Film, Literature and Mental Health (UNDSW-US 89)

Artists often explore powerful issues of mental health through literature and film. “No form of art goes beyond ordinary consciousness as film does, straight to our emotions, deep into the twilight room of the soul.” (Ingmar Bergmann 1918-2007) In this course, we will draw on classic examples from literature and film to highlight and understand aspects of mental health in ways that are more vivid and visceral than any text book can illustrate. Materials will be chosen from novels, poems, and films to illustrate various mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), dissociative identity disorder (DID), and schizophrenia. We will look at how some of the disorders fare in psychological treatments that either succeed or fail. Guest speakers may be invited to highlight some topics.

Undergrad Social Work (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2024)


UNDSW-US 89-000 (16283)09/03/2024 – 12/12/2024 Mon11:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Michaels, Vera

Ethnicity & The Media (SCA-UA 232)

Examines media images in relation to the making of ethnic and racial identities in the United States. Surveys some of the theoretical approaches to the study of images, paying particular attention to the intersection of history and ideologies or representation. Looks into the nature and politics of stereotypes; inquires into their reproduction through discourses, representations, and practices; and then moves to a comparative examination of media images in relation to the making of African American, Latino, Asian, and Native American images in the media, looking specifically at changes and continuities in the representation of these four minority groups in the media.

Social and Cultural Analysis (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2023)


SCA-UA 232-000 (20866)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Tue,Thu3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Davila, Arlene

Marx and the Culture of Capitalism (GERM-UA 242)

The course serves as an introduction to the thought and legacy of Karl Marx. Marx’s theory of capitalism centers on the concept of value. Value is the interface between culture and commerce, the hinge on which Marx’s theory and Marxism turn. Although Marx sometimes distinguished between an economic “base” and a legal-cultural “superstructure,” he managed to depict the culture of capitalism as a whole. This method forms one of his crucial legacies, which we will explore in and after Marx. Organized around a slow reading of Capital, Volume 1, the course will also feature short readings from those who inspired Marx (David Ricardo, G. W. F. Hegel, Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace) and those his work influenced (Rosa Luxemburg, Theodor W. Adorno, Stuart Hall, Donna Haraway). We will follow the trajectory that Capital itself takes, from the commodity and the concept of value to machinery, cooperation, and accumulation.

German (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2022)


GERM-UA 242-000 (20010)09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Tue,Thu3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Weatherby, Leif

Principles of Macroeconomics (ECI-UF 101)

This course provides an introduction to the fundamental topics in macroeconomics, the analysis of the economy as a whole. After an overview of introductory economic concepts, such as comparative advantage, opportunity costs, and supply and demand, the course focuses on the determinants of aggregate income, employment, and prices. Other topics include the study of long-run economic growth, the business cycle, the financial system, as well as monetary and fiscal policy. *ECI-UF 101 and ECII-UF 102 may meet some of the equivalent course requirements for the College of Arts and Science. Students may take ECI-UF 101 and ECII-UF 102 in any order; neither course is a pre-requisite for the other.

Economics I (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2022)


ECI-UF 101-000 (19798)01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Tue,Thu12:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Mejorado, Ascension


ECI-UF 101-000 (13426)01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Tue,Thu11:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Mejorado, Ascension


ECI-UF 101-000 (13352)01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Tue,Thu2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Mejorado, Ascension


ECI-UF 101-000 (19799)at Washington SquareInstructed by


ECI-UF 101-000 (19800)at Washington SquareInstructed by

Living a Good Life: Greek and Jewish Perspectives (RELST-UA 422)

Key questions: Does living well require acquiring knowledge and wisdom? What is the place of moral responsibility in the good life? Is the good life a happy life, or does it require sacrificing happiness? Does religion lead to living well or does it hinder it? What is friendship and how does it contribute to the good life? Study of primary texts by Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, Avot, Maimonides, Spinoza, and Hermann Cohen.

