What does artistic production look like during a time of cultural unrest? How did America's poets help shape the political landscape of the American 60s and 70s, decades that saw the rise of the Black Panthers, 'Flower Power,' and Vietnam War protests? Through reading poetry, studying films and engaging with the music of the times we will think about art's ability to move the cultural needle and pose important questions about race, gender, class, and sexuality. We will study Allen Ginsberg, Amiri Baraka, Audre Lorde, Eileen Myles, and others. We will talk about The Beats, The San Francisco Renaissance and The New York School poets.

Natural Law theory has a rich and varied history extending back to the classical period. Although in recent decades it has often been associated with religious thinkers, especially Catholic ones, it also has non-Catholic, and even non-religious adherents. This theory offers a first-personal account of practical reason that acknowledges diverse basic values as fundamental aspects of living a fulfilled life. For some, contemporary natural law theory offers a compelling alternative to other ethical theories. For others, it offers a stimulating sparring partner that helps philosophers of different perspectives to refine their own argument.

Generative Art is art produced by repeated application of an autonomous process, based on a set of rules established by the artist. These rules may be quite simple, but their repeated application can lead to surprising, intricate, and captivating outcomes. Students will learn to create and critique works of generative art within their theoretical and historical context. We will focus on audio-visual work produced in the digital medium. Students of all backgrounds will learn algorithmic thinking and acquire basic programming skills, sufficient to be able to realize their own generative art ideas.

This is a hands-on seminar and laboratory experience about the engineering design of motorcycles. Students will restore or repair a vintage Triumph motorcycle and will compare it to previous restorations of the same make and model of motorcycle from other years (1955, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1962, 1963, and 1964). No previous shop or laboratory experience is necessary, and we welcome liberal arts students as well as engineering students. The class meets twice each week, starting with a discussion session followed by laboratory work.

This course explores the linguistic and extralinguistic aspects of intercultural communication, including pragmalinguistics, politeness, and cross-cultural communication. It aims to develop an understanding of the culture-language relationship and an interest in the multifaceted nature of language and the way its components are shaped by sociocultural practices. The course does not require any background in linguistics; it is meant to be an accessible introduction for undergraduates who are new to intercultural communication and are interested in international relations and global cultures. Classes are highly participatory.

This seminar interrogates the human body in literary works from several genres and over broad spans of time. Our readings challenge the durable construct of the fleshly creature by morphing the body from one state to another: human, nonhuman, and maybe a little bit of each. When we encounter the cyborg, the werewolf, or the ent, with what very human problems are we engaging? These metamorphosizing bodies invite us to engage both critically and creatively with acts of othering, with bodily experiences, with both vulnerability and power. Together, let's read about bodies that are always in the process of becoming.

An introduction to religious studies and history of philosophy using classic works produced by imprisoned authors. Readings span the world's major religious and philosophical traditions and include works by Plato, Boethius, Marguerite Porete, Gandhi, Levinas, Martin Luther King, Jr., JP Sartre, and detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Works will be exegeted according to their contexts of origination while also asking what they have to teach us in an era of rising nationalism and mass incarceration.

Glass is so ubiquitous in our daily lives that we barely notice it anymore. Yet, our modern lives would have been very different (or nearly impossible) without it. Although one may associate glass with only windows or containers, glass, as a class of material, has far-reaching applications in global communications, biomedical, and energy industries! In fact, glass has enabled so many technologies in the past 50 years, some may argue that we now live in the "Glass Age". This interdisciplinary seminar will take a deep dive into the science of glass, with discussions of history, art, and societal impact.

When, where, why and how did human language originate? There are no definite answers, but findings from many different areas of investigation (including paleontology, archeology, linguistics, animal communication, neurobiology, genetics, statistics), when considered in conjunction, shed light on these old and fascinating questions. Current research often gives rise to contrasting interpretations and hypotheses; the seminar will attempt to present a balanced picture and invite students to weigh all evidence.

The surviving funerary objects from the ancient Mediterranean all stand as individual and communal efforts to grapple with loss, to focus the process of mourning, and to connect with the deceased. The course explores major themes within the context of Greek and Roman funerary art, including the contexts of funerary rituals and monuments; representation and the deceased; myth and funerary art; imperial power and death; and memory, sensation, and mourning.

