The courses listed below are provided by the JHU Public Course Search. This listing provides a snapshot of immediately available courses and may not be complete.
Course registration information can be found on the Student Information Services (SIS) website. Please consult the academic catalog for cross-listed courses and full course information.
Course # (Section)
Title
Day/Times
Instructor
Location
Term
Course Details
AS.001.179 (01)
FYS: Race Before Race - Difference and Diversity in the Ancient Mediterranean
W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Pandey, Nandini
Gilman 108
Fall 2025
How did people understand human difference before modern biology or the invention of categories like ‘black’ and ‘white’? Were ancient societies ethnically pure or hostile toward other cultures? Or are race and racism not inherent to the human condition, but rather, cultural products that vary based on the needs of those in power? This First-Year Seminar tackles some of these questions by exploring constructions of race, ethnicity, and difference among people who lived around the Mediterranean Sea between 1000 BCE – 500 CE. It will introduce you to the cultural diversity of ancient Asian, African, and European societies, hone your ability to interpret primary sources both literary and visual, and survey ways of theorizing human difference across time in hopes of better preparing you for lives and careers in our interconnected world.. We will also examine the role that classical Greece and Rome played in modern racecraft, Western imperialism, even the political systems, socioeconomic structures, and architecture that surround us. This course hopes to give you a wider historical frame in which to understand race and racism, as well as the cultural politics around "classics" and questions of heritage, revealing both as dynamic and historically situated discourses that have been used to exert power, to include or exclude, and to build communities. All sources are provided in English, no prior background in classics is assumed, and there are no prerequisites beyond a willingness to work, speak, and think with an open mind.
×
FYS: Race Before Race - Difference and Diversity in the Ancient Mediterranean AS.001.179 (01)
How did people understand human difference before modern biology or the invention of categories like ‘black’ and ‘white’? Were ancient societies ethnically pure or hostile toward other cultures? Or are race and racism not inherent to the human condition, but rather, cultural products that vary based on the needs of those in power? This First-Year Seminar tackles some of these questions by exploring constructions of race, ethnicity, and difference among people who lived around the Mediterranean Sea between 1000 BCE – 500 CE. It will introduce you to the cultural diversity of ancient Asian, African, and European societies, hone your ability to interpret primary sources both literary and visual, and survey ways of theorizing human difference across time in hopes of better preparing you for lives and careers in our interconnected world.. We will also examine the role that classical Greece and Rome played in modern racecraft, Western imperialism, even the political systems, socioeconomic structures, and architecture that surround us. This course hopes to give you a wider historical frame in which to understand race and racism, as well as the cultural politics around "classics" and questions of heritage, revealing both as dynamic and historically situated discourses that have been used to exert power, to include or exclude, and to build communities. All sources are provided in English, no prior background in classics is assumed, and there are no prerequisites beyond a willingness to work, speak, and think with an open mind.
Days/Times: W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Pandey, Nandini
Room: Gilman 108
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 0/12
PosTag(s): ARCH-RELATE
AS.001.245 (01)
FYS: American Indian Philosophy
TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
Connolly, Patrick
Gilman 134
Fall 2025
More than 500 federally-recognized Native tribes and many more who are not federally recognized live within the borders of the United States. Each of these communities has its own history, identity, traditions, relationship to the land, and story of survivance. This First-Year Seminar examines the views of Indigenous communities on topics such as truth, knowledge, identity and the self, causation, and ethics. It also investigates contemporary American Indian thought as it relates to colonialism and anti-colonialism, land, futurity, sovereignty, and resistance. Students will hear from guest lecturers working at the forefront of the discipline and enrich their learning through a trip to the Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC.
×
FYS: American Indian Philosophy AS.001.245 (01)
More than 500 federally-recognized Native tribes and many more who are not federally recognized live within the borders of the United States. Each of these communities has its own history, identity, traditions, relationship to the land, and story of survivance. This First-Year Seminar examines the views of Indigenous communities on topics such as truth, knowledge, identity and the self, causation, and ethics. It also investigates contemporary American Indian thought as it relates to colonialism and anti-colonialism, land, futurity, sovereignty, and resistance. Students will hear from guest lecturers working at the forefront of the discipline and enrich their learning through a trip to the Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC.
Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
Instructor: Connolly, Patrick
Room: Gilman 134
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 0/12
PosTag(s): CES-LE
AS.070.402 (01)
Environmental Justice Workshop
Th 1:30PM - 5:00PM
Pandian, Anand
Mergenthaler 426
Fall 2025
The Environmental Justice Workshop is a space for engaged learning and collaborative environmental work, giving students a chance to join in the collective struggle to build equitable and sustainable urban futures in Baltimore. In the fall of 2025, the workshop will be taught by anthropologist Anand Pandian (Johns Hopkins) as a cross-institutional partnership with anthropologist Chloe Ahmann (Cornell University) and the South Baltimore Community Land Trust. Working together as a team of faculty and students at both universities, we will collaborate with environmental justice activists and Baltimore residents to research, write, and produce a four-part digital humanities curriculum about the discriminatory history of waste management in Baltimore and its impact on working-class and minority residents. Students enrolled in this course will gain experience with archival and ethnographic research methods, learn how to conduct time-sensitive research responsive to community needs, and produce media resources for a broader civic audience engaged in the fight for environmental justice. Many class sessions will take place in various community locations in south Baltimore, and meeting times include transportation to/from the Homewood campus.
×
Environmental Justice Workshop AS.070.402 (01)
The Environmental Justice Workshop is a space for engaged learning and collaborative environmental work, giving students a chance to join in the collective struggle to build equitable and sustainable urban futures in Baltimore. In the fall of 2025, the workshop will be taught by anthropologist Anand Pandian (Johns Hopkins) as a cross-institutional partnership with anthropologist Chloe Ahmann (Cornell University) and the South Baltimore Community Land Trust. Working together as a team of faculty and students at both universities, we will collaborate with environmental justice activists and Baltimore residents to research, write, and produce a four-part digital humanities curriculum about the discriminatory history of waste management in Baltimore and its impact on working-class and minority residents. Students enrolled in this course will gain experience with archival and ethnographic research methods, learn how to conduct time-sensitive research responsive to community needs, and produce media resources for a broader civic audience engaged in the fight for environmental justice. Many class sessions will take place in various community locations in south Baltimore, and meeting times include transportation to/from the Homewood campus.
The Cold War was a defining event of the 20th century. But what was it? Where did it take place? Who were the major contenders? And what were the consequences? This introductory course will examine the Cold War in a global context, looking beyond the United States and Europe. Students will learn about how the Cold War unfolded in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, in relation to the fall of European empires, the process of decolonization, and the rise of U.S. global power. This course will introduce students to key themes and primary sources in the study of the Global Cold War, as a foundation for further courses in History, Critical Diaspora Studies, International Studies, Political Science, etc.
