This course will study language and history through the lens of a regional collection of fairy tales, and will allow students to develop a working knowledge of the richly collaborative process through which musical theater is created. We'll learn how artists interpret, adapt, and create work, as well as give feedback to the creative development process. By working closely with professionals, students will also gain valuable experience in the craft of musical theater writing - learning some of the basic principles of form as well as how to shape songs and musicalized scenes for maximum storytelling clarity and effectiveness.

Nestled in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan offers an unparalleled perspective on the processes that birthed and continue to shape the modern world. Azerbaijan at the beginning of the twentieth century was a global pacesetter, the center of world oil production and then the first secular democratic republic in the Muslim world. After seven decades of Soviet Communism, Azerbaijan is again an independent state and global energy hub. We will study timeless debates on Islam and identity, empire and independence, autocracy and democracy, and energy and development.

This course treats the language politics of Cyprus--a divided island since 1974, split by a UN buffer zone--as a way into broader discussions of borders, conflict, translation, and intercultural communication. We will read literary, historical, anthropological, sociological, and other materials dealing with the island's linguistic and social makeup, its present and its past. In addition, we will meet with individuals living and working on the island, including writers, artists, anthropologists, politicians, activists and translators engaged in multicommunal efforts to forge connections across Cyprus' many divides.

Before 1918, Austria-Hungary was a world power that spread from the Mediterranean to Ukraine, and Vienna was one of the world capitals of art, culture, and intellectual life. This seminar will explore the cultural history of psychoanalysis and its relation to Austrian history. It will feature weekly speakers who will lecture on topics as diverse as the history of communism in Vienna, the place of psychoanalysis in today's world, and the transformation of Austria from a world power into a small landlocked nation that often has thought of itself as a new Switzerland - a neutral country and a buffer between East and West.

This course explores contemporary Kenya in the context of its historical positioning and modern value to Western econo-political interests, and how this translates in daily livelihoods of Kenyans. Focus is on 4 themes: 1) Kenya as home to the earliest human origins and civilizations; 2) Kenya's evolution as an "anti-socialism" capital of Western capitalism in the region; 3) The country's central position in anti-terrorism war between the West and Middle East; 4) Problematizing Kenya/Africa's image of corruption as an explanation of underdevelopment. Course is experiential. Excursions count towards final grade.

This course, taught at Ashoka University (India), is an introduction to Indian politics. The first half is structured as chronological 'political history'. We begin with the colonial period (1757-1947), before studying the eras of Nehru (1947-64), Indira Gandhi (1965-1984) and the contemporary period (1985-2014). The second half looks at 'concepts' in Indian politics such as: the state, democracy, federalism, judiciary, political parties, social movements, identity politics, and welfare schemes. The final weeks will focus on the Narendra Modi years from 2014 to 2022, applying what we have learned in the course to the present day.