such equations. Transform and series solution techniques. Emphasis on applications.
Prerequisites: RUSS UN1101 and RUSS UN1102 or placement test $15.00= Language Resource Fee, $15.00 = Materials Fee , Builds upon skills acquired at introductory level. Emphasis on speaking, reading, writing, and grammar review. Taken with RUSS S2102R, equivalent to full-year intermediate course.
Prerequisites: SPAN S1102, or the equivalent. Equivalent to SPAN C1201 or F1201. Rapid grammar review, composition, and reading of literary works by contemporary authors.
Prerequisites: SPAN S1102, or the equivalent. Equivalent to SPAN C1201 or F1201. Rapid grammar review, composition, and reading of literary works by contemporary authors.
Prerequisites: SPAN S1102, or the equivalent. Equivalent to SPAN C1201 or F1201. Rapid grammar review, composition, and reading of literary works by contemporary authors.
Prerequisites: Equivalent to GERM UN2102 Topics cover areas of German literature, history, art, and society. Students also read a German drama. Assignments and activities are diversified to integrate undergraduate and graduate students’ academic and personal interests. Intermediate-high to advanced-low proficiency (ACTFL scale) in speaking, listening, reading, and writing German is expected upon successful completion (with a minimum grade of B). Prepares students for advanced German, upper-level literature and culture courses and study in Berlin. Students are advised that this course is a full-time commitment. Students should expect to study 2 hours every day for every hour spent in the classroom and additional time on weekends. Students planning to study in Berlin in spring are advised to complete GERM S2102 in the Summer Session. The Department of Germanic Languages will assist in selecting the appropriate course. Equivalent to GERM UN2102 taught during the regular semesters.
Prerequisites: Equivalent to GERM UN2102 Topics cover areas of German literature, history, art, and society. Students also read a German drama. Assignments and activities are diversified to integrate undergraduate and graduate students’ academic and personal interests. Intermediate-high to advanced-low proficiency (ACTFL scale) in speaking, listening, reading, and writing German is expected upon successful completion (with a minimum grade of B). Prepares students for advanced German, upper-level literature and culture courses and study in Berlin. Students are advised that this course is a full-time commitment. Students should expect to study 2 hours every day for every hour spent in the classroom and additional time on weekends. Students planning to study in Berlin in spring are advised to complete GERM S2102 in the Summer Session. The Department of Germanic Languages will assist in selecting the appropriate course. Equivalent to GERM UN2102 taught during the regular semesters.
Prerequisites: RUSS UN2101 or placement test $15.00= Language Resource Fee, $15.00 = Materials Fee , Continuation of RUSS S2101H.
Prerequisites: SPAN S1201, or the equivalent. Equivalent to SPAN C1202 or F1202. Readings of contemporary authors, with emphasis on class discussion and composition.
Prerequisites: SPAN S1201, or the equivalent. Equivalent to SPAN C1202 or F1202. Readings of contemporary authors, with emphasis on class discussion and composition.
Prerequisites: ECON UN1105 The course surveys issues of interest in the American economy, including economic measurement, well-being and income distribution, business cycles and recession, the labor and housing markets, saving and wealth, fiscal policy, banking and finance, and topics in central banking. We study historical issues, institutions, measurement, current performance and recent research.
Primarily for graduate students in other departments who have some background in French and who wish to meet the French reading requirement for the Ph.D. degree, or for scholars whose research involves references in the French language. Intensive reading and translation, both prepared and at sight, in works drawn from literature, criticism, philosophy, and history. Brief review of grammar; vocabulary exercises.
PHIL UN2101 is not a prerequisite for this course. Exposition and analysis of central philosophical problems as discussed by innovative thinkers from Aquinas through Kant. Authors include figures like Descartes, Elisabeth of Bohemia, Spinoza, Anne Conway, Leibniz, Berkeley, Hume, Émilie du Châtelet, and Kant. ,
As the first half of a one-year program for intermediate Chinese learners, this course helps students consolidate and develop language skills used in everyday communication. Texts are presented in the form of dialogues and narratives that provide language situations, sentence patterns, word usage, and cultural information. This course will enable students to conduct everyday tasks such as shopping for cell phone plans, opening a bank account, seeing a doctor, or renting a place to live. At the end of the course, students will be ready to move on to the second half of the program, which focuses on aspects of Chinese culture such as the social norms of politeness and gift-giving. Semi-formal and literary styles will also be introduced as students transition to more advanced levels of Chinese language study. While providing training for everyday communication skills, Second Year Chinese aims to improve the student's linguistic competence in preparation for advanced studies in Mandarin.