Religious Studies (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2023)


RELST-UA 422-000 (20451)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Mon,Wed11:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Gottlieb, Michah

Engaging Early Christian Theology (RELST-UA 840)

What does it mean to say that Jesus Christ was both human and divine? How can the Christian divinity be one yet three? How are the sacraments such as baptism effective? Do we have freewill? These were some of the pressing questions the Church Fathers addressed in the early centuries of Christian history and their answers contributed to the Christian theological tradition for centuries to come. In this course we will examine some of the classic works of early Christian theology. Despite the often highly rhetorical and polemical character of their writings the Church Fathers nevertheless developed an intellectually rigorous field of knowledge, one that has had a significant intellectual historical as well as socio-political impact in the history of the Church. This is not a theological course but rather an introduction to some of the key texts in a historically significant mode of theological inquiry.

Religious Studies (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2023)


RELST-UA 840-000 (19704)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Mon,Wed9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Becker, Adam

Monsters and Their Humans (RELST-UA 649)

Humanity has long imagined monstrous transformations of ourselves. What do these creatures mean to us, historically and today? What do we think we are becoming? Investigates the supernatural in popular culture through vampires and zombies. Places them in the context of our imagination of the divine through history and ethnography, and also alongside our intimate problems of managing sex, gender, race, and class. The archives of religions, psychologies, philosophy, film, TA, and novels provide rich source material, Requires a short midterm essay and a longer final project, while posting to a forum most weeks.

Religious Studies (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2022)


RELST-UA 649-000 (20380)01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Tue,Thu11:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Zito, Angela · Rubino, Rena

Dancing in the Here and Now: Making Dances, Knowing Bodies (ARTS-UG 1221)

Both dancing and everyday movement offer continual opportunities for embodied experience. Those who regularly dance or engage in movement practices such as yoga, jogging, cycling, and walking typically develop an appetite, even a need, for moving and the breadth of experience it brings. Whether you already feel this appetite or want to explore embodied experience for the first time, this Arts Workshop offers the opportunity for deep investigation of movement, focusing on active and contemplative exploration of bodies in space and time. We will be guided by several research strands linked to the existence and power of embodiment, noting experimental choreographer Susan Rethorst’s term, “the body’s mind”: ways of knowing (individually, culturally) through our bodies. Through many movement options, including dancing and somatic practices, walking and other everyday actions, and personal/cultural/political movement histories, we will encounter or create relationships between what we do and who we are. In the studio and elsewhere, we will consider how our lives as movers, and our sense of ourselves as embodied, bring us into contact with others—walkers, dancers, friends and family—and with our spaces, places, and sociocultural worlds. In this course (open to anyone with/without previous training), our research-in-action will be supported by interdisciplinary scholarship engaged with dance, embodiment, space, everyday culture, phenomenology, environmental studies, and life writing. Readings may include works by Thomas DeFrantz, Anna Halprin, Victoria Hunter, Einav Katan, Marcel Mauss, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Andrea Olsen, Steve Paxton, Georges Perec, Yvonne Rainer, Susan Rethorst, Kathleen Stewart, and Yi-Fu Tuan.

Arts Workshops (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2025)


ARTS-UG 1221-000 (9703)09/02/2025 – 12/11/2025 Wed11:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Satin, Leslie

Composing Music with Max (OART-UT 1097)

The foundations of Max, a powerful visual programming language for music and multimedia, will be covered in this course. We will examine how computers can be utilized to create situations for music creation, performance, and collaborative improvisation as well as applied to building interactive, generative music. In addition to learning Max’s fundamental building blocks, we will also use fundamental music theory as a tool to better understand music making. We will create programs that examine rhythm, melodies, chords, scales, and recognize other qualities of music like timbre, texture, and dynamics while taking into consideration the principles of harmony, melody, and rhythm defined in basic music theory. The final will require you to develop a collaborative piece of interactive computer music, a collaborative performance environment, or another final project that has been discussed and agreed upon together. This class does not require any prerequisite programming skills or prior music theory knowledge.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2025)


OART-UT 1097-000 (18705)09/02/2025 – 12/11/2025 Wed5:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Aguilar, Gustavo

Applied Audio for Video (MPATE-UE 1225)

Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue

A continuation of MPATE-UE 1010. This is an advanced & detailed study of the audio-visual production & post-production process including digital recording techniques, with special emphasis on synchronization & the interfacing of SMPTE time code. Sound design, advanced Foley topics, * creative workflow in audio post production will also be discussed.

