Autumn Semester 2024 Undergraduate Courses | Department of Comparative Studies

Comparative Studies Courses

Click here to jump down to Religious Studies course offerings.

This list is current as of August 13, 2024. Course schedule and descriptions are subject to change. We are adding here course-specific descriptions, as well, as they become available. Please refer to SIS for the most up-to-date information. Contact arceno.1@osu.edu if you notice any discrepancies or have any questions.

Comparative Studies 1100 Introduction to the Humanities: Cross-Cultural Perspectives

Online (asynchronous/synchronous) and In-person | Multiple sections, including **second session**
GEL Literature, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Literary, Visual and Performing Arts
GEN Race, Ethnicity and Gender Diversity

This introductory course is designed to survey some of the current preoccupations in the Humanities, especially as they relate to culture, power, and identity. Instructors of 1100 seek to present relevant issues in comparative cultural study, employing a mix of cultural theory, current events, and literature, visual, and performing arts with a focus on race, ethnicity, and gender. Not open to students with credit for 1100H.

Comparative Studies 1100H Introduction to the Humanities: Cross-Cultural Perspectives Honors

TuTh 11:10-12:30 | Kwaku Korang | Derby 49
GEL Literature, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Literary, Visual and Performing Arts
GEN Race, Ethnicity and Gender Diversity

This Honors version of COMPSTD 1100 explores the role of literature and the arts in constructing, maintaining, and questioning the values and beliefs of diverse cultures and historical periods. Topics vary.

COMPSTD 2101 Literature and Society

TuTh 9:35-10:55 | Rob Barry | Mendenhall 173
GEL Literature, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Literary, Visual and Performing Arts
GEN Race, Ethnicity and Gender Diversity

Study of relationships among politics, society, and literature; analysis of social and political elements of literature and film from diverse cultures and historical periods. Prereq: English 1110 (110) or equiv.

COMPSTD 2101H Literature and Society Honors

TuTh 2:20-3:40 | NJ Jesser | Bolz 128
GEL Literature, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Literary, Visual and Performing Arts

This Honors version of COMPSTD 2101 is a study of relationships among politics, society, and literature; analysis of social and political elements of literature and film from diverse cultures and historical periods. Prereq: English 1110 (110) or equiv.

COMPSTD 2105 Literature and Ethnicity

TuTh 2:20-3:40 | John Brooks | Denney 253
GEL Literature, and GEL Social Diversity in the United States
GEN Literary, Visual and Performing Arts
GEN Race, Ethnicity and Gender Diversity

Study of relationships between literature and ethnicity; analysis of concepts of ethnicity as represented in literature and film of diverse cultures and historical periods. Prereq: English 1110 (110) or equiv.

COMPSTD / SPANISH 2242 Intro to Latinx Studies

TR 2:20-3:40 | Fernanda Diaz Basteris | Bioscience 668
GEL Cultures and Ideas, and GEL Social Diversity in the United States
GEN Historical and Cultural Studies
GEN Race, Ethnicity and Gender Diversity

This course is an introduction to Latinx studies, with a focus on the history, politics, and cultural production of Latino/a communities in the U.S. and its borderlands. Cross-listed in Spanish. Not open to students with credit for Spanish 2242.

COMPSTD/ENGLISH 2264 Intro to Popular Culture Studies

Section 1: WeFr 11:10-12:30 | Umut Gürses | PAES A109
Section 2: TR 3:55-5:15 | Rachel Stewart | Derby 80
GEL Cultures and Ideas
GEN Historical and Cultural Studies
GEN Race, Ethnicity and Gender Diversity

Introduction to the analysis of popular culture texts, with special emphasis on the relationship between popular culture studies and literary studies. Prereq: English 1110 (110) or equiv. Cross-listed in English. Not open to students with credit for English 2264.

COMPSTD 2281 American Icons

TuTh 9:35-10:55 | Rhiar Kanouse | Arps Hall 388
GEL Cultures and Ideas, and GEL Social Diversity in the United States
GEN Historical and Cultural Studies
GEN Race, Ethnicity and Gender Diversity

Interdisciplinary methods in American studies; emphasis on the plurality of identities in American culture. Prereq: English 1110 (110) or equiv.

