This course offers a broad survey of American cinema from its beginnings (and even its pre-history) up to 1960. While the emphasis will be on the dominant, narrative fiction film, there will be attention to other modes of American cinema such as experimental film, animation, shorts, and non-fiction film. The course will look closely at films themselves — how do their styles and narrative structures change over time? — but also at contexts: how do films reflect their times? how does the film industry develop? what are the key institutions that had impact on American film over its history? We will also attend to the role of key figures in film’s history: from creative personnel (for example, the director or the screenwriter) to industrialists and administrators, to censors to critics and to audiences themselves. The goal will be to provide an overall understanding of one of the most consequential of modern popular art forms and of its particular contributions to the art and culture of our modernity.
Category Archives: Liberal Arts & Sciences – Electives
All Liberal Arts Elective Courses: Quantitative Reasoning, Physical Science OR Life Science, Societies & the Social Sciences, Expressive Culture, General Liberal Arts Electives
Perception and the Brain (CCEX-SHU 122)
“How do humans and other animals obtain knowledge about the world? It is easy to take perception for granted, but complex processes (only partly understood) underlie our ability to understand the world by seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, and smelling it. This is not because the scientific study of perception is new. In fact, perception has fascinated philosophers, physicists, and physiologists for centuries. Currently, perception is a central topic in psychology, cognitive science, computer science, and neuroscience. How do scientists approach perception? We seek to discover lawful relations between perceptual experiences and the physical world and to develop models of the processes and mechanisms in the brain that produce these connections. In this course, in the lectures, we will discuss fundamental problems in perception (primarily vision), and in the lab sessions, you will learn about standard experimental methods and their use in the study of perceptual processes and to give you first-hand experience in conducting original research. As part of these activities you will learn to write experimental reports and to think critically about the relation between theory and experiment. You will also be exposed to the use of computers in perception research. Indeed, there will be considerable use of computers in the course, with part of the goal being to provide you with basic computer skills.” Prereq: None Fulfillment: CORE ED
Exper Discovery in Nat World (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks
Sections (Spring 2022)
CCEX-SHU 122-000 (23960)02/07/2022 – 05/13/2022 Tue,Thu3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Late afternoon)at ShanghaiInstructed by Li, Li
CCEX-SHU 122-000 (23961)02/07/2022 – 05/13/2022 Fri2:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)at ShanghaiInstructed by Li, Li
Intro to Sociology (SOC-UA 1)
Offered every semester. 4 points. Survey of the field of sociology: its basic concepts, theories, and research orientation. Threshold course that provides the student with insights into the social factors in human life. Topics include social interaction, socialization, culture, social structure, stratification, political power, deviance, social institutions, and social change.
Sociology (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
Sections (Spring 2022)
SOC-UA 1-000 (20398)01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Mon,Wed2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Morning, Ann
SOC-UA 1-000 (20399)01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Fri8:00 AM – 9:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Martin-Caughey, Ananda
SOC-UA 1-000 (20400)01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Fri4:00 PM – 6:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Um, Sejin
SOC-UA 1-000 (20401)01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Fri11:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Nelson, Christina
SOC-UA 1-000 (20420)01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Fri9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Sieffert, Claire
SOC-UA 1-000 (20403)01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Wed6:00 PM – 7:00 PM (Evening)at Washington SquareInstructed by Martin-Caughey, Ananda
SOC-UA 1-000 (20404)01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Fri8:00 AM – 9:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Sieffert, Claire
SOC-UA 1-000 (20405)01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Fri4:00 PM – 6:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Cera, Michelle
SOC-UA 1-000 (20406)01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Wed6:00 PM – 7:00 PM (Evening)at Washington SquareInstructed by Um, Sejin