×
History of the Global Cold War AS.100.106 (01)
The Cold War was a defining event of the 20th century. But what was it? Where did it take place? Who were the major contenders? And what were the consequences? This introductory course will examine the Cold War in a global context, looking beyond the United States and Europe. Students will learn about how the Cold War unfolded in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, in relation to the fall of European empires, the process of decolonization, and the rise of U.S. global power. This course will introduce students to key themes and primary sources in the study of the Global Cold War, as a foundation for further courses in History, Critical Diaspora Studies, International Studies, Political Science, etc.
Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 12:00PM - 12:50PM
The Cold War was a defining event of the 20th century. But what was it? Where did it take place? Who were the major contenders? And what were the consequences? This introductory course will examine the Cold War in a global context, looking beyond the United States and Europe. Students will learn about how the Cold War unfolded in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, in relation to the fall of European empires, the process of decolonization, and the rise of U.S. global power. This course will introduce students to key themes and primary sources in the study of the Global Cold War, as a foundation for further courses in History, Critical Diaspora Studies, International Studies, Political Science, etc.
×
History of the Global Cold War AS.100.106 (02)
The Cold War was a defining event of the 20th century. But what was it? Where did it take place? Who were the major contenders? And what were the consequences? This introductory course will examine the Cold War in a global context, looking beyond the United States and Europe. Students will learn about how the Cold War unfolded in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, in relation to the fall of European empires, the process of decolonization, and the rise of U.S. global power. This course will introduce students to key themes and primary sources in the study of the Global Cold War, as a foundation for further courses in History, Critical Diaspora Studies, International Studies, Political Science, etc.
Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM
This course examines Latinos and the American political landscape – taking seriously the political lives of Latinos to sharpen accounts of American political development. In Part I: Latinos and American Empire, we will examine how American state building, American racial capitalism, and American empire created a varied set of racialized citizenship regimes that shaped the legality and membership of Latinos – depending on the interplay between domestic racial hierarchies and international projects. In Part II: Latinos and the Administrative State, we will examine how the regulation of Latino immigrants and asylum seekers from Latin America and the Caribbean have been an engine for American political development – including the making of border bureaucracies, networked policing that harnesses the institution of federalism, and the development of ocean-spanning detention infrastructure. In Part III: Latinos as Targets, we will examine how Latinos became racialized as ‘illegals’ and became the prime targets of state action – and how state efforts have led to the suppressing of political agency, mobilization of collective action, and even integration of Latinos into the enforcement apparatus. In Part IV: Latinos, Hierarchies, and Power, we will examine the political power of those most marginalized among the Latino population – including Black, Trans, Queer, Immigrant, and Undocumented Latinos – to learn about how these groups contend with intragroup and intergroup hierarchies, their role in intersectional movements, and their organizing under repressive conditions. In Part V: Latinos and Placemaking, we conclude with Latino placemaking across the United States to examine how Latinos – in relation with and to, and in coalition with Black, Indigenous, and Asian organizing – are cultivating and asserting political and policy influence in the face of climate change, policing, detention, and gentrification.
×
Latinos and the American Political Landscape AS.190.304 (01)
This course examines Latinos and the American political landscape – taking seriously the political lives of Latinos to sharpen accounts of American political development. In Part I: Latinos and American Empire, we will examine how American state building, American racial capitalism, and American empire created a varied set of racialized citizenship regimes that shaped the legality and membership of Latinos – depending on the interplay between domestic racial hierarchies and international projects. In Part II: Latinos and the Administrative State, we will examine how the regulation of Latino immigrants and asylum seekers from Latin America and the Caribbean have been an engine for American political development – including the making of border bureaucracies, networked policing that harnesses the institution of federalism, and the development of ocean-spanning detention infrastructure. In Part III: Latinos as Targets, we will examine how Latinos became racialized as ‘illegals’ and became the prime targets of state action – and how state efforts have led to the suppressing of political agency, mobilization of collective action, and even integration of Latinos into the enforcement apparatus. In Part IV: Latinos, Hierarchies, and Power, we will examine the political power of those most marginalized among the Latino population – including Black, Trans, Queer, Immigrant, and Undocumented Latinos – to learn about how these groups contend with intragroup and intergroup hierarchies, their role in intersectional movements, and their organizing under repressive conditions. In Part V: Latinos and Placemaking, we conclude with Latino placemaking across the United States to examine how Latinos – in relation with and to, and in coalition with Black, Indigenous, and Asian organizing – are cultivating and asserting political and policy influence in the face of climate change, policing, detention, and gentrification.
In The Great Derangement Indian novelist Amitav Ghosh writes that “the climate crisis is also a crisis of culture, and thus of imagination.” Worldwide, climate and environmental change is stirring the imaginary of novelists, filmmakers, and artists who are finding ways to frame, emplot, or even perform, an unmanageable phenomenon like climate change. How is climate change shaping new modes of storytelling and aesthetics? How do film, literature, and environmentally conscious art transform our perception of the world we inhabit and its unpredictable changes? Can climate change narratives help us to imagine futures of possibilities, maybe dystopian, uncertain, or even happy, but futures nonetheless? This multimedia course explores, through a transnational perspective, a variety of contemporary novels, films, and other media that attempt answer these questions.
×
Climate Change Narratives AS.211.424 (01)
In The Great Derangement Indian novelist Amitav Ghosh writes that “the climate crisis is also a crisis of culture, and thus of imagination.” Worldwide, climate and environmental change is stirring the imaginary of novelists, filmmakers, and artists who are finding ways to frame, emplot, or even perform, an unmanageable phenomenon like climate change. How is climate change shaping new modes of storytelling and aesthetics? How do film, literature, and environmentally conscious art transform our perception of the world we inhabit and its unpredictable changes? Can climate change narratives help us to imagine futures of possibilities, maybe dystopian, uncertain, or even happy, but futures nonetheless? This multimedia course explores, through a transnational perspective, a variety of contemporary novels, films, and other media that attempt answer these questions.
Reading Korean Literature in Translation: A Survey
Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Kim, Kyeong-Soo
Hackerman 111
Fall 2025
An introduction for students unfamiliar with the Korean language but interested in Korean culture / literature. Students will read a variety of translated texts, especially of works written in the 20th and early 21st centuries by authors including Kim Tong-in, Hwang Sun-wŏn, Pak Wansŏ, Hwang Sŏk-yŏng and Han Kang; there will also be classes on traditional sijo poetry. Students will become familiar with Korean literary genres and formal features, and develop a broad understanding of the historical and sociocultural context of Korean literature.
×
Reading Korean Literature in Translation: A Survey AS.220.220 (01)
An introduction for students unfamiliar with the Korean language but interested in Korean culture / literature. Students will read a variety of translated texts, especially of works written in the 20th and early 21st centuries by authors including Kim Tong-in, Hwang Sun-wŏn, Pak Wansŏ, Hwang Sŏk-yŏng and Han Kang; there will also be classes on traditional sijo poetry. Students will become familiar with Korean literary genres and formal features, and develop a broad understanding of the historical and sociocultural context of Korean literature.
