This course introduces contemporary topics in Science and Technology Studies, emphasizing the relations among science, technology and society from philosophical, historical, and sociological points of view. This course is required for STS majors and satisfies an HuSS General Education Elective for all other majors.
The history of comedy in 20th century America is the history of America itself. Comedians from all walks of life have provided a funhouse mirror as well as a perceptive lens for American society and culture. This course will examine significant periods and players of the 20th century comedic genre and analyze them against their historic context and legacy. Humor will be used as a platform to discuss how comedy was governed by and ultimately responded to the influence of American society. This course will observe how comedians in turn shaped American life, running the gamut from silent movies to Vaudeville; screwball comedies of the 1930s and ‘40s to the Golden Age of Television; from the sitcom to the political comedies of present day. Equally important, this course will analyze the genesis and evolution of the comedic persona in performance: what worked, what did not work, and why. Comprehensive analysis of performances will help this course determine how performers did what they did and why they made the choices they made. This course will assess how the work of the comedian has evolved and grown over the course of a career, what methods have withstood the test of time, and why.
Aristotle to Beyoncé and Beyond introduces students to an eclectic group of storytellers and storytelling. Students study the mechanics of telling a story, gaining a deeper appreciation and understanding of how storytellers and storytelling impact the world.
This course surveys narrative forms and representative works from literature that employ them, contributing to a familiarity with the literary tradition inherited by film, television, and radio. It examines the various strategies of narrative structure and its principal components (e.g., plot, theme, character, imagery, symbolism, point of view) with an attempt to connect these with contemporary forms of media expression. The course includes extensive readings, which are examined in discussions, and selected from English, American, and world literature. This course may be allocated to either History & Criticism or Gen Ed Humanities for Film & TV majors.
What forms does gender inequality take, and how can it best be explained? How and why are the relations between women and men changing? What are the most important social, political, and economic consequences of this ?gender revolution?? The course provides answers to these questions by examining a range of theories about gender in light of empirical findings about women?s and men?s behavior.
This course will cover various professional Music Production Techniques & Strategies such as: Sampling (& Sample Chopping), Drum Programming / Drum Design, Synthesis & Sound Design, Music Theory (in the context of Music Production), MIDI Editing, as well as numerous Mixing Techniques. Over the course of the class, through the utilization and knowledge of these various skills, students will learn how to create Original Music Compositions & Productions. The primary DAW platform for the course is Ableton. While a Beatmaker / Composer / Producer must be well versed in the application of various software and hardware tools, as well as the many Production skills & techniques, they must also have artistic vision and creative efficacy. So while the course is about Music / Beat Construction and the tools involved, there will also be a strong emphasis on innovative envision, inventive mobility, and how to think / strategize like a Music Producer.
From the perspective of psychological science, developments in machine-learning and AI raise many interesting questions. AI technologies are already proving useful in their ability to monitor and assess human behaviors, emotions, and decision patterns. This is becoming possible through the sheer volume of information available online in connection with individuals, groups, and through the sophistication of predictive algorithms that can see patterns that the human mind cannot. As AI systems, machines, and robots are increasingly built to mimic human beings, will we begin to communicate with, react to, or feel the same towards them as we do to other human beings? If an AI system can assist in an online purchase or a psychological intervention (e.g., a chatbot), can they also become our friends? Could we fall in love with an artificial agent or a robot? In this course, we use the lens of psychological science to investigate these and other aspects of human-machine communication and their effects on human-human relationships. Prerequisite: Introduction to psychology (PSYC-SHU 101) OR Introduction to Neural Science (NEUR-SHU 201) OR Introduction to Computer Science (CSCI-SHU 101) Fulfillment: Core STS; IMA/IMB elective; Neural Science elective; Social Science Focus Psychology 300 level.
Starting from the premise that disability is a social phenomenon, rather than an individual and medical one, this course asks: How do media and technology shape disability? And how might disability activism and disability studies inform better design? We will consider the significance of technology to the definition and experience of disability in a cross-cultural perspective. Topics include: universal and critical design; the contested category of “assistive technology”; visual rhetorics of disability in photography and film; staring and other practices of looking; disability aesthetics; biomedicine/biotech and the establishment of norms. Drawing on disability arts and activism, we will also practice techniques for media accessibility such as captioning, alt text, plain language, and video description. Note: Pending feasible travel conditions we will hold lessons on disability aesthetics and museum access at Louvre Abu Dhabi among other art spaces. We will also partner with Mawaheb Art Studio for People of Determination to help them make their exhibition for the Quoz Arts Festival accessible. Following the disability activist principle “nothing about us without us,” we will host guest lecturers with a wide range of disability expertise.
