The goal of this course is to provide an in-depth, accurate understanding of mindfulness, from both an academic and experiential perspective. The history of mindfulness is examined, including its roots in Buddhism, along with the more recent integration of mindfulness practice in Western psychology. The course explores what mindfulness is, common misconceptions about mindfulness and mindfulness meditation, how mindfulness works, and also the qualities and virtues cultivated in mindfulness practice.

This course in intellectual history draws upon history, religion, anthropology, and sociology in order to understand how the cagtegories of `religion' and `magic' have been shaped by the Western, and largely Christian-influenced, tradition. `Magic' and `religion' arose out of the history of the West's engagement with internal groups decried as `deviant,' such as medieval `heretics,' or Catholics in the Protestant imagination, and then, during colonialism, in response to other societies and cultures.

This course examines the rise of nationalism in continental Europe from 1789 to 1918, a period beginning with the French Revolution and ending with World War One. Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship, the course explores a period when modern nationalism emerged as a coherent way of seeing the world and then emerged as the principle ideology for organizing states and societies in Europe. Primary focus is on highly interrelated nation-building projects in five parts of Europe: France, Germany, Hapsburg Austria, Poland, and Russia.

How do societies shape their collective identities based on their pasts? Who gets to decide how the past is remembered and what are the roles of governments, museums, memorials and monuments in narrating it? How do societies choose to debate and reinterpret formative historical events? This course explores these questions by focusing on collective memory in contemporary Europe. The main themes of this course are memories of the Holocaust, European empires and communism that continue to shape identity, culture and politics in countries across Europe.

What is the future of Europe? Current European politics are confronted by complex interplay between integration, migration, and nationalism, all of which provide differing concepts of "Europe" as a political entity. This course will begin by focusing on the development of modern European states and identities, and will then turn to a discussion of the motivations behind integration and the quest to develop European institutions and a single European political identity.

This class takes a penetrating look at the burgeoning scholarly interest in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and its possible relevance to ancient combat in Greece and Rome. Extensive readings include selections from Homer's Iliad, Odyssey, the tragedies Aias and Herakles Mainomenos, and Roman battle accounts. Students then look at how various of these works have been interpreted as proof of PTSD in the ancient world, most notably by psychologist Jonathan Shay, but also by an increasing number of classical scholars.

Germans are still asking themselves the question: "What does it mean to be German?" Throughout its recent history, Germany has repeatedly turned to Berlin, its re-designated (and re-designed) capital, in an attempt to find its own identity. In this way, Berlin could be seen as a mirror of German affairs.

What has been the role of religion in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBQTQ) lives and communities? This course begins by considering the dominant picture of religious versus queer opposition, and it investigates the sources and normative perspectives that contribute to this picture. The course proceeds to focus on what this dominant story obscures: the complexity and variety of LGBTQ+ religious and spiritual engagement during the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries.

Ways of identifying vary and are informed by both lived experience and aspects of biology. Our language around identity, gender identity in particular, has grown and evolved over time. Yet there remains a critical gap in understanding the contribution of biology and the biological sexes to this deeply personal psychosocial construct. There is, however, a growing body of literature that demonstrates that the sex of the brain itself (i.e. sex-typical patterns of neural organization), genetic sex (i.e. chromosomal sex), and phenotypic sex (i.e.

This course is an introduction to the "book" as a material object. We will learn to look at the physical object closely and with new eyes, examining its paper, binding, printing, typography, images, format, and much more. Our purpose is to use the material artifact to learn about the labor of the many people who created books, whether with quill-parchment-and-ink or a wooden press and types.