What is Technology (IDSEM-UG 9353)

Credits: 4
Duration: 14 Weeks
Dates: Wed

It would be a misnomer to assume that technology is something we “use.” Rather, the human appears as embedded in a matrix of the socio-techno-material. In this sense, there is something quite non-technical about technology which has an intrinsically social nature and can take the form of bodily and socializing techniques, the canalization of creative powers, becomings of all sorts, and of course the mechanical and material manipulation of ourselves and our life-worlds. We must thus speak of a biological and technical habitus of dependency and over-coming, one constituted by everything from creating art, to language, to ideological persuasion, to human enhancement and post-humanism, and various forms of convergence. What is the relationship between these various techniques and technologies and their respective effects (ethical, cultural, aesthetic) on the category of the human? Social transformation and technology cannot be theorized in isolation. The technological, mediological, and digital have to be unearthed as constitutive of our shared “material culture” and milieu. Within such a milieu, which is both internal and external to actors and agents implicated within it, the “essence” of the human is not only potentially redefined, but indeed dissolved. In such a potential redefinition and dissolution, one finds a radically new ethical and political threshold that has yet to be adequately theorized. This course attempts to reveal this threshold through developing a critical heuristic which maps the topoi of the socio-eco-techno system. Drawing on mediology, ethics, and the French school of the anthropology of techniques, we explore such topoi in terms as both “deep” historical sediment and also futurology with a view to illuminating how our values are negotiated and transformed in our rapport with the technological.

Interdisciplinary Seminars (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Reading in French Lit: The Modern Era (In French) (FREN-UA 9121)

In this course students read masterpieces of French literature from the French Revolution to the end of the twentieth century. Works are considered from various historical, aesthetic and theoretical perspectives. Texts include: Le Père Goriot (Balzac); Madame Bovary (Flaubert); Les Faux-Monnayeurs (Gide); La Nausée (Sartre); Le Ravissement de Lol V. Stein (Duras), and Du côté de chez Swan I (Proust), which will be the subject of a final essay. Conducted in French.

French (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2019)


FREN-UA 9121-000 (10584)02/04/2019 – 05/16/2019 Tue,Thu1:00 PM – 2:00 PM (Early afternoon)at NYU Paris (Global)Instructed by

France and Islam (FREN-UA 9806)

Credits: 4
Duration: 14 Weeks
Dates: Wed

Islam is the second most important religion in France (after Roman Catholicism) and France has the highest Muslim population in Europe. Complex events from the mid-20th century forward have led to continuous heated debate and controversy about the place of Muslim citizens within the secular Republic. France’s interwoven history with Islam dates back, however, to the first Umayyad conquests of the Iberian peninsula in the 8th century and then to the period of the Crusades. Through the use of primary sources, literary and filmic texts, and critical readings (notably in history, sociology and cultural studies), this course traces the complexity and heterogeneity of French perceptions of Islam within a broad historical perspective beginning with these early encounters and continuing up to the present day.

French (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Studies in Prose Genres: Postcolonial Readings of Classic Texts (FREN-UA 9833)

Credits: 4
Duration: 14 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu

In this course we focus on four contemporary novels in which the world of the character, the narrator, or the author, is read through the lens of a literary classic. In each case, the reading and rewriting of the primary text involves temporal and spatial displacements (from the 18th to the 20th century, from Europe to the Caribbean and to the South Pacific) that generate shifting perspectives and a constant reshuffling of center and periphery. Between a reverential affiliation to the past and a creative misreading and rewriting of it, these intertextual encounters with « great » Western literary works insistently raise the questions of identity, originality, and “writing back”. Exploring these questions will therefore also involve drawing on comparative, translation, and postcolonial studies.

French (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Poverty and Inequality Around the Globe (SOCS-SHU 326)

This seminar examines the causes and consequences of poverty and rising inequality around the globe. Students will study the ways in which poverty and inequality are shaped by multifaceted contexts; understand the theories underlying strategies and programs which address key poverty and inequality issues faced by many developed, developing and least developed countries; and learn about different countries’ experiences addressing their own poverty and inequality issues. We consider philosophies of global justice and the ethics of global citizenship, and students are expected to critically reflect upon their own engagements with poverty relief activities and aspirations for social changes. Students should be prepared to tackle advanced social science readings, analysis, and writing. Open to seniors, and to other students with instructor’s permission. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or above. Fulfillment: Social Science Focus Political Economy/Sociology 300 level.

