Undergraduate Courses

Winter 2026

ANTHRO 116XP – Collaborative and Community-Engaged Archaeology
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Acabado, S.B.
Units: 4
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled); fieldwork, 10 hours. Community and stakeholder engagement make anthropological practice more meaningful, especially when results of research empower descendant communities. Anthropology is in great position to work with communities to empower them in strengthening their identity. There is increasing number of anthropologists and allied social sciences who have intensified their cross-disciplinary work and engagement with communities that they work with. Students interact with Philippine collaborators through online conference to discuss how community participation enhances research. Students work with community stakeholders in developing heritage education materials. P/NP or letter grading.

ARABIC 180 – Linguistics Analysis of Arabic
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Cooperson, M.D.
Units: 4
Description: Lecture, four hours. Requisite: course 102C. Linguistic description of Arabic in both its modern standard and dialect forms. Introduction to linguistic analysis of Arabic phonology, morphology, and syntax and to linguists’ approaches to specific problems posed by Arabic grammar and dialectology. Letter grading.

ART HIS 21 – Medieval Art
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Gerstel, S.E.
Units: 5
Description: Lecture, three hours; quiz, one hour. Early Christian, Byzantine, Islamic, Carolingian, Ottonian, Romanesque, and Gothic art and architecture. P/NP or letter grading.

ART HIS C140 – Selected Topics in Arts of Indigenous Americas: Art and Architecture of the Colonial Andes
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Naire, S.E.
Units: 4
Description: Exploration of rich and varied artistic production of early modern Andes. Study covers production that is rooted in, and deeply engaged with, long-standing and dynamic indigenous artistic world.

ART HIS 185 – Undergraduate Seminar: Abstraction and Inca Art
Seminar: Sem 3
Instructor: Naire, S.E.
Units: 4
Description: Study investigates role of abstraction Inca artistic practices. Scope covers complex relationship of abstraction with Inca history, religion, and philosophy.

ASIAN 161 – Topics in Asian Religions
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Balkwill, S.
Units: 4
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Knowledge of Asian languages not required. In-depth examination of selected topics in one or more religious traditions of Asia. Topics vary, but may include death, gender, and state and religion. May be repeated for credit with topic change. Letter grading.

CHIN 70 – Ink of Imagination: Exploration of Premodern Chinese Literature
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Mai, H.
Units: 5
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Prior knowledge of Chinese culture, literature, or language not required. Introduction to pre-20th-century Chinese literary traditions, including selections from poetry, prose, fiction, and drama. P/NP or letter grading.

CHIN 110B – Introduction to Classical Chinese
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Duthie, N.N.
Units: 4
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Enforced requisite: course 110A. Grammar and readings in selected premodern texts. P/NP or letter grading.

CHIN 180 – Chinese Mythology and Supernatural
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Duthie, N.N.
Units: 4
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Knowledge of Chinese not required. Survey of corpus of traditional Chinese mythology, with focus on examples preserved in variety of early texts, later evolutions in dramatic and fictional works, and evidence from visual arts. Letter grading.

CLASSIC 19 – Amazons: Myth and Reception
Seminar: Sem 1
Instructor: Beckmann, S.E.
Units: 1
Description: Exploration of Greco-Roman myths about Amazons: fierce female warriors from classical antiquity; renowned for their strength, their skill in combat, and their sexual allure. Exploration of cultural afterlives of these horsewomen into present. Students look at representations of Amazons in literature and art to explore various themes, including but not limited to otherness, female power, gender relations, queer identities, social boundaries and transgressive behavior, nature versus civilization, and order versus chaos. Study pairs short readings (ancient or contemporary) with artistic representations, so students develop skills in literary and visual interpretation and critical analysis. Discussion focused on contextualizing Amazon myths in time and space; understanding how these stories shape and reflect cultural values and beliefs; and building skills in oral speaking, conversation, and collaboration.

CLASSIC 30 – Classical Mythology
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Morgan, K.A.
Units: 5
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Introduction to myths and legends of ancient Greece and/or Rome, role of those stories in their societies, and modern approaches to studying them. P/NP or letter grading.

CLASSIC 47 – Medical Terminology: Origins, Nature, and Practice
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Gram, Z.D., Blank, D.L.
Units: 5
Description: Lecture, three hours. Introduction to specialized vocabulary of health sciences, which is rooted in Greek and Roman languages and in those two cultures from which much of history of modern medicine is derived. Students gain working knowledge of fundamental terminology used in medicine and health sciences as well as how this terminology has been composed. Development of ability to interpret and pronounce words. Students apply linguistic rules and how they operate in English and field-specific vocabulary to understand new terminology in various health science fields. Study of etymological origins of fundamental terminology as mnemonic aid for learning and recalling this terminology, and also to serve as mechanism for connecting health/medical professions to humanistic origins. P/NP or letter grading.