This course examines the nature, causes, and consequences of inequalities of income, wealth, happiness, and life expectancy within the US and across countries. US economic inequality has surged since 1980. Women earn less than men, Black Americans earn less than Whites, the bottom 50% earns less than the top 1%, and the global middle class earns less than the poor in rich countries. Why? And what can policy do to reduce economic inequality? How does inequality affect justice? Is poverty or inequality the more serious problem? Do moral obligations to reduce inequality extend beyond national borders?

Ever since the invention of the camera, photographers have been compelled to photograph ancient Greek and Roman art. More recently, artists working with photography and writing have drawn on ancient Greek and Roman cultures to create sublime work that addresses utterly contemporary issues. In this class we will explore the almost two-century long interaction between photography and ancient Greek and Roman art.

This course explores fantastical works that showcase the very real issues that shape education, including race, class, gender, privilege, and disability. How might television shows such as The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina or fiction by writers like R.F. Kuang and Ursula Le Guin inform the ways we imagine the educational policies and institutions we frequently take for granted? Throughout the semester, we'll consider the experience of characters like Hermione Granger, Kamala Khan, and the X-Men to see how they speak to our own fantastic lives as students and engaged community members at Princeton.

What would it mean to program a technology--like a self-driving car or a facial recognition program--to behave ethically? What responsibilities do engineers, programmers and entrepreneurs have for the (un)ethical uses of the tech they create? In this course, we will look at major theories of ethics and apply them to practical problems arising from new technologies. Such problems include: what it means to program a machine to be ethical; how tech changes (and does not just mirror) social networks; the meaning of "free speech" in new technological environments; technologies that exacerbate racial or gender discrimination; and much more.

This seminar will trace the outlines of the principal nodes of American thought, culture and ideas, through an intensive encounter with American politics, religion, philosophy and music. It will direct participants' attention to the fundamental contest between Enlightenment and Puritanism in American identity, and grapple with American collegiate philosophy, the abolitionist movement, 20th-century Black intellectuals, feminism, and the contest among neo-liberalism, progressivism, and conservatism through a wide variety of readings and lively discussion.

Sidestepping paper and the primacy of an individual artist's mark, students will repeatedly work together using colored tape to transform a shared studio by covering the walls, floor and ceiling with tape drawn designs. Projects include large scale abstraction, imagery, illustration, performance with costumes and the play of light and shadow. No previous art experience necessary.

Produced from the post-World War II period to the present, the Italian, French, German, and Polish films we will study in this seminar establish a theoretical framework for the analysis of Fascism, its political ideology, and its ethical dynamics. We shall consider such topics as the concept of fascist normality, the racial laws, the morality of social identities (women, homosexuals), and the aftermath of the Holocaust. An interdisciplinary approach will be combined with learning basic concepts of film style.

In this reading and writing intensive seminar, we will critically examine some of the fundamental ideas of modern political conservatism, as presented by some of its leading thinkers. We will attempt to better understand conservative thought and develop a framework for assessing its strengths and weaknesses, with respect to a number of representative topics, including the following: distributive justice and the apparent tension between liberty and equality; immigration policy; criminal justice policy; and social conservatism and the role of religion in society.

The Circus! While it's easy to get mesmerized by beautiful, daring and graceful performances, have you contemplated what goes into creating these acts? While routines such as aerial acrobatics, juggling, balancing acts, and magic may not at first glance seem mathematical, they in fact require a methodical composition of techniques which have a rich analytical and logical structure. We will spend the semester developing creative mathematical techniques to analyze a variety of circus arts from the perspectives of both pure and applied mathematics.

Amazonia is a planetary hotspot of biocultural diversity and a massive carbon sink on the brink. The seminar explores how Indigenous knowledges and the environment co-produce one another and considers the significance of forest-making practices for conservation science and climate change mobilization. Drawing from historical, ethnographic, and ecological studies, Planet Amazonia is a platform for alternative storytelling and future-making agendas based on new scholarly and activist alliances. Students will engage with Indigenous scholars and environmental activists and will craft alternative visions to safeguard this vital planetary nexus.

There are certain years that define our history more than others. 1964 was one of those years. These twelve months were a tipping point after which the nation took a deep dive into the tumult of this fractious decade. The year began with Lyndon Johnson in the Oval Office after he had taken over the office following the tragic assassination of John F. Kennedy. The year would end with Johnson's resounding reelection victory against the right-wing conservative Barry Goldwater, a landslide that opened the doors to what the president called a 'Great Society.' This seminar takes a deep dive into the year.

