Fall 2008 SCA Course Descriptions

Listed alphabetically by Course Title. 

Additional information may be available from the linked department.

Following each description, in parentheses (  ), are the SCA majors for which the course fulfills a requirement. 

AF =  Africana Studies
AM = American Studies
APA = Asian-Pacific-American Studies
GSS = Gender & Sexuality Studies
LAT = Latino Studies
MET = Metropolitan Studies
SCA = Social & Cultural Analysis

*Also see courses listed as TOPICS, applicable to the various majors.

African American History to 1865   V18.0795       

Same as History V57.0647  

Survey of the experience of African Americans to 1865, emphasizing living conditions, treatment, images, attitudes, important figures and events, and culture using a chronological and topical approach. Topics include African way of life, initial contact between Africans and Europeans, slave trade, early slavery, freedom and control in slave society, abolitionism, slave resistance, free blacks, and gender.  (AF)

Approaches to Latino Studies   V18.0501  

**Recitation required. 

This course explores a set of principles that have guided Latino Literature in the United States. These principles can be found in many but not necessarily all of the readings. They include: urban/rural life, freedom/confinement, memoir as source of voice/other sources of voice, generational separation and identity, loss and healing. We’ll trace a movement through time from masculinist nationalism to a recognition of variations in gender, sexuality, race, class, region, and national origin. Other principles will be added to this list as the class proceeds.  (LAT)

 

Asian American Literature   V18.0306
Formerly V15.0301  Identical to V41.0716 and V29.0301.

This overview begins with the recovery of early writings during the 1960s-1970s and proceeds to the subsequent production of Asian American writing and literary/cultural criticism up to the present. The course focuses on significant factors affecting the formation of Asian American literature and criticism, such as changing demographics of Asian American communities and the influence of ethnic, women’s, and gay/lesbian/bisexual studies. Included in the course is a variety of genres (poetry, plays, fiction and nonfiction, literary/cultural criticism) by writers from diverse ethnic backgrounds. The course explores the ways in which the writers treat issues such as racial/ethnic identity; immigration and assimilation; gender; class; sexuality; nationalism; culture and community; history and memory; and art and political engagement.  (AM, APA)

 

Cantonese – Elementary I   V18.0331     
Formerly V15.0410, Identical to V33.0410.

An introduction to Cantonese with an emphasis on the spoken and written language and conversational proficiency as a primary goal. The course emphasizes grammar, listening comprehension, and oral expressions. It is designed to give beginning students a practical command of the language. Upon completion of the course, students can expect to converse in simple sentences and recognize and write about 350 Chinese characters. Students with passable conversation ability or native speakers from Cantonese-speaking communities should not enroll in this course.  (APA)

 

Cantonese - Intermediate I   V18.0333
Formerly V15.0412,  Identical to V33.0412. 

This is an advanced-level language and culture course following Elementary Cantonese. At this level, when the basic skills and working vocabulary have been mastered, emphasis is placed on the linguistic rules to enable students to communicate with more competence. The lessons focus not only on language, but also use a holistic approach and incorporate discussions on history, current events, literature, pop culture, and native values. Because language is key to connecting with community concerns, the course also includes field trips to Chinatown and other Cantonese-speaking neighborhoods.  (APA)

Cinema in Asia America          V18.0310         
Same as East Asian Studies V33.0314 and Tisch H72.0315

Begins with a critical history of misrepresentation and discrimination of Asians in Hollywood, then creates an arc of study that documents resistance and ultimately an undeniable and empowered presence. The second half of the semester focuses on a critical appreciation of contemporary Asian and Asian American film. The course uses both screenings and readings and is divided into four areas of concentration: the history of misrepresentation in Hollywood films; the appropriation of Asian paradigms by Hollywood; the achievements of contemporary Asian American films; and the achievements of exemplary Asian filmmakers who have transcended regional and artistic borders. (APA)

 

 

Concepts In Social and Cultural Analysis  V18.0001.001         

**Recitation required. 

Counts as MAP Social Science requirement. 