CLASSIC 52 – Greco-Roman Technologies: Materials, Monuments, Machines
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Beckmann, S.E.
Units: 1
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Introduction to technologies and technological innovation in the Greco-Roman world (circa 600 BCE to 400 CE) with an emphasis on large-scale systems: architecture, civic infrastructure, machines, and materials. Topics include monumental architecture like the Parthenon and the Colosseum; civic engineering in the form of roads and water supply systems; early machines of war like triremes and catapults; and materials like Roman concrete. Focus on proper explication of these innovations, using basic principles of physics and engineering, and situating them in a sociohistorical context, prompting consideration of how technology drives and is driven by cultural values and history. Special attention is given to the labor behind technological developments, with emphasis on skilled versus unskilled labor, the rise of professional guilds, and the development of sociological identities oriented around work. P/NP or letter grading.

CLASSIC M121 – Ancient and Medieval Political Theory
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Sissa, G.
Units: 4
Description: (Same as Political Science M111A.) Lecture, three or four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Designed for juniors/seniors. Exposition and critical analysis of major thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides, St. Augustine, Aquinas, Machiavelli, and More and questions such as forms of government, citizenship, justice, happiness, rhetoric, religion, emotion. P/NP or letter grading.

CLASSIC M124 – Modern Receptions of Ancient Political Thought
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Sissa, G.
Units: 4
Description: (Same as Political Science M119A.) Lecture, three hours. Designed for juniors/seniors. Study of how Western culture has conceived and reinterpreted political thought of ancient Greeks and Romans. Topics include examination of influential case(s) of modern reception of classical antiquity. P/NP or letter grading.

CLASSIC 191 – Capstone Seminar: Classics
Seminar: Sem 1
Instructor: Vazquez, A.M.
Units: 5
Description: Seminar, three hours. Requisites: courses 10, 20, at least four upper-division major courses. Limited to declared junior/senior departmental majors; minors may be admitted with consent of instructor. Topical research seminar on important themes, periods, genres of ancient Greek and Roman world. Intended to provide students with opportunity for serious engagement with research in discipline under close faculty supervision. Readings, discussions, oral presentations, and final research paper or project. May be repeated for credit. Letter grading.

CLUSTER M27B – Global Islam
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructors: Yarbrough, L.B., Chism, C.N., Goldberg, J.L., Green, N.S.
Units: 6
Description: (Formerly numbered 27B.) (Same as Islamic Studies M27B.) Lecture, three hours; discussion, two hours. Enforced requisite: course M27A. Introduction to Islam, immensely diverse global tradition which is second largest religion. Study of Islam and Muslims within framework of study of global religious traditions and emphasis on profound diversity of localized belief and practice found across world. Examination of Islam’s evolution across 15 centuries, from late antiquity–when it emerged as localized religion in Central Arabia–to modern era where it is practice from U.S. to Indonesia. Concentration on broad analytical categories in study of religion such as text, culture, history, and prophecy. Students transition to more complex analyses through chronological overview of Islamic history. Study also of case studies of Muslim global networks in arenas such as art, music, literature, and political thought. P/NP or letter grading.

COM LIT 1B – World Literature: Middle Ages to 17th Century
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Kanner-Botan, A.
Units: 5
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Enforced requisite: satisfaction of Entry-Level Writing requirement. Study of world literature, with emphasis on Western civilization as it grapples with its past and with other civilizations. Examination of works such as Dante’s Divine Comedy, Cervantes’ Don Quixote, Shakespeare’s King Lear, and Sor Juana’s Mexican poetry. P/NP or letter grading.

ENGL 90 – Shakespeare
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Watson, R.N.
Units: 5
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Enforced requisite: satisfaction of Entry-Level Writing requirement. Not open for credit to English majors or students with credit for course 150A or 150B. Survey of Shakespeare’s plays, including comedies, tragedies, and histories, selected to represent Shakespeare’s breadth, artistic progress, and total dramatic achievement. P/NP or letter grading.

ENGL 110V – Variable Topics in Professional Writing: Literary Essay
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Cohen, M.C.
Units: 5
Description: Writing-intensive study focused on literary essay. Students examine examples of essay across history of literature in English. Students practice writing essays in variety of styles and genres, from personal and reflective to moral, descriptive, social, and political.