SOC-UA 1-000 (20407)01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Fri3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Nelson, Christina
SOC-UA 1-000 (20408)01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Fri3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Cera, Michelle
Theatre as Art Form (MPAET-UE 60)
This course introduces non-majors to theatre as a live and performing art through a variety of experiences including attendance at live performances, readings of play scripts, and theoretical texts, and the creation of original plays. Through lectures, discussions, and written assignments, students will explore the roles of the playwright, actor, director, and designer in the production process, as well as examines the role of the audience in the live performance. Liberal Arts Core/CORE Equivalent – satisfies the requirement for Expressive Cultures
Educational Theatre (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
Sections (Fall 2022)
MPAET-UE 60-000 (12371)09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Tue,Thu9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Huff, Keith
MPAET-UE 60-000 (12883)at Washington SquareInstructed by Huff, Keith
The Social Challenges of Climate Change (SOC-UA 454)
This seminar examines how sociology can help us understand the challenge of climate change. We will briefly overview the climate science and learn about the rise of “weird weather,” but the core themes of the course concern questions about communication and cognition, cultural values and material consumption, politics and persuasion, mitigation and adaptation, economics and social justice, power and social movements, and the possibility of creating new, more sustainable ways of living on earth. We will dedicate several sessions dedicated to Superstorm Sandy and its aftermath, with a focus on the question of how to rebuild a more resilient city and region in anticipation of more extreme weather events.
Sociology (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
Sections (Fall 2021)
SOC-UA 454-000 (21743)09/02/2021 – 12/14/2021 Mon,Wed3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Klinenberg, Eric
SOC-UA 454-000 (21744)09/02/2021 – 12/14/2021 Fri8:00 AM – 9:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Haile, Sewheat
SOC-UA 454-000 (21745)09/02/2021 – 12/14/2021 Fri9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Haile, Sewheat
First-Year Research Seminar: The Arts and the Sciences: Divides and Intersections (FIRST-UG 827)
In 1959, the chemist-turned-novelist C.P. Snow delivered a lecture in which he decried a growing separation between the humanities and the sciences. In it, he argued that two intellectual “cultures” were developing, both of whose practitioners were increasingly incapable of engaging each other. Today, the notion of a divide between “the humanities” and “the sciences,” or, as some term them, “the arts” and “the sciences,” is rather commonplace. We often hear people self-identify as “more left brain,” for example, or “not a math person.” In this course, we will explore how and why different people have found it useful to distinguish the arts and the sciences. We will also consider why others have found it useful to blur the arts and the sciences. Participants will begin by reading and contextualizing Snow’s original lecture, after which we will trace both the historical origins of the key concepts involved as well as how their meanings have changed over time from early modernity to today. (Mathematics, for example, was deemed an “art” for much of European history.) Having done so, we will then consider contemporary assessments. All told, in their research and in their writing, participants will be asked to examine how different people have sought to distinguish, reconcile, or even move beyond the “two cultures.” Readings for the course may include works by: Francis Bacon, Lisa Jardine, Marwa Elshakry, Paul Kristeller, Yuval Levin, and Rueylin Chen.
First Year program (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
Sections (Spring 2021)
FIRST-UG 827-000 (22605)01/28/2021 – 05/10/2021 Mon,Wed11:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by O’’Neil, Sean Thomas
Environmental Social Movements (ENVST-UA 9481)
Credits: 4
Duration: 14 Weeks
Dates:
Duration: 14 Weeks
Dates:
Environmental Studies (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks
Renaissance and Early Modern Europe (HIST-UA 9022)
This course concentrates on the culture, society, and politics of Renaissance and early modern Europe. The course explores several critical topics and themes, including the Italian and Northern Renaissance, the age of religious reform and religious wars, Europe’s “discovery” of other worlds and cultures, the origins and development of national states, the scientific revolution, the European enlightenment, and the origins of the French revolution.
