This course examines the literature produced by and about Britain's colonial spaces during the process of decolonization, from the late nineteenth-century to the present. It explores texts from Ireland, India, the Sudan, and Trinidad, as well as other former colonies and territories. Authors studied include Joseph Conrad, James Joyce, Tayeb Salih, Sam Selvon, Buchi Emecheta, Salman Rushdie, and Zadie Smith; theorists considered include Gayatri Spivak, Aijiz Ahmad, Homi Bhabha, John Boli, Benjamin Barber, and Lourdes Beneria.

This course considers the connections between literature and history in (and beyond) the American era known as the Gilded Age, 1873-1889. Reading three popular novels of the time, William Dean Howell's The Rise of Silas Lapham, Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, students gain an understanding of the American Realist tradition and will discuss how these literary texts both represent and reinvent what was 'real' about the Gilded Age.

This course addresses the question what it means to be British through historical and literary texts. Beginning with the premise that Britishness is not innate, static or in any way permanent, but 'invented' and constantly constructed and deconstructed, this course traces the development of British national identity from its origins in the eighteenth century to the present.

This course challenges students to recognize the ubiquity of probability and risk in their daily lives. The theme of stochasicity is explored through the perspectives of economists, psychologists, investors, entrepreneurs, political scientists, biologists, and of course mathematicians. Students are asked to explore critically the institutions, both formal and informal, which have developed to deal with risk and uncertainty in society. The concept of evidence in law and science is examined.

This course explores the intersection of economics and happiness. It critiques several of the key assumptions in mainstream economic theory, in particular those involving how the production and acquisition of greater material goods affect well-being. The course taps the research in the burgeoning field of the economics of happiness, much of which counters traditional economic ideas. The course also draws on recent related findings in positive psychology and to a lesser degree in neuroscience, specifically the findings in neuroscience that relate to mindfulness and meditation.

What is international Law? Who determines its content? Why do sovereign states willingly bind themselves under its rules? Is it a tool of the powerful, or a safeguard against exploitation? In short, does international law matter? This course draws on primary source materials (cases and treaties) and scholarly articles to examine the processes of international law as seen from the perspective of politically motivated actors.

The U.S. has 2.3 million people in prison with glaring racial and class disparities. Why is this? Is there something distinctive about American culture and/or politics that produces these outcomes? Are we simply a more crime-prone people or a more punitive people who impose exceptionally harsh sanctions? This class will explore changing ideas of crime and punishment in the U.S. through philosophical, historical, religious and social scientific perspectives.

This course examines the relationship between the evolving nature of work in the US over the last 50 years and concurrent developments in educational policies. The relationship between work and public education is complex. It is one thing to argue for an education agenda that emphasizes 'higher cognitive outcomes' for everyone based on current and future trends in the nature of work in the US. Yet it may be too much to expect that even a highly successful education system alone can shape and sustain an economy.

While Americans have assorted perspectives on capitalism, many students arrive on campus with critical assessments of this socio-economic system. In this course, students will develop a significant scholarly foundation in the history of capitalism, its expansion to global dominance, and in theorists' assessment of its impact. We'll commence this gargantuan task with an anthropological lens attentive to how others in this world have experienced capitalism.

This course examines the effects of water use, dams, and habitat on salmon in the Columbia basin through multi-disciplinary perspectives including art, history, policy, and ecology. Water and Wild Nature in the Columbia Basin begins in the summer. A series of readings will prepare students for a two week summer study away component and optional one week rafting trip on the Middle Fork Salmon river. Pacific Northwest history, identity, Lower and Upper Columbia tribes' cultural practices, climate change, and ecology will inform this course's content.