An introduction to the potential of digital sound synthesis and signal processing. Teaches proficiency in elementary and advanced digital audio techniques. This course aims to challenge some of the tacet assumptions about music that are built into the design of various user interfaces and hardware and fosters a creative approach to using digital audio workstation software and equipment. Permission of Instructor required to enroll. Music Majors have priority for enrollment.
As the second half of a one-year program for intermediate Chinese learners, this course helps students consolidate and develop everyday communicative skills in Chinese, as well as introducing aspects of Chinese culture such as the social norms of politeness and gift-giving. Semi-formal and literary styles will also be introduced as students transition to more advanced levels of Chinese language study. While providing training for everyday communication skills, Second Year Chinese aims to improve the student's linguistic competence in preparation for advanced studies in Mandarin.
An introduction to basic concepts in cognitive psychology. Topics include theories and
phenomena in areas such as attention, memory, concepts and categories, language, reasoning,
decision making, and consciousness.
This class offers insight through composing, analysis, and performance for the composer, singer/songwriter, and performance artist. Coupling specifics of rhythm, melody, and harmony with story telling, lyric writing and the voice itself, students will be encouraged to share their imagination in song regardless of style, genre, or aesthetic. Music ranging from Chant to Music Theatre, the German lied to international pop fusion will be included as models upon which to base discussion and creative endeavor. Improvisation and musicianship techniques will complement pedagogical presentations of tonal and non - tonal compositional practice. A required final project based on any combination of composition, analysis, and performance, and in any media will be due at the end of the semester. All levels of experience and all types of instruments are welcome. Notation software is recommended but not required.
This course is designed as an introduction to the Islamic religion, both in its pre-modern and modern manifestations. The semester begins with a survey of the central elements that unite a diverse community of Muslim peoples from a variety of geographical and cultural backgrounds. This includes a look at the Prophet and the Qur'an and the ways in which both were actualized in the development of ritual, jurisprudence, theology, and sufism/mysticism. The course then shifts to the modern period, examining the impact of colonization and the rise of liberal secularism on the Muslim world. The tension between traditional Sunni and Shi'i systems of authority and movements for 'modernization' and/or 'reform' feature prominently in these readings. Topics range from intellectual attempts at societal/religious reform (e.g. Islamic Revivalism, Modernism, Progressivism) and political re-interpretations of traditional Islamic motifs (e.g. Third-Worldism and Jihadist discourse) to efforts at accommodating scientific and technological innovations (e.g. evolution, bioethics ). The class ends by examining the efforts of American and European Muslim communities to carve out distinct spheres of identity in the larger global Muslim community ( umma) through expressions of popular culture (e.g. Hip-Hop).
This course is designed as an introduction to the Islamic religion, both in its pre-modern and modern manifestations. The semester begins with a survey of the central elements that unite a diverse community of Muslim peoples from a variety of geographical and cultural backgrounds. This includes a look at the Prophet and the Qur'an and the ways in which both were actualized in the development of ritual, jurisprudence, theology, and sufism/mysticism. The course then shifts to the modern period, examining the impact of colonization and the rise of liberal secularism on the Muslim world. The tension between traditional Sunni and Shi'i systems of authority and movements for 'modernization' and/or 'reform' feature prominently in these readings. Topics range from intellectual attempts at societal/religious reform (e.g. Islamic Revivalism, Modernism, Progressivism) and political re-interpretations of traditional Islamic motifs (e.g. Third-Worldism and Jihadist discourse) to efforts at accommodating scientific and technological innovations (e.g. evolution, bioethics ). The class ends by examining the efforts of American and European Muslim communities to carve out distinct spheres of identity in the larger global Muslim community ( umma) through expressions of popular culture (e.g. Hip-Hop).