COMPSTD 2301 Intro to World Literature

MW 11:10-12:30 | Parisa Ahmadi| Ramseyer 9
GEL Literature, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Literary, Visual and Performing Arts
GEN Race, Ethnicity and Gender Diversity

Have you ever thought about the fact that the idea of north as “up” is arbitrary? Even though north is no more “up” than south is “down,” these and other received ideas affect the way we see the world and the literatures in the world. This class focuses on learning to see culture, space, and literature in new ways. We will closely examine the idea of “world literature” itself, and we will consider the linguistic, cultural, technological, and economic networks that make texts from around the globe available to us. For example, how is the world of literature shaped by the fact that writers in many places can only access a significant audience by writing in English or producing works that “travel well” via translation? How do we imagine relationships between the works we read (a tiny fraction) and the many we do not? These topics will be explored through discussion of 20th- and 21st-century texts from five geopolitical areas: the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Latin and Central America/the Caribbean, and Europe/North America. Course assignments include engaged in-class and online discussion, reading analysis, and short papers. All assignments will help you pursue the course goals and participate deeply in a community of learners.

COMPSTD / ETHNSTDS 2323 Intro to American Indian Studies

TR 11:10-12:30 | fabian romero | Hagerty 42
GEL Cultures and Ideas, and GEL Social Diversity in the United States
GEN Historical and Cultural Studies
GEN Race, Ethnicity and Gender Diversity

This course is grounded in interdisciplinary engagement with Native scholars and the collective goals of Native/Indigenous wellness, political self-determination, and cultural revitalization. This course interrogates the challenges that Native peoples face from ongoing settler colonialism within what is now the United States, without ever losing sight of Native agency and persistence. This course will center Indigenous feminist scholarship and look at Indigeneity transnationally by incorporating Central American scholarship and research. Topics will include white supremacy, environmental degradation, individual and community resistance, anti-colonial liberation, and embodied ways of knowing and learning. We will also explore the gender, class, race, ethnic, and sexual differences of American Indian and Indigenous peoples of the Americas.

COMPSTD 2340 Intro to Cultures of Science and Technology

MW 11:10-12:30 | Liliana Gil | Journalism 353
GEL Cultures and Ideas, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Historical and Cultural Studies
GEN Race, Ethnicity and Gender Diversity

This course offers an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of Science and Technology Studies. Science and Technology Studies, often referred to as STS, examines how science and technology are shaped by and shape culture and society. STS brings the sciences, social sciences, and humanities together by asking questions such as: How do we know what we know? What do we mean when we talk about things like scientific knowledge and methods? How do historical and social contexts shape technological production, and how does technology in turn shape our world, experiences, and relationships? As we address these questions, we will familiarize ourselves with critical thought about science and technology, including key historical, sociological, and anthropological theories. Together, we will sharpen our analytical skills by discussing a broad range of historical and contemporary examples in which scientific knowledge and technological capacity are entwined with power relations of race, gender, global capitalism, and politics. The course is organized in three units: 1. Science and Culture; 2. Technology and Culture; 3. Global Connections and Inequalities.

COMPSTD 2341 Technology, Science, and Society

TuTh 2:20-3:40 | Seth Josephson | Ramseyer 110
GEL Cultures and Ideas, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies

Critical analysis of the relations among science, technology, and culture, with particular emphasis on ethical issues in technology and engineering. Prereq: English 1110, or equiv. Not open to students with credit for COMPSTD 2340.

COMPSTD 2350 / ENGLISH 2270 Intro to Folklore

GEL Cultures and Ideas
GEN Historical and Cultural Studies
GEN Race, Ethnicity and Gender Diversity

Section 1: TR 9:35-10:55 | Katey Borland | Page 60

Folklore is the culture that people make for themselves. Not all of us are specialists, but all of us tell stories and cultivate communities. This class explores everyday expressive forms including stories, customs, objects and digital forms shared in informal contexts. Recurring central issues will include the dynamics of tradition, the nature of creativity and artistic expression, and the construction of group identities. We will consider various interpretive approaches to these examples of folklore and folklife and will investigate the history of folklore studies through readings and an independent collecting project in which students will gather folklore from the field, document it and interpret it for meaning. Under-read and represented texts in the field of folklore were intentionally chosen as readings for this course. By the end of this course, students should gain a basic orientation towards thinking through the power and significance behind the everyday creative expressions of their communities.

Section 2: WF 2:20-3:40 | Mintzi Martinez-Rivera | Knowlton 195

Guiding questions: How do people express themselves in traditional forms? How are social concerns articulated in stories, jokes, memes and other genres? How does human creativity burble up in everyday life? Though this is a hybrid class, it requires a high degree of participation and engagement with your classmates as well as reading. You will be reading as much as 50 pages of text per week, and additionally will be asked to engage in digital exhibits and media. This course works a little differently than others you may have encountered, as we will hold one synchronous class via CarmenZoom and one class in-person each week. For your efforts, you will develop insights with your peers and with me as you practice your analytical and communication skills to gain higher levels of awareness and aptitude that will serve you throughout your life.