Music Technology (Undergraduate)
3 credits – 15 Weeks

Introduction to Psychology and Its Principles (APSY-UE 2)

Introduction to the fundamental principles of psychology, emphasizing both the unity & the diversity of a field that spans major theoretical & research areas, including biological bases of human behavior, learning, development, motivation, & social and abnormal behavior. Links between theory & classic as well as contemporary research are a recurrent theme. Liberal Arts Core/MAP Equivalent – satisfies the requirement for Society & the Social Sciences

Applied Psychology (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2023)


APSY-UE 2-000 (11013)01/23/2023 – 05/08/2023 Tue,Thu9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Brito, Natalie


APSY-UE 2-000 (12169)01/23/2023 – 05/08/2023 Thu7:00 PM – 7:00 PM (Evening)at Washington SquareInstructed by Collado, Amarfi


APSY-UE 2-000 (12170)01/23/2023 – 05/08/2023 Thu8:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Evening)at Washington SquareInstructed by Collado, Amarfi


APSY-UE 2-000 (12171)at Washington SquareInstructed by


APSY-UE 2-000 (12172)at Washington SquareInstructed by


APSY-UE 2-000 (12337)01/23/2023 – 05/08/2023 Fri10:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Sanchez, Nathalia


APSY-UE 2-000 (12338)01/23/2023 – 05/08/2023 Fri11:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Sanchez, Nathalia


APSY-UE 2-000 (21776)at Washington SquareInstructed by

Disability Justice and Radical Inclusion (OT-UE 1403)

Explores the implications and meaning of having a disability in global contexts by introducing students to experts’ voices, especially disabled activists, as they seek to advance disability justice and inclusion and demand systemic change in spheres of influence including education, politics, healthcare, the arts, culture, social welfare, and everyday life. Examines how public (government) and private (outside of the government) policies and practices in these sectors affect the inclusion of persons with disabilities. Students explore and identify how international trends in disability and inclusion, local cultural beliefs, and biases influence inclusion.

Occupational Therapy (Undergraduate)
2 credits – 7 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2025)


OT-UE 1403-000 (12899)09/02/2025 – 10/21/2025 Wed11:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Onwumere, Dora

In With The Old, Out With The New: Debates on “Tradition” in Western Music (IDSEM-UG 1823)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Wed

Contests between stalwart custodians of “tradition” and rebels searching for new, untested modes of expression pervade Western music history. This course surveys some of the most contentious debates on music’s past, present, and future waged between music theorists, critics, artists, and audiences, spanning the last five hundred years. Our focus is on the seemingly inevitable tension between what music is, what it should be, and what it can be. Starting with the Greek philosophers of antiquity, we explore debates on the music of Claudio Monteverdi, Ludwig van Beethoven, Richard Wagner, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Carmen Miranda, John Cage, Bob Dylan, and The Slits. We also examine the backlash against and subsequent defense of styles like jazz, rock and roll, punk rock, rap, and 2000s pop. Our goal is to better understand how culture is “made” precisely during these moments of charged debate, where a particular music”s perceived merits or transgressions serve as the pretext for larger often controversial ideological issues. Art in this sense–and music in particular–becomes a platform by which to observe how competing aesthetic value systems reveal deep social and cultural rifts. Each unit within this course has two parts. First, we scrutinize and discuss primary sources related to the debate: letters, scores, newspaper and magazine articles, journal entries, singles, albums, and films. Secondly, we read and discuss secondary sources by scholars, critics, and investigative journalists for context, using this new information as a way to think critically about the primary sources and our own aesthetic judgments. What we will see is that debating music in terms of what’s “good” and “bad,” classical and avant-garde, edifying and dangerous, traditional and innovative, is, in the Western world, a long-standing tradition in its own right.