Social Science (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2023)


SOCS-SHU 326-000 (20242)01/30/2023 – 05/12/2023 Wed8:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Evening)at ShanghaiInstructed by Zelleke, Almaz

Contemporary Art and Theory in North America and Europe (HUMN-SHU 231)

Contemporary art can seem perplexing, yet when viewed as a progression of ideas and aesthetic strategies that respond to societal shifts, a certain logic emerges. This course traces movements in North American and European art from 1945 to the present through a study of primary and secondary texts, artwork examples, and historic context. In lectures, discussion and activities, we will investigate how artists went beyond primarily object-based works to explore expanded notions of what art can be and the interaction between the artwork and the viewer. The ways institutional frameworks, media and technology, politics, and social relations, informed contemporary art practice will also be examined. At the end of this course, students should be able to identify contemporary art movements, key artists, and relevant artworks and create compelling arguments around these works. They will also be able to articulate the conceptual and visual strategies employed in these pieces, recognize connections and differences across movements and have a basic knowledge of the milieu in which they were produced. Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: Humanities Introductory course (18-19: survey).

Humanities (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2023)


HUMN-SHU 231-000 (20180)01/30/2023 – 05/12/2023 Fri1:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)at ShanghaiInstructed by Kramer, Maya

Gender and Sexuality in Modern Visual Culture (HUMN-SHU 181)

This course examines how ideas of gender and sexuality have shaped the production and consumption of visual culture from the late nineteenth century. We will examine a variety of visual and material texts that shape, criticize, and/or negotiate with contemporaneous gender and sexual norms. Focusing on these expressions’ cultural and historical specificities, the students will assess gender and sexuality—and as an extension, the notions of normality, healthfulness, and self—as ideas that continuously evolve in response to social discourses. The course proceeds roughly chronologically. It starts with the nineteenth-century Euro-American context, in which modern ideas of gender and sexuality began to circulate authoritatively in medical and legal terms. It then moves onto more globalized contemporary perspectives that critique and/or expand the pronouncedly “Western” conceptions of identity and identity categories. Prerequisite: None.

Humanities (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2023)


HUMN-SHU 181-000 (23103)01/30/2023 – 05/12/2023 Mon,Wed11:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at ShanghaiInstructed by Kong, Hyoungee

Human Genetics: Genes in Human Health & Disease (CCEX-SHU 136)

The goal of the first half of the course is to build a basic understanding of how information about traits is encoded in our genes, how this “blueprint” is interpreted by cellular machinery to build a complex human being, and how our heredity has resulted in our evolution. In the senond half of the course, we will continue the exploration of how environment, experience and random errors affect the process of building our traits, what happens when these processes fail, and the promise and possible peril of genetic technologies for human life. Fulfillment: CORE ED (with CCEX-SHU 137)

Exper Discovery in Nat World (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2023)


CCEX-SHU 136-000 (21479)01/30/2023 – 05/12/2023 Tue,Thu11:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at ShanghaiInstructed by Yu, Danyang


CCEX-SHU 136-000 (21480)01/30/2023 – 05/12/2023 Tue2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at ShanghaiInstructed by Yu, Danyang

Foundations: What is Philosophy? (PHIL-SHU 101)

This course is an introduction to the problems and methods of contemporary philosophy. Topics may include: 1. What is the relationship between mind and body? 2. Can belief in the existence of the external world be justified? 3. Are there any good arguments for the existence of God? 4. Can we act freely if everything that we do is determined by laws of nature? 5. Is there a theory of how we ought to live? Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: Humanities Foundational/Introductory Courses (18-19: Critical Concepts).