This course examines the ancient life and modern afterlife of a variety of classical myths in different literary traditions. We follow the development of particular mythical figures (e.g., Odysseus, Orpheus, Helen) from their ancient sources to their modern iterations and transformations. We will be thinking in particular about the cultural work that myths accomplish. Is the use of myth opposed to an interest in the modern or the contemporary? How do modern artists use myth to give voice to characters traditionally ignored or to challenge conventional narratives? Can myths still help us tell our own stories?

Algorithms shape our sense of self and how we perform ourselves in person and online. In this course, students will engage with the hybrid media and performance practices through which artists consider the body in public space, onstage, and digitally. The course will explore various sites of cutting-edge art practices from scenes of political theater to experimental staged performances. Texts will include live and recorded performances, as well as historical and theoretical secondary sources. The class will host a guest artist talk series centering the ever-shifting cultural climate of live performance making.

Our way of speaking is an essential part of our identity. Our particular language variety gives information to the listeners about where we were born, how old we are, our social class and even our race or ethnicity. However, since not all dialects are equally accepted, some speakers might feel judged because of their way of talking. In this seminar, we will analyze the reasons behind the belief that some language varieties are better than the rest, and debunk that myth. We will look at several examples of dialects around the globe and especially here in the US and we will study linguistic situations like multilingualism in our society.

How did Mesoamerican cultures of the Americas survive colonialism? How did they adopt European culture and writing systems? What were the linguistic and cultural barriers for both Indigenous peoples and Europeans in understanding each other? In this seminar, students dive into one of the most captivating ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica, the Aztecs, to reflect on their rich history and legacy from pre-Columbian to colonial times. Based on the analysis of chronicles, códices, illustrations, and contemporary texts students will be able to understand the Nahua culture of the Aztecs in the context of Spanish transatlantic expansion.

We use chemicals every day. We bathe in chemicals. We apply chemicals to our lawn. Chemicals are sprayed to control insects. While chemicals are an important part of modern life, these chemicals wind up in the environment and in our bodies. This seminar will examine how our use of chemicals drives our exposures and ultimately, where these chemicals wind up in the environment and what their impacts are. You will also be asked to evaluate how your perspective and experience influence your views on chemicals and the environment. Pollution impacts on communities and the topic of environmental justice will be explored.

In times of crisis, we hear again and again that we should practice self-care. But what is this practice? When is self-care a radically ethical and political act, and when is it a distraction from ethical, political, and social problems? Can certain forms of self-care pressure people to conform to problematic norms? This seminar asks how to distinguish self-care from selfishness and self-domination. We will examine historical practices focused on the individual and her relation to herself, such as exercise, work, truth-telling, activism, and love, exploring material from the past to think critically about the present.

Is 1980s America best remembered as the era of Ronald Reagan's social conservatism or Public Enemy's "Fight the Power?" By the rise of corporate greed, yuppie excess, and home entertainment, or by protest groups like ACT UP and grassroots efforts to save the ozone layer? In this Freshman Seminar, we'll explore the complexity of the 1980s by focusing on a range of works responding to the period's biggest moments. These will include novels like Toni Morrison's Beloved and Don DeLillo's White Noise; popular films like Blade Runner and Do the Right Thing; MTV music videos and arcade video games; and plays like Tony Kushner's Angels in America.

How do we interpret novels that draw on many "real" events from the author's life? What puzzles arise as these fictions collapse the traditional tripartite author-narrator-character distinctions? Where are the boundaries between autobiography, memoir, autofiction, and fiction? Are these generic distinctions even helpful tools? This seminar will investigate such questions through Irish fictions centered on self-discovery and identity formation. Course texts are notable not only for their novel explorations of these themes, but also for their formal innovations.

Increasing global connectivity has brought forth multiple challenges such as such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the rise in cryptocurrency assets driven by mistrust in institutions, and informational opacity despite continuous digital connectivity. To address these challenges, we need to understand the history of the technologies that have precipitated their trajectories. In this seminar, we will explore the history of modern communications technology from a non-technical perspective. Starting with the evolution of Bell Labs and the invention of the transistor in 1949, every decade since has seen a path-breaking invention.

Many Latin American performance artists have reimagined the use of theater to challenge social and political structures. Boal's 'Theater of the Oppressed', Teatro Yuyachkani, TiT, Teatro Trono, and more, challenge, subvert, and manipulate classic Eurocentric theater perspectives to spur awareness and action in their audiences. Through readings, discussion, viewing, writing, improv and play we will explore these artists' work, theatrical origins, and socio/geopolitical contexts. We will apply inspired tactics to our own work. Spanish not required. Acting experience not required. Willingness to play and take risks is integral to class.