ENGL 140A – Chaucer: “Canterbury Tales”
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Fisher, M.N.
Units: 5
Description: Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Enforced requisites: courses 10A, 10B. Introductory study of Chaucer’s language, versification, and historical and literary background, including analysis and discussion of his long major poem, “Canterbury Tales.” P/NP or letter grading.

ENGL 141B – Introduction to Old English Language and Literature
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Weaver, E.
Units: 5
Description: Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Requisites: courses 10A, 10B. Introductory study of Old English language and literature, including grammar and vocabulary, reading and translation of poetry and prose, and discussion of literatures and cultures of Anglo-Saxon England. P/NP or letter grading.

ENGL 145 – Medieval Literatures of Devotion and Dissent: Challenging Beliefs in Late Medieval England
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Fisher, M.N.
Units: 5
Description: Orthodoxy, heterodoxy, and heresy are not fixed terms; they span matters of both faith and politics. Exploration of ways in which medieval English literature navigated and debated troubling, and sometimes fatal, lines between these ideas; and attempted to make sense of self as embedded in competing political and religious discourses. Texts include selections from poem Piers Plowman, medieval drama including Mankind and Croxton Play of the Sacrament, Lollard and Wycliffite texts and dialogues, Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love, and The Book of Margery Kempe. Readings in Middle English. Includes reading responses, Middle English quiz, creative translation project, and two papers.

ENGL 146 – Medieval Story Cycles and Collections: Framing Possible Worlds in Premodern Cultures
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Chism, C.N.
Units: 5
Description: Framed story collection put narrators in same room as their imagined audience, making them visible and vulnerable. This highlight tactics of storytelling as form of invested world-building. Drawing on narrative theory, possible-worlds theory, feminism, disability, and animal and cultural studies, exploration of four premodern story collections that put social worlds at issue: Christine de Pizan’s Book of the City of Ladies; One Thousand and One Nights; Petrus Alfonsi’s Disciplina Clericalis; and Brotherhood of Purity’s The Case of the Animals versus Man Before the King of the Jinn. Students write papers; make optional presentation; or make hybrid creative-analytical term project.

ENGL 157 – Translation and Innovation in English Renaissance and Early Modern Period: Ancient Foundations of Modernity: Renaissance Translations from Classics
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Shuger, D.K.
Description: Greco-Roman texts written between 750 BCE and circa 200 CE dominated curriculum, from grade school through college, in both England and America into 20th century. These are works of extraordinary importance (e.g., checks-and-balances structure of American constitution comes from first-century BCE Greek historian Polybius); and often of extraordinary beauty, variety, and intelligence. Some of it can also make one’s hair stand on end. Focus on English Renaissance translations of classics, because Renaissance was rebirth (re-naissance) of classical learning and literature. One particular focus is Tudor-Stuart context of these translations. Study also includes general introduction to classical foundations on which virtually all English and American literature rest. Readings include selections from Cicero, Homer, Ovid, Pliny, Plutarch, and Xenophon on topics as far-flung as love, duty, sex, science, and empire. Includes weekly short paper and final project.

FILIPNO 170 – People, Society, and Culture of the Philippines
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Paredes, O.
Units: 4
Description: Lecture, two hours; discussion, one hour. In-depth examination of Philippines, from early history and colonial formation under both Spain and U.S. to struggle for independence, Martial Law period, profound socio-economic issues of post-Marcos republic, including extreme poverty and global economic phenomenon of overseas Filipino workers in 21st century. Readings and selected films/videos contextualize specific topics under discussion. General orientation to political history and social conditions of Philippines. Study of various social categories of Filipino in present day, as means of engaging with essential societal issues. P/NP or letter grading.

FRNCH 16 – Society And Self in Early Modern France
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Burns, R.J.
Units: 5
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Role of religion, politics, and sociability in constructing self and understanding its relation with society in early modern France. Development of students’ critical thought and knowledge of French and European intellectual tradition. P/NP or letter grading.

FRNCH 116 – Studies in Renaissance French Culture and Literature
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Burns, R.J.
Units: 4
Description: Lecture, three hours. Taught in French. Study of Renaissance French culture and literature, including la Pléiade and 16th-century poetry, linguistic and poetic revolution, novel and early prose, and late French humanism. May be repeated for credit with topic change. P/NP or letter grading.