Why must Luke Skywalker turn off his in computer at the climactic moment of George Lucas’s iconic film Star Wars (1977)? The film started a revolution in cinematic special-effects, but underlying its narrative logic is a deeply rooted anxiety about the right uses of technology. If man, as Hannah Arendt famously put it, is homo faber, the “creator,” the tool-making animal, then from at least Plato to the present, human beings have told stories about how dangerous tools can be. This course investigates philosophical writing, novels, plays, and films from a variety of world cultures to explore the vexed relationship between humans and the technologies they create. Why are human beings, perhaps more than ever at the start of the 21st century, so enamored with technological progress? Why is technophilia, the love of technology, so often accompanied by its opposite, technophobia, the fear of technology? What do the attitudes represented in the texts and films we examine tell us about human agency and about the relationship between science and religion?
Students will learn how technology impacts the development and changed the experiences of children and young adults. Students will respond critically and explore the relationship between children, young adults, and the environment they navigate and explore the relationship between social media and development in relation to advancing technology. Additionally, students will explore ethical theory in relation to society and innovation. Through readings, discussions and presentations, students will develop analyzed solutions for problems experienced via interactions with technology and social media. In this online learning collaborative course, students will create evidence – based solutions to solving society’s predicament with the evolution of social media.
The physical aspects of sound, analog recording technology & studio production techniques are explained & demonstrated. Lecture topics include microphones, stereo recording, analog consoles, multi-track tape recording, equalization, compression, reverberation & mixing. Studio lab assignments are performed outside of class reinforcing weekly lecture topics
How has our relationship with building materials shaped human civilization, and in return, how does our use of materials actively reshape the planet we live on? Materials have played a major role throughout human history, from providing basic clothing and shelter in prehistoric times, to fueling the industrial revolution, and enabling today’s global consumer culture. In the process, material use and discovery have given rise to many branches of science and commerce, resulting in even greater demand for more material. The consequences on society and the environment haven’t always been positive. This course explores our relationship with material as engineers, scientists, consumers, and traders. Basic laboratory sessions on material characterization will explore material processing techniques ranging from simple resin casting to advanced 3D printing.
This course explores the principles of Interactive Media put to use in the real world. Interactive Media is technology in the service of inventors, artists, designers, developers, educators, and other creatives, who use it to create experiences and devices that are insightful, critical, and thought provoking. Participants will learn the principles of Interactive media (programming, electronics, and design) and how to build projects using the Arduino prototyping platform. We will visit galleries, museums, studios, workshops, classrooms, and labs. We will hear from artists, designers, inventors, teachers, and other practitioners. Israel/Palestine’s art, design, and technology scene and community of artists, educators, museums, designers, inventors, and entrepreneurs is an opportunity to explore the contemporary world of Interactive Media. Visits will include many diverse locations, and students who speak the local languages – Hebrew and Arabic – are especially encouraged to join; however, English will be used everywhere we go. Students will work both individually and in groups. Technical and critical readings and discussion will culminate in a production project that will respond to what we’ve learned. This course will be held in Tel Aviv for the J-Term 2023 session.
Provides data science students with an opportunity to apply the knowledge gained in their course work to practical problems in industry. This course is for majors and minors only.
Few cities boast as rich a cultural life as New York City, with its plethora of neighborhoods, museums, galleries, theatres, concert halls, and alternative spaces. Through walking tours, attendance at cultural events, and visits to local cultural institutions, students explore the definition of urban culture. Sites include the familiar and the unfamiliar, the Village and the outer boroughs. Students examine the attributes that constitute culture and community from an interdisciplinary perspective.
Designed to interest and challenge both the student new to the study of gender and sexuality and the student who has taken departmental courses focusing on women, gender, and/or sexuality. Through a focus on particular issues and topics, explores the construction of sex, gender, and sexuality; gender asymmetry in society; sexual normativity and violations of norms; and the interactions of sex, gender, sexuality, race, class, and nation. This interdisciplinary course engages materials and methodologies from a range of media and disciplines, such as literature, the visual arts, history, sociology, psychology, and anthropology. Examines both feminist and nonfeminist arguments from a variety of critical perspectives.