History (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks
Sections (Fall 2020)
HIST-UA 9022-000 (27178)09/02/2020 – 12/10/2020 Mon,Wed9:00 PM – 10:00 PM (Evening)at NYU Florence (Global)Instructed by Duni, Matteo · Perlman, Jason
African-American History to 1865 (HIST-UA 647)
Survey of the experience of African Americans to 1865, emphasizing living conditions, treatment, images, attitudes, important figures and events, and culture using a chronological and topical approach. Topics include African way of life, initial contact between Africans and Europeans, slave trade, early slavery, freedom and control in slave society, abolitionism, slave resistance, free blacks, and gender.
History (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
Sections (Fall 2020)
HIST-UA 647-000 (19675)09/02/2020 – 12/13/2020 Mon,Fri3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Mitchell, Michele · Royster, Briana
History of Modern Japan (HIST-UA 537)
Emphasizes historical problems in Japan?s economic development, their challenge to political and social institutions, and their role in shaping foreign policy. Focuses on Japan?s transition from an agrarian economy to commercial capitalism, from hierarchical social organization to constitutional authority, and from isolation from the rest of the world to involvement with Western culture and diplomatic relations. Traces Japan?s development into an industrial giant fully engaged in world affairs.
History (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
Sections (Fall 2020)
HIST-UA 537-000 (22687)09/02/2020 – 12/13/2020 Mon,Wed8:00 AM – 9:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Linkhoeva, Tatiana · Zhu, Yuhang
Logic (PHIL-UA 70)
An introduction to the basic techniques of sentential and predicate logic. Students learn how to put arguments from ordinary language into symbols, how to construct derivations within a formal system, and how to ascertain validity using truth tables or models.
Philosophy (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
Sections (Spring 2022)
PHIL-UA 70-000 (8448)01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Mon,Wed8:00 AM – 9:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Peluce, Vincent
PHIL-UA 70-000 (8449)01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Tue,Thu8:00 AM – 9:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Peluce, Vincent
PHIL-UA 70-000 (9185)01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Mon,Wed2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Gomez, Veronica
Central Problems in Philosophy (PHIL-UA 1)
The most basic questions about human life and its place in the universe. Topics may include free will, the relation of body and mind, and immortality; skepticism, self-knowledge, causality, and a priori knowledge; religious and secular ethical codes and theories; and intuition, rationality, and faith. Includes classic and current philosophers (e.g., Plato, Descartes, Hume, Russell, Sartre).
Philosophy (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
Black Women in America (HIST-UA 661)
Mitchell. Offered every year. 4 points. Explores varieties of African American women’s experiences (including class, ethnicity, sexuality, region, and generation). Endeavors to go beyond the black/white binary by considering black women’s relationships to both intraracial and broader communities. Additionally, assesses how gender, race, and class have influenced black women’s work, activism, political involvement, and creative output in the United States. Takes an interdisciplinary approach by drawing from history, memoir, sociology, feminist theory, film studies, legal theory, and the popular press.
History (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
Espionage and the Making of the Modern World (HIST-UA 23)
Wikileaks and Edward Snowden reveal the dark side of the secret world just as the actions of Vladimir Putin in Ukraine remind us of why we need good intelligence. Since World War II ushered in the modern espionage era, secret intelligence and intelligence services have shaped the course of international history. This course introduces the student to the great sweep of world history from 1939 to 2015 through the lens of the role played by spies, code-breakers, saboteurs, intelligence analysts and the organizations for which they worked. How much did all of this secret stuff matter? Why did countries set up organizations to undertake spying and covert action? Have these activities made them, especially the US, more or less secure? And what has been the cost to private individuals of these activities? Although the focus will mainly be on the activities of US, Russian (Soviet) and British intelligence, the class will also explore cases involving Chinese, Cuban, French, German, Iranian, Israeli, Jordanian, Saudi and Vietnamese intelligence.
