The courses listed below are offered for graduate credit in the Department of Comparative Studies. It should be noted that the content of topics courses varies widely from quarter to quarter, as does the content of many of the courses offered by other departments (see website for changing topics http://comparativestudies.osu.edu/courses). Students should keep themselves apprised of each semester’s offerings in relevant departments and should consult with faculty advisers on a regular basis to take best advantage of course offerings both in Comparative Studies and in other departments.
As noted in Sections VI. and VIII., all Comparative Studies students take coursework outside the Department of Comparative Studies. Students are not limited to particular departments, and are encouraged to take full advantage of the wide range of coursework available to them at this University. Associated Faculty also frequently offer courses in their home departments that are of interest to Comparative Studies students.
Comparative Studies courses are described in the OSU Course Catalog
(http://www.osu.edu/academics/) as follows (all courses are five credits unless otherwise noted):
5194 GROUP STUDIES Special topics. Open to both undergraduate and graduate students.
5602 POETRY AND POLITICS IN THE 20TH-CENTURY MEDITERRANEAN Exploration of several poets and poetic traditions around the Mediterranean in relation to modern political struggles: resistance to fascism; dilemmas of imperialism and underdevelopment.
5668 STUDIES IN ORALITY AND LITERACY Examination of major theories of writing and of oral composition and transmission, in juxtaposition to case material deriving from a variety of Middle Eastern cultures.
***5691 TOPICS IN COMPARATIVE STUDIES (repeatable to 9 credits) Critical study of selected themes and topics in a comparative and cross-cultural perspective; emphasis on issues of method, critical theory, representation, power, knowledge, and authority.
5797 STUDY AT A FOREIGN INSTITUTION An opportunity for students to study at a foreign institution and receive Ohio State credit for that work.
5864 MODERNITY AND POSTMODERNITY: CONCEPTS AND THEORIES Introduces key issues and concepts defining modernity; focuses on how modernity has shaped recent and contemporary politics and culture; discussions of globalization.
5871 THE JAPANESE RELIGIOUS TRADITION A survey of the Japanese tradition, including Shinto, Buddhism, Taoism, New-Confucianism, and folk religion from the 6th century B.C.E. to the present.
5957.01 COMPARATIVE FOLKLORE (repeatable to 6 credit hours) Comparative study of folklore. Topics vary, e.g., folklore and gender politics; theories of myth; folklore, memory, and history.
5957.02 FOLLKLORE IN CIRCULATION (repeatable to 6 credit hours) Study of transmission of culture. Topics vary, e.g., tourists, travelers, tricksters; cultures of waste and recycling; orality and literacy.
5970 FOUNDATIONAL APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF RELIGION Survey and comparison of concepts, categories, theories, and methods used by various disciplines in the study of religion.
5971 CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF RELIGION Examines contemporary approaches to the study of religion including post-modernist, materialist, post-colonial, cognitive, autobiographical.
*6390 APPROACHES TO COMPARATIVE CULTURAL STUDIES I Introduces students to theoretical tools, methods of investigation, and key concepts integral to research in comparative studies. REQUIRED.
*6391 APPROACHES TO COMPARATIVE CULTURAL STUDIES II Continuation of 6390. Discussion of theoretical tools, methods of investigation, and key concepts integral to research in comparative studies. REQUIRED.
6425 INTRODUCTION TO LATINO STUDIES Introduces graduate students to the broad themes, concepts, and questions raised in the interdisciplinary field of Latino studies.
6750.01 INTRODUTION TO GRADUATE STUDY IN FOLKLORE I: THE PHILOLOGY OF THE VERNACULAR Introduction to the canonical folklore genres and the history of folklore as a discipline. Why and how should we study the vernacular?
6750.02 INTRODUTION TO GRADUATE STUDY IN FOLKLORE II: FIELDWORK AND ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION Introduction to fieldwork and ethnographic writing in the humanities - interviewing, participant observation, and research ethics. Focus on the ethnography of communication and community representations.