COMPSTD 2350H / ENGLISH 2270H Intro to Folklore Honors

TR 12:45-2:05 |Merrill Kaplan | McPherson 1008
GEL Cultures and Ideas
GEN Historical and Cultural Studies
GEN Race, Ethnicity and Gender Diversity

This Honors version of COMPSTD 2350 is a general study of the field of folklore including basic approaches and a survey of primary folk materials: folktales, legends, folksongs, ballads, and folk beliefs. Prereq: Honors standing, and English 1110, or equiv. Cross-listed in English. Not open to students with credit for COMPSTD 2350, English 2270, or English 2270H.

COMPSTD 2360 Intro to Comparative Cultural Studies

TuTh 2:20-3:40 | Deanna Holroyd | Enarson 358
GEL Cultures and Ideas
GEN Historical and Cultural Studies

Introduction to interdisciplinary field of cultural studies; emphasis on relation of cultural production to power, knowledge, and authority, globally and locally. Prereq: English 1110 (110) or equiv. Not open to students with credit for 274. GE cultures and ideas course. GE foundation historical and cultural studies course.

COMPSTD 2367.04 Science and Technology in American Culture

**Second Session Course** TR 11:10-12:30 | NJ Jesser | Smith Lab 1048
GEL Writing and Communication, Level 2; GEL Culture and Ideas; and GEL Social Diversity in the U.S.
GEN Writing and Information Literacy
GEN Historical and Cultural Studies

Role of science and technology in contemporary American society; their relationship to human values; sources of concern about their impact; evaluation of selected issues. Prereq: English 1110, or equiv, and Sophomore standing. Not open to students with credit for 2367.08H.

COMPSTD 2367.08 American Identity in the World

Section 1: Online | TuTh 2:20-3:40 | Shaida Akbarian
Section 2: **Second Session Course**, Online |TuTh 3:55-5:15 | Shaida Akbarian
GEL Writing and Communication, Level 2; GEL Cultures and Ideas, and GEL Social Diversity in the United States
GEN Writing and Information Literacy
GEN Historical and Cultural Studies

American culture viewed from inside and from the perspective of foreign cultures, as seen in literature, film, art, music, journalism, folklore, and popular culture. Prereq: English 1110, or equiv, and Sophomore standing. Not open to students with credit for 2367.08H.

COMPSTD 2420 American Food Cultures

TR 12:45-2:05 | Rick Livingston | Baker Systems 140
GEL Cultures and Ideas, and GEL Social Diversity in the United States
GEN Historical and Cultural Studies

This course provides a historical perspective on the development of the American food system, including associated discourses and cultures, leading to exploration of contemporary concerns about industrial food, the American diet, and the politics surrounding these issues.

COMPSTD 3302/E Translating Literature and Cultures

TuTh 9:35-10:55 | Gregory Jusdanis | Hagerty 359
GEL Cultures and Ideas, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies course
GEN Historical and Cultural Studies

This Embedded Honors course is an introduction to issues and problems inherent to translating literatures and cultures. Prereq: English 1110 (110), or equiv. Depending on the section you enroll in (i.e., COMPSTD 3302 or 3302E), this course is not open to students with credit for the alternate section, i.e., COMPSTD 3302E or 3302, respectively.

COMPSTD 3603 Love in World Literature

TuTh 3:55-5:15 | Lucia Bortoli | Pomerene 250
GEL Literature, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Literary, Visual and Performing Arts

Representations of love in world literature; emphasis on mythological, psychological, and ideological aspects of selected representations in different cultures and time periods. Prereq: English 1110 (110), or equiv. Not open to students with credit for 3603H.

COMPSTD 3606 Quest in World Literature

**Second Session Course** TuTh 11:10-12:30 | Lucia Bortoli | Mendenhall 185
GEL Literature, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Literary, Visual and Performing Arts

We are all familiar with the fantastic journey of Frodo and Sam in the film trilogy The Lord of the Rings or the action-filled adventure of Indiana Jones in The Raiders of The Lost Ark. Still, not many connect these box office movies with their ancient predecessors the Epic of Gilgamesh or Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The archetypal motif of the Quest has characterized literature and the arts over the past thousands of years. It has explored the human soul and condition, always satisfying the need for entertainment and self-reflection with questions about self-awareness and agency in the pursuit of life's meanings and purposes.