Days/Times: Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Kim, Kyeong-Soo
Room: Hackerman 111
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 9/15
PosTag(s): WRIT-FICT, WRIT-READ
AS.230.378 (01)
Refugees, Human Rights, and Sovereignty
TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Naveh Benjamin, Ilil
Hackerman 320
Fall 2025
What is a refugee? Since World War II, states that have pledged to offer protection to refugees have frequently been drawn instead to the dictates of nationalism and communitarianism, which prioritize concern for their own citizens, rather than to the needs of forced migrants. As a result, even those migrants that have been formally recognized as refugees according to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention have not been assured of protection, and other migrants have been even less assured. In this course, we will locate the reasons for this reality in the legal, political, and historical underpinnings of political asylum. What is the difference between an asylum seeker and a refugee? How has the refugee category been redefined and contested by international bodies since 1951? How are the ambiguities of real-life violence and persecution simplified in asylum adjudication interviews that require clear, factual narratives? What kinds of protections are offered to asylum seekers, whether by UN bodies, NGOs, or host governments, and how have such protections varied geographically and historically? Finally, what protections, if any, are afforded to those migrants who are fleeing not persecution but rather “merely” endemic poverty or climate-induced displacement? The course draws on literature from sociology, history, anthropology, and international refugee law in order to understand the capacity (or lack thereof) of human rights discourses and declarations to contravene state sovereignty in the name of protecting the rightless.
×
Refugees, Human Rights, and Sovereignty AS.230.378 (01)
What is a refugee? Since World War II, states that have pledged to offer protection to refugees have frequently been drawn instead to the dictates of nationalism and communitarianism, which prioritize concern for their own citizens, rather than to the needs of forced migrants. As a result, even those migrants that have been formally recognized as refugees according to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention have not been assured of protection, and other migrants have been even less assured. In this course, we will locate the reasons for this reality in the legal, political, and historical underpinnings of political asylum. What is the difference between an asylum seeker and a refugee? How has the refugee category been redefined and contested by international bodies since 1951? How are the ambiguities of real-life violence and persecution simplified in asylum adjudication interviews that require clear, factual narratives? What kinds of protections are offered to asylum seekers, whether by UN bodies, NGOs, or host governments, and how have such protections varied geographically and historically? Finally, what protections, if any, are afforded to those migrants who are fleeing not persecution but rather “merely” endemic poverty or climate-induced displacement? The course draws on literature from sociology, history, anthropology, and international refugee law in order to understand the capacity (or lack thereof) of human rights discourses and declarations to contravene state sovereignty in the name of protecting the rightless.
Illness across Cultures: The Ethics of Pain in Literature and Film
T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
El Guabli, Brahim
Gilman 208
Fall 2025
Although fundamentally grounded in human existence, Illness, pain, and suffering are also cultural experiences that have been depicted in literature and film. The way different cultures relate to and convey pain is embedded in the cosmogonic ideas each society holds about suffering and its outcomes. Reading through different literary texts from different parts of the world and drawing on movies that portray varied experiences of illness, this course aims to help students think about illness and its ramifications in a more transcultural way in order to understand how illness functions across different geographic, climatic, political, and social conditions. The students will also gain a better understanding of the causes of pain, its symptoms, and the different manners in which the authors and filmmakers whose works we will study mediate it to their readers and viewers. From basic traditional potions to hyper-modern medical technologies, illness also mobilizes different types of science across cultures and social classes. By the end of the course, students will develop an ethics of reading for illness not a as monolithic condition but rather as an experience that has unique cultural codes and mechanisms that need to be known to better understand it and probably treat it.
×
Illness across Cultures: The Ethics of Pain in Literature and Film AS.300.405 (01)
Although fundamentally grounded in human existence, Illness, pain, and suffering are also cultural experiences that have been depicted in literature and film. The way different cultures relate to and convey pain is embedded in the cosmogonic ideas each society holds about suffering and its outcomes. Reading through different literary texts from different parts of the world and drawing on movies that portray varied experiences of illness, this course aims to help students think about illness and its ramifications in a more transcultural way in order to understand how illness functions across different geographic, climatic, political, and social conditions. The students will also gain a better understanding of the causes of pain, its symptoms, and the different manners in which the authors and filmmakers whose works we will study mediate it to their readers and viewers. From basic traditional potions to hyper-modern medical technologies, illness also mobilizes different types of science across cultures and social classes. By the end of the course, students will develop an ethics of reading for illness not a as monolithic condition but rather as an experience that has unique cultural codes and mechanisms that need to be known to better understand it and probably treat it.
Days/Times: T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: El Guabli, Brahim
Room: Gilman 208
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 2/14
PosTag(s): CDS-GI, MSCH-HUM
AS.305.101 (01)
Introduction to Critical Diaspora Studies
MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Schrader, Stuart Laurence
Gilman 75
Fall 2025
Introduction to Critical Diaspora Studies will explore the transnational, relational, and comparative approach to racism, migration, and colonialism at the heart of this major. It will introduce students to cutting-edge literature in the major’s four tracks: Migration and Borders; Global Indigeneities; Empires, Wars, and Carceralities; and Solidarities, Social Movements, and Citizenship. Topics covered will include diasporic and indigenous cultures and politics from Asia, Africa, and Latin America, as well as the United States. Students should expect to learn the value of interdisciplinary and transnational approaches to questions of social belonging, activism, justice, and politics. This course will also be useful to students in all humanities and social science majors who are interested in questions of racism, migration, and colonialism. This course may entail travel over fall break.
×
Introduction to Critical Diaspora Studies AS.305.101 (01)
Introduction to Critical Diaspora Studies will explore the transnational, relational, and comparative approach to racism, migration, and colonialism at the heart of this major. It will introduce students to cutting-edge literature in the major’s four tracks: Migration and Borders; Global Indigeneities; Empires, Wars, and Carceralities; and Solidarities, Social Movements, and Citizenship. Topics covered will include diasporic and indigenous cultures and politics from Asia, Africa, and Latin America, as well as the United States. Students should expect to learn the value of interdisciplinary and transnational approaches to questions of social belonging, activism, justice, and politics. This course will also be useful to students in all humanities and social science majors who are interested in questions of racism, migration, and colonialism. This course may entail travel over fall break.
Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Instructor: Schrader, Stuart Laurence
Room: Gilman 75
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 1/18
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.305.135 (01)
The Future of Work: AI, Labor, and Migration
TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Todarello, Josh
Gilman 186
Fall 2025
How is the so-called “AI Revolution” altering the landscape of work? This course takes up this question through the lens of underemployment, migratory labor, and diasporic communities. We will read a variety of key works on migration and imagined communities, precarity and alienation, labor, automation, and empire—as well as texts produced in the margins of globalization. In conversation with these texts, we will investigate the dynamics of diasporic communities, migration, and solidarity vis-a-vis the future of work in a global society increasingly automated by AI models such as DeepSeek, ChatGPT, and Qwen 2.5, and the entities that own them. Through a variety of writing assignments and presentations, students engage issues such as race, class, gender, the border, citizenship, and community as they exist for diasporic and migratory workers. This course explores themes relevant to students of Critical Diaspora Studies, as well as the history of science and technology, political science and political economy, international studies, literature, film, and sociology.
