This course is a continuation of first semester Elementary Arabic, and builds on the speaking, listening, reading and writing skills in the standard means of communication in the Arab World. Evaluation is done by the more traditional testing methods (vocabulary tests, dictations, grammar and translation exercises). We anticipate that by the end of this course, students will range in proficiency from Novice High to Intermediate Low on the ACTFL scale.

This course is a continuation of first semester Elementary Arabic, and builds on the speaking, listening, reading and writing skills in the standard means of communication in the Arab World. Evaluation is done by the more traditional testing methods (vocabulary tests, dictations, grammar and translation exercises). We anticipate that by the end of this course, students will range in proficiency from Novice High to Intermediate Low on the ACTFL scale.

This is the beginners course in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). It will introduce you to the speaking, listening, reading and writing skills in the standard means of communication in the Arab World. The course is proficiency-based, implying that all activities within the course are aimed at placing you, the learner, in the context of the native-speaking environment from the very beginning. Evaluation is done by the more traditional testing methods (vocabulary tests, dictations, grammar and translation exercises). We anticipate that by the end of this course, students will range in proficiency from Novice High to Intermediate Low on the ACTFL scale; in other words (using the terminology of the government's Foreign Service Institute), from 'incipient survival' to 'full' survival' in the native-speaking environment.

Readings in Akkadian of religious and scientific texts from ancient Mesopotamia.

This self-contained course sets the Sumerian language, writing system and use of writing in their social and historical context. The aim is to provide students of ancient history and culture from diverse disciplines with a good grounding in Sumerian culture, familiarity with the Sumerian language and cuneiform writing system and the requisite knowledge for critical assessment of published translations and of the secondary literature. The course is organized as two threads, culture on the one hand and language on the other. The two threads are united by taking examples in the language exercises, vocabulary assignments, etc., as far as possible from the domain of the week' cultural topics. The net effect is to examine the culture both through contemporary secondary literature and through direct contact with elementary primary texts of relevance to the various topics of discussion. The language component of the course will be carried out in a combination of transliteration and cuneiform, with an expectation that all students will gain familiarity with at least the core 80 syllabic signs, and about 100 additional logographic signs.

The course will be an introduction to the writing, grammar, and literature of Coptic.

A continuation of 1st Year Akkadian I, this class builds on the lessons of that class on the grammar of the Akkadian language with emphasis on developing skills in the cuneiform writing system and reading of selected texts. To take this class without first having taken 1st Year Akkadian I requires permission of the instructor.

A continuation of First Year Akkadian I, this class teaches the grammar of the Akkadian language with emphasis on developing skills in the cuneiform writing system and reading of selected texts.

This course introduces students to theory and methodology of the geospatial humanities and social sciences, understood broadly as the application of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and spatial analysis techniques to the study of social and cultural patterns in the past and present. By engaging with spatial theory, spatial analysis case studies, and technical methodologies, students will develop an understanding of the questions driving, and tools available for, humanistic and social science research projects that explore change over space and time. We will use ESRI's ArcGIS software to visualize, analyze, and integrate historical, anthropological, and environmental data. Techniques will be introduced through the discussion of case studies and through demonstration of software skills. During supervised laboratory sessions, the various techniques and analyses covered will be applied to sample data and also to data from a region/topic chosen by the student.

Seeing is Believing engages in a historical, theoretical, and cross-cultural analysis of the place of visuality in religion and of religion in visual culture. We will examine images, buildings, places, objects, performances and events. The geographical, cultural and historical scope of the material is broad, including subjects from Europe, the Islamic World, non-Muslim South Asia, the US and Latin America from the medieval period until the present. Theoretical works will be read in conjunction with representative examples to invite intellectual engagement in a socially and historically grounded way. Important issues to be covered include the relationship of visual to material culture; visual theories versus theories of vision; locating religion in human sensory experience; perception at individual and collective levels; authentics, fakes and simulacra; iconoclasm and image veneration; aesthetics, use and utility; and things.