In this course, we will analyze classical and contemporary texts that best evoke the spirit of the Quest in a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary manner. We will focus on the texts' social, political, ideological, economic, and religious contexts. We will also address issues of gender, race, ethnicity, and class, as well as ask questions about social injustice. And, last but not least, by admiring diverse cultural expressions, we will better our aesthetic sensibility and artistic appreciation.

COMPSTD 3607 Film and Lit as Narrative Art

TR 11:10-12:30 | Epp Annus | Mendenhall 125
GEL Visual and Performing Arts, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Literary, Visual and Performing Arts

Relationships between film and literature; emergence of cinematic art as a form of representation with emphasis on diverse cultural traditions. Prereq: English 1110, or equiv. Not open to students with credit for 3607H.

COMPSTD 3608 Representations of the Experience of War

MWF 9:10-10:05 | Jason Payne | Pomerene 250
GEL Literature, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Literary, Visual and Performing Arts

Representations of war in works of literature, religious texts, and film from diverse cultures and time periods. Prereq: English 1110, or equiv.

COMPSTD 3990 Approaches to Comparative Studies

TR 9:35-10:55 | Miranda Martinez | Baker Systems 128

Introduces comparative studies majors to theoretical tools, methods of investigation, and key concepts in comparative studies research and scholarship. Prereq: English 1110, or equiv. Comparative Studies majors, or permission of instructor.

COMPSTD 4597.03 Global Folklore

TR 11:10-12:30 | Katherine Borland | Hagerty 455B
GEN Migration, Mobility, and Immobility

This course provides an exploration of the dynamics of folklore in a global environment. We will interrogate how culture becomes rooted in place (immobility), how it circulates (mobility) and how it moves from one group to another, one context to another (migration), producing a variety of consequences. How do people from all walks of life create meaning and beauty in their everyday lives? How do communities and groups maintain a collective sense of themselves that distinguishes them from other communities/groups, particularly in a period of rapid globalization? What does it mean to respect and conserve cultural diversity? And what do patterns of cultural circulation tell us about relations between individuals and groups, institutions and groups, as well as among nations. Students will begin by learning key concepts of folklore scholarship: culture, place, tradition, performance, genre, the local/global distinction, the folk/popular divide, the interplay of the customary and innovative in folklore production. Students will develop an expansive definition of folklore as the means by which groups both distinguish themselves from as well as fashion bridges with diverse communities. We will look at the ways folklore moves through a range of concepts spanning everything from sacred ritual to touristic display. We will focus on the transmission and transformation of cultural knowledge and practice in situations of want and plenty, peace and conflict, mobility and rootedness attending to the relations of power operating in and through traditional culture.

COMPSTD/AFAMAST/WGSST 4921 Intersections: Approaches to Race, Gender, Class, and Sexuality

MW 11:10-12:30 | Maurice Stevens | Location: Caldwell 115 (location expected to change)
GEL Citizenship for a Diverse and Just World

This course examines intersections of race, gender, class, and sexuality in various sites within American culture (e.g., legal system, civil rights discourse, social justice movements). Prereq: One course in CompStd, WGSSt, or AfAmASt. Cross-listed in African American and African Studies and Womens, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Not open to students with credit for AFAMAST 4921 or WGSST 4921.

COMPSTD/AFAMAST/PUBAFRS 5240 Race and Public Policy in the US

MW 9:35-10:55 | Emily Krichbaum | Page 60

This course explores Race and Public Policy in the United States from Reconstruction to the present. In particular, the class is designed to look at the long list of "hot topics" in the current policy landscape, including policing, housing, wealth gap, immigration, voting, political representation, and others. Cross-listed in African American and African Studies and Public Affairs. Not open to students with credit for AFAMAST 5240 or PUBAFFAIRS 5240.

COMPSTD 5957.02 Folklore in Circulation: Cultures of Waste and Recycling

TR 2:20-3:40 | Katey Borland | Hagerty 451

This course explores the notion of the residual: what is left over, useless, unclassifiable. We will explore the customary management of communal resources, both human and material, in scarce-resource societies. We’ll consider processes of symbolic classification through which phenomena can be labelled as out of place or out of phase. We'll examine the creation of waste (and its converse, deprivation) with the codification of custom in modernity, and look at strategies by which waste is recuperated as a matter of necessity, aesthetics, or ideology. We'll look at how different kinds of leftover move in and out of systems of value: for example, the labelling of things as "junk" or "antiques," people as "trash," or ideas as "folklore." Finally, we'll think about the status of residues in social and cultural theory.

