Nigel Smith, William and Annie S. Paton Foundation Professor of Ancient and Modern Literature and professor of English

Inter-disciplinary class on early modern Amsterdam (1550-1720) when the city was at the center of the global economy and leading cultural center; home of Rembrandt and Spinoza (Descartes was nearby) and original figures like playwrights Bredero and Vondel, the ethicist engraver Coornhert, the political economist de la Court brothers and English traveling theater. We go from art to poetry, drama, philosophy and medicine. Spring Break is in Amsterdam with museum visits, guest talks and participation in recreation of traveling theater from the period.

Paloma Moscardó-Vallés, lecturer in Spanish and Portuguese

SPA 204 is an advanced Spanish course focusing on health and medical topics. Its main purpose is to put students in contact with the healthcare situation in the indigenous communities of Ecuador. During the first six weeks of the semester, students will learn about those topics and will get ready for a medical mission that will take place during spring break. The last six weeks will be dedicated to research and reflection.

Christina H. Lee, associate professor of Spanish and Portuguese

How are ideas of belonging to the body politic defined in Spain, Latin America, and in Spanish-speaking communities in the United States? Who is “Latin America,” Latinx,” “Chino,” “Argentine,” “Guatemalan,” “Indian,” etc.? Who constructs these terms and why? Who do they include/exclude? Why do we need these identity markers in the first place? Our course will engage these questions by surveying and analyzing literary, historical, and visual productions from the time of the foundation of the Spanish empire to the present time in the Spanish speaking world.

This seminar fulfills the literature and the arts (LA) general education requirement.

Fauzia Farooqui, lecturer in Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies

This course surveys ideas regarding gender and sexuality at various points in the cultural history of South Asia and how these ideas have shaped women’s and men’s lives and experiences in the society. We examine how different communities pushed against gender norms and cultural expectations using different ideologies and strategies resulting in a diverse range of feminist projects in South Asia. The course explores ideas about gender, sexuality, and feminism in various domains of South Asian life. Apart from reading scholarship on relevant topics, we analyze primary textual sources, such as religious texts, literary genres, and folklore.

This seminar fulfills the social analysis (SA) general education requirement.

Rubén Gallo, Walter S. Carpenter, Jr., Professor in Language, Literature, and Civilization of Spain and professor of Spanish and Portuguese

After Fidel Castro marched into Havana in January 1959, a cultural revolution followed the political one: literature, the arts, architecture, film, and dance sought to break with the past and proposed new, utopian ways of artmaking. This seminar will offer an overview of some of the most important cultural productions of this era, including films, novels, political essays, and architectural works, which ended by the early 1970s with the rise of censorship.

This seminar fulfills the literature and the arts (LA) general education requirement.

Katherine Reischl, assistant professor of Slavic languages and literatures and Christian Gauss Fund University Preceptor
Aaron Shkuda, program manager of Princeton Mellon Initiative and lecturer in architecture

This seminar introduces urban studies research methods through two cultural capitals: Moscow and New York. Focused on communities and landmarks represented in historical accounts, literary works, art and film, we will travel through these cityscapes as cultural and mythological spaces - from the past to the present day. We will examine how standards of evidence shape what is knowable about cities and urban life, what “counts” as knowledge in urban studies, and how these different disciplinary perspectives construct and limit knowledge about cities as a result.

This seminar fulfills the epistemology and cognition (EC) general education requirement.