Instructor: Clayton Vaugh-Roberson, Department of History

This course is centrally focused on African Americans’ struggle for political and economic freedom throughout the 20th century in the United States from the Garveyism in the 1920s to Black Power in the 1970s. It will attend to the ways in which gender and class shaped race relations and activist campaigns.

Students will explore the structure and manifestations of racial inequality in the United States; the broad historical forces that shaped opportunities and constraints for freedom struggles; the movements various philosophies, strategies, demands and tactics; activism and ideologies of the movements allies and opponents; interactions between the Black freedom movement and other movements challenging exclusion and discrimination; and the legacies of the movement. Students will explore these issues through reading in primary and secondary sources; viewing films and film clips; participating in interactive lectures and active course discussion and debates.

Instructor: Stephanie Larson, Department of English

In 2016, ABC debuted the show “Speechless,” which follows the life of JJ, a teenager with cerebral palsy. In 2015, Deaf West Theatre premiered a revival of “Spring Awakening” on Broadway by a cast of deaf and hearing actors who performed using American Sign Language and English simultaneously. In 2013, Allie Brosh released “Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened,” a combination of web comics and stories that include discussions of depression.

These are a few representations of disability in pop culture and society. In this course, students will address how representations of disability tell stories about difference. This course will ask the questions: How do memoirs, films, comics, health initiatives, policies, advertisements, laws and poetry use language and images to influence or construct our understandings of disability? How do these representations engage differences of gender, race, class and sexuality? How does this work expand broader cultural, aesthetic and political views of embodiment, disability and difference? 

Students will develop a vocabulary for talking about disability and difference; examine how disability interacts with and shapes our public, professional and academic worlds; and practice analyzing rhetorical elements including purpose, genre, audience, context and style.

Instructor: Jeffrey Williams, Department of English

We frequently hear about generations — the Millennials and their multitasking, Gen X and their minivans, and the Baby Boomers and their self-satisfaction — but generations have usually been ignored in cultural studies. Yet generations have significant impact on cultural tastes, consumer choices and political views, as a good deal of research shows, and identity, alongside other factors such as race, class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity and abledness. This course will study the theory of generations, as well as novels and films that tell us about generations.

Please note: first-year students are prohibited from registering for this course. Sophomore students require instructor permission.

Instructors: J. David Creswell, Kody Manke and Erik Thiessen, Department of Psychology
This course also offers a remote option. 

College offers a new opportunity to hack your life to explore who you are, how you learn and how you can take better care of yourself. This course will give students the opportunity to fully explore the CMU student experience, the science of learning and issues central to students (e.g., resilience, social connections, mental health, sleep). Much of this course will focus on providing discussion, strategies and practices around how you can live a better life and nurture your happiness and health.

A goal of the course is that students from all diverse backgrounds and perspectives are well-served, that students’ learning needs be addressed both in and out of class, and that the diversity that students bring to this class be viewed as a resource, strength and benefit. The instructors are intentional in their aim to present materials and activities that are respectful of diversity and of all the students in the CMU community.

Instructor: Edda Fields-Black, Department of History 

The course is designed to give students an understanding and appreciation of African history and culture from the inside out. Though it deals with the period of European expansion in Africa, it is centered on African language/ethnic groups, villages and individuals as historical actors who daily make collective and personal decisions to pass down, innovate and borrow practices, technology, spiritual systems, etc. in the face of social, political and economic realities. This course is also designed to get students thinking critically about how historians select and interpret sources to construct and reconstruct history at these different levels.

Instructor: Nicholas Muller, Economics Program*

Topics related to sustainability and the environment are increasingly important to businesses, policymakers and the general public. This course applies the tools of economic analysis to the problems of environmental protection, natural resource management and energy production and use. This course will introduce students to how an economist approaches problems of market failure commonly found in environmental contexts. It will also explore models that characterize solutions to such environmental issues and address questions regarding measurement and policy design. Students will apply the tools that they have developed during the semester to the problems of climate change, and the optimal management of non-renewable resources. This course also covers adjusting the distribution of income for pollution.