**7193 INDIVIDUAL STUDIES (1-9; repeatable to 12 credits) Designed to give able students an opportunity to pursue special studies not otherwise offered.
7256 COMPLEX ETHNOGRAPHY Critical analysis of relationships among the researcher, object of research, framing knowledge, and political context of ethnographic work.
7300 THEORIZING GENRE (repeatable to 9 credits) Comparative studies of genre theory and specific genres (e.g., literary, performative, visual) in cultural context.
7301 THEORIZING LITERATURE Provides an accelerated introduction to literary theory and criticism, surveying significant developments in modern and contemporary literary and cultural studies in global perspective.
7320 THEORIZING RACE AND ETHNICITY Advanced introduction to field of critical race theory; critical analysis of concepts of law in relation to race and ethnicity.
7340 THEORIZING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Introduction to comparative and cultural studies of science and technology.
7350.01 THEORIZING FOLKLORE I: TRADITION AND TRANSMISSION The transmission of cultural forms through time and space across social networks, with special attention to the dynamics of conservation and innovation, reflexivity and habit.
7350.02 THEORIZING FOLKLORE II: ETHNOGRAPHY OF PERFORMANCE Performance as a heightened mode of communication characteristic of vernacular cultural process, studied in the context of ongoing social interaction.
7350.03 THEORIZING FOLKLORE III: TRADITION AND TRANSMISSION Cultural form as social marker. "Folklore" and other metacultural concepts in the history of modernity.
7360 THEORIZING CULTURE Examines the concept of culture as it has developed over time; emphasis on tension between descriptive and normative approaches.
7370 THEORIZING RELIGION Relationships between religion and other domains in a cross-cultural, comparative framework with attention to theoretical models and particular texts and traditions
7380 THEORIZING AMERICA Interdisciplinary study of culture, identity, and representation in the U.S.
7390 THEORIZING PERFORMANCE Advanced introduction to field of performance studies; theory and practice of expressive social behaviors, including theatre, dance, ritual, sports, and embodied practices of everyday life.
7465 INTRODUCTION TO TRAUMA STUDIES Introduction to the interdisciplinary field of trauma studies; collective and individual trauma, memory, narrative.
***7888 INTERDEPARTMENTAL STUDIES IN THE HUMANITIES (repeatable to 9 credits) Two or more departments present colloquia on subjects of mutual interest; topics to be announced.
7997 WRITING SEMINAR (repeatable to 3 credits) Writing seminar for Comparative Studies MA students.
7999 RESEARCH IN COMPARATIVE STUDIES: THESIS (repeatable) Research for Master's thesis.
8193 INDIVIDUAL STUDIES (repeatable to 12 credits) Designed to give able students an opportunity to pursue special studies not otherwise offered.
8791 SEMINAR IN INTERDISCIPLINARY THEORY (repeatable to 9 credits) Discussion of interdisciplinary cultural theory.
8802 SEMINAR IN LIFE NARRATIVE (repeatable to 15 credits) Investigates modes of autobiographical and biographical writing, performance, representation in media. Focuses on particular theories and texts, varying with course topic.
8805 SEMINAR IN LITERATURE IN GLOBAL CONTEXT (repeatable to 9 credits) Discussion of literary texts, cultural-political documents, and theoretical discourses in global contexts.
8822 SEMINAR IN RACE AND CITIZENSHIP: FORMATIONS IN CRITICAL RACE THEORY (repeatable to 9 credits) Critical analysis of concepts of law, e.g., a value-free legal code, universality of legal concepts, equitable enforcement; topic varies.
8842 SEMINAR IN SCIENCE AND MEDICINE (repeatable to 15 credits) Explores relationships between science, technology and the health sciences and medical practices; topic varies.
8843 SEMINAR IN TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE (repeatable to 15 credits) Explores relationships between science and technology and other areas, including politics, gender and sexuality, popular culture; topic varies.
8858 SEMINAR IN FOLKLORE (repeatable to 9 credits) Advanced seminar on current or specialized topics in folklore studies.
