Fall 2024 Courses
Jazz: Cultural Touchstone of the 20th Century
Eugene Marlow (Journalism)
M, W – 5:50-7:05
Jazz, “America’s classical music,” has been called the only indigenous contribution made by the United States to world culture. In the first third of the semester, we will explore various jazz styles and the relationship between jazz and other fine and performing arts. In the balance of the semester, we will examine jazz in relation to society at large. For example, it is almost impossible to talk about jazz without reference to racism and as a metaphor for democracy. Almost every week, the course coordinator will host guest experts from many corners of the jazz world, including performers, club owners, photographers, journalists, label executives, public relations practitioners, and historians, among others. Early in the semester each student will identify an area of interest and develop a research project for presentation at the end of the semester. Among various resources, students will be provided with a reference reading list, including such works as Jazzocracy by Kabir Sehgal, Jazz: The First Century by John Edward Hasse, and Jazz Planet, edited by E. Taylor Atkins.
Covering immigration and deportation in NYC
Gisele Regatão (Journalism) and Sarah Bishop (Communication Studies)
Tuesday, 2:30-5:25
Since 2022, tens of thousands of immigrants arrived in New York City, straining the city’s resources for shelters and other basic services. In the past ten years, many have left the city too: more than 100,000 immigrants have been deported from New York. This course considers the newcomers and those left behind–we’ll examine the personal, economic, and social impacts specifically of forced immigration to the US and of deportation. Led by faculty members from the departments of Journalism and Communication Studies, the course will train students in methods of interviewing and journalistic writing and offer an introduction to US immigration law and immigration advocacy. Students will also follow one family impacted by migration or deportation during the semester and produce a podcast or a written article to document their personal journey. Course materials will include journalistic accounts of the push and pull factors of migration to the United States, existing literature on deportation, and guest lectures from immigrant activists and experts pushing for immigrant control and reform.
Staging Identity/Performing Power
Laura Kolb (English) and David Milch (Fine and Performing Arts)
Thursdays, 2:30-5:25
Gender, according to the queer theorist Judith Butler is performative. Shakespeare, similarly, proclaimed that, “all the world’s a stage.” Such concepts inform modern sociological and dramaturgical approaches that envision social life in terms of role-playing shaped by power relations. In this seminar, we explore how theater helps us understand identity. Through social analysis of stage plays and musicals, we explore intersecting forms of identity and oppression focusing on the entanglement between gender, sexuality, race, and class. We will explore these questions by analyzing both classical and contemporary dramatic works, from Euripedes’ Medea to Jeremy O. Harris’s Slave Play, supplemented by recorded and live-show attendance of theatrical performances.
Course Directory
For further information consult the Undergraduate Bulletin.