Readings may include works by Ruha Benjamin, Audre Lorde, Harry Braverman, Benedict Anderson, David Harvey, Edward Said, Mary L. Gray, Octavia Butler, and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o.
×
The Future of Work: AI, Labor, and Migration AS.305.135 (01)
How is the so-called “AI Revolution” altering the landscape of work? This course takes up this question through the lens of underemployment, migratory labor, and diasporic communities. We will read a variety of key works on migration and imagined communities, precarity and alienation, labor, automation, and empire—as well as texts produced in the margins of globalization. In conversation with these texts, we will investigate the dynamics of diasporic communities, migration, and solidarity vis-a-vis the future of work in a global society increasingly automated by AI models such as DeepSeek, ChatGPT, and Qwen 2.5, and the entities that own them. Through a variety of writing assignments and presentations, students engage issues such as race, class, gender, the border, citizenship, and community as they exist for diasporic and migratory workers. This course explores themes relevant to students of Critical Diaspora Studies, as well as the history of science and technology, political science and political economy, international studies, literature, film, and sociology.
Readings may include works by Ruha Benjamin, Audre Lorde, Harry Braverman, Benedict Anderson, David Harvey, Edward Said, Mary L. Gray, Octavia Butler, and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o.
Internal Colonialism, Migration, and Migrant Communities
MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Pumar, Enrique Severino
Krieger 307
Fall 2025
This course examines how theories of internal colonialism help us understand the recent global migration trends and dynamics within and among ethnic communities. The course has three main objectives. First, it will discuss how the legacy of colonial and postcolonial relations of unequal exchange and domination explain the recent migration patterns from the global south. Second, it discusses how internal colonialism helps us understand how political, economic, and cultural mechanisms reproduce inequalities within and among communities of color. Lastly, how different resistance strategies manifest themselves in marginalized communities would be considered. The course surveys diverse views and perspectives including the work of Gonzalez Casanova, Du Bois, Bonilla-Silva, Blauner, Hechter, and Allen.
×
Internal Colonialism, Migration, and Migrant Communities AS.305.138 (01)
This course examines how theories of internal colonialism help us understand the recent global migration trends and dynamics within and among ethnic communities. The course has three main objectives. First, it will discuss how the legacy of colonial and postcolonial relations of unequal exchange and domination explain the recent migration patterns from the global south. Second, it discusses how internal colonialism helps us understand how political, economic, and cultural mechanisms reproduce inequalities within and among communities of color. Lastly, how different resistance strategies manifest themselves in marginalized communities would be considered. The course surveys diverse views and perspectives including the work of Gonzalez Casanova, Du Bois, Bonilla-Silva, Blauner, Hechter, and Allen.
Days/Times: MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Instructor: Pumar, Enrique Severino
Room: Krieger 307
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 13/18
PosTag(s): CDS-MB, CES-BM, CES-CC, CES-RI
AS.363.228 (01)
Imperialism and Sexual Politics in the Global South
M 10:00AM - 11:30AM, W 10:00AM - 11:30AM
Galli, Joao
Gilman 305; Gilman 308
Fall 2025
This course investigates the relationship between capitalism, imperialism, gender, and sexuality. Imperialism and Sexual Politics in the Global South will introduce students to major debates about sexual and gendered minorities in African, Asian, Central-Eastern European, and Latin American societies, from the 19th century to the present day. Students are encouraged to challenge preconceived notions about so-called universal concepts, identities, modes of action, and political claims actually developed in the West, while critically engaging with their circulations and appropriation by some actors in the Global South. In addition to an analysis of specific identities (homosexual, gay, queer, trans, LGBT, and... Straight Heterosexual), this course will also interrogate the very notions of "gender" and "sexuality": are they always significant as structures of power over space and time.
×
Imperialism and Sexual Politics in the Global South AS.363.228 (01)
This course investigates the relationship between capitalism, imperialism, gender, and sexuality. Imperialism and Sexual Politics in the Global South will introduce students to major debates about sexual and gendered minorities in African, Asian, Central-Eastern European, and Latin American societies, from the 19th century to the present day. Students are encouraged to challenge preconceived notions about so-called universal concepts, identities, modes of action, and political claims actually developed in the West, while critically engaging with their circulations and appropriation by some actors in the Global South. In addition to an analysis of specific identities (homosexual, gay, queer, trans, LGBT, and... Straight Heterosexual), this course will also interrogate the very notions of "gender" and "sexuality": are they always significant as structures of power over space and time.
Days/Times: M 10:00AM - 11:30AM, W 10:00AM - 11:30AM
Instructor: Galli, Joao
Room: Gilman 305; Gilman 308
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 12/15
PosTag(s): CDS-EWC
AS.389.201 (01)
Introduction to the Museum: Past and Present
TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Kingsley, Jennifer P
Gilman 17
Fall 2025
This course surveys museums, from their origins to their most contemporary forms, in the context of broader historical, intellectual, and cultural trends including the social movements of the 20th century. Anthropology, art, history, and science museums are considered.
×
Introduction to the Museum: Past and Present AS.389.201 (01)
This course surveys museums, from their origins to their most contemporary forms, in the context of broader historical, intellectual, and cultural trends including the social movements of the 20th century. Anthropology, art, history, and science museums are considered.
This course critically examines the role of exhibitions in shaping cultural narratives and public understanding of people and places across the globe. Students will explore the history, theory, and practice of exhibiting cultures in museums, galleries, and digital platforms. Topics include curatorial ethics, representation and identity, postcolonial critiques, audience engagement, and the impact of emerging technologies on exhibition design. Through case studies and hands-on projects, students will analyze how cultural heritage is displayed and interpreted, considering issues of appropriation, authenticity, and inclusivity. The course culminates in a final project where students conceptualize and design their own cultural exhibition proposal.
×
Exhibiting Cultures AS.389.233 (01)
This course critically examines the role of exhibitions in shaping cultural narratives and public understanding of people and places across the globe. Students will explore the history, theory, and practice of exhibiting cultures in museums, galleries, and digital platforms. Topics include curatorial ethics, representation and identity, postcolonial critiques, audience engagement, and the impact of emerging technologies on exhibition design. Through case studies and hands-on projects, students will analyze how cultural heritage is displayed and interpreted, considering issues of appropriation, authenticity, and inclusivity. The course culminates in a final project where students conceptualize and design their own cultural exhibition proposal.
Days/Times: Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Roome, Kristine
Room: Smokler Center Library
Status: Closed
Seats Available: 6/15
PosTag(s): CDS-SSMC, ARCH-RELATE
AS.010.327 (01)
Asia America: Art and Architecture
MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Brown, Rebecca Mary
Gilman 177
Spring 2026
This course examines a set of case studies spanning the last century that will enable us to explore the shifting landscape of Asian transnational art and architecture. Each week will focus on a different artist, group, exhibition, architect, urban space, or site to unpack artistsʼ and architectsʼ engagements with the changing landscape of immigration policies, movements to build solidarity with other artists of color, and campaigns for gender and sexual equality. The course will situate these artists within American art, and build an expansive idea of Asia
America to include the discussion of artists whose work directly addresses fluidity of location and transnational studio practice.