8865 SEMINAR IN CRITICAL TRAUMA THEORY (repeatable to 9 credits) Examines various topics in the growing field of critical trauma theory.
8866 SEMINAR IN CULTURE AND CAPITAL (repeatable to 15 credits) Exploration of theoretical approaches to relations between cultural and economic production; examines major materialist theories, materialist feminism, and other forms of materialist critique.
8872 SEMINAR IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES (repeatable to 15 credits) Explores relationships between religious institutions and practices and other areas, including politics, gender and sexuality, technology, popular culture; topics vary.
8888 INTERDEPARTMENTAL SEMINAR IN CRITICAL THEORY (repeatable to 15 credits) Interdisciplinary study of a movement or problem in critical theory.
8890 COLLOQUIA, WORKSHOPS, AND DEPARTMENTAL SEMINARS (repeatable to 9 credits) Departmental workshop, colloquium, or seminar. Topics vary.
8891 WEXNER CENTER SEMINAR (repeatable to 9 credits) Graduate seminar offered in conjunction with Wexner Center exhibitions, performance series, or symposia; may be taught by visiting artists, performers, or critics.
8892 SEMINAR IN PERFORMANCE AND POLITICS (repeatable to 15 credits) Analyzes role of performance in relation to political processes and cultural production.
8896 SEMINAR IN EAST ASIAN PHILOSOPHY (repeatable to 9 credits) Seminar focusing on a particular thinker, school of philosophy, or set of texts from the East Asian philosophical tradition. Topics vary.
8997 WRITING SEMINAR (repeatable to 3 credit hours) Writing seminar for Comparative Studies doctoral students.
**8998 RESEARCH IN COMPARATIVE STUDIES: CANDIDACY EXAMINATION (repeatable) Research in preparation for Ph.D. exams.
**8999 RESEARCH IN COMPARATIVE STUDIES: DISSERTATION (repeatable) Research for dissertation.
*Required
** 7193, 8193. Individual studies. Individual Studies courses (sometimes termed “independent study”) usually focus on well-defined subjects and are not intended as a substitute for a regularly offered graduate course, which a student might not be able to take for various reasons (e.g. scheduling conflict). Students should define the focus of the individual study, including the number of credit hours involved, in consultation with the instructor. Ordinarily by the first week of the quarter, the student and instructor will have made explicit the goals and expectations for the individual study. The student and faculty may want to prepare a written statement or “agreement,” perhaps signed by the student and instructor and forwarded to the Graduate Studies Chair for placement in the student’s file. The signed Individual Study agreement should make explicit whether the course includes a writing assignment (e.g., weekly response papers, research paper). In this regard, it is not unusual for a full credit individual study course (i.e., 3 credit hours) to result in a substantial research paper. The agreement should also indicate how often the student and instructor will meet over the course of the semester. As a general rule, weekly or bi-weekly meetings should be held; only on occasion (rather than the norm) should these “meetings” take place via email or through other “impersonal” forms of communication. Lastly, students should expect to receive feedback on their work (i.e., the instructor should provide, in a timely fashion, comments on any and all student work).
**7998. Research in Comparative Studies: Thesis. As discussed in Section VI.3. “Thesis,” the research and writing of the dissertation should not be done in isolation. Students should meet regularly with their advisers to receive feedback on their research and the writing of the thesis.
**8998. Research in Comparative Studies: Candidacy Examination. As discussed in Section VIII.3. “Candidacy Examinations,” students will spend significant time reading and otherwise preparing for their candidacy exams. CS 8998 provides variable credit hours for this “directed reading,” which should follow the parameters outlined in Section VIII.3.
**8999. Research in Comparative Studies: Dissertation. As discussed in Section VIII.4. “Dissertation,” the research and writing of the dissertation should not be done in isolation. Students should meet regularly with their advisers and other members of their dissertation committee to receive feedback on their research and the writing of the dissertation. CS 8999 provides variable credit hours for this “directed research,” which should follow the parameters outlined in Section VIII.4.
