This introductory course core proficiency in Hindi-Urdu up to the intermediat level. It is designed for students with little or no prior exposure to Hindi or Urdu. The course covers all four language skills (speaking, lsitening, reading, and writing) and all three models of communication (interpersonal, presentational, interpretive). Students will develop literacy skills in the primary script of their choice (Hindi or Urdu script). All written materials will be provided in both scripts. All meetings are interactive and students acquire the language by using it in realistic contexts. Culture is embedded in the activities and is also introduced through various authentic materials.

This course introduces students to selections from the best literary works written in Hebrew over the last hundred years in a relaxed seminar environment. The goal of the course is to develop skills in critical reading of literature in general, and to examine how Hebrew authors grapple with crucial questions of human existence and national identity. Topics include: Hebrew classics and their modern "descendents," autobiography in poetry and fiction, the conflict between literary generations, and others. Because the content of this course changes from year to year, students may take it for credit more than once. This course is conducted in Hebrew and all readings are in Hebrew. Grading is based primarily on participation and students' literary understanding.

The Hebrew Bible legislates against magic and witchcraft. But Jewish literature is replete with demons, witches, spells and incantations. This course will examine the phenomenon of Jewish magic in the longue duree. We will explore a wide array of sources describing ancient Jewish magical practices, and attempt to reconstruct the various aspects of ancient Jewish magic. We will start with demonology and exorcism in biblical and Second Temple literature. Then we will examine rabbinic attitudes towards magic and sorcery and rabbinic magical recipes. We then turn to material artifacts: late antique Jewish amulets and magic bowls. Finally we will survey the large corpus of magical texts from the Cairo Geniza and Hebrew manuscripts of magic from the middle ages. During the course we will consider broader questions such as the relationships between magic and religion, the identity of the Jewish magicians and their clients, relationship between Jewish and contemporary non-Jewish magic, and the role of women in magical practice.

In this course we will explore how migration shaped and connected Asia by land and transoceanic routes from the seventh to eighteenth centuries. In this course we will trace people moving across long spans of space, which includes merchants, soldiers, pilgrims, laborers, pirates, spies, and travelers. We will examine how cultural, religious, economic, and political institutions enabled and benefited from migration; how towns, ports, and cities developed and supported migration; how individuals and communities understood and documented their experiences about what it meant to be mobile and/or foreign; and theories of migration that help us make sense of a premodern global Asia. Sample readings include Abdul Sheriff's "Dhow Culture of the Indian Ocean: Cosmopolitanism, Commerce and Islam"; Janet L. Abu- Lughod's "Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350"; and selections from the "Asia Inside Out" series ("Itinerant People", "Connected Places", and "Changing Times") edited by Helen Siu and Eric Tagliacozzo. An early assignment for the students is a map exercise. Students will be asked to create a map that highlights migration across Asia based on readings for the week. Students will be trained in an online mapmaking application and will work in pairs to create layers that address different aspects and forms of migration.

Humor in ethnic societies has two dimensions: internal and external. The inside humor of an ethnic group is accessible to its members; it draws upon their respective social structures, historical and social experiences, languages, cultural symbols, and social and economic circumstances and aspirations. The external humor of an ethnic group targets members of other ethnic groups, and draws upon their stereotypes, and attributed characteristics by other ethnic groups. The external ethnic humor flourishes in immigrant and ethnically heterogenic societies. In both cases jokes and humor are an integral part of social interaction, and in their performance relate to the social, economic, and political dynamics of traditional and modern societies.

By focusing on the scientific analysis of archaeological remains, this course will explore life and death in the past. It takes place in the new Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials (CAAM) and is team taught in three modules: human skeletal analysis, analysis of animal remains, and analysis of plant remains. Each module will combine laboratory and classroom exercises to give students hands-on experience with archaeological materials. We will examine how organic materials provide key information about past environments, human behavior, and cultural change through discussions of topics such as health and disease, inequality, and food.

This seminar offers an introduction to Muslim political thought. Chrnologically the course ranges from the medieval period to the present. Particular attention will be given in the later part of the coruse to the renaissance of Muslim potical thought in recent years and to the development of politicial Islam, including the work of such thinkers as Said Qutb and Hasan Turabi. We will also study the roots of this renaissance in classical philosophy of the medieval period (Al Farabi, Al Ghazali, Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Tufayl) and the liberal age.

The Hebrew Bible stands as the basis of the three most influential monotheistic religions. In recent years these religions have come under attack for promoting misogyny and advancing a patriarchal worldview. The extent to which the allegations of misogyny and promulgation of a patriarchal power structure can be traced back to the Bible will be investigated in this course. This is done by investigating the role women play in the narratives and legal materials found in the Bible. Utilizing modern biblical criticism, we analyze stories such as the expulsion from Eden, the matriarchs, and the rape of Dinah. We also examine the status of women as sisters, wives and mothers while taking into consideration the contributions women made to prophecy and leadership. Finally, a more abstract conceptualization of the feminine in poetry and wisdom writings will be explored. The study of biblical women will not only allow for a renewed appreciation of the feminine in the Bible, it will also lead to an improved understanding of male characters against which the women of the Bible are often cast.

Course topics will vary; they have included The Binding of Isaac, Responses to Catastrophes in Jewish History, Holy Men & Women (Ben-Amos); Rewriting the Bible (Dohrmann); Performing Judaism (Fishman); Jewish Political Thought (Fishman); Jewish Esotericism (Lorberbaum) Democratic culture assumes the democracy of knowledge - the accessibility of knowledge and its transparency. Should this always be the case? What of harmful knowledge? When are secrets necessary? In traditional Jewish thought, approaching the divine has often assumed an aura of danger. Theological knowledge was thought of as restricted. This seminar will explore the "open" and "closed" in theological knowledge, as presented in central texts of the rabbinic tradition: the Mishnah, Maimonides and the Kabbalah. Primary sources will be available in both Hebrew and English.

Iraq: Ancient Cities and Empires is a chronological survey of the ancient civilization that existed in the drainage basin of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers from the early settled village farming communities of the 7th millennium BCE to the middle of the 1st millennium BCE, when Nebuchadnezzar II ruled Babylon and much of the Middle East. Though organized period by period, NELC 241 explores various social, political, economic, and ideological topics, exposing students to various strands of evidence, including settlement survey data, excavated architectural remains, artifacts, and documentary sources, as well as an eclectic mix of theoretical perspectives. The course aims to provide students with a strong foundation for the further study of the ancient and pre-modern Middle East.