This course examines three masters of European Baroque art—Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), Diego Velázquez (1599-1660), and Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669)—artists who are all well represented in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Through classroom discussions and museum visits, we will examine Baroque art as part of a continuing and developing accumulation of forms and ideas throughout the 17th century, and consider the impact these artists had on their contemporaries and in ensuing centuries. Roughly half of the class sessions take place at the Metropolitan Museum, a luxury that allows for close, firsthand analysis of art, but it is not an art appreciation course. It is a history course concerned with a study of ideas, artists, and visual facts and their application to emerging art forms within their cultural-historical context. In addition to developing a critical eye, the class is intended to develop analytical thinking and communication skills as well as knowledge of the subject matter.
Prerequisites: CHEM S1403 General Chemistry I Lecture, CHEM S1404 General Chemistry II Lecture and CHEM S1500 General Chemistry Lab or their equivalents taken within the previous five years. Principles of organic chemistry. The structure and reactivity of organic molecules from the standpoint of modern theories of chemistry. Stereochemistry, reactions of organic molecules, mechanisms of organic reactions, syntheses and degradations of organic molecules, spectroscopic techniques of structure determination. Please note that students must attend a recitation for this class. Students who wish to take the full organic chemistry lecture sequence and laboratory should also register for CHEM S2444Q Organic Chemistry II Lecture and CHEM S2543Q Organic Chemistry Lab (see below). This course is equivalent to CHEM UN2443 Organic Chemistry I Lecture.
Prerequisites: CHEM S2443D Organic Chemistry I Lecture or the equivalent. The principles of organic chemistry. The structure and reactivity of organic molecules are examined from the standpoint of modern theories of chemistry. Topics include stereochemistry, reactions of organic molecules, mechanisms of organic reactions, syntheses and degradations of organic molecules, and spectroscopic techniques of structure determination. This course is a continuation of CHEM S2443D Organic Chemistry I Lecture. Please note that students must attend a recitation for this class. Students who wish to take the full organic chemistry lecture sequence and laboratory should also register for CHEM S2443D Organic Chemistry I Lecture and CHEM S2543Q Organic Chemistry Lab - see below. This course is equivalent to CHEM UN2444 Organic Chemistry II Lecture.
Prerequisites: PSYC UN1001 An introduction to the analysis of psychological issues by anatomical, physiological, and pharmacological methods. Topics include neurons, neurotransmitters, neural circuits, human neuroanatomy, vision, learning, memory, emotion, and sleep and circadian rhythms.
Prerequisites: PSYC UN1001 or equivalent Traditional psychologists have focused primarily on answering “how?” questions regarding the mechanisms that underlie behavior (i.e. How does the system work?). In contrast, evolutionary psychologists focus primarily on answering “why?” questions (i.e. Why does this system exist, and why does it have the form it does?). This course is designed to apply our knowledge of evolutionary theory to psychology in order to answer such questions.
Prerequisites: MATH V1102-MATH V1201 or the equivalent and MATH V2010. Mathematical methods for economics. Quadratic forms, Hessian, implicit functions. Convex sets, convex functions. Optimization, constrained optimization, Kuhn-Tucker conditions. Elements of the calculus of variations and optimal control.
Prerequisites: CHEM UN1500 General Chemistry Lab, CHEM UN2443 Organic Chemistry I - Lecture. Techniques of experimental organic chemistry, with emphasis on understanding fundamental principles underlying the experiments in methodology of solving laboratory problems involving organic molecules. Attendance at the first laboratory session is mandatory. Please note that you must complete CHEM UN2443 Organic Chemistry I Lecture or the equivalent to register for this lab course. This course is equivalent to CHEM UN2543 Organic Chemistry Laboratory.
Prerequisites: CHEM UN1500 General Chemistry Lab, CHEM UN2443 Organic Chemistry I - Lecture. Techniques of experimental organic chemistry, with emphasis on understanding fundamental principles underlying the experiments in methodology of solving laboratory problems involving organic molecules. Attendance at the first laboratory session is mandatory. Please note that you must complete CHEM UN2443 Organic Chemistry I Lecture or the equivalent to register for this lab course. This course is equivalent to CHEM UN2543 Organic Chemistry Laboratory.
Introduces distinctive aesthetic traditions of China, Japan, and Korea--their similarities and differences--through an examination of the visual significance of selected works of painting, sculpture, architecture, and other arts in relation to the history, culture, and religions of East Asia.