History (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
The Early Middle Ages, 300-1050 (HIST-UA 111)
Identical to V65.0111. Bedos-Rezak, Griffiths. Offered every other year. 4 points. Europe in the early Middle Ages was created out of a mixture of ingredients: the legacy of the Roman Empire; the growth and development of Christianity; invading peoples who settled within the boundaries of the former Roman Empire; and the clash of competing languages, religions, and legal systems. This tumultuous time forged a new entity, medieval Europe, whose development, growing pains, and creative successes this course examines. Uses the records and artifacts of the period itself as central elements for investigating the period.
History (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
Sections (Fall 2021)
HIST-UA 111-000 (21499)09/02/2021 – 12/14/2021 Tue,Thu8:00 AM – 9:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Underwood, Norman
Mao and The Chinese Revolution (HIST-UA 546)
History (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
US Since 1865 (HIST-UA 10)
Course examines developments in U.S. society within a global historical context. Topics: urbanization; industrialization; immigration; American reform movements (populism, progressivism, the New Deal, and the War on Poverty); and foreign policy. Beginning with the post-Civil War expansion of the U.S. into the American West, the course traces U.S expansion and increasing global influence through the Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, Cold War, Gulf Wars, and the War on Terror. Emphasizes broad themes and main changes in U.S. culture, politics, and society.
History (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
Advanced Modern Greek I (HEL-UA 107)
Focus is on advanced composition and oral practices, with the aim of refining an understanding and general facility with written and spoken Greek. Course work is designed to help students develop a comprehensive vocabulary, improve pronunciation, and increase their effectiveness, accuracy, and fluency in writing and speaking the language. Enhances and perfects reading, speaking, conversational, and writing skills through the close study of selected modern Greek literary texts, current newspaper articles and essays, films, advertisements, and comprehensive discussions of contemporary Greek society. Explores major facets and phenomena of Greek culture: current social and political issues, events, and controversies in Greece; Greece’s position “in the margins of Europe” and at the crossroads of East and West; gender politics; the educational system; the political landscape; discourses on the question of Greek identity; and topics in popular culture. Through individual projects, oral reports, class presentation, and written assignments, students are expected to pursue an in-depth “reading” of present-day Greece.
Hellenic Studies (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
Sections (Fall 2022)
HEL-UA 107-000 (8033)09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Wed11:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Venetsanos, Anna
Seminar On Modern Greek Culture (HEL-UA 130)
Topics in Hellenic Studies vary; please consult Notes section below for current course offering.
Hellenic Studies (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
Sections (Fall 2022)
HEL-UA 130-000 (9294)09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Thu2:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Theodoratou, Helen
HEL-UA 130-000 (20589)09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Wed4:00 PM – 7:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Astrinaki, Eleftheria
Intermediate Mod Greek I (HEL-UA 105)
Designed for students already familiar with modern Greek. Students are expected to be acquainted with the most significant structures of grammar and syntax, and to have acquired the foundations for basic conversation in Greek. Introduces students to more complex linguistic and grammatical analysis, advanced composition, and graded reading. It also provides further practice in speaking and works to enrich the student’s vocabulary. Readings and discussions of selected works of prose, poetry, and theatre serve as an introduction to aspects of modern Greek civilization and as an occasion for comprehensive discuPrerequisite: V56.0104 for V56.0105, V56.0105 for V56.0106, or permission of the instructor. Intermediate I offered in the fall; Intermediate II offered in the spring. 4 points per term. Designed for students already familiar with modern Greek. Students are expected to be acquainted with the most significant structures of grammar and syntax, and to have acquired the foundations for basic conversation in Greek. Introduces students to more complex linguistic and grammatical analysis, advanced composition, and graded reading. It also provides further practice in speaking and works to enrich the student’s vocabulary. Readings and discussions of selected works of prose, poetry, and theatre serve as an introduction to aspects of modern Greek civilization and as an occasion for comprehensive discussions of contemporary Greek society.
Hellenic Studies (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
Sections (Fall 2022)
HEL-UA 105-000 (9942)