Philosophy (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2023)


PHIL-SHU 101-000 (20186)01/30/2023 – 05/12/2023 Tue,Thu3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Late afternoon)at ShanghaiInstructed by Yuan, Yuan

Youth and Consumer Culture in China (GCHN-SHU 246)

How can a hamburger symbolize progress, an animated character provide comfort, and rock music define one’s identity? In this course we will study the role of consumer culture in the lives of Chinese youth, both today and in the past. By examining popular commodities including sneakers, coffee, backpacking, and celebrity idols, we will think about how young people use these things to find friendship and love, to seek success and happiness, and to define who they are. As we consider why people like particular commodities, we will learn about class, gender, ethnicity, and modernity in China. Reading about the history of commodities in China, we will consider what is new about consumer culture, and why people’s tastes change over time. Alongside studies of specific commodities, we will read key theoretical texts about shopping, advertising, media, identity, and fantasy: these texts will help us understand how commodities can be imbued with tremendous power to shape our desires and create our identities. During the semester, each student will conduct qualitative research about a commodity, including online research and offline interviews with people who buy and sell this commodity. At the end of the semester, we will gather your research together to produce a handbook of Chinese youth and consumer culture. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing. Fulfillment: CORE SSPC/IPC; GCS Elective: The Politics, Economy, and Environment of China; Social Science focus Anthropology 200 level.

Global China Studies (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Printmaking in an Expanded Field (ART-SHU 255)

This Praxis course is an exploration of contemporary and traditional artistic printmaking practices, with an emphasis on expanding notions of conventional printmaking techniques and forms. Students will be introduced to various printmaking techniques, and experiment with traditional and non-traditional forms, in conjunction with their histories and consider what constitutes a hand-made print in an artistic framework. Students will gain an understanding of printmaking – its history based in China, development across the globe and inventive contemporary practices which include sculptural forms. They will learn techniques, modes, forms, and applications of printmaking – with an emphasis on relief prints (stamps and wood cuts) – in a conceptual framework of contemporary printmaking practices and global visual culture. Note: attendance in the first class meeting is mandatory, otherwise you will be dropped from the course. Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: This course satisfies IMA/IMB elective.

Art (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2022)


ART-SHU 255-000 (19570)02/07/2022 – 05/13/2022 Tue,Thu9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)at ShanghaiInstructed by Lin, Monika

Philosophy of Technology: Thinking Machines (PHIL-SHU 130)

This course aims to train students to think philosophically about our rapidly changing—and ever more intimate—relationship with machines. We focus in particular on the following subjects: artificial intelligence, robots, cyborgs, automation and science fiction speculation. Prerequisite: Global Perspectives on Society (GPS) Fulfillment: CORE STS; Humanities Interdisciplinary or Advanced course; IMA/IMB elective.

Philosophy (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2023)


PHIL-SHU 130-000 (20189)01/30/2023 – 05/12/2023 Wed5:00 PM – 7:00 PM (Late afternoon)at ShanghaiInstructed by Weslake, Brad · Greenspan, Anna

Electronic Rituals, Oracles and Fortune-Telling (IMNY-UT 289)

According to anthropologists Filip de Boeck and René Devisch, divination “constitutes a space in which cognitive structures are transformed and new relations are generated in and between the human body, the social body and the cosmos.” In this class, students will learn the history of divination, engage in the practice of divination, and speculate on what forms divination might take in a world where the human body, the social body, and even the cosmos(!) are digitally mediated. Starting with an understanding of ritual and folk culture, we will track the history of fortune-telling from the casting of lots to computer-generated randomness to the contemporary revival of Tarot; from reading entrails to astrology to data science; from glossolalia to surrealist writing practices to the “ghost in the machine” of artificial intelligence. Weekly readings and assignments culminate in a final project.

Interactive Media Arts (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2022)


IMNY-UT 289-000 (21942)09/07/2022 – 12/14/2022 Mon,Wed5:00 PM – 6:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Parrish, Allison

Foundations of Art History (ARTH-UA 10)

Introduces students to the skills and concepts they will need in order to develop a meaningful engagement with the visual arts and art history as a global discipline. Rather than providing a chronological survey of great works, it covers examples and perspectives from a wide array of regions, periods, and societies. Topics include materials and techniques of production; formal analysis; subject matter and iconography; historical and cultural contexts; the social role and formation of artists; and the history of art history as a discipline. Pitched for students who have little or no background in the study of art and architecture, this course provides a rigorous introduction to the foundations of the discipline. It is required of all art history majors.

