We know them, or we think we do: the woman with snakes for hair, “the face that launched a
thousand ships,” the skilled sorceress, the irresistible temptress, “an evil thing in which men
delight while embracing their own destruction,” a vengeful mariticide, a jealous filicide. Their
names are Medusa, Helen, Circe, Scylla, Chimera, Calypso, Pandora, Clytemnestra, Medea—
all powerful females from Greco-Roman mythology that have been villainized for millennia.
This interdisciplinary course foregrounds tropes of female criminalization, from antiquity to
the present, that have sought to subject women to social hierarchies and patriarchal norms. By
studying literary texts, visual and material artefacts, films, popular culture, feminist ethics and
epistemology, legal and critical character theory, the course explores the gendered, political,
social, racial, and religious investments of both western and non-western cultures in the
villainization of women, the shifting narratives and counternarratives that have constructed
and deconstructed ancient literary women and their modern filiations as evildoers. Can we see
vice both as damage inflicted on women by structures of social oppression and as a mechanism
by means of which women seek to challenge or overthrow oppressive structures? Grade is
based on class participation, weekly canvas posts, an oral presentation, and a paper or creative
project.
Days: TU TH  12:30-01:50 PM

Native American Speculative Fiction

Examining contemporary Speculative Fiction (which encompasses Science Fiction, dystopian/utopian literature, fantasy, and more) from Native American authors. How do these writers participate in, reclaim, and alter these literary modes? How do these texts complicate ideas of humanness and/or personhood? How do they define what is natural, monstrous, divine, and beyond?
Days: WE  12:00-01:50 PM

The United States imagines itself to be a “nation of immigrants,” a phrase that abounds in mainstream and political discourses. The reality of this nation is more complicated, of course. This class examines contemporary narratives of immigration, relocation, and diaspora by Indigenous authors and authors of color as well as the legal and political contexts that inform those narratives. Texts will come from an array of genres by Native American, Asian American, African American, and Latinx authors. We will examine the ways these texts construct modes of belonging in place, of establishing or reestablishing that belonging in the face of chosen, coerced, and forced relocations. How do we maintain, reconstruct, or reinvent community when we move (or flee) from nation to nation?
Days: MO WE  02:00-03:20 PM

The course explores the historical roots of the contemporary Middle East, covering the most important themes in the history of nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries Middle East within a global context. It will focus on several events -- the partition of the Middle East in the first world war, genocide, the Iranian Revolution to name a few -- that shook and changed the Modern Middle East. The aim is to explore larger concepts and contexts that have shaped Modern Middle Eastern history but to do so through the study of specific key episodes.
Days: MO WE  12:00-12:50 PM

G.E. class and one of three main courses in UCI's world religions series. Two hundred students. No prerequisites. Lots of discussion on ten provocative topics in religion, a different topic for every week in the term. The course is event-oriented and requires attendance for all sessions. Absences are discouraged and penalized. Since the word ‘dialogue’ appears in the title of the class and the word ‘discussion’ is appears in discussion section—you’ll be expected to speak and to listen when others speak. Here’s the method: Every Tuesday there’ll be a detailed lecture introducing a new provocative topic. Then every Wednesday there’ll be small-group discussions on the topic with your TA. Then every Thursday there’ll be full-class discussions on the topic in the lecture hall with many student volunteers going on stage to speak and receive questions from the audience. And so it will go each week, with a new topic introduced each Tuesday. No topic is ever settled or resolved, and there is much disagreement among students. We must learn to manage permanent tensions that exist on matters of religion. Though everyone is asked to speak with absolute candor, it will be our policy to attempt civil, amicable exchanges. Course work is as follows: Tuesdays: weekly short readings from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (via links; no books to purchase) and weekly short written summaries of those readings;  Wednesdays: weekly short essays on 'thought questions’ pertaining to the week’s topic; Thursdays: weekly short essays concerning some aspect of the previous Tuesday lecture.  No tests.