This course is a gateway to all majors offered by the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis (SCA). It focuses on the core concepts that intersect the constituent programs of SCA: Africana Studies, A/P/A, American Studies, Gender and Sexuality, Latino Studies, and Metropolitan Studies. Because we live in a society of "screens" from jumbotrons, cell phone, HD-TV and computer screens, this semester, we will focus on how one's electronically, mass mediated image impacts and overdetermines one's social, cultural and political destiny. In this sense, it's often ironic that one's media 'representation' is more compelling than one's 'representation' at the ballot box.  The course will survey basic approaches to a range of significant analytical concepts explored by all of SCA's constituent programs (e.g., Property, Work, Technology, Nature, Popular Culture, Consumption, Knowledge), through the politics and culture of "representation."    (AF,AM,APA,GSS,LAT,MET,SCA)

The Constitution and People of Color    V18.0366       

Formerly V15.0327  Identical to V53.0801, V62.0327. Examines how the American legal system decided constitutional challenges affecting the empowerment of African, Latino, and Asian American communities from the 19th century to the present. Topics include the denial of citizenship and naturalization to slaves and immigrants, government-sanctioned segregation, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, the prison industry, police brutality, post-9/11 detention issues, and voting rights. Course requirements include attendance at a community function involving constitutional issues, a midterm, and an interactive oral and written final project comparing a present-day issue affecting racial minorities in New York City and proposing measures to collectively address the issue.  (AF,AF,APA,GSS,LAT)

Filipino - Elementary I    V18.0321
Formerly V15.0401 

An introduction to Filipino with an emphasis on mastering basic grammar skills and working vocabulary. Lessons incorporate discussions on history, current events, literature, pop culture, and native values. The course is open to beginning language students and lessons are modified according to the needs of individual students. Because language is key to connecting with community concerns, the course also includes field trips to Filipino neighborhoods in Queens and Jersey City.  (APA)

 

Filipino – Intermediate I     V18.0323
Formerly V15.0403

At this level, when the basic skills and working vocabulary have been mastered, emphasis can be placed on the linguistic rules to enable the student to communicate with more competence. There is also focus on translation. Lessons use a holistic approach and incorporate discussions on history, current events, literature, pop culture, and native values. To observe and experience the language at work, the course includes field trips to Filipino centers in the New York-New Jersey area as well as invited guests who converse with students in Filipino about their life and work.  (APA)

Gay And Lesbian Performance    V18.0714    

Same as Drama Lit H28.0624   4 points.

A survey of contemporary lesbian and gay plays from The Boys in the Band to Angels in America. The goal of the course is to familiarize students with lesbian and gay plays written since 1968 as a discrete body of work within the field of contemporary theatre. The course focuses on plays and playwrights that have had a significant impact in the representation of homosexual life onstage. In addition, students consider the historical, political, and cultural developments from which gay theatre emerged and, through independent research projects, examine the communities that emerged in the process of creating gay theatre.  (GSS)

Gender, Nation, and the Colonial Condition   V18.0480

In this advanced, interdisciplinary course, we will investigate the relationships between formations of gender and sexuality and the politics of colonialism, nationalism, postcolonialism, globalization, and diaspora. Using literature and cinema, together with scholarship from cultural, postcolonial and U.S. ethnic studies, we will explore the way in which gender is formed by, and informs, national, racial, and ethnic identities. We will consider the way in which various cultural narratives and imagery represent the experiences of migration, colonialism, transnationalism, labor, class, religion, sexuality, and violence with respect to the categories of gender, nation, and the colonial condition.      (AF,AM,APA,GSS,LAT)

Internship Program

Open to juniors and seniors, majoring in SCA programs only.

Application and meeting required (For info, email betts.brown@nyu.edu ) 

The internship complements and enhances the formal course work of the SCA majors. Students intern at agencies dealing with a range of issues pertaining to their major and take a co-requisite seminar that enables them to focus the work experience in meaningful academic terms. The goals of the internship are threefold: (1) to allow students to apply the theory they have gained through course work, (2) to provide students with the analytical tools, and (3) to assist students in exploring professional career paths.

 (AF,AM,APA,GSS,LAT,MET,SCA)

Internship Seminar & Fieldwork   V18.0042 (2 pts),  plus  V18.0040 (2 or 4 pts)

Includes a seminar, plus fieldwork (10 hours for 2 pts., or 15 hours for 4 pts).

