Course Offerings

Aesthetic autonomy is the notion that culture is a sphere apart, with each art distinct, and it is a bad word for most of us raised on postmodernist interdisciplinarity. We tend to forget that autonomy is always provisional, always defined diacritically and situated politically, always semi. …” Hal Foster (2002) Pop Art and Pop Culture investigates the relationships between arts (painting, architecture, design, film, music…) and the mass media, with a particular focus on the 1960s. Rather than relying on practical distinctions between high and low, fine arts and applied arts, serious experiment versus entertaining commercial product, the course will consider the intersections and links between the most advanced artistic endeavors and the aesthetics of the commercial and corporate environment.

Sociocultural anthropology is the comparative study of human societies and cultures. This course is designed to introduce students to central areas of anthropological inquiry, a range of key theoretical perspectives and the discipline’s holistic approach. Through field-based research projects, students will also gain familiarity with the discipline’s qualitative research methods (especially participant observation). While students will encounter the works of key historical figures in the discipline, they will also discover current debates on globalization and transnationalism. Finally, this course also strives to cultivate students’ ability to reflect critically on their own identities and cultures, thereby gaining a greater understanding and appreciation for diversity and an improved set of intercultural communication skills.

Food studies uses food to explore and analyze society in the present and past. Scholars engage in the critique of power and movements for change. They work across borders and disciplines, using a range of methods. Students learn about key concepts, thinkers and the field’s development. Special attention is given to Franco- American conversations concerning gastronomy, cuisine, taste and terroir.

This course looks at how culture promotes connections between humans, their landscapes and ecosystems. We will be discussing the different ways humans use, interact, engage and manipulate the natural world that surrounds them. Central to an understanding of this relationship is the meaning people give to the concept of nature. This course will explore the leaning attributed to nature across different cultural contexts and religious traditions.