Seeing (in contrast to mere "looking") involves a learned propensity to notice (or ignore) particular aspects of what is perceived through the lenses of one's culturally filtered perspectives.

The emergence of Islamic fundamentalism and Islamist political thought in the twentieth century has garnered much media attention in the last few decades. This course examines how Islamic fundamentalism developed in the first half of the twentieth century in the wake of Western colonization and why it gained so much support during the second half of the century.

This course situates what is being called "the psychedelic renaissance" (the recent movement to legalize psychedelic substances for clinical use in treating a variety of mental illnesses) within several intersecting areas of study: philosophical idealism, religious mysticism, shamanism, Romantic era poetry, depth psychology and psychotherapy. While mainstream media outlets focus on the successes of psychedelic therapies in clinical trials, the decriminalization of psilocybin in several U.S.

The goal of this course is to provide an in-depth, accurate understanding of mindfulness, from both an academic and experiential perspective. The history of mindfulness is examined, including its roots in Buddhism, along with the more recent integration of mindfulness practice in Western psychology. The course explores what mindfulness is, common misconceptions about mindfulness and mindfulness meditation, how mindfulness works, and also the qualities and virtues cultivated in mindfulness practice.

This course in intellectual history draws upon history, religion, anthropology, and sociology in order to understand how the cagtegories of `religion' and `magic' have been shaped by the Western, and largely Christian-influenced, tradition. `Magic' and `religion' arose out of the history of the West's engagement with internal groups decried as `deviant,' such as medieval `heretics,' or Catholics in the Protestant imagination, and then, during colonialism, in response to other societies and cultures.

This course examines the rise of nationalism in continental Europe from 1789 to 1918, a period beginning with the French Revolution and ending with World War One. Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship, the course explores a period when modern nationalism emerged as a coherent way of seeing the world and then emerged as the principle ideology for organizing states and societies in Europe. Primary focus is on highly interrelated nation-building projects in five parts of Europe: France, Germany, Hapsburg Austria, Poland, and Russia.

How do societies shape their collective identities based on their pasts? Who gets to decide how the past is remembered and what are the roles of governments, museums, memorials and monuments in narrating it? How do societies choose to debate and reinterpret formative historical events? This course explores these questions by focusing on collective memory in contemporary Europe. The main themes of this course are memories of the Holocaust, European empires and communism that continue to shape identity, culture and politics in countries across Europe.

What is the future of Europe? Current European politics are confronted by complex interplay between integration, migration, and nationalism, all of which provide differing concepts of "Europe" as a political entity. This course will begin by focusing on the development of modern European states and identities, and will then turn to a discussion of the motivations behind integration and the quest to develop European institutions and a single European political identity.

This class takes a penetrating look at the burgeoning scholarly interest in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and its possible relevance to ancient combat in Greece and Rome. Extensive readings include selections from Homer's Iliad, Odyssey, the tragedies Aias and Herakles Mainomenos, and Roman battle accounts. Students then look at how various of these works have been interpreted as proof of PTSD in the ancient world, most notably by psychologist Jonathan Shay, but also by an increasing number of classical scholars.

Political ecology is an active interdisciplinary framework with foundations in anthropology, geography, environmental studies and the biological sciences. Its central contention is that our understanding of environmental issues and environmental change must include an analysis of the social, political, economic, and cultural context in which they are produced.