Prerequisites: PSYC W1001 or PSYC W1010 or the instructor's permission. An examination of definitions, theories, and treatments of abnormal behavior.
Surveys important methods, findings, and theories in the study of social influences on behavior. Emphasizes different perspectives on the relation between individuals and society.
Clinical psychology is a broad and expanding field. This course will provide students with a broad overview of approaches to treatment and assessment in clinical psychology. These include theoretical orientations and current debates within the field. The course will also provide students with cultural and ethical considerations within the field. Finally, the course will offer many illustrative examples of the application of the provided material.
Introduction to 2000 years of art on the Indian subcontinent. The course covers the early art of Buddhism, rock-cut architecture of the Buddhists and Hindus, the development of the Hindu temple, Mughal and Rajput painting and architecture, art of the colonial period, and the emergence of the Modern.
Introduction to 2000 years of art on the Indian subcontinent. The course covers the early art of Buddhism, rock-cut architecture of the Buddhists and Hindus, the development of the Hindu temple, Mughal and Rajput painting and architecture, art of the colonial period, and the emergence of the Modern.
This course is required for all sociology majors, but open to all students. Theoretical accounts of the rise and transformations of modern society in the19th and 20th centuries. Theories studied include those of Adam Smith, Tocqueville, Marx, Durkheim, Max Weber, Roberto Michels. Selected topics: individual, society, and polity; economy, class, and status: organization and ideology; religion and society; moral and instrumental action.
The nature of cinema as a technology, a business, a cultural product, an entertainment medium, and most especially an art form. Study of cinematic genres, stylistics, and nationalities; outstanding film artists and artisans; the relationship of cinema to other art forms and media, as well as to society.
This course centers on the constantly changing ambivalent everyday lived realities, experiences, interpretations as well as the multiple meanings of Islam and focuses less on the study of Islam as a discursive tradition. Furthermore, the course challenges stereotypes of Islam, and of people who one way or another can be called Muslims; most often perceived as a homogenous category through which all Muslim societies are imagined. The course is divided into six parts. The first part introduces the idea of “anthropology of Islam” through different readings in anthropology and various, experiences, practices, dimensions of Islam as a relationship between humans and God. In the second part, the focus is to listen to Islam and connect the different sonic bodies of Islam to power and politics. The third part interrogates preconceived ideas about Islam, gender, feminism, and agency. The fourth part studies Islam, body, sexuality and eroticism. The fifth part is concerned with Islam, youth culture, identity, belonging and rebellion. The last part critically analyzes Islam, modernity, orientalism, post-colonialism and not least today’s fear and notion of imagined enemies.
The adjudged authenticity of a work of art is fundamental in determining its value as a commodity on the art market or, for example, in property claim disputes or in issues of cultural property restitution. Using case studies some straightforward and others extremely vexing--this course examines the many ways in which authenticity is measured through the use of provenance and art historical research, connoisseurship, and forensic resources. From within the broader topics, finer issues will also be explored, among them, the hierarchy of attribution, condition and conservation, copies and reproductions, the period eye and the style of the marketplace.
The adjudged authenticity of a work of art is fundamental in determining its value as a commodity on the art market or, for example, in property claim disputes or in issues of cultural property restitution. Using case studies some straightforward and others extremely vexing--this course examines the many ways in which authenticity is measured through the use of provenance and art historical research, connoisseurship, and forensic resources. From within the broader topics, finer issues will also be explored, among them, the hierarchy of attribution, condition and conservation, copies and reproductions, the period eye and the style of the marketplace.
Using evolutionary principles as the unifying theme, we will survey the study of animal behavior, including the history, basic principles and research methods.
We will also analyze videos from the field as we explore the fascinating world of animal behavior. Through a range of approaches, students will gain familiarity with the scientific method, behavioral observation and research design. Although this is listed as a 3000-level course, no prior biology experience is required. Fulfills the science requirement for most Columbia and GS undergraduates
The Introduction to Video Storytelling course teaches students the basics of conceiving, researching, and reporting a story through video. Students will learn to think critically about what makes for a good video story--what makes it newsworthy, what makes video the proper medium for conveying that story--and how to execute using the latest technology. Students will learn how to use and handle a camera, how to best record sound, how to properly frame and light a subject or scene, as well as learn how to use Adobe Premiere editing software. Students will have one complete video story at the end of the 6-week course.
