Critical Languages Center (CRIT)

As a Temple student, you go to school and live in a city full of immigrants. Perhaps your own relatives were immigrants to the United States. But have you ever listened to their stories? With an historical and sociological framework as a basis, we will take an in-depth and more personal look at the immigrant experience as expressed through the immigrants' own voices in literature and film. Topics explored include: assimilation, cultural identity and Americanization, exploitation and the American Dream, ethnic communities, gender, discrimination and stereotyping. NOTE: This course fulfills the Race & Diversity (GD) requirement for students under GenEd and Studies in Race (RS) for students under Core. Students cannot receive credit for this course if they have successfully completed any of the following: ANTH 0831, History 0831, Italian 0831/0931, Russian 0831, SOC 0831, or SPAN 0831/0931.

The detective novel remains the most popular of literary forms since its American origins in Edgar Allan Poe. The form has spread to virtually every part of the world, taking on different perspectives in the different societies where it has prospered. Our course analyzes the global travels of this prolific literary genre, paying particular attention to the manner in which its formula of crime-detection-resolution has evolved from its classic phase in the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, to its hard-boiled phase in the 1940's US, to the transformation of the private detective working outside the formal apparatus of the law into the police detective working within the law in places as different as Sweden, Holland, Nigeria, and India. We will read bestselling detective novels by figures such as Emile Gaboriau, Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Wilkie Collins, Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, Jorge Borges (Argentina), Vikram Chandra (India), Henning Mankell (Sweden), Janwillem van de Wetering (Holland), Kole Omotosho (Nigeria), and Soji Shimada (Japan). We will pay special attention to the conventions of the form and analyze its evolution as it travels the world. In exploring its global travels, we will attend to a number of issues, including: the changing definition of crime; the evolving representation of the criminal; the changing methods for "solving" the crime; the ideology of justice; the conflicts between community and individuality; and the varying social and national anxieties that the form reveals. DUPLICATE CREDIT WARNING: Students who have received credit for English 0857 will not receive additional credits for this course.

Learn about the major religious traditions found worldwide today: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and several indigenous traditions. Examine the beliefs, practices, and values of these groups in order to understand the worldviews and ways of life of the people who practice them. Our interdisciplinary analysis and interpretation of specific examples of religious experience will help shed light on the overall meaning of religion and human existence. We will carefully consider examples while also focusing on particular thematic issues, like cosmology and ritual. Develop appreciation for the religious vibrancy and diversity that exist in human cultures while you actively engage in the learning process through class presentation, class participation, paper-writing, and a self-selected field trip. NOTE: This course fulfills the World Society (GG) requirement for students under GenEd and International Studies (IS) for students under Core. Duplicate Credit Warning: Students may take only one of the following courses for credit; all other instances will be deducted from their credit totals: Religion 0863, 0963, 1101, C053, Asian Studies 0863, Critical Languages 0863, or Philosophy 0863.

A literary and cultural exploration into the worlds of classical and modern China and Japan. NOTE: (1) No knowledge of Chinese or Japanese expected. (2) This course can be used to satisfy the university Core International Studies (IS) requirement. Although it may be usable towards graduation as a major requirement or university elective, it cannot be used to satisfy any of the university GenEd requirements. See your advisor for further information. In addition to meeting the university Core International Studies requirement, this course meets the Non-Western/Third World IS requirement for Communication Sciences majors.

A literary and cultural exploration into the worlds of classical and modern China and Japan. NOTE: (1) No knowledge of Chinese or Japanese expected. (2) This course can be used to satisfy the university Core International Studies (IS) requirement. Although it may be usable towards graduation as a major requirement or university elective, it cannot be used to satisfy any of the university GenEd requirements. See your advisor for further information.

Topics vary each semester. See advisor for more information.