Methodology and procedures of personality and social psychological research and exercises in data analysis and research design. Statistical concepts such as reliability and validity, methods of constructing personality measures, merits and limitations of correlational and experimental research designs, and empirical evaluation of theories. Student teams conduct research projects.
The kinds, dynamics, causes, and treatment of psychopathology. Topics include early concepts of abnormal behavior; affective disorders, anxiety disorders, psychosis, and personality disorders; the nature and effectiveness of traditional and modern methods of psychotherapy; and viewpoints of major psychologists past and present.
Systematic study of the international politics of the Middle East, emphasizing the period since World War II. Emphasis on the relationship among patterns of inter-Arab, Arab-Israeli, and great-power politics, and on the relationship between domestic and external politics. Attempts to relate the Arab-Israeli conflict to interregional politics, the place and role of Turkey and Iran, and the problems in the Persian Gulf.
Prerequisite: V53.0700. Offered every year. 4 points. Starting with the traditional arena of national security and U.S. military policy, students analyze how national security decisions are made in this country, as well as the past and current military strategies used to carry out those decisions. From there, students examine the particular national security concerns and policies of Russia, China, Germany, and Japan. This course also looks at new thinking on national security, asking to what extent international trade and competition, immigration, illegal drugs, and the environment should be considered national security issues.
Analyzes the theory and practice of diplomacy, with special emphasis on bargaining strategies that nations use to try to settle their differences and avoid wars, including the use of mediators, arbitrators, and institutions like the United Nations. Applies game theory to analyze the use of exaggeration, threats, and deception in bilateral and multilateral diplomacy. Supplements case studies of international negotiation, especially in crises, with studies of domestic bargaining used in the formulation of foreign policy.
Characteristics and conditions of war and peace and the transition from one to the other from the perspective of political and social science. Examines the role and use of coercion in global affairs, with emphasis on attempts to substitute negotiation, bargaining, market forces, politics, and law for the resort to massive violence in moderating disputes.
Democracy and dictatorships have traditionally been analyzed in terms of their apparently different institutional characteristics and legal foundations. Examines these traditional interpretations but leans heavily toward ideological and contextual factors. Challenges traditional distinctions between democracy and dictatorship.
Analysis of the sources of U.S. foreign policy and the major international problems facing the United States today. Considers the role of national interest, ideology, and institutions in the making and executing of U.S. foreign policy.
Provides students with the ability systematically to evaluate ethically controversial public policy issues using concepts from normative political theory. In the first half of the course, we consider the means by which policy is implemented: Under what conditions, if any, might we permit political actors to do bad in order to do good? In the second half, we consider the ends of public policy: What is it we want the state to accomplish, and at what cost? Substantive policy topics vary from semester to semester.
Examines various aspects of Plato’s philosophy: ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, psychology, and political philosophy. Aims to understand Plato’s ideas and to engage with them philosophically through careful readings of selected dialogues.
Examination of philosophical issues about the natural sciences. Central questions include the following: What is the nature of scientific explanation? How does science differ from pseudoscience? What is a scientific law? How do experiments work?
Discusses general questions concerning the nature of reality and truth. What kind of things exist? Are there minds or material bodies? Is change illusory? Are human actions free or causally determined? What is a person, and what, if anything, makes someone one and the same person?
Examines the nature and grounds of judgments about moral and/or nonmoral values. Are such judgments true or false? Can they be more or less justified? Are the values of which they speak objective or subjective?
Examines fundamental issues concerning the justification of political institutions. Topics may include democratic theory, political obligation and liberty, criteria of a just society, human rights, and civil disobedience.
This course is designed to take advantage of New York’s dynamic music community. There are in-class presentations by local musicians and scholars, and students regularly attend performances throughout the city. The focus is on the everyday practices of musical life in New York City by both performers and listeners in a number of the City’s musical constituencies: immigrant communities; amateur and professional music-makers; and popular, classical, and avant-garde scenes. Examination of these processes of music-making will be enhanced by a look at the histories of these different kinds of music-making. There will also be a historical discussion of the vibrant musical life of New York in the 19th and early 20th centuries, which will contribute to an understanding of why New York is seen, and sees itself, as a musical city.