Religious Studies Courses

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RELSTDS 2102.02 Comparative Sacred Texts

TuTh 12:45-2:05 | Kate Kaura | Mendenhall 129
GEL Literature, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Literary, Visual and Performing Arts

Sacred texts like the Bible, Qur'an, Torah, Vedas, Buddhist Sutras, Native American texts and the Guru Ganth Sahib are some of the most influential and widely read documents in the world. How do these ancient texts, both written and oral, still shape how we interpret and practice religion today? How do they still come alive in religious rituals, beliefs, practices, holidays, and morals in our communities? This course will explore if and how sacred texts change and adapt to modern life with a rich understanding of the historical, cultural, social, economic, and gendered contexts in which they came. This course will also look at newer spiritual movements such as "Spiritual but not Religious", New Age Spirituality, "Manifestation Doctrine", and yoga communities- and how a history of diverse sacred texts influenced these American movements' development. The course will culminate with students presenting a non-sacred text they are interested in (like a fiction book, comic series, musician's lyrics, video game, etc) as a sacred text- defined by how we critically thought about and discussed what counts as a "sacred text" throughout the semester.

RELSTDS 2370 Introduction to Comparative Religion
GEL Cultures and Ideas, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Historical and Cultural Studies
GEN Race, Ethnicity and Gender Diversity

What is religion? Why are there so many of them? What is the role of religion in the world today, particularly in relation to contemporary social, political, and cultural changes in a complex global context? How is religious identity tied in complex ways to race, gender, and ethnicity?

This course provides a general introduction to the comparative study of religion that addresses these and other fundamental questions. We will begin with a controversial “test case” in the study of religion – the Native American Church and its use of peyote as a sacrament – which raises key questions of religious freedom and the law. We will then discuss six different ways of defining religion and use them to make sense of this particular case. In the rest of the course, we will then look at a series of major traditions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, and contemporary new religious movements. To conclude, we will discuss several different ways of making sense of the plurality and diversity of religious traditions today.

In addition to lectures, films, and discussions, this class will involve several optional field trips to religious organizations in the Columbus area. Students are expected to complete one mid-term and one final exam, as well as two field observation papers based on visits to religious organizations or events that are significantly different from their own.

RELSTDS / NELC 3667 Messages from Beyond: Divination, Prophecy, and the Occult in Religion and Culture

TR 9:35-10:55 | Daniel Frank | Kottman 102
GEN Lived Environments

In this course, we will explore how people from antiquity to our time have sought to find meaning in the complexity and uncertainty around their physical and social environment to access what they perceived as hidden realms as sources of meaning. Students will learn how messages from beyond guide their daily lives, provide them with sources of authority or companionship for their art of philosophy. Cross-listed with Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. Not open to students with credit for NELC 3667.

RELSTDS / EALL 3673 Buddhist Tradition

TR 12:45-2:05 | Melissa Curley | Location: University Hall 82

Course description forthcoming

RELSTDS / NELC 3679 Popular Culture and World Religions

TR 12:45-2:05 | Spencer Dew | Mendenhall 185
GEN Literary, Visual and Performing Arts

This course will examine religion in digital media -- how is the internet not only a means for the communication of religious ideas but also a place for religious practice and, indeed, religious experience?

RELSTDS / HISTORY 3680 Religion and Law in Comparative Perspective

TuTh 2:20-3:40 | Isaac Weiner | Mendenhall 125
GEL Historical Study, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Citizenship for a Diverse and Just World

Comparative, interdisciplinary approach to studying religion and law. Drawing on concrete cases, historical studies, and theoretical literature, the course explores how the relationship between religion and law has been configured differently in different liberal democracies, such as the U.S., France, and Israel, and what this might mean for contemporary debates. Cross-listed with History. Not open to students with credit for HISTORY 3680.

RELSTDS / AFAMAST 43242 Religion, Meaning, and Knowledge in Africa and Its Diaspora

TuTh 11:10-12:30 | Spencer Dew | Mendenhall 174
GEL Cultures and Ideas, and GEL Diversity: Global Studies
GEN Traditions, Cultures, & Transformations

In this class we'll study religious communities and movements in Africa and across the African Diaspora, wrestling with issues of colonialism and the role of Africa in the religious imagination.