×
Asia America: Art and Architecture AS.010.327 (01)
This course examines a set of case studies spanning the last century that will enable us to explore the shifting landscape of Asian transnational art and architecture. Each week will focus on a different artist, group, exhibition, architect, urban space, or site to unpack artistsʼ and architectsʼ engagements with the changing landscape of immigration policies, movements to build solidarity with other artists of color, and campaigns for gender and sexual equality. The course will situate these artists within American art, and build an expansive idea of Asia
America to include the discussion of artists whose work directly addresses fluidity of location and transnational studio practice.
Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Instructor: Brown, Rebecca Mary
Room: Gilman 177
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): HART-MODERN
AS.070.318 (01)
Black Atlantic Worlds
T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Angelini, Alessandro; White, Alexandre Ilani Rein
Mergenthaler 426
Spring 2026
This seminar explores the formation of Black Atlantic worlds through a selection of historical and ethnographic texts, material artifacts, and films. We will encounter familiar themes of slavery, revolution, commodity production, and imperial power recast in the minor key of the Black experience. Exploring major works by anthropologists, particularly key figures from Johns Hopkins, the course also examines how studies of transatlantic movements have reshaped our very understanding of history and culture, not simply as static or official forms but as fields of contention.
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Black Atlantic Worlds AS.070.318 (01)
This seminar explores the formation of Black Atlantic worlds through a selection of historical and ethnographic texts, material artifacts, and films. We will encounter familiar themes of slavery, revolution, commodity production, and imperial power recast in the minor key of the Black experience. Exploring major works by anthropologists, particularly key figures from Johns Hopkins, the course also examines how studies of transatlantic movements have reshaped our very understanding of history and culture, not simply as static or official forms but as fields of contention.
Days/Times: T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Angelini, Alessandro; White, Alexandre Ilani Rein
Room: Mergenthaler 426
Status: Open
Seats Available: 13/18
PosTag(s): INST-GLOBAL, CES-RI, CES-BM
AS.100.107 (01)
History of the Global War on Terror
MW 12:00PM - 12:50PM, F 12:00PM - 12:50PM
Schrader, Stuart Laurence
Hodson 316; Gilman 17
Spring 2026
The United States and its allies launched the Global War on Terror in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attack. But it quickly exceeded the scope of neutralizing al-Qaeda, the organization behind that attack, leading to military campaigns in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and across numerous countries in Africa and elsewhere. This course will examine the historical background of the Global War on Terror, including its relationship to prior stages of colonialism and the Cold War. It will delve into the post-9/11 wars and examine the relationship between US foreign policy and regional politics in Asia and Africa. This course is sequential to AS.100.106, The History of the Global Cold War, though that course is not a prerequisite. This course will introduce students to concepts and methods in the study of recent history, as a foundation for further courses in History, Critical Diaspora Studies, International Studies, Political Science, etc.
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History of the Global War on Terror AS.100.107 (01)
The United States and its allies launched the Global War on Terror in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attack. But it quickly exceeded the scope of neutralizing al-Qaeda, the organization behind that attack, leading to military campaigns in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and across numerous countries in Africa and elsewhere. This course will examine the historical background of the Global War on Terror, including its relationship to prior stages of colonialism and the Cold War. It will delve into the post-9/11 wars and examine the relationship between US foreign policy and regional politics in Asia and Africa. This course is sequential to AS.100.106, The History of the Global Cold War, though that course is not a prerequisite. This course will introduce students to concepts and methods in the study of recent history, as a foundation for further courses in History, Critical Diaspora Studies, International Studies, Political Science, etc.
Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 12:50PM, F 12:00PM - 12:50PM
The United States and its allies launched the Global War on Terror in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attack. But it quickly exceeded the scope of neutralizing al-Qaeda, the organization behind that attack, leading to military campaigns in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and across numerous countries in Africa and elsewhere. This course will examine the historical background of the Global War on Terror, including its relationship to prior stages of colonialism and the Cold War. It will delve into the post-9/11 wars and examine the relationship between US foreign policy and regional politics in Asia and Africa. This course is sequential to AS.100.106, The History of the Global Cold War, though that course is not a prerequisite. This course will introduce students to concepts and methods in the study of recent history, as a foundation for further courses in History, Critical Diaspora Studies, International Studies, Political Science, etc.
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History of the Global War on Terror AS.100.107 (02)
The United States and its allies launched the Global War on Terror in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attack. But it quickly exceeded the scope of neutralizing al-Qaeda, the organization behind that attack, leading to military campaigns in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and across numerous countries in Africa and elsewhere. This course will examine the historical background of the Global War on Terror, including its relationship to prior stages of colonialism and the Cold War. It will delve into the post-9/11 wars and examine the relationship between US foreign policy and regional politics in Asia and Africa. This course is sequential to AS.100.106, The History of the Global Cold War, though that course is not a prerequisite. This course will introduce students to concepts and methods in the study of recent history, as a foundation for further courses in History, Critical Diaspora Studies, International Studies, Political Science, etc.
Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 12:50PM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM
Many Americans celebrate the United States as a “nation of immigrants,” but defining which immigrants to include and exclude in the nation has always been a contentious process. This course will put some of today’s immigration debates in historical perspective, examining how past Americans debated questions about the “fitness” of immigrants for freedom and citizenship, and how those debates in turn shaped immigrant experiences, the law, and American identity. Topics that we will cover include colonialism and slavery; immigrant labor; families; gender, race, ethnicity, class, and sexuality; immigration law; borders and deportation; refugees and asylum seekers; and citizenship and belonging.
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Introduction to U.S. Immigration History and Law AS.100.119 (01)
Many Americans celebrate the United States as a “nation of immigrants,” but defining which immigrants to include and exclude in the nation has always been a contentious process. This course will put some of today’s immigration debates in historical perspective, examining how past Americans debated questions about the “fitness” of immigrants for freedom and citizenship, and how those debates in turn shaped immigrant experiences, the law, and American identity. Topics that we will cover include colonialism and slavery; immigrant labor; families; gender, race, ethnicity, class, and sexuality; immigration law; borders and deportation; refugees and asylum seekers; and citizenship and belonging.
This class focuses on Europe from the end of World War II until today. We will discuss topics such as the Cold War, the European welfare state, Europe’s volatile relations with the US and the Soviet Union/ Russia, decolonization, 1989 and neoliberalism, racism, European integration and the role of the European Union in international politics. Expect to spend 25% of class time in group work, where we discuss the assigned literature, movies, documentaries, textual and visual primary sources.
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Europe since 1945 AS.100.171 (01)
This class focuses on Europe from the end of World War II until today. We will discuss topics such as the Cold War, the European welfare state, Europe’s volatile relations with the US and the Soviet Union/ Russia, decolonization, 1989 and neoliberalism, racism, European integration and the role of the European Union in international politics. Expect to spend 25% of class time in group work, where we discuss the assigned literature, movies, documentaries, textual and visual primary sources.