Surveys main political, social, economic, and intellectual currents of the 20th century. Emphasis on historical background and development of current problems in the region. Topics include imperialism, nationalism, religion, Orientalism, women, class formation, oil, the Arab-Israeli crisis, and the Iranian revolution.
Survey of English literature from its origins in the Anglo-Saxon epic through Milton. Close reading of representative works, with attention to the historical, intellectual, and social contexts of the period.
This course reviews typical children’s behavior problems in school settings and offers a primer in evidence-based behavior management tools. The class addresses common causes of disruptive behavior, such as Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and related conditions. Students will be instructed in effective behavior management strategies appropriate for settings, such as schools, camps, and sports programs. Techniques will include selective attention, behavioral daily report cards, token economies, and limit setting. The theoretical and research bases for these strategies will be explored. Students will practice skills with live coaching from the instructor. One required field trip to the NYU Child Study Center will allow students to view how these tools are used in real life clinical settings. This course is of particular interest to those considering careers in child psychology or psychiatry, pediatrics, or general or special education, especially those seeking experience as student aides, camp counselors, or Special Education Itinerant Teachers (SEITs).
For better or worse humanity is heading down the virtual rabbit hole. We’re trading an increasingly hostile natural environment for a socially networked and commercially driven artificial one. Whether it’s the bedrooms of YouTube streaming stars, the augmented Pokestops of Pokemon Go, the breakout rooms of a Zoom meeting, or even the “airspace” of Airbnb; we are witnessing a dramatic transformation of what occupying space means. The socially distanced measures as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic have only accelerated this societal embrace of the virtual. So where are these dramatic spatial paradigm shifts occurring? Who owns and occupies these spaces? Who are the architects and what historical and ethical foundations are they working from? What world do they want to build for humanity and where does the creative individual fit into it? Will it be a walled garden, a role-playing adventure or a tool for creating more worlds? The course will ask students to embrace the role of virtual architect, not in the traditional brick-and-mortar sense of constructing shelter, but in terms of the engagement with the raw concept of space. However this virtual space must be considered and evaluated as a “site,” that is activated and occupied by real people and all the limitations of physical space that they bring with them from the real world. This is the foundation of synthetic architecture; simulated space met with biological perception. This conceptual architecture is free from the confines of physics but host to a whole new set of questions: How do we embrace the human factors of a dimensionless environment? How do we make or encourage meaningful interactions within the limits of current technology? New models of interaction must inform and shape the architecture of virtual space – what does that look like? How can architecture and aesthetics inform the creation of virtual environments and immersive narratives? How do we acutely consider the psychological and social impacts of the worlds we design and what is the metaphorical ground plane to make sense of this virtual world, unbound by physics? About Jonathan Turner: http://www.jonathanwilliamturner.com/about/
An introduction to philosophy through the study of issues in cognitive science. Topics may include the conflict between computational and biological approaches to the mind; whether a machine could think; the reduction of the mind to the brain; connectionism and neural nets. Gives training in philosophical argument and writing.
This course will build on a core concept of Lewis Mumford who understood media ecology as a component of spatial and urban ecology. Emphasis will be given on how space socially organizes human meaning and on the ’inscription’ of space. How do people, through, their practices and their being in the world, form relationships with the locales they occupy (both the natural world and the build environment)? How do they attach meanings to spaces to create places? and how do the experiences of inhabiting viewing and hearing those places shape their meanings, communicative practices, cultural performance memories and habits? Course themes include; mapping and the imagination; vision and space, soundscape, architecture and landscape; new media and space/time compression; space and identity; spatial violence; spatialization of memory. Liberal Arts Core/CORE Equivalent – satisfies the requirement for Cultures & Contexts
A site for IMA NY Students to find equivalent courses outside of IMA NY
For most students joining IMA in Fall 2022 and beyond, our new program structure affects the categorization of courses on this site.
Classes listed in the "IMA Major Electives" categories refer to the old IMA program structure. If you're under the new IMA program structure, these courses count as general IMA Electives.
You can still search the Interchange for most of your courses. You can find "IMA Major Distribution" courses listed here: