How do we, as individuals and societies, determine the value of things, services, and experiences? Questions like the value of a national park, a child well-educated, or a life prematurely lost are central to both government policy and individual commitments. Through careful reading, critical discussion, short integrative essays, and interactions with local organizations involved in […]
Author: rcomfort
Coming to Terms with Past Violence
Embedded in the fabric of every national narrative is the attempt to understand past violence. Words like reconciliation, reckoning, justice, impunity, accountability, and forgiveness all have distinct connotations depending on their specific national context and the actors who employ them. In this course, we analyze localized forms of interpreting violence through regional case studies from […]
When Trumpets Fade
This course will introduce you to the men and women who have fought our nation’s wars since 9/11, and critically examine a few of the social, political, and moral implications associated with their service. Who (and what) are they? What do we owe them? We will examine these and other important questions together, taking an […]
What is Legitimate?
The course explores how and why equilibria around questions of legitimate action in the areas of domestic governance, foreign policy, and international interventions form and why they often remain contentious. The course encourages students to understand ideas of legitimacy as bound in time and space, i.e., what is considered legitimate by some societies at some […]
We Are All Zombies
Water Politics Crisis
Every year more people die from unsafe drinking water than from all forms of violence, including war. Global demand continues to rise, with a large part of humanity, some 25 percent, living with water scarcity. It is a crisis that is only becoming more severe. This course surveys the factors that are driving this dire […]
The Problem of Freedom
This course considers why freedom is an enduring human desire and why that desire is complicated and problematic. Over the course of the semester, students examine why freedom is a problem, at once eliciting strong attachments and deep controversies. Students consider what it means to be free in a variety of perspectives and contexts, from […]
The Era of Bad Feelings
America is more divided than ever today. Or is that true? How far back does this phenomenon go? The course examines the politics, culture, and history behind the current Era of Bad Feelings from the Civil Rights and Vietnam era to the present. The class will explore these issues through critical readings, lectures, guest speakers, […]
Rhetoric in History of U.S. Women’s Rights Advocacy
This inquiry-based seminar examines enduring questions of argumentation and rhetoric in the history of U.S. women’s rights advocacy, with particular attention to questions of race and class. Topics include separate spheres ideology, the early suffrage and abolitionist movements, women’s initial entry into higher education, protective labor legislation, abortion access, and regulation of sexual violence. The […]
Post-Truth America
When do the virtues of majority rule spill over into the vices of populism? Can we have informed citizens without a shared understanding of the methods for establishing truth? What poses the greater threat: politicians who deceive us, or the devices that distract us? This course explores modern tensions between democracy as a procedure for […]