Today about one third of the world’s Muslims live in Africa, a continent where Islam has a long history. This course follows African Muslims as they traveled and migrated, built communities and states, produced literature and scholarship, and contended with slavery and empire. Our historical investigations will take us all over the African continent as well as across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, following the paths of African Muslim pilgrims, scholars, slaves, soldiers, merchants, rulers, and revolutionaries. No prerequisites needed.
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Mansa Musa’s Gold: the History of African Muslims AS.100.225 (01)
Today about one third of the world’s Muslims live in Africa, a continent where Islam has a long history. This course follows African Muslims as they traveled and migrated, built communities and states, produced literature and scholarship, and contended with slavery and empire. Our historical investigations will take us all over the African continent as well as across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, following the paths of African Muslim pilgrims, scholars, slaves, soldiers, merchants, rulers, and revolutionaries. No prerequisites needed.
This course will explore the prominent role that Asian Americans have played in U.S. legal history. Paying close attention to the relationship between immigration, citizenship, law, and society, we will dive more deeply into the legal histories of numerous groups of Asian descent in the American past and present. We will also place these experiences within the more heterogeneous and complicated landscape of race relations in the United States, as well as considering international relations and transnational connections.
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Asian Americans and the Law AS.100.322 (01)
This course will explore the prominent role that Asian Americans have played in U.S. legal history. Paying close attention to the relationship between immigration, citizenship, law, and society, we will dive more deeply into the legal histories of numerous groups of Asian descent in the American past and present. We will also place these experiences within the more heterogeneous and complicated landscape of race relations in the United States, as well as considering international relations and transnational connections.
In this community-engaged sports history seminar, we partner with co-educator Coach Paul Franklin and an after-school youth basketball program in Bentalou, West Baltimore, founded in 1970. This class provides crucial lessons about US and sports history in the 20th and 21st centuries. We will study the history of urban planning, public health, law and order, and politics in Baltimore through the lens of this program and seek to better understand its significance for the community. Our group is tasked with researching the program’s evolution: we will speak with experts, sports figures, organizers and community leaders in the city, conduct interviews with past and current players, coaches, and supporters, explore relevant archives, newspapers, photos and film. Expect 90% group work and, instead of class, attend some U10 & U12 games. Collectively, we will decide on the deliverables to be presented to parents and players at the end-of-the-season celebration in April.
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Baltimore, Basketball, and the Legacy of Bentalou AS.100.412 (01)
In this community-engaged sports history seminar, we partner with co-educator Coach Paul Franklin and an after-school youth basketball program in Bentalou, West Baltimore, founded in 1970. This class provides crucial lessons about US and sports history in the 20th and 21st centuries. We will study the history of urban planning, public health, law and order, and politics in Baltimore through the lens of this program and seek to better understand its significance for the community. Our group is tasked with researching the program’s evolution: we will speak with experts, sports figures, organizers and community leaders in the city, conduct interviews with past and current players, coaches, and supporters, explore relevant archives, newspapers, photos and film. Expect 90% group work and, instead of class, attend some U10 & U12 games. Collectively, we will decide on the deliverables to be presented to parents and players at the end-of-the-season celebration in April.
Days/Times: W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Harms, Victoria Elisabeth
Room: Gilman 119
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/20
PosTag(s): HIST-US, CDS-EWC, CDS-SSMC
AS.100.423 (01)
History of the Carceral State
T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Schrader, Stuart Laurence
Spring 2026
This course will cover the state of the field in the history of the carceral state in the United States. It will cover key texts from the past few decades, as well as some of the latest works, on policing, surveillance, incarceration, migrant detention, border control and deportation, etc. Some works in the fields of Law, Political Science, Sociology, and Geography may also be included. Students will write an essay on the field in this course. Open to advanced undergraduates by permission of instructor.
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History of the Carceral State AS.100.423 (01)
This course will cover the state of the field in the history of the carceral state in the United States. It will cover key texts from the past few decades, as well as some of the latest works, on policing, surveillance, incarceration, migrant detention, border control and deportation, etc. Some works in the fields of Law, Political Science, Sociology, and Geography may also be included. Students will write an essay on the field in this course. Open to advanced undergraduates by permission of instructor.
Days/Times: T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Schrader, Stuart Laurence
Room:
Status: Approval Required
Seats Available: 13/15
PosTag(s): HIST-US, CDS-EWC, CES-LC, CES-RI
AS.190.337 (01)
Politics of the Korean Diaspora
T 4:00PM - 6:30PM
Chung, Erin
Krieger 308
Spring 2026
This seminar explores some of the core questions in the study of citizenship, migration, and racial and ethnic politics through the lens of Korean diasporic populations in the United States, Japan, China, and the former Soviet Union. We will examine how immigration, citizenship, and minority policies have structured and constrained the relationship of Korean communities to both the receiving and sending states. As a diasporic group, is there a collective self-identification among members of Korean communities that transcends territorial, hemispheric, linguistic, and cultural differences? Or is the Korean ethnic identity more a reflection of racial and ethnic politics in the receiving society? What factors determine the assimilability of a particular group at a given historical moment?
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Politics of the Korean Diaspora AS.190.337 (01)
This seminar explores some of the core questions in the study of citizenship, migration, and racial and ethnic politics through the lens of Korean diasporic populations in the United States, Japan, China, and the former Soviet Union. We will examine how immigration, citizenship, and minority policies have structured and constrained the relationship of Korean communities to both the receiving and sending states. As a diasporic group, is there a collective self-identification among members of Korean communities that transcends territorial, hemispheric, linguistic, and cultural differences? Or is the Korean ethnic identity more a reflection of racial and ethnic politics in the receiving society? What factors determine the assimilability of a particular group at a given historical moment?
Days/Times: T 4:00PM - 6:30PM
Instructor: Chung, Erin
Room: Krieger 308
Status: Open
Seats Available: 3/12
PosTag(s): INST-CP, CDS-MB, POLI-CP
AS.190.411 (01)
The Politics of Political Surveillance
Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Luff, Jennifer D
Krieger 306
Spring 2026
Mass political surveillance is a hallmark of modern life. All contemporary regimes practice some form of surveillance. Yet the politics of surveillance vary. This seminar investigates the technologies, purposes, and significance of political surveillance in the 20th century in different polities. We will explore perspectives on surveillance from various approaches—historical, sociological, anthropological, and in political science.
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The Politics of Political Surveillance AS.190.411 (01)
Mass political surveillance is a hallmark of modern life. All contemporary regimes practice some form of surveillance. Yet the politics of surveillance vary. This seminar investigates the technologies, purposes, and significance of political surveillance in the 20th century in different polities. We will explore perspectives on surveillance from various approaches—historical, sociological, anthropological, and in political science.
Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain was home to a sizeable Black African, Afro-diasporic, and Afro-descendant population that scholarship has only recently begun to acknowledge substantively. The historical legacy of these communities reveals that Afro-Iberians, enslaved as well as free, experienced often violent forms of racial discrimination and oppression, but that they also contributed meaningfully to a shared cultural landscape of art, literature, drama, dance, and music. Early modern writers of fiction likewise depicted Afro-diasporic characters not only as servants but also as sovereigns, soldiers, scholars, and saints. This advanced undergraduate seminar will grapple with these ambivalences by surveying a wide, multidisciplinary range of cultural products. In surveying the historical and literary complexities of the African diaspora in early modern Iberia, we will ask how these communities were subjected to the violence of empire, colonialism, racism, human trafficking, and enslavement, while at the same time generating creative vectors of pride, freedom, agency, and resistance. Class will be conducted in Spanish. (If AS.210.311 has not been taken, the student may submit an SPE score: https://krieger.jhu.edu/modern-languages-literatures/spanish-and-portuguese/undergraduate/get-started/)
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The African Diaspora in Early Modern Iberia AS.215.427 (01)
Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain was home to a sizeable Black African, Afro-diasporic, and Afro-descendant population that scholarship has only recently begun to acknowledge substantively. The historical legacy of these communities reveals that Afro-Iberians, enslaved as well as free, experienced often violent forms of racial discrimination and oppression, but that they also contributed meaningfully to a shared cultural landscape of art, literature, drama, dance, and music. Early modern writers of fiction likewise depicted Afro-diasporic characters not only as servants but also as sovereigns, soldiers, scholars, and saints. This advanced undergraduate seminar will grapple with these ambivalences by surveying a wide, multidisciplinary range of cultural products. In surveying the historical and literary complexities of the African diaspora in early modern Iberia, we will ask how these communities were subjected to the violence of empire, colonialism, racism, human trafficking, and enslavement, while at the same time generating creative vectors of pride, freedom, agency, and resistance. Class will be conducted in Spanish. (If AS.210.311 has not been taken, the student may submit an SPE score: https://krieger.jhu.edu/modern-languages-literatures/spanish-and-portuguese/undergraduate/get-started/)
Community-Based Learning: Incarceration, Reentry, and Personal Storytelling
M 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Robinson, Shannon L
Gilman 138D
Spring 2026
The United States incarcerates more people than any other democratic country in the world; Baltimore City has the highest incarceration rate in Maryland, with 1 in every 100 residents locked up in a state prison. In this publicly-engaged course, students will learn about mass incarceration in the United States—its history, its dysfunction, and its current impact on the Baltimore community. In addition to reading and reflecting on personal narratives from the American Prison Writing Archive (housed at the JHU Sheridan Libraries), we will interact with organizers, activists, educators, and writers working with and on behalf of currently and formerly incarcerated people. In partnership with a Baltimore reentry program serving formerly incarcerated women, students will perform interviews and assist individual memoir projects.
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Community-Based Learning: Incarceration, Reentry, and Personal Storytelling AS.220.213 (01)
The United States incarcerates more people than any other democratic country in the world; Baltimore City has the highest incarceration rate in Maryland, with 1 in every 100 residents locked up in a state prison. In this publicly-engaged course, students will learn about mass incarceration in the United States—its history, its dysfunction, and its current impact on the Baltimore community. In addition to reading and reflecting on personal narratives from the American Prison Writing Archive (housed at the JHU Sheridan Libraries), we will interact with organizers, activists, educators, and writers working with and on behalf of currently and formerly incarcerated people. In partnership with a Baltimore reentry program serving formerly incarcerated women, students will perform interviews and assist individual memoir projects.
Days/Times: M 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Robinson, Shannon L
Room: Gilman 138D
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/12
PosTag(s): CSC-CE, CDS-EWC, AGRI-ELECT
AS.220.220 (01)
Reading Korean Literature in Translation: A Survey
Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Kim, Kyeong-Soo
Olin 247
Spring 2026
An introduction for students unfamiliar with the Korean language but interested in Korean culture / literature. Students will read a variety of translated texts, especially of works written in the 20th and early 21st centuries by authors including Kim Tong-in, Hwang Sun-wŏn, Pak Wansŏ, Hwang Sŏk-yŏng and Han Kang; there will also be classes on traditional sijo poetry. Students will become familiar with Korean literary genres and formal features, and develop a broad understanding of the historical and sociocultural context of Korean literature.
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Reading Korean Literature in Translation: A Survey AS.220.220 (01)
An introduction for students unfamiliar with the Korean language but interested in Korean culture / literature. Students will read a variety of translated texts, especially of works written in the 20th and early 21st centuries by authors including Kim Tong-in, Hwang Sun-wŏn, Pak Wansŏ, Hwang Sŏk-yŏng and Han Kang; there will also be classes on traditional sijo poetry. Students will become familiar with Korean literary genres and formal features, and develop a broad understanding of the historical and sociocultural context of Korean literature.
Days/Times: Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Kim, Kyeong-Soo
Room: Olin 247
Status: Open
Seats Available: 12/15
PosTag(s): WRIT-FICT, WRIT-READ, CDS-MB
AS.300.412 (01)
Indigenous Ecologies: Thinking with Indigenous Worldviews
T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
El Guabli, Brahim
Shaffer 303
Spring 2026
Indigenous people represent an important share of planet Earth’s inhabitants. Totaling almost 500 million people in the entire world, Indigenous people speak a variety of languages, produce knowledge in their mother tongues, and have deep connections to their lands and cultures. However, neither their demographic significance nor their long histories spared them the tragedies of settler colonialism and its aftermaths of dispossession, exclusion, and segregation. Since the early twentieth century, Indigenous people have been at the helm of a Global Indigeneity Movement that has mobilized both scholarship and activism in search of a better world. Despite their best efforts, the rich histories of indigenous activism, environmental practices, and cultural production as well as the worldviews they sustain remain confined to very limited circles. Building on the notion of "indigenous ecologies," which spans a wide range of approaches and fields, this course will interrogate some of the salient questions related to activism, literature, translation, extraction, environmentalism, and social justice from the perspective of Indigenous creators. Students will engage with materials produced by Indigenous thinkers, filmmakers, activists, and academic scholars to gain a deeper understanding of indigeneity across cultures and continents as well as the myriad critical ways in which its proponents approach pressing issues that face Indigenous peoples from myriad perspectives and positionalities.
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Indigenous Ecologies: Thinking with Indigenous Worldviews AS.300.412 (01)
Indigenous people represent an important share of planet Earth’s inhabitants. Totaling almost 500 million people in the entire world, Indigenous people speak a variety of languages, produce knowledge in their mother tongues, and have deep connections to their lands and cultures. However, neither their demographic significance nor their long histories spared them the tragedies of settler colonialism and its aftermaths of dispossession, exclusion, and segregation. Since the early twentieth century, Indigenous people have been at the helm of a Global Indigeneity Movement that has mobilized both scholarship and activism in search of a better world. Despite their best efforts, the rich histories of indigenous activism, environmental practices, and cultural production as well as the worldviews they sustain remain confined to very limited circles. Building on the notion of "indigenous ecologies," which spans a wide range of approaches and fields, this course will interrogate some of the salient questions related to activism, literature, translation, extraction, environmentalism, and social justice from the perspective of Indigenous creators. Students will engage with materials produced by Indigenous thinkers, filmmakers, activists, and academic scholars to gain a deeper understanding of indigeneity across cultures and continents as well as the myriad critical ways in which its proponents approach pressing issues that face Indigenous peoples from myriad perspectives and positionalities.