Choose from a wide range of internship areas: the arts, government, education, youth, social welfare, the environment, health, housing, economic development, planning, and preservation.  Examine policies, issues, ideas, and theories related to internships and agencies. BA/MPA & BA/MUP students must take this seminar.

Intersections: Gender, Race, and Sexuality in U.S. History and Politics   V18.0230
Formerly V13.0301, Gender and Cultural History.

Prerequisite: V18.0201

**Recitation Required**
Drawing on the histories of African, Asian, Latino, European, and Native Americans of both genders and many sexualities, the course explores the complex and important intersection of gender, race, and sexuality in the United States from the 17th century through the 20th, in historically related case studies. Starting in the period of European imperialism in the Americas, it examines the ways that gender, race, and sexuality shaped cultural and political policies and debates surrounding the Salem witch trials; slavery, abolition, and lynching; U.S. imperialism in Puerto Rico and Hawaii; the politics of welfare and reproduction; cultural constructions of manliness, masculinity, and citizenship; and responses to the AIDS pandemic in a global context. (AF, AM, APA, GSS, LAT)

Introduction to Gender & Sexuality Studies  V18.0401

Same as History V57.0013.

**Recitation Required**
This course is designed to introduce some of the major debates about gender and sexuality within the fields of feminist and queer studies. We will be considering the relations between the history of sexuality and the politics of gender. We will read some primary texts in gender theory, and in the study of sexuality, desire and embodiment. This course also provides an introduction to the interdisciplinary examination of sexual and erotic desires, orientations, and identities. We will study how desires are constructed, how they vary in different places and times, and how they interact with other social and cultural formations such as race, class, nation, globalization, popular culture.Counts as MAP Social Science requirement. (GSS)

Introduction to Metropolitan Studies     V18.0601

Formerly V99.0101 and identical to MAP course V55.0631.  

Formerly called Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Metropolitan Studies

**Recitation Required**
 A broad and interdisciplinary introduction to the field of urban studies. Surveying the major approaches deployed to investigate the urban experience in the social space of the modern city. This course explores the historical geography of capitalist urbanization with attention to North American and European cities, to colonial and postcolonial cities, and to the global contexts of urban development. Major topics include urban politics and governance; suburban and regional development; urban social movements; urban planning; the gendering of urban space and racial segregation in urban space.  (MET, SCA)

Introduction to Post Colonial Studies   V18.0806

English   Same as V41.0780

(AF)

Language And Society    V18.0701    

*Recitation required.  Same as Linguistics V61.0015

Considers contemporary issues in the interaction of language and society, particularly work on speech variation and social structure. Focuses on ways in which social factors affect language. Topics include language as a social and political issue; regional, social, and ethnic speech varieties; bilingualism; Pidgin and Creole languages.  (GSS)

Law and Society     V18.0722    

Same as Politics V53.0335

Critically examines the relationship between law and political and social movements such as the civil rights movement, the women's movement, and the labor and environmental movements. Emphasis on law as a political process and legal remedies for racial and gender discrimination and class action torts. Deals with the politics of rights and the limits and possibilities of law as a process for social change.  (GSS)

Law and Urban Problems    V18.0610
Formerly V99.0232.
Interdisciplinary introduction to the law as it interacts with society. Analysis focuses on problems in areas such as housing, zoning, welfare, and consumer affairs, emphasizing the underlying social, economic, and political causes of the problems and the responses made by lawmakers and courts. Readings are drawn from the law and social science. No specific knowledge of law is required.  (AM, MET-area 1)

MAP World Cultures:  APA    V55.0539             4 points

**Recitation Required**
Asian Pacific America encompasses a complex, diverse, and rapidly changing population of people. This interdisciplinary course introduces students to major issues in the historical and contemporary experiences of Asian Pacific Americans, including migration, modernization, racial formation, community-building, political mobilization, among others. In this course we will pay particular attention to Asian Americans’ use of cultural productions—films, literature, art, media, and popular culture—as an expression/reflection of their cultural identities, historical conditions, and political efforts.  Sponsored by MAP office.  (APA, SCA)

Multi-ethnic New York  V18.0363

As a global city, New York is one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse places in the world. In particular, the growth of migrant populations from Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean is driving the transformation of New York’s economic, social, and political landscape. This course both explores the global socio-economic conditions that facilitate and sustain these migrations and examines the cultural practices, imaginaries, and strategies of migrants as they become part of the city.