Interdisciplinary Seminars (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Abrupt Climate Change (OART-UT 1058)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue

Combining science and the art of storytelling, this course will tackle one of the most pressing issues facing the future of humanity: Abrupt Climate Change. In a unique collaboration with NYU physical climate scientist Professor David Holland, students will research and create work that bridges the divide between science and the public through accurate, creative science-based storytelling. This highly multidisciplinary, hands-on course welcomes students from all backgrounds and fields of study to imagine and invent creative ways of telling stories about this global phenomenon and to investigate solutions. Weekly assignments will lead to a final collaborative project and an exhibition open to the public.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

History of Editing (FMTV-UT 1003)

The theory and practice of editing, from Griffith to Kubrick. The emphasis will be on experiments in narrative clarity and dramatic emphasis in storytelling. For many, editing is the unique source of the art of filmmaking. This course addresses this point of view. This course allocates as History & Criticism for Film & TV majors.

Undergraduate

The Art of Sound (FMTV-UT 1007)

This is a critical studies course exploring the aesthetics and psycho-acoustics of sound: how sound works in art and life; how it affects emotions and stimulates the imagination; and how it is used in film, radio, television and other creative or artistic contexts, particularly its application as a key element in storytelling. This course examines the meaning and character of the soundscape (the acoustic environment) and the ways it has technically and aesthetically evolved throughout film history from the Kinetophone to the iPhone. The course includes reading in the theory of sound, and listening to examples of sound work by composers and sound designers. In previous semesters we have looked at the soundtrack in such films as: Playtime; Apocalypse Now, The Conversation, Aliens, The Evil Dead II, Saving Private Ryan, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Class meetings will be devoted to: 1) lecture and discussion based on assigned readings and listening and viewing assignments; and 2) screening of selected audio and video works. Students are graded on class participation, journals, a paper, and exams. This course allocates as History & Criticism for Film & TV majors.

Undergraduate

American Cinema: 1960 to Present (FMTV-UT 324)

Offered in the spring semester only. Course level: Intermediate. 4 points. No prerequisite. Over the last 50 years the American Cinema has produced a remarkably rich abundance of entertaining, exciting, and challenging films. This course is designed to provide a survey of the wealth of styles, forms, purposes, and approaches to filmmaking that developed and emerged in this era. While Hollywood has obviously served as the dominant mode of filmmaking in this country, a significant of other filmmaking practices have continued to operate and sometimes thrive outside of it. Beyond the attention paid to Hollywood narrative cinema as it has changed and evolved over this half-century, we will also consider documentaries, avant-garde and experimental works, independent narraive cinema, and “cult” films. Consequently, we will be screening a variety of films, including works by such notable American filmmakers as Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Quentin Tarantino, George Romero, John Singleton, and Michael Moore.

Undergraduate

The Black Image in Cinema (FMTV-UT 1216)

This is a critical analysis of the Black image in cinema through film screenings, discussions, and selected readings. Film is an art form whose influence dictates how we see others and ourselves. It shapes our worldview and, yet, it is one of the youngest and most misunderstood art forms. On the surface, film viewing might seem like a passive form of learning, but effective films engage us on emotional, intellectual, spiritual, cultural, and political levels. Film is one of the most powerful mediums ever invented and since it’s invention, the Black image and experience has been distorted, demonized, romanticized, erased, appropriated as well as exalted and reified. So, it is our duty and responsibility to know its history, understand its present effects, so we can dictate its future and participate in how the Black image evolves and is treated over time. This course will survey and critically explore an historical range of the Black image on screen and Black films in relation to inspiration, narrative, a scene, set, and site of production. Screening will include a sampling of important Black independently made, and/or Black cast and narrative feature films. We will discuss and analyze specific technical elements (direction, editing, framing and composition, mise-en-scene, music, etc.) that reinforce and demonstrate these larger themes. Accordingly, our discussions and readings will cover the full range of current issues and debates in Black cinema studies, from independence vs. mainstream filmmaking; gender and sexuality; class and color caste; the ghettoization and upwardly mobile integration of urban zones; cooptation and the rise of the bourgeois story as genre, and so on.

Undergraduate

Feminist Filmmakers (FMTV-UT 1156)

Feminist Filmmakers examines gender constructs in narrative film and episodic work. We will explore how gender constructs in film and television influence societal views of gender roles, as well as contextualize gender in the era and cultures specific films were made. The vehicle through which this course will examine gender will be the history and work of female directors around the world. Screenings, critical reading in film and gender studies, articles and interviews on current debates regarding gender and diversity inclusion in the film industry, make this class valuable for everyone.

Undergraduate