War Reporting: The Coverage of Armed Conflict explores the origins and roles of modern war reporting, examines the challenges journalists face, and discusses journalism's place in the public discourse of armed conflict and political violence, most notably terrorism. Taught by U.S. Marine corps veteran and Pulitzer Prize winning reporter and author, C.J. Chivers, class discussions will be lively and require student engagement. There will be guest lectures and seminars with leading journalists with experience in recent wars, as well discussions with security and legal professionals who assist and guide news organizations in their coverage of war. The examination of risks to journalists on conflict beats will include detailed case studies of real kidnappings and battlefield deaths, and study examples of risk mitigation and best practices in the field. The course is intended for students with a deep interest in war, terrorism and journalism, including both news consumers and aspiring practitioners. It aims to promote skepticism of official narratives and critical thinking about journalism itself.
Cinema and videogames are moving-image-based media, and, especially over the past two decades, they have been credited with influencing each other. But how deep do their similarities actually go? In what way do the possibilities available to game developers differ from those available to filmmakers? How does each medium segment and present space, time, and action? What aesthetic effects are open to games that are not open to cinema, and vice versa? This course offers a comprehensive exploration of the dynamic relationship between cinema and video games. Through a combination of film screenings, gameplay, theoretical reading/discussions, and practical assignments, students will examine the historical, cultural, aesthetic, and narrative connections between these two influential media forms. The course aims to foster an understanding of how cinema and video games intersect, inform, and influence one another, providing a unique perspective on storytelling techniques within these mediums. The course will culminate in a final presentation where students will adapt an existing intellectual property, preferably a film or TV show, into a video game (or vice versa), justifying their creative choices.
In 1933’s
King Kong
, the titular giant ape is brought to New York City in chains—he is brought to Broadway, becoming an object of spectacle for the gaping crowds. Film scholar James Snead describes the film as an “allegory of the slave trade… and of various other forms of exploitation and despoilment.” Snead finds in the monster movie gestures towards the fears of an emancipated Black America as represented by the Harlem Renaissance and even, with its climax at the very top of the Empire State Building, a critique of American Capitalism. How the scholar uncovers, in
King Kong,
anxieties about the city and the wider American experience, emblematizes the ‘against-the-grain’ approach of this class which asks: what kind of subterranean views of New York City and its taboo/unseen histories emerge when we look deep into the shadows of the horror genre?
Our eye will move across the city as well as across film and media history, plunging from the heights of King Kong’s looming skyscraper to Greenwich Village where murderers lurk among our neighbors (
Rear Window
). We will move from the macabre world of a cruel, sometimes demonic upper class (
American Psycho
,
Rosemary’s Baby
) to the gay cruising scene of the 1970s menaced by slashers who may be hiding in the dancing crowd (
Cruising
).
With its emphasis on field trips, the course will offer a holistic view of an iconic yet always changing city with visits to the top of the Empire State Building and to the Museum of Reclaimed Space. There, we will gain lessons on gentrification’s costs as well as strategies to resist its insidiously flattening force. For our week on Roman Polanski’s
Rosemary’s Baby
, we will visit the setting of the Dakota Hotel, mulling how the film about a woman who may be giving birth to an otherworldly creature visualizes urban space as a place of profound disconnection. It will mobilize the archival resources of Columbia’s collections around the featured films, so students can appreciate how New York-based critics perceived these films’ representations of the city. To further frame how horror can be a space to explore unsung histories and the impacts of ongoing cultural traumas, acclaimed artists will be invited into the classroom. These include: Pornsak Pichetshote whose graphic novel
Infidel
presents the prejudices, paranoias, and fears of post-9/11 New York in a monstruous light a
Prerequisites: STAT UN1201, ECON UN3211 Intermediate Microeconomics and ECON UN3213 Intermediate Macroeconomics. Equivalent to ECON UN3025. Institutional nature and economic function of financial markets. Emphasis on both domestic and international markets (debt, stock, foreign exchange, Eurobond, Eurocurrency, futures, options, and others). Principles of security pricing and portfolio management; the capital asset pricing model and the efficient markets hypothesis.
