This course will investigate the relationships among women, gender, sexuality, and anthropological research. We will begin by exploring the trajectory of research interest in women and gender, drawing first from the early work on gender and sex by anthropologists like Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict; moving through the 1970s and 1980s arguments about gender, culture, and political economy; arriving at more current concerns with gender, race, sexuality, and empire. For the rest of the semester, we will critically read contemporary ethnographies addressing pressing issues such as nationalism, militarism, neoliberalism and fundamentalism. Throughout, we will investigate what it means not only to "write women's worlds", but also to analyze broader socio-cultural, political, and economic processes through a gendered lens. We will, finally, address the various ways feminist anthropology fundamentally challenged the discipline's epistemological certainties, as well as how it continues to transform our understanding of the foundations of the modern world.

FALL 2015: QUEER VALUES - What are queer cultural experiences and values? Many academics and social movements have noted that the radical aspirations of queer theory and activism not only disrupt but also shore up neoliberal ideologies. In this course students will explore the historical co-emergence of queer cultures and neoliberalism by examining the promises and pitfalls of queer politics over the past quarter century. The coining of queer theory by Theresa de Lauretis in 1990 was intended as a disruptive joke. Its provocation resided in joining queer, an appropriation of street slang bandied about among New York City activists and artists in the 1980s, to theory, the passport of privilege in academic life. The irreverence of her joke exemplifies a central ethic of queer experience that renders palpable the tensions between margins and centers. The course will traverse scholarship from economic and queer anthropology, history, sociology & science studies, philosophy, political theory and literary studies.


This wide survey of literature will allow students to develop an understanding of the political and economic processes that have conditioned the emergence of queerness as a diverse range of ethical commitments in particular sociocultural contexts globally. Students will investigate the affective dimensions of the emergence of queer theory, studies and activism within the United States and elsewhere in the context of global neoliberal social reforms. The course is split into four units: 1) In the Place of Queer Origins; 2) Queer Values; 3) Queer Circulations and Subjectivities; and 4) Queer Temporalities.

The purpose of this course is to engage students in the rigorous process of mining experiences for material that can be transformed into a public performance piece. In-class writing, group discussions, and field work in the Philadelphia area. Fall 2015 Topic: AUGUST WILSON - The people need to know the story. See how they fit into it. See what part they play. - August Wilson, King Hedley II. In this seminar, students will read groundbreaking playwright August Wilson's 20th Century Cycle: ten plays that form an iconic picture of African American traumas, triumphs, and traditions through the decades, told through the lens of Pittsburgh's Hill District neighborhood. Other readings include supporting material on Wilson's work and African American theatre, the works of contemporary playwrights whom Wilson has influenced (such as Suzan-Lori Parks and Tarell Alvin McCraney), and context on Penn's relationship with West Philadelphia.


As an Academically Based Community Service (ABCS) course,this seminar gives students the opportunity to enhance their understanding of the plays, and history and culture that shaped them, by forming meaningful relationships with West Philadelphia residents. Wilson's plays provide the bridge between the two groups. The course culminates with students writing an original theatre piece inspired by the readings and relationships, which they will share at an end-of-semester performance.

This is an advanced Kiswahili course which will engage learners in extended spoken and written discourse. Advanced learners of Kiswahili will listen to, read about, write, and speak on authentic video materials, contemporary novels, and newspapers. They will also participate in various discussions on cultural and political issues.

In this advanced seminar, students will be introduced to a variety of approaches to African American literatures, and to a wide spectrum of methodologies and ideological postures (for example, The Black Arts Movement). The course will present an assortment of emphases, some of them focused on geography (for example, the Harlem Renaissance), others focused on genre (autobiography, poetry or drama), the politics of gender and class, or a particular grouping of authors. Previous versions of this course have included "African American Autobigraphy," "Backgrounds of African American Literature," "The Black Narrative" (beginning with eighteenth century slave narratives and working toward contemporary literature), as well as seminars on urban spaces, jazz, migration, oral narratives, black Christianity, and African-American music. See Africana Studies Department's website at https://africana.sas.upenn.edu for a description of the current offerings.

This course is designed to provide the students with a broad understanding of the history of Islam in Africa. The focus will be mostly on West Africa, but we will also look at developments in other regions of the continent. We will examine the process of islamization in Africa and the interplay between Islam and the African traditional religions and customs. Topics include conversion, Islamic education and literacy, the status of women, Muslim response to European colonial domination, Islamic mysticism and the contemporary development of Sunni movements.

This course explores the creation and transformations of the American constitutional system's structures and goals from the nation's founding through the period of Progressive reforms, the rise of the Jim Crow system, and the Spanish American War. Issues include the division of powers between state and national governments, and the branches of the federal government; economic powers of private actors and government regulators; the authority of governments to enforce or transform racial and gender hierarchies; and the extent of religious and expressive freedoms and rights of persons accused of crimes. We will pay special attention to the changing role of the Supreme Court and its decisions in interpreting and shaping American constitutionalism, and we will also read legislative and executive constitutional arguments, party platforms, and other influential statements of American constitutional thought.

This course explores the creation and transformations of the American constitutional system's structures and goals from the nation's founding through the period of Progressive reforms, the rise of the Jim Crow system, and the Spanish American War. Issues include the division of powers between state and national governments, and the branches of the federal government; economic powers of private actors and government regulators; the authority of governments to enforce or transform racial and gender hierarchies; and the extent of religious and expressive freedoms and rights of persons accused of crimes. We will pay special attention to the changing role of the Supreme Court and its decisions in interpreting and shaping American constitutionalism, and we will also read legislative and executive constitutional arguments, party platforms, and other influential statements of American constitutional thought.