(AF,AM,APA,LAT,MET-area2)

The Postcolonial City  V18.0166

Cities have played an important role throughout African history and in various Afrodiasporic contexts: from the metropolises of Ancient Egypt and the urban centers of well-known west African civilizations (like Ghana, Mali, Songhai) to cities like Port-au-Prince, Havana, and Georgetown in the Caribbean, and urban enclaves in the U.S.  In attending to the way actors constitute wealth and power—in accounting for the way proximity structures interpersonal experiences—this course uses ethnographic, sociological, historical, and literary texts to theorize the Afrodiasporic city.  We will explore the contours of these urban matrices through special attention to  historical categories thatprepare us to theorize the way Afrodiasporic populations have experienced and lived history (e.g., the precolonial, the colonial, and the postcolonial).  As part of our mission, we will consider the historical emergence of the “Third World” as, not simply a broad rubric for African and Asian postcolonies,  but, instead, a project to reverse the course of European exploitation.  Instead of proceeding  strictly chronologically, students will consider the Afrodiasporic urban experience thematically, through a diverse array of readings.   (AF, MET)

Poverty And Income Distribution    V18.0718    

Same as Economics V31.0233

Defines poverty and welfare. Analyzes who the poor are, why some people are rich and others poor, equality of opportunity, income and status, inequality, trends in the degree of inequality, government’s role in income distribution, and international comparisons of inequality.  (GSS)

Representations Of Women     V18.0734   

Same as English  V47.0755

This course surveys representations of sexual and gender difference in literary and cultural production, focusing especially on texts authored by women. Students will be introduced to theories of gender and sexuality that enable us to consider how literature depicts and engages social relations and, conversely, how our reading practices enact (or transform) social conventions regarding gender difference.  (GSS)

Senior Research Seminar:  Afro-Latino Culture & History   V18.0900.007 and (Honors V18.0090.008)    

Latinos are now called “the nation’s largest minority,” outpacing African Americans and thereby signaling a benchmark in the changing meaning of what it means to be American.  In public accounts of this dramatic shift, Latinos are commonly counterposed against African Americans in mutually exclusionary terms: either you are Hispanic or you are black.  Little if any attention goes to the huge though uncounted black Latino population, the group that fits neatly in neither the Hispanic nor the black category and yet may play a decisive role in the emerging cultural configurations and political alignments of our times.  In this course we will examine the profound sociological and cultural implications of the growing Afro-Latino presence in light of recent theorizing on race and diasporas.  After an overview of the historical background of African-descendant peoples in the Spanish-speaking Americas, we will then trace the longstanding social experience of black Latinos in the United States.  Along with a discussion of migration patterns and community formations, there will be a focus on narrative accounts of Afro-Latino life and on the traditions of cultural expression; special attention will go to Afro-Latino poetry and to the rich history of Afro-Latino music through the generations, from rumba, mambo and Cubop to salsa, Latin soul and hip-hop.  Finally, we will turn to the possible theoretical and political consequences of this increasingly self-conscious transnational identity formation.   (AF,LAT,SCA)

Senior Research Seminar:  Queer Belongings     V18.0090.001 and (Honors V18.0090.004)     

Access Code  required.

We can identify a major paradigm shift in the field of queer studies today, as the last few years have seen the emergence of a body of queer scholarship that situates the study of sexuality at the intersection of questions of race, migration, nationalism, globalization and militarism. This new framing of queer studies ­ which has alternately been named queer of color or queer diasporic scholarship --  powerfully challenges the white normativity of some earlier strands of sexuality studies, and the implicit heteronormativity of some strands of U.S. ethnic studies and postcolonial studies.  This seminar introduces students to this new paradigm of queer studies and focuses in particular on the notion of belonging­in familial, communal and national terms-- which lies at the heart of much of this work. We will explore how queer of color/queer diasporic scholarship theorizes the limits and possibilities of “belonging” at this particular historical juncture, marked as it is by US imperial hubris abroad and the ever-increasing surveillance and disciplining of communities of color at “home.”    (GSS,SCA)

Senior Research Seminar:  Social Change and the Politics of Urban Space

V18.0090.003 and (Honors V18.0090.006)       

Access Code required.