Prerequisites: STAT UN1201, ECON UN3211 Intermediate Microeconomics and ECON UN3213 Intermediate Macroeconomics. Equivalent to ECON UN3025. Institutional nature and economic function of financial markets. Emphasis on both domestic and international markets (debt, stock, foreign exchange, Eurobond, Eurocurrency, futures, options, and others). Principles of security pricing and portfolio management; the capital asset pricing model and the efficient markets hypothesis.
Traditionally, stories have followed a linear path, with a clear distinction between teller and audience. Yet, since the late 20th century, this model is shifting. Today, postmodern fiction, video games, interactive films, VR, participatory theater and immersive experiences offer audiences agency, creating a challenge for creators: how do they uphold narrative integrity while allowing for choice, collaboration, and remixing?
In this class, we’ll examine how modern narrative designers craft stories across media that invite audience participation. Through history, analysis, and workshops, we’ll explore how creators design for interaction while preserving tone and themes, turning audiences into active participants.
For the final assignment, students will develop a 12-15 minute pitch presentation for an original story concept, adapting it into an interactive format that balances strong authorial vision with audience agency.
This course covers the history of Zionism in the wake of the Haskala in mid nineteenth century Europe and its development at the turn of the century through the current 'peace process' between the state of Israel and the Palestinian national movement. The course examines the impact of Zionism on European Jews and on Asian and African Jews on the one hand, and on Palestinian Arabs on the other --in Israel, in the Occupied Territories, and in the Diaspora.
Criticism is an important skill to have, to appreciate and understand film more. But criticism isn’t black and white, and most importantly, it can help inform us of how to shape, tell, and develop a story that resonates with the audience.
This course will begin by exploring the basics of film criticism and film appreciation, as students develop their skills in analyzing and identifying components that make a film work (or fall short). As they approach the second half of the course, students will transform their skills in critiquing into productive feedback and use what they’ve learned to form and develop stories of their own, write a 1-2 page treatment, and finally pitch their story ideas in front of the class.
Everyone is interested in telling a story, but through the lens of film criticism, students will appreciate the creative process and learn how it is empowered by what we watch and most importantly, how we watch. Students will use this summer course to identify and prepare for areas of focus that they might be interested in pursuing (screenwriting, directing, producing) in their academic career.
This course looks at the narrative and the historical context for an extraordinary event: the conquest of the Persian empire by Alexander III of Macedonia, conventionally known as “Alexander the Great”. We will explore the different worlds Alexander grew out of, confronted, and affected: the old Greek world, the Persian empire, the ancient near-east (Egypt, Levant, Babylonia, Iran), and the worlds beyond, namely pre-Islamic (and pre-Silk Road) Central Asia, the Afghan borderlands, and the Indus valley. The first part of the course will establish context, before laying out a narrative framework; the second part of the course will explore a series of themes, especially the tension between military conquest, political negotiation, and social interactions. Overall, the course will serve as an exercise in historical methodology (with particular attention to ancient sources and to interpretation), an introduction to the geography and the history of the ancient world (classical and near-eastern), and the exploration of a complex testcase located at the contact point between several worlds, and at a watershed of world history.
The goal of this course is to provide students with an overview of constitutive debates over the theory and practice of democracy along three major lines: democracy as a word (with a time-honored ancestry and a tortuous trajectory across the centuries); democracy as a constellation of principles and values; and democracy as an array of institutions and procedures that instantiate the word and pursue the foundational principles of popular sovereignty and democratic self-rule. In doing so, we will read the work of major representatives of historical and contemporary political thought who assessed democracy’s shortcomings and potential, examined the relationship between its theory and its practice, and offered prominent resources for thinking about democracy’s future in our present.
Capitalism shapes every aspect of our daily lives. Thinkers on both the left and the right of the political spectrum agree that capitalism structures our economic, social, and political relationships. Yet, there is little agreement as to the definition of capitalism and its normative implications. The definition and interpretation of capitalism differs across time and space, always evolving in response to challenges, crises, and contradictions. The aim of this course is to provide students with analytical tools to think critically and historically about the concept of capitalism. By studying how philosophers, economists, and political theorists have defined and described the concept of capitalism throughout its history (from the early seventeenth century to the present), students will be provided with a set of terminologies and analytical frameworks that enable them to interrogate the various dimensions of capitalism. The readings in the course are selected to illustrate the fact that capitalism has always been controversial. We will read texts authored by both proponents and critics of capitalism. We will explore how various canonical figures have thought about private property, markets, money, economic growth, injustice, inequality, alienation, and socialism.