This community-based learning course is in partnership with Baltimore Green Justice Workers Cooperative and the African School of Storytelling in Arusha, Tanzania. In centering African perspectives on human-environment interaction, students are challenged to reimagine how we can live, work and play in beautiful places. Through partnerships with Baltimore farmers and environmental justice advocates and Tanzanian filmmakers and research artists, students come together with local and global communities to advance solutions to conserve the natural beauty all around us. Through a focus on water, food, and education, students will be able to connect the increasing climate challenges to everyday public health impacts on communities. Indigenous communities across Africa have grappled with changing climatic environments for centuries and have built adaptive cultural strategies to sustain the health of their communities. Students will explore the affective and sensorial dimensions of planetary health through topics including: water conservation, food as medicine, and land rights.
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African Perspectives in Planetary Health AS.305.270 (01)
This community-based learning course is in partnership with Baltimore Green Justice Workers Cooperative and the African School of Storytelling in Arusha, Tanzania. In centering African perspectives on human-environment interaction, students are challenged to reimagine how we can live, work and play in beautiful places. Through partnerships with Baltimore farmers and environmental justice advocates and Tanzanian filmmakers and research artists, students come together with local and global communities to advance solutions to conserve the natural beauty all around us. Through a focus on water, food, and education, students will be able to connect the increasing climate challenges to everyday public health impacts on communities. Indigenous communities across Africa have grappled with changing climatic environments for centuries and have built adaptive cultural strategies to sustain the health of their communities. Students will explore the affective and sensorial dimensions of planetary health through topics including: water conservation, food as medicine, and land rights.
This course surveys the stories and storytellers of key moments of resistance or revolution, such as the 1848 Revolutions, the Haitian Revolution, the 1968 Student Movement, Occupy, Arab Spring, and Women Life Freedom. We will critically examine how such moments are, or become, narratives and how, as such, they may or may not acquire afterlives. To this end we will investigate a variety of materials, produced from a variety of points of view: the press, participants, observers, commentators, instigators, theorists, and those reconstructing the events after the fact as histories or fictions. Key themes include notions of personhood, citizenship, solidarity, equality, and futurity, as well as the aesthetics of how social uprisings are represented in a variety of media. Readings might include texts by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Alejo Carpentier, C.L.R James, Peter Weiss, Manuel Puig, Carlos Fuentes, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Audre Lorde, Joshua Clover, and others.
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The Aesthetics of Resistance AS.305.288 (01)
This course surveys the stories and storytellers of key moments of resistance or revolution, such as the 1848 Revolutions, the Haitian Revolution, the 1968 Student Movement, Occupy, Arab Spring, and Women Life Freedom. We will critically examine how such moments are, or become, narratives and how, as such, they may or may not acquire afterlives. To this end we will investigate a variety of materials, produced from a variety of points of view: the press, participants, observers, commentators, instigators, theorists, and those reconstructing the events after the fact as histories or fictions. Key themes include notions of personhood, citizenship, solidarity, equality, and futurity, as well as the aesthetics of how social uprisings are represented in a variety of media. Readings might include texts by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Alejo Carpentier, C.L.R James, Peter Weiss, Manuel Puig, Carlos Fuentes, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Audre Lorde, Joshua Clover, and others.
Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Instructor: Todarello, Josh
Room: Krieger 307
Status: Open
Seats Available: 2/15
PosTag(s): CDS-SSMC
AS.389.305 (01)
Oral History: Recording Voices Today for the Archives of Tomorrow
Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Roome, Kristine
Spring 2026
Oral Histories are a means by which history is both generated and preserved. Talking to and recording people in their own voices is immensely valuable but also brings challenges. This course equips students with the theoretical framework, methods and an awareness of the ethics of making and interpreting oral histories and provides hands-on experience researching, designing and creating an archival record of our time to professional standards. Our project focuses on Baltimore's Confederate monuments. We will interview key stakeholders in debates that led to their removal and in ongoing conversations about what to do with them now.
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Oral History: Recording Voices Today for the Archives of Tomorrow AS.389.305 (01)
Oral Histories are a means by which history is both generated and preserved. Talking to and recording people in their own voices is immensely valuable but also brings challenges. This course equips students with the theoretical framework, methods and an awareness of the ethics of making and interpreting oral histories and provides hands-on experience researching, designing and creating an archival record of our time to professional standards. Our project focuses on Baltimore's Confederate monuments. We will interview key stakeholders in debates that led to their removal and in ongoing conversations about what to do with them now.
Days/Times: Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Roome, Kristine
Room:
Status: Open
Seats Available: 6/15
PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM, CDS-SSMC, ARCH-RELATE
AS.389.314 (01)
Researching the Africana Archive: Black Cemetery Stories
T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Dean, Gabrielle
Spring 2026
This course addresses the historic role of the African American cemetery as sacred and political space, with important links to other Black institutions. Operating in partnership with Mount Auburn Cemetery in Baltimore, owned and operated by the Sharp Street Memorial United Methodist Church, we will visit the cemetery and related locations in Baltimore throughout the semester. Our collective goal is to research and share stories that further the interests of these important and vulnerable sites.
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Researching the Africana Archive: Black Cemetery Stories AS.389.314 (01)
This course addresses the historic role of the African American cemetery as sacred and political space, with important links to other Black institutions. Operating in partnership with Mount Auburn Cemetery in Baltimore, owned and operated by the Sharp Street Memorial United Methodist Church, we will visit the cemetery and related locations in Baltimore throughout the semester. Our collective goal is to research and share stories that further the interests of these important and vulnerable sites.
Taking its name from the work of scholar Katherine Verdery, who investigates why and how certain corpses took on a political life in post-Soviet Eastern Europe, this course examines ways that human bodies have been collected, displayed, concealed and disappeared across cemeteries, museums, universities and other sites. We will trace various valuations (and devaluations) imposed on bodies across the life course and examine how some bodies are made to matter more than others in both life and death. Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives across anthropology, Black studies, history of medicine and more, we will engage with case studies from across the globe, from the 18th century to the present day.
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The Political Lives of Dead Bodies AS.389.445 (01)
Taking its name from the work of scholar Katherine Verdery, who investigates why and how certain corpses took on a political life in post-Soviet Eastern Europe, this course examines ways that human bodies have been collected, displayed, concealed and disappeared across cemeteries, museums, universities and other sites. We will trace various valuations (and devaluations) imposed on bodies across the life course and examine how some bodies are made to matter more than others in both life and death. Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives across anthropology, Black studies, history of medicine and more, we will engage with case studies from across the globe, from the 18th century to the present day.
Days/Times: M 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Hester, Jessica Leigh; Lans, Aja Marie