Art History (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2023)


ARTH-UA 10-000 (9715)01/23/2023 – 05/08/2023 Mon,Wed9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Flood, Finbarr


ARTH-UA 10-000 (9716)01/23/2023 – 05/08/2023 Thu12:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by


ARTH-UA 10-000 (9717)01/23/2023 – 05/08/2023 Fri9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by


ARTH-UA 10-000 (9718)01/23/2023 – 05/08/2023 Fri11:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by


ARTH-UA 10-000 (9719)01/23/2023 – 05/08/2023 Fri2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by

Animation: Methods of Motion (IMNY-UT 288)

This course explores the fundamentals of storytelling through animation and takes students from traditional animation techniques to contemporary forms. In the first part of the course, students will focus on traditional animation, from script to storyboard through stop motion and character-based animation. The course then examines opportunities afforded by new technologies, such as interactivity, projection mapping and game engines. Drawing skills are not necessary for this course, however students will keep a personal sketchbook.

Undergraduate

Education and Social Entrepreneurship (EDST-UE 1503)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Thu

Innovative solutions in education are emerging from the private sector every day. Business ventures from Teach for America to Khan Academy are changing the way teachers are prepared, the way students learn, and the way institutions use data. These ideas are started by “social entrepreneurs,” people who try to improve lives through solutions that have a market and customers. Students in this course learn about social entrepreneurship, how to identify critical issues in the education-related space, and how to develop their own entrepreneurial solutions accordingly.

Education Studies (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Mobile App Development Lab (ITPG-GT 2372)

One of the most transformative consumer products in history, the iPhone remains the standard bearer for great design and user experience. With the latest versions of iOS and iPhone, Apple puts depth sensing and augmented reality in our pockets. How do we take advantage of this incredible platform to produce our own compelling experiences? This course will be a hands-on workshop where we explore the world beyond generic apps and push the boundaries of what’s possible on iOS hardware. Each week, you’ll be asked to complete a programming exercise meant to foster your understanding of iOS application development. We’ll leverage existing open source libraries to quickly build out your app with features such as real time communication and cloud storage. We aim to create distributed instruments for computed expression. Full-time access to an iOS device and a Mac laptop computer running the latest operating system and development tools are required. Prereq: Some programming experience (such as ICM) and willingness to learn Apple’s Swift programming language. About John Henry Thompson: http://johnhenrythompson.com/

Graduate

No Screens Allowed (ITPG-GT 3010)

“Since the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, the touchscreen has become the dominant manner for navigating Mobile devices. UX pattern best practices are enshrined in documents such as Apple’s ‘HIG’ (Human Interface Guidelines) or Google’s more recent Material Design. ‘No Screens Allowed’ is a class that challenges this ’Touchscreen first’ interaction approach. Taught in the Kotlin language, students will prototype solutions in response to Instructor directed assignments. The various projects structured to interrogate mobile device capabilities such as: Voice Recognition, Computer Vision, Machine Learning, and built in sensors. Students will be provided with identical hardware: Pixel 3 phones running Android, the chosen development platform for the class. Successful completion of Introduction to Computational Media and Introduction to Physical Computing are required for entry into class. “

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2024)


ITPG-GT 3010-000 (14801)01/25/2024 – 05/02/2024 Thu6:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Evening)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Jones, Brian

Modern Artifacts: Interactive Public Art for the People (ITPG-GT 3005)

In an era of remote everything, how can we create artwork that brings us back together IRL? This course explores our connection to physical objects within the context of community. How can sculpture, installation, immersive, and public art nurture our neighborhoods via collaboration, play, ritual, self-expression, and awe? Students will work collaboratively to radically imagine bold, sculptural, immersive works using innovative and lo-if techniques integrated with technology. Hands-on workshops include experiments creating found sculptures, AR prototypes, projection mapping, real-time interactive multimedia content, and more. We’ll reference ancient monuments, sacred objects, NYC relics, street art and contemporary works to envision new artifacts that create awareness by reflecting the needs of our communities. Prerequisite: Comm Lab: Hypercinema About Ali Santana: http://www.alisantana.com/bio

Graduate