Same as HIST 16C.
(GE: IV, VIII)
Days: TU TH  02:00-03:20 PM

Emphasis/Category: World Religious Traditions (Category 1)
Emphasis/Category: World Religious Traditions (Category 1)

The Jain Tradition is a small but influential Indic tradition centered on nonharm to multiple life forms, the cultivation of multiple perspectives, and practices of non-attachment. In this class, we will rely on the methods of history, philosophy, and ethnography to explore Jainism in relation to its historic and textual development, arguments with rivals about what is “real,” and its multiple ethical practices related to food, human-animal-plant relations, war, tolerance, among others. We will also consider the Jain tradition’s relevance to current planetary and social issues.

Same as Philos   117.
Days: TU TH  02:00-03:20 PM

Emphasis/Category: Thematic Approaches to Religion (Category 2)
No description is currently available.
Days: Mo We  01:00-01:50 PM

Emphasis/Category: Thematic Approaches to Religion (Category 2)
Analysis of moral issues concerning health care. Topics may include just allocation of scarce medical resources, the doctor/patient relationship, genetic engineering, surrogate motherhood, abortion, euthanasia, or social policy concerning AIDS.

Same as PHILOS 131C.
Days: TU TH  05:00-06:20 PM

Emphasis/Category: Thematic Approaches to Religion (Category 2)
No description is currently available.

Emphasis/Category: Thematic Approaches to Religion (Category 2)
In late 2010 and early 2011, a chain of popular uprisings shook North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. The authoritarian rulers of regimes until recently thought stable were forced from power in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen. Other countries throughout the region experienced massive protests as well, resulting in diverse outcomes, ranging from timid reforms to restoration of authoritarian rule to civil wars. This course will explore the cultural, geopolitical, and socioeconomic forces that set the stage for the so-called Arab Spring. It will then examine the experience of democratization from Central and East Europe to Latin America, Asia and Africa to help inform our understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing contemporary movements in the Middle East.

Emphasis/Category: Thematic Approaches to Religion (Category 2)
The course examines variable economic, political, and cultural integration of Muslim minorities in North America and Europe. It starts with a historical overview of immigration of Muslims on both sides of the Atlantic over the last seventy years, the diversity of their places of origin, the variation in their demographic features and professional skills, and the variety of political and legal contexts of the adoptive countries into which they have immigrated. Next, the course examines the effects of some of the most significant globalizing processes over the last thirty years on politicization of integration and assimilation of the Muslim population living in Western democracies. Specifically, we will examine the effects of the following four globalizing processes: de-industrialization of developed Western economies, the rise of identity politics, the birth of “Islamic awakening,” and the spread of transnational “jihadism.” The politicization of the process of integration and assimilation of Western Muslims is then examined as a cause of cultural-political populism in the West and the questions it raises about the inclusiveness of liberal democracies in the future.

Emphasis/Category: Thematic Approaches to Religion (Category 2)
No description is currently available.

Emphasis/Category: Thematic Approaches to Religion (Category 2)
How can ancient wisdom guide us in addressing today’s most pressing social challenges? How do we know what is true in the face of proliferating misinformation? Is it the action or the intent that determines ethical behavior? Do we truly have free will in shaping our societies or is everything predetermined by prior material conditions? How can we uphold foundational values while allowing for societal progress?

While our world is rapidly changing, many of the core ideas and societal tensions have existed for millennia. In this course students will examine how many of these ancient principles and debates can be applied to modern societal questions and problems, from ethical dilemmas and political challenges to personal development and social justice. By engaging with a rich array of texts and ideas, we will uncover how past insights continue to inform and transform our understanding of the world today, offering vital perspectives on issues such as inequality, governance, and human rights. Finally, by understanding the particularisms of individual traditions, we will approach the universal themes that unite us all, helping provide timeless solutions to enduring problems.

Same as Pol Sci 139.