A critical exploration of selected topics in the history of Christianity. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.

This course explores the history and significance of Christian monasticism and asceticism, with a focus on the desert tradition. From the early Desert Fathers and Mothers to contemporary spiritual writers, we consider the enduring legacy of solitude, silence, and self-discipline in the history of Christianity.

Comparative study of martyrdom and the idea of the martyr beginning with Greco-Roman philosophical concepts of 'noble death' and continuing through Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in ancient, medieval, and contemporary contexts.

This seminar introduces advanced undergraduate students to the history, genealogies, theories, and methods that have shaped the academic study of Islam and Muslims in the discipline of religious studies.

This course focuses on the diverse attitudes and expressions of sexuality in Islam. Taking a broad approach, this course examines issues of sexuality, including homosexuality, fe/male sexuality, birth control, divorce, marriage, transgender identity and performance, and feminist sexual ethics.

A critical exploration of selected topics in the history of Islam. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.

This course is an in depth exploration of the literary traditions of the Islamic world. The course examines the influence of religion in the writings of Muslim authors, as well as the role of symbols, philosophy, mystical practice, ideologies, rituals and history in the creation of literary works such as poetry, novels, biographies, court chronicles, epics, and more.

This course focuses on the everyday lived experience of Muslims in different parts of the world. We will read ethnographic studies and analyze films, which highlight important issues in everyday Muslim life: gender, modernity and piety, the role of ritual in everyday practice. This course has an ethnographic field project.

How do academics research Islam? Students in this course learn about and gain hands-on experience with essential scholarly tools for discovering and disseminating new knowledge in this field. Both individually and collaboratively, students will work on original projects concerning academic literature, scholarly communication, or primary sources.

A critical exploration of selected topics in the history of South Asian religions. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.

South Asian religious traditions are suffused with aesthetic elements and processes -- Hindu temple worship, for example, abounds in music, song, dance, and iconography. In this course we examine the close relationship between religion and aesthetics in South Asia through study of poetics, courtly poetry, visual culture, music, and performance traditions.

This course examines ideas, roles, and regulation of sexuality and gender in South Asian religious traditions, paying attention to sexual abstinence and promiscuity as forms of piety, and we will examine performances of the gendered body that transcend and/or problematize the binary construction of masculine and feminine.

This course looks at debates surrounding central concepts in the study of South Asian religions. We will look at theories of asceticism, devotion, renunciation, caste, kingship, ritual, and state that animate the discussion of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. Students will learn to place their ideas in conversation with larger intellectual genealogies.

This course focuses on the relationship between religious ideologies, saints, and state power in ancient, medieval, and precolonial Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, and Muslim states in South Asia. We will read primary sources in translation and examine art, architecture, and material culture to examine how kings and saints/ascetics negotiated politics and power.

This course examines the paradoxical relationship of the erotic in Sanskrit poetry with its opposite—renunciation and the technologies of asceticism involving a rejection of sexuality. While the treatment of these themes reflects a deeper civilizational history emblematized by the figure of Śiva, the erotic ascetic, Sanskrit courtly poetry allows us to examine problems peculiar to courtly life and kingship. Did the aestheticization of power in Sanskrit poetry conflict with transcendental ideals? How was the legitimacy of pleasure seen as both autonomous from and concurrent with other legitimate human ends? We will read all works in translation, and no familiarity with Sanskrit is presumed.

This course studies the religious life of the Sasanian empire that ruled over Iran between 224 and 651 CE. It analyzes how different religions coexisted and interacted in the territory of the empire, including Zoroastrianism (the official religion of the empire), Manichaeism, Christianity, Judaism, and Mazdakism.

A critical exploration of selected topics in the history of Buddhism. Visit the Departmental web site at History of Religions for further information.

Student-initiated project of reading and research, supervised by a member of the Department. Primarily intended for students in Specialist or Major programs. After obtaining a supervisor, a student must apply to the Department of Historical Studies. A maximum of 1.0 credit in a reading course is permitted.