This political science course provides an introduction to the politics of judges, courts, and law in the United States. We will evaluate law and courts as political institutions and judges as political actors and policy-makers.
The topics we will study include what courts do; how different legal systems function; the operation of legal norms; the U.S. judicial system; the power of courts; constraints on judicial power; judicial review; the origin of judicial institutions; how and why Supreme Court justices make the decisions they do; case selection; conflict between the Court and the other branches of government; decision making and conflict within the judicial hierarchy; the place of courts in American political history; and judicial appointments.
We will explore some common but not necessarily true claims about how judges make decisions and the role of courts. One set of myths sees judges as unbiased appliers of neutral law, finding law and never making it, with ideology, biography, and politics left at the courthouse door. Another set of myths sees the judiciary as the “least dangerous branch,” making law, not policy, without real power or influence.
Our thematic questions will be: How much power and discretion do judges have in the U.S? What drives their decision-making?
This is an intensive, six-week class moving from the basics of paint materials, techniques, issues of color, light, narrative and most of all representation. Students will begin working from still life set-ups in the studio and gradually move towards more ambitious approaches including figure painting from a model. Towards the end of the class students will be encouraged to work on a project or projects that more closely reflect their personal ideas.
Prerequisites: MATH UN1101 and ECON UN1105 or the equivalent; one term of calculus. Corequisites: MATH UN1201. This course covers the determination of output, employment, inflation and interest rates. Topics include economic growth, business cycles, monetary and fiscal policy, consumption and savings and national income accounting.
Prerequisites: No prerequisites. Department approval NOT required.
This course will introduce students to writing about visual art. We will take our models from art history and contemporary art discourse, and students will be prompted to write with and about current art exhibitions and events throughout the city. The modes of art writing we will encounter include: the practice of ekphrasis (poems which describe or derive their inspiration from a work of art); writers such as John Ashbery, Gary Indiana, Eileen Myles, and others who for periods of their life held positions as art critics while composing poetry and works of fiction; writers such as Etel Adnan, Susan Howe, and Renee Gladman who have produced literature and works of art in equal measure. We will also look at artists who have written essays and poetry throughout their careers such as Robert Smithson, Glenn Ligon, Gregg Bordowitz, Moyra Davey, and Hannah Black, and consider both the visual qualities of writing and the ways that visual artists have used writing in their work. Lastly, we will consider what it means to write through a “milieu” of visual artists, such as those associated with the New York School and Moscow Conceptualism. Throughout the course students will produce original works and complete a final writing project that enriches, complicates, and departs from their own interests and preoccupations.
This course is an introduction to American constitutional law. We examine key historical debates surrounding the constitution’s framing, ratification, and subsequent amendments, and study several major court decisions that have elaborated the constitution’s meaning over time. We will explore competing theories of how the constitution should be interpreted, how the constitution distributes and limits the power of different branches of government, and which fundamental political and civil rights the constitution guarantees (see the schedule of readings for specific topics). Students will regularly discuss, debate, and write about these issues.
A major learning goal of the course is to practice the skills needed to understand a legal argument and to articulate our own. Students will learn how to identify the different elements of a legal opinion, how to formulate a legal opinion, and how to conduct basic legal research.
This course provides an introduction to Shakespeare through a combination of reading his plays and viewing them in performance. On the one hand, we approach each play as a written, published text: our in-class conversation consist primarily in close analysis of key passages, and, in one class period, we visit Rare Books to examine the earliest printed versions of the plays in light of English Renaissance print technology. On the other hand, we view performances of each assigned play, including the attendance as a group of at least one Shakespeare production on an NYC stage. Our semester’s through line is to trace, from his earliest plays to Hamlet, Shakespeare’s remarkable development of the techniques of characterization that have made generations of both playgoers and readers feel that his dramatis personae are so modern, real, human. We will also devote attention to exploring the value of each play in our present moment and on our local stages. We read 8 plays in all, including Titus Andronicus, Midsummer Night's Dream, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Merchant of Venice, and Hamlet.
Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 or the equivalent. Introduction to the principles of money and banking. The intermediary institutions of the American economy and their historical developments, current issues in monetary and financial reform.