***Topics offered in these interdisciplinary courses vary widely. Recent and upcoming examples include the following:
After the Linguistic Turn: World Literature and Practice Theory (Nina Berman)
American Conservatism in the 20th Century (Michael McVicar)
An Introduction to Affect (Brian Rotman)
Around A Thousand Plateaus in 20 Days (Eugene Holland)
City Culture and Global Politics: Comparative Issues (Leo Coleman)
Connections: Art and Literature of the 20th Century (Jessica Prinz, English)
Critical Pedagogy (Hugh Urban)
Cultural Translation and Transmission (Margaret Mills, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures)
Critical Trauma Theory (Maurice Stevens)
Cultures of Waste and Recycling (Dorothy Noyes)
Discourses of “Life” (Brian Rotman)
Dōgen’s Zen Philosophy (Thomas Kasulis)
Ethnography of Performance (Katherine Borland)
Folklore and the Disciplines (Sabra Webber)
Folklore Genres and Interpretive Methods (Dorothy Noyes)
Folklore, Memory, and History (Ray Cashman, English)
Genealogies of Networks (Philip Armstrong)
Gender and Traditional Cultural Practice (Amy Shuman, English)
Gesture (Brian Rotman)
Global Governance and Human Rights, (Leo Coleman)
God/gods and Belief (Brian Rotman)
Introduction to Global Cultural Studies: Histories, Theories, Practices (György Túry, Fulbright Fellow)
Islam and Popular Practice in West and South Asia (Margaret Mills, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures)
Japanese Aesthetics (Thomas Kasulis)
Japanese Philosophies of Language (Thomas Kasulis)
Judaism in the Greco-Roman World (Michael Swartz, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures)
Latino/a Fiction: Resistance, Revision, Transculturation (Theresa Delgadillo)
Marx, Nietzsche, Freud (Paul Reitter, Germanic Languages and Literatures)
Mesoamerican Religions—Before the Encounter with Europeans: Cosmovision and Ceremonial Centers and Since the Encounter with Europeans: Indigeneity and/or Hybridity (two-quarter sequence, Lindsay Jones)
Modernization, Violence, Nation (Nina Berman)
New Materialisms, New Ontologies (Brian Rotman)
Performance and Politics: The Special Case of Music (Barry Shank)
Politics of Culture in Latin America: Theory and Performance (Katherine Borland)
Post-Foundational Political Thought (Philip Armstrong)
Prisons, Punishment, and American Culture (Tanya Erzen)
Reading the Postcolonial (Kwaku Korang)
Religion and Magic (Hugh Urban)
Religion and Media (Michael McVicar)
“Rise of Islam” and the World of Late Antiquity: Merchants and Ideologies (Parveneh Pourshariati, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures)
Rites Rituals, and Ceremonies: Disdain, Indifference, Enthusiasm, and/or Ambivalence (Lindsay Jones)
Seminar on Foucault (David Horn)
Textiles and Material Culture (Willow Mullins, English)
The Idea of Religion: Past and Future (Michael Swartz, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures)
The Record of Zen Master Linji (Thomas Kasulis)
The Return of the Aesthetic (Gregory Jusdanis, Greek and Latin)
The Study of Emotion, Cognition, and Ethics in Short Fiction of the Americas (Frederick Aldama, English)
The Talmud (Michael Swartz)
Theories of Myth (Merrill Kaplan, English)
Theorizing Science: Engineered Worlds and Machined Bodies (Leo Coleman)
Theorizing the Public (Rick Livingston)
Translnationalism and Literature (Nina Berman)
Translation and Transmission (Margaret Mills, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures)
Translation Studies (Dick Davis, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures)
Travelers, Tourists, Tricksters (Sabra Webber)
William James and the Construction of Experience (Thomas Kasulis)
Women’s Autobiographical Writing (Julia Watson)
World Literature and Globalization (Nina Berman)
Zen Buddhism: Dögen (Thomas Kasulis)
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