GREEK 100 – Intermediate Greek II: Readings in Greek
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Morgan, K.A.
Units: 4
Description: Lecture, three hours. Requisite: course 20. Introduction to developing skills of reading longer, continuous passages of original Greek prose and/or poetry texts, with attention to literary and cultural background. Course is normally requisite to other courses in
Greek 100 series. May be repeated for credit with change of assigned readings and with consent of the instructor. P/NP or letter grading.

HIST 1A – Introduction to Western Civilization: Ancient Civilizations, Prehistory to circa AD 843
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Goldberg, J.L.
Units: 5
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Survey of diverse cultures that shaped foundation of Western civilization to onset of 9th century AD. Investigation of first civilizations in Near East and Egypt. Analysis of worlds of Greeks and Romans. Examination of ways in which western European societies created new syntheses through selective appropriation of Greek and Roman cultures and introduction of new cultural forms. P/NP or letter grading.

HIST 2B – History of Science: Middle Ages
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Kreiner, J.
Units: 5
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Introduction to how medieval communities thought about the physical world and tackled its challenges through a mix of strategies considered categorically and professionally distinct today and which range the domains of science, engineering, medicine, the arts, religion, and magic. P/NP or letter grading.

HIST 11B – History of China, circa 1000 to 2000
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Goldman, A.S.
Units: 5
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Survey of later history of China–evolution of characteristic Chinese institutions and modes of thought from circa 1000 to 2000. Focus on social, political, intellectual, cultural, and economic aspects of early modern regimes and empires and rise of modern China into contemporary era. P/NP or letter grading.

HIST 97K – Introduction to Historical Practice: Variable Topics in History of Religion: New Questions and Perspectives on Roman Inquisition
Seminar: Sem 1
Instructor: Tutino, S.
Units: 4
Description: Roman Inquisition is one of most fascinating institutions in early modern Europe. Until very recently, it was also among lesser known: its archives were closed to scholars, so they did not have profound knowledge of how it worked, who was involved in it, and what kind of issues it dealt with. In 1998, Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith opened Inquisition archives, and those of Index of Prohibited Books, which has allowed new generation of scholars to get inside this mysterious and powerful institution. Since then, much has been learned about its protagonists; victims; agenda; and political, theological, and intellectual significance in early modern Europe. Scholars have also learned that studying its records presents peculiar methodological challenges. Students are exposed to some primary sources coming from Inquisition archive. Students learn how historians use these and other kinds of documentary sources in their research.

HIST 122A – Cultural and Intellectual History of Modern Europe, 15th Century
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Stacey, P.J.
Units: 5
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Designed for juniors/seniors. Climates of taste and climates of opinion. Educational, moral, and religious attitudes; art, thought, and manners of time in historical context. Renaissance cultural and intellectual history of Europe. Central themes include comparative history of ideas, theory and practice of art and architecture, civic and religious humanism, religious experience, and new cultural genres of history and philological scholarship. P/NP or letter grading.

ITALIAN 42A – Italy through Ages in English: Saints and Sinners in Early Modern Italy
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Morosini, R.
Units: 5
Description: Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour. Examination of issues of cultural hegemony, political and religious freedom, and doctrinal conflict through Italy’s early modern literary and artistic production. Texts may include Dante’s Divine Comedy, Boccaccio’s Decameron, Saint Catherine’s letters, Machiavelli’s The Prince, and Galileo’s scientific writings. Artworks may include those of Raphael and Michelangelo, as well as Bernini’s sculptures. P/NP or letter grading.

ITALIAN 110 – Dante in English
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Morosini, R.
Units: 5
Description: Lecture, three hours. Close study of one of world’s greatest literary geniuses, particularly of his masterpiece, “Divine Comedy,” the archetypal medieval journey through the afterworld. P/NP or letter grading.

JAPAN 70 – Images of Japan: Literature and Film
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Shimazaki, S.
Units: 5
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Knowledge of Japanese culture, literature, or language not required. Introduction to visual and textual images of Japan’s literary heritage, including documentary and feature films based on Japan’s literary classics. Letter grading.

LATIN 2 – Elementary Latin
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Martelli, F.K.
Units: 5
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, two hours. Enforced requisite: course 1. P/NP or letter grading.

POL SCI 118 – Laws of War and Peace from Conquest of America to Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Pagden, A.R.
Units: 4
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Enforced requisite: course 10. Designed for juniors/seniors. Examination of theories of international relations and international law, with special emphasis on warfare, from conquest of America to end of World War II. P/NP or letter grading.

