Master of Arts in Liberal Studies

Art 537

History 546

Whole Earths, Globalizations, World Pictures

Hear the word "Earth" and the image likely to flash through the mind is the descendant of a photo commonly known as "Blue Marble" (1972), which reveals the disk of our terraqueous planet suspended alone in the void. It is reputed to be the most widely disseminated photograph in human history, and together with other views of the Earth from beyond has prompted a revolution in the global imagination. The aim of this seminar is to assess the plausibility of that claim, by situating these images in their diverse historical contexts.

These contexts include the history of humankind's imaginative self-projection into the beyond from ancient times to our day; how the "whole earth" image has been mobilized by environmental campaigns, political movements, and commercial enterprises; how the view of Earth has figured in economics ("globalization theory"), aesthetics (earth art, mapping and visualization techniques), philosophy (especially in the phenomenological tradition), and the natural sciences (the Gaia hypothesis, the Biosphere projects, earth systems science); and how this pictorial imaginary has become integrated into the unthought ways we inhabit our natural and human-built worlds—what has happened once its ubiquity meant that we ceased, in a fashion, to see it. Arrangements will be made to enable students to explore new media and research tools for analysis and presentation, should they wish to do so.

Liberal Studies 544

The Law and its Uses in Europe and its Empires, c. 1300–c. 1750

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Anthropology 548

Sport and Social Life

Sports are a central aspect of ritual form and everyday life in a large number of societies across the globe. The course approaches sports play as a fundamental practice of modern social formation and social reproduction. Through case studies of situated sports practices (notably football/soccer, cricket/baseball, basketball, bodybuilding, boxing, and skateboarding/parkour) in a variety of societies (US, Europe, Caribbean, South America, Africa, and South Asia), it examines key issues in the cultural study of modernity: gender/sexuality, race/ethnicity, class/stratification, violence, (post-)colonialism, nationalism, and globalization. The course introduces students to phenomenological approaches to social life, approaching culture as an embodied mode of practice rather than only or primarily a cognitive field of knowledge.

Liberal Studies 504

Liberal Studies 514

An exploration of art, architecture, and visual culture created within the context of Muslim-majority or Muslim-ruled societies within Western Asia, North Africa, and Europe from the 7th to the 21st centuries. Covers sacred and secular architecture and architectural decoration, sculpture, painting, manuscripts, textiles, and metalwork, including internationally renowned museum collections (considering the politics and acquisition processes of these collections). The course also considers theoretical framings of the field, such as what is "Islamic" about Islamic art. We consider the circulation of Islamic art globally and the emergence of modern Islamic art, as well as the visual cultures of protest in contemporary Muslim-majority countries. Readings will include primary sources, exhibition catalogs, and scholarly articles; visit to a museum is possible, as well as use of Reed College's Special Collection of Qur'anic manuscripts.

Literature 524

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