*CMU’s Economics Program is joint between Dietrich College and the Tepper School of Business

Instructor: Nevine Abraham, Department of Modern Languages

This course introduces students to Arab culture through a lens that challenges stereotypes, fosters a better understanding of the social reality of Arab societies and appreciates the diverse identities. The objective of this course is to increase cross-cultural understanding and equip students with the skills needed to thrive in the 21st century and become global citizens. Students will build cultural literacy and relationships through virtual meetings with Arab students in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and Morocco, in addition to watching a variety of critically-acclaimed films and reading two novels. Topics covered are the diversity of the Arab World, homosexuality, gender roles, social values, the effect of modernization on change and revolution music and art that emerged since the Arab uprisings of 2011.

Instructor: Michelle Grisé, Institute for Politics and Strategy

This course provides students with a comprehensive overview of the role and function of international organizations and international law in global affairs. Students will consider the historical development of the international legal system and theories and sources of international law. Students will also examine the dynamics of key international organizations within the United Nations system, the emergence of regional organizations and their role in global governance, and the relationship between international law and domestic law. 

Throughout the course, students will be asked to analyze current events through the lens of international law. Students will learn to read and analyze primary legal sources and gain familiarity with current research in the field. By the end of the course, students should be able to assess the record of international institutions in promoting international security, facilitating and regulating the use of emerging technologies, influencing the conduct of war, protecting human rights and addressing global environmental concerns.

Instructor: Marian Aguiar, Department of English

The concept of intersectionality first appeared in African American feminist legal theory, but it rapidly spoke to other ideas and movements authored by other women positioned on the margins in the United States and beyond. Now widely disseminated as a feminist practice embraced by many identities, intersectional feminism acknowledges how interlocking power structures produce systematic oppression and discrimination to create distinctive gender identities in terms of such aspects as sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, religion, language (and accent), and neuro- and physical diversity. 

Students in this class will consider a wide variety of texts that mobilize this movement, including fiction, poetry, memoir, scholarly works, drama, popular media and films. This course will consider voices from the global south, non-Western countries that are speaking back to the economic and political centers of globalization. Pairing analysis with these texts with some examples of praxis, or political practice, students will think through and debate how critiques of power can move toward social change.

Instructor: Douglas Coulson, Department of English

Conflicts over racial and national identity continue to dominate headlines in the United States as they often have during the nation’s history, from debates regarding the immigration, naturalization and birthright citizenship of racial minorities to debates regarding racial disparities in access to civil rights. This course explores the discursive practices through which racial and national identities are formed and the frequent conflicts between them, particularly by focusing on the role of enemies, threats to the nation and sacrifices made on behalf of the nation in American public discourse.

Alongside primary sources of public discourse regarding wars, the immigration and citizenship of racial minorities, racial segregation and civil rights and the criminal prosecutions of dissidents during periods of crisis, students will read secondary sources offering multiple theoretical and disciplinary approaches to the study of racial and national identity formation.

Instructor: Peter Spirtes, Department of Philosophy

The course will consider ethical questions surrounding social structure and public policy. It will analyze the role of political institutions and individual citizens in dealing with some of the greatest challenges facing the world: global health crises, the spread of (and threats to) democracy worldwide, and world poverty.

Some of the questions students will consider include: Are developed countries obligated to ameliorate poverty by providing foreign aid? What is democratic governance, and what do democratic representatives owe to their constituents? Should wealthy nations and corporations assist in the fight against life-threatening diseases worldwide? The course uses ethical and political theory, case studies and empirical evidence to consider these questions.

Instructor: Emanuela Grama, Department of History

What is home? What does it mean to belong? What does it mean to be mobile? Is mobility a privilege or a curse? How do experiences of migration, exile and displacement shift one’s understanding of home? This course examines the modern patterns of mobility and displacement, with a focus on the U.S. and Europe at particular moments during the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.

In this course, students will focus on several case studies to illustrate broader concepts: the connection between the formation of nation-states and the rise of exclusionary citizenship; the emergence of 20th-century modern legal concepts such as refugee and asylum; the influence of the Cold War on the immigration policies in the U.S.; and the criminalization of border-crossing.

