Spring Quarter 2026
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Catalog Descriptions
HUM 002A-001 Global Humanities: Motherhood in Western Culture | Jenny Kaminer
Couse description: How has the “good” or “bad” mother been defined in Western cultures? How has this definition evolved as a result of historical, religious, scientific, and cultural shifts? This course will explore the answers to these questions in works of both nonfiction and fiction by scholars, writers, filmmakers and mothers themselves. We will chart the development of Western maternal mythology and discuss how it continues to inform our perceptions of motherhood in the contemporary era. During the first half of the course, readings will center on the history of motherhood in the West, from the era B.C. to the twenty-first century. In the second half of the course, our attention will turn to the contemporary experience of motherhood, as relayed in works of fiction, nonfiction, and film. We will also examine one of the most enduring maternal myths, that of Medea (the paradigmatic "bad" mother). How does contemporary society continue to imagine the malevolent mother? Finally, using Russia as an example, we will consider the relationship between motherhood and the state. We will analyze how the maternal figure—which occupied a unique and hallowed position in Russian culture—was co-opted by the Soviet government. In our reading and discussion during the second half of the course, we will continue to reflect upon how centuries-old maternal myths still influence cultural representations of motherhood.
HUM 002A-002 Global Humanities: Global Comics | Toby Warner
Comics have long been distrusted for their ability to circulate and manipulate stereotypes, their ambiguous relationship to realism, and the possibility that they offer ‘too much’ pleasure to be taken seriously. In this class we will turn these suspicions on their head by examining how comics artists use an in-between medium – between words and images, between high and popular culture – to engage deeply with the concerns of their times. In readings and lectures, we will explore the history of comics and examine how comics emerged from a long tradition of graphic narratives. We will discover how comics work as a medium and learn to identify and appreciate their formal properties. We will study the social, political and cultural contexts of familiar comics icons such as Superman, Tintin and Wonder Woman and trace how the medium of comics has been reinvented around the world. Throughout the quarter, we will consider how comics have been used to investigate questions of identity, power, sexuality, and history. In studying comics as humanists, we will discover the kinds of questions humanist critics ask and explore some of the different methodologies humanists employ in order to think critically about cultural objects.