Student-initiated project of reading and research, supervised by a member of the Department. Primarily intended for students in Religion Specialist or Major programs. After obtaining a supervisor, a student must apply to the Department of Historical Studies. A maximum of 2 reading courses, amounting to 1.0 credit, is permitted.

For senior undergraduate students who have developed some knowledge of a discipline and its research methods, this course offers an opportunity to work on the research project of a professor. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, develop their research skills and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Project descriptions for the following fall-winter session are posted on the ROP website in mid-February and students are invited to apply at that time. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.

What does it mean to be human? We will explore South Asian food, music, poetry, and objects to understand human experience through the lived practice of South Asian communities in historical and contemporary contexts. This course uses South Asian texts and practices as theory--as usable tools that help us become better readers of the cultures we study and of ourselves.

This course introduces students to the basic grammar of the classical Sanskrit language. Students will engage with its phonology (including pronunciation, sandhi, and metrics) and morphology (including word formation, nominal declension, and verbal conjugation). Students will apply their grammatical knowledge and analytic skills to the reading of basic Sanskrit texts. By the end of the course, students will be able to read simple, narrative Sanskrit.

This course is a continuation of Introductory Sanskrit. It deepens students' knowledge of the phonology, morphology, and syntax of classical Sanskrit using both western and Indian linguistic terminology as descriptive devices. Students will apply their deeper grammatical knowledge and sharpened analytic skills to the reading of a variety of Sanskrit genres. This course counts towards LIN Major and Minor programs.

An introduction to the conceptual and empirical foundations of the discipline intended on providing a foundation for subsequent Sociology and Criminology, Law and Society courses and programs. Students will learn the sociological approach of theory and inquiry to a range of topics.

This course provides an introduction to the overlapping areas of “criminology” and “law and society” within the Criminology, Law & Society (CLS) stream. The goal of the course is to provide a sociological foundation for subsequent CLS courses. In addition to a criminological/socio-legal introduction to theory and methods, topics may include law, inequality, intersectionality, legal institutions, legal professions, crime, criminal justice, and punishment.

Note: This course is required for Criminology, Law and Society Major and Specialist programs.

This course is focused on corporate crime as it pertains to the environment and health. We will explore a range of approaches to studying the corporate form and consider the adverse impacts of corporate practices through a series of case studies. We will examine the politics of evidence and harm related to climate change, lead, PFAS, and tobacco, among other examples. Students will explore common product-defense tactics by companies and consider a range of social movement and state interventions.

This course introduces students to the field of cultural sociology, which seeks to understand how ideas, meanings, values and beliefs are created, and how they are also implicated in foundational sociological issues such as inequality, identity, social change, and social organization. These linkages are examined through topics such as popular culture, the mass media, science, religion, art, language, knowledge, public opinion, food, advertising and consumerism.

The body is an intrinsic part of our existence, but it is often sidelined in sociological conversations. This course aims to redress this oversight, exploring the body as a dynamic site where social forces converge and personal experiences unfold. “Body work” encompasses the conscious and unconscious efforts we make to manage our physical selves in relation to societal expectations, norms, and power structures. From exercise regimens and dietary choices to the subtle adjustments we make in our posture and self-presentation, we'll examine diverse forms of body work and the myriad ways our bodies are both molded by and actively shape our social world. Through diverse theoretical lenses and empirical research, we will examine how bodies are both sites of power, social problems, and exploitation, as well as sources of pleasure, joy, and resistance. Topics explored may include but are not limited to the following: health and illness, fatness, fitness and sport, diet culture, taste, aging, disability, sexuality, beauty, cosmetic surgery, and eating disorders.

This course will cover major theoretical paradigms in the field of criminology included, among others, classical, positivist, strain, control, social learning, critical, feminist, postmodern and critical race theories. Students are required to take this course upon entry to the Criminology, Law and Society Major and Specialist programs.

This lecture course will lead students through an in-depth consideration of why genocides occur.