Instructors: HC Gunderman and Emma Slayton, University Libraries (offered through the Department of Statistics & Data Science)

Every day we wake up in the data universe, we use information around us to make decisions. We constantly evaluate and interpret data from our environment, in everything from spreadsheets to Instagram posts. At the same time, personal data are observed and recorded through websites visited online, smart devices and even interactions with other people at CMU. Navigating this data universe requires knowledge of what data is and how to use it responsibly.

Discovering the truth behind a piece of data, including who made it, what it looks like, and what we can learn from it, is a critical skill. Understanding data can be the difference between being able to distinguish truth from lies; and the key to identifying a data footprint and succeeding in research. This course will explore the data universe from multiple angles and across several types of data. Students will define, find and analyze data, and identify narratives within data to tell stories about the world around us. Students will examine data using the following questions: How can we tell multiple stories from the same dataset? What biases can exist in data? And, who creates or decides what data matters enough to collect, preserve and share?

This course includes discussions about data equity and understanding how and when marginalized populations are represented in data, and how to avoid replicating or producing harmful stereotypes when communicating data. Students will also participate in workshops focused in part on cultural inclusivity.

Instructors: J. David Creswell, Kody Manke and Erik Thiessen, Department of Psychology
This course also offers an in-person option.

College offers a new opportunity to hack your life to explore who you are, how you learn and how you can take better care of yourself. This course will give students the opportunity to fully explore the CMU student experience, the science of learning and issues central to students (e.g., resilience, social connections, mental health, sleep). Much of this course will focus on providing discussion, strategies and practices around how you can live a better life and nurture your happiness and health.

A goal of the course is that students from all diverse backgrounds and perspectives are well-served, that students’ learning needs be addressed both in and out of class, and that the diversity that students bring to this class be viewed as a resource, strength and benefit. The instructors are intentional in their aim to present materials and activities that are respectful of diversity and of all the students in the CMU community.

Instructors: Sébastien Dubreil and Khaled Al Masaeed, Department of Modern Languages

Culture, language and identity are intimately tied together. Individuals, families, communities and nations identify themselves in relation to the language or languages they speak. Local, national and international governmental organizations make choices about the language or languages they recognize and use for political and economic affairs. The United Nations recognizes language as integral to maintaining the cultural heritage of communities and peoples around the world, and the freedom to choose one’s language of expression as a universal human right.

This course will explore a variety of questions, advantages and challenges related to language diversity and cultural identity across the globe. The main focus will be on contexts of multilingualism that is, contexts in which two or more languages may be used. Adopting a comparative case study approach, students will explore the historical underpinnings of language diversity and its consequences for cultural identity today (e.g., migration, colonization, conquest); how language diversity and cultural identity shapes, and is shaped by, local, regional, national and international politics; the relationship between language diversity and language use and visibility in public spaces (i.e., the linguistic landscape); and relations between linguistic communities (e.g., majority and minority language users) and the sense of belonging to a culture.

Instructors: Stephan Caspar, Department of Modern Languages, Dudley Reynolds, CMU Qatar
This course takes place in-person at CMU-Q. 

Taught across two campuses in Pittsburgh and Qatar, this course will explore the ways cultures and identities often intersect, relate and contradict one another. Using virtual reality (VR), a technology that provides a type of immersion, we can see the world through other points-of-view. But can we really harness this technology to tell stories about languages and cultures? Can we really empathize and understand another culture using VR? To discover the affordances of VR, students will use this immersive technology to tell stories and relate their understandings of the world for others to see, thus exploring cultural understandings. 

Learning through telecollaboration, in online, virtual and in-person workshops, this will be an opportunity to collaborate, blend ideas, gain valuable skills and build on new experiences. During the course, students will create 360 video outcomes that others will view and experience through headsets and immersive spaces. No technology knowledge is required.

Instructor: Linda Moya, Department of Social and Decision Sciences

This course will introduce students to major concepts and theories in the social and decision sciences, focusing in particular on how cognition and emotion shape judgment and choice. Students will address questions including: In what ways do emotions influence judgments and choices? What are some common mistakes in judgment and decision making? Can information shape our choices even if we do not consciously recognize the information? Throughout the course, the emphasis will be on understanding basic theories and research findings of decision science and psychology and the relevance of research findings to everyday life.