This research seminar is broadly constructed to allow students to purse research on a wide range of urban problems.  It is designed for those students concerned with the politics of the street as expressed by various constituencies with differing access to power.   Research will focus on contested social spaces in cities, whether they be institutions, organizations or neighborhoods.   (MET,SCA)

Senior Research Seminar:  Urban Ethnography  V18.0090.002 and (Honors V18.0090.005)      

Access Code required.

This course is a practicum in urban ethnography.  We will pursue a focused examination of the method, practice and theory of ethnography as an approach to understanding urban issues.  Each participant in the workshop will conduct an ethnographic study in the course of the semester. This means observing a field site, writing analytical field notes, sharing them with the class, and writing a final paper analyzing the findings. We will cover technical, ethical, methodological, theoretical, and representational issues that arise in the course of fieldwork. Some topics for investigation might be the relations between employers and nannies in two city neighborhoods, economic life of city parks, and the relationships between corporate offices and urban environments.  Although we will do some reading collectively, the majority of course time will be spent discussing fieldwork and analysis in progress. (MET,SCA)

Shaping The Urban Environment  

Art History V43.0661.  Formerly V43.0021, V99.0320

MET and SCA majors priority registration. 

Students investigate the city in terms of architectural history, engineering, and urban planning. Topics: historical types and shapes of cities, factors influencing our current urban scene, architectural form as expression of political systems, discussions of urban design and architecture problems in the contemporary world, and the role of technological factors such as construction and transportation systems. Students are given projects in conjunction with class.  (MET-area3)

Swahili I – Introduction   V18.0121

Formerly V11.0201.   Offered once a year.

Provides students with an elementary understanding of Swahili, a Bantu language with a rich oral and written tradition that is spoken by about 100 million people from Somalia to Mozambique and Zanzibar. After a short presentation of Swahili’s history, codification, and relation to other languages, students are drilled in phonetics and grammar. They are also introduced to some poems, songs, and oral narratives.

(AF)

Swahili I – Intermediate   V18.0123

Formerly V11.0203   Offered once a year.

Prerequisites:  Elementary Swahili I and Elementary Swahili II.

This course builds upon the basic knowledge of the pronunciation, vocabulary, useful expressions and fundamental grammatical features already attained at introductory level to strengthen reading, writing, and conversation skills accessing a wide range of grammatical and literary knowledge of the language, its cultural context, and literary genre.  The students are required to familiarize themselves with a novel and a play written in Kiswahili.   (AF)

Topics: Hausa  V18.0180

(AF)

Topics:  History of City Planning – 19^th & 20^th Century    V18.0769

Same as Art History V43.0663.  Formerly V43.0850, V99.0650

No prerequisite for MET,SCA majors.  MET and SCA majors priority registration. 

(MET-area3)

Topics: Latina Cultural Studies  V18.0541-001

(LAT)

Topics: Latino/a Expressive Culture & Literature  V18.0541-002

(LAT)

Topics:  Yellow Peril – Documenting & Understanding Xenophobia (Intro Res Sem)  V18.0380

SCA  Permission of Instructor Required

Fears of "yellow peril" (and brown "Turban tides") run deep in the present and past of U.S. political and commercial culture.  It's imagery and stories are just beneath the surface of everyday discourse and always latent-readily triggered by an incident, real or fabricated. SARS fears, charges of Chinese "pirating" U.S. cultural properties, the racial profiling of "Arab-looking" peoples, and Asians "taking over" U.S. higher education all illustrate contemporary forms of Asian "peril."  Americans are woefully unaware of this scapegoating tradition, its history, and consequently remain particularly vulnerable to its ideological and affective power.  Seminar students will learn historical research skills and collaboratively document historical and contemporary case studies. We'll explore what can and must be done to counter these fallacies and practices. Instructor permission required.   (APA)

Urban Economics  V18.0751

Same as Economics V31.0227

Prerequisite required.

The city as an economic organization. Urbanization trends, functional specialization, and the nature of growth within the city; organization of economic activity within the city and its outlying areas, the organization of the labor market, and problems of urban poverty; the urban public economy; housing and land-use problems; transportation problems; and special problems within the public sector. (MET-area1)