Data is everywhere. Using methods of creative research, students will investigate and explore the world around them, searching for data. They will collect their observations in evolving archives, iterating on modes of communication, including digital illustration, documentary media, data analysis, and information design. The output of the course will consist of small weekly projects, responding to the work of data-driven artists, designers, writers, and engineers. The semester will culminate in the production of a larger creative data visualization project that illuminates a story or pattern via data uncovered during their research.

Lasers are not focused, and quantum leaps are tiny. This freshman seminar first explores the science behind quantum technologies. What makes a physical object "quantum", and what does it mean for the way it behaves? The future of quantum technologies, especially quantum computation and quantum cryptography are discussed. Besides the technical aspects, this freshman seminar also explores the use of "quantum" in popular culture, media, film, and literature. This seminar is open to all first-year students, and does not require any specialized prerequisites beyond general high school science and mathematics.

The end-blown shakuhachi is said to be a very difficult instrument, especially for total beginners. It doesn't have to be so, especially if we combine the 'old ways' of learning it, with some of the most advanced and effective pedagogical methods known today. Led by shakuhachi master Riley Lee, students will explore basic theories of knowledge, and what it means to 'know' a piece in the culture-specific shakuhachi tradition. By learning to perform a short traditional piece, on instruments provided, we will learn both how to learn and how to 'practice' (anything) effectively. A side benefit might be an improvement of one's working memory.

New York's Central Park, 843 acres in the center of Manhattan Island, remains, now more than a century and a half after its construction, the most iconic urban park in the United States. Visited by 42 million people each year, Central Park has been called the most filmed location in the world. This seminar will take a deep dive into its history and cultural meanings, and will approach the park through a myriad of disciplinary lenses. The course will take up the complexity and contradictions inherent in the creation and preservation of 'nature' in the city that would become the cultural and economic capital of the United States.

How did the targeting of civilian populations become a "normal" part of war? This seminar considers the cultural, scientific, and military developments that led to the massive bombing and starving of cities in World War II, culminating in the atomic attacks on Japan. These include Japanese and German bombing of cities (1930s), the German Blitz of London, and Allied firebombing of German and Japanese cities. We will debate whether bombing-including the A-bombs- was effective in winning wars? What role did racism play in targeting Japanese and other non-Western peoples? Can the bombing of cities--then or now--be justified if the cause is just?

Jerusalem is considered a holy city to three faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In this course, students will learn the history of Jerusalem from its founding in pre-biblical times until the present. Over the course of the semester, we will ask: What makes space sacred and how does a city become holy? What has been at stake--religiously, theologically, politically, nationally--in the many battles over Jerusalem? What is the relationship between Jerusalem as it was and Jerusalem as it was and is imagined?

This seminar aims to explore the complex history of the fairy tale genre and to address the many critical questions it raises. Class materials will include the canonical texts by the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault but also many other, lesser-known versions, ranging from Ancient Rome to the Italian Renaissance and the French 18th century, as well as scholarly interpretations and artistic illustrations of these stories. The second half of the course will focus on the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen and Oscar Wilde as well as contemporary Anglo-American retellings and adaptations.

Is social life even possible without some form of religion? But which form should that be? What is the purpose of a profession of faith? To understand why these questions still matter today, we need to go back to the source of the process called "secularization." In eighteenth-century Europe, Enlightenment philosophers relentlessly questioned the moral, social and historical aspects of one of the most common human phenomena. This course will explore the multiple notions they devised to apprehend it--faith, ritual, deism, atheism, fanaticism, superstition, and how these concepts may inform today's public debate.

They say, "you are what you eat," but what does the food that we consume say about us and our ways of being? La cocina, the kitchen, as the heart of the home often appears in literature, film, commercial enterprises, and television. This course will examine food practices and behaviors through the anthropological, historical, sociological, and psychological interpretations of food and eating. An understanding of how food and meals have evolved to create culture and identity will augment students' understanding of their relationship with food and culture, history, geography, and themselves.

In a universe filled with movement, how and why and where might we find relative stillness? What are the aesthetic, political, and daily life possibilities within stillness? In this studio course, we'll dance, sit, question, and create substantial final projects. We'll play with movement within stillness, stillness within movement, stillness in performance and in performers' minds. We'll look at stillness as protest and power. We'll wonder when stillness might be an abdication of responsibility. We'll read within religious, philosophy, performance, and disability studies, and will explore social justice, visual art, and sound (and silence).