RELIGN M132 – Ancient Egyptian Religion
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Ashby, S.
Units: 5
Description: (Same as Ancient Near East M130.) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Introduction to religious beliefs, practices, and sentiments of ancient Egypt to study Egyptian religion as coherent system of thought and sphere of action that once served as meaningful and relevant framework for understanding physical reality and human life for inhabitants of Nile Valley. General principles as well as developments through time (circa 3000 BC to 300 CE). Topics include mythology, temple and cult, magic, and personal piety. P/NP or letter grading.

RELIGN 191 – Variable Topics Research Seminars: Study of Religion
Seminar: Sem 1
Instructor: Bakhos, C.A.
Units: 4
Description: Seminar, four hours. Preparation: completion of preparation for major courses and at least half of upper-division courses required for major (including theory and method courses). Designed for senior majors. Seminar on central method and/or theme in study of religion. Refinement and integration of this knowledge by means of close reading and analysis of primary documents, debating contested issues, and researching and writing original paper. P/NP or letter grading.

SEASIAN C120 – Ghosts, Spirits, and Witches: Supernatural in Southeast Asia
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Paredes, O.
Units: 4
Description: Lecture, two hours; discussion, one hour. From magical tattoos, tree spirits, and faith healing to angry ghosts and disemboweled flying vampires, exploration of fantastic supernatural world of Southeast Asia through folk tales, urban myths, published accounts, popular films, and other media. Study of wide variety of supernatural creatures and local specialists that populate imagination of this diverse region. Exploration also of unique regional concepts of power, morality, and justice that animate and frame Southeast Asian attitudes towards supernatural phenomena in modern world. Concurrently scheduled with course C220. P/NP or letter grading.

SOCIOL 19 – Critical and Racial Approaches to Capitalism: Origins, Development, and Prospects
Seminar: Sem 1
Instructor: Emigh, R.J.
Units: 1
Description: Review of critical and racial approaches to capitalism. Exploration of current capitalist economic system origins, and what its future and alternatives may be. Recent vision of capitalism has changed: in 1990s, with market transition in Eastern Europe, it was hailed as way to correct failures of socialism. With 2008 Great Recession, however, this view changed. Now capitalism is widely seen again as oppressive system, harmful to wide swaths of society and inherently creating climate disaster. Theoretical approaches have also changed: in past 20 years, ideas of racial capitalism and critical approaches to capitalism have spread. These perspectives suggest that capitalism developed only because it derived labor power from enslaved persons, mostly of African and indigenous descent. Further thought links development of capitalism to inherent overuse of resources, and thus climate change and all its detrimental effects. Students give in-class presentation and work on small social change project.

SPAN 11A – Catalan Language and Culture I
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Reda Coll, F., Dagenais, J.C.
Units: 4
Description: Lecture, six hours. Part one of two-term accelerated language sequence equivalent to three terms of traditional instruction. Introduction to Catalan language and culture from wide range of activities focused on task-based and communicative approaches. Study involves variety of activities, which are designed to develop learners’ listening, reading, speaking, and writing skills. P/NP or letter grading.

SPAN 119 – Introduction to Literary Analysis
Lecture: Lec 2
Instructor: Dagenais, J.C.
Units: 4
Description: Lecture, four hours. Requisite: course 25 or 27. Introduction to methods of analyzing literary work in Spanish, Spanish-American, and Chicana/Chicano literature. Special attention to four major genres: poetry, narrative, drama, and essay. P/NP or letter grading.

SPAN 120 – Literature in Historical Context
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Patino Loira, J.
Units: 4
Description: Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour. Requisite: course 25 or 27. Introduction to different ways of looking at literary works as historical phenomena. Presentation of major models for writing history–great narratives, cyclic, teleological, sacred, and profane conceptions. Traditional concepts of literary history and problems of mixed categories (historical epochs versus epochs of style, national history, and world literature). P/NP or letter grading.

SPAN 130 – Topics in Medieval Studies: El Camino de Santiago
Lecture: Lec 1
Instructor: Dagenais, J.C.
Units: 4
Description: Introduction to medieval Spanish literature. Study follows route of virtual pilgrimage through northern Spain in year 1300, from French border near Roncesvalles to shrine of St. James in Santiago de Compostela. Students read works of Spanish literature associated with each stop along route. Study also reads medieval pilgrims guidebook, to inform meaning of pilgrim journey and hazards–physical and spiritual–that await on route. Most works read in modern Spanish translation, some portions in Old Spanish. Designed for students who have already taken at least one upper-division literature course.