For registration deadlines and term dates see the Rutgers Camden Academic Calendar.
SUMMER 2026
Conceptual Art: Strategies and Movements
56:606:552 (H, CA), 4-week course running July 20 to August 12
Elizabeth Demaray
In sentences 2 and 3 from Sentences on Conceptual Art, Sol LeWitt states: “Rational judgments repeat rational judgments. Irrational judgments lead to new experience.” In this class, we will create artistic works and learn about the nature of innovation by tracing the dematerialization of the art object through the history of Western art in the twentieth century. Some of the conceptual strategies we explore include recontextualization, generative processes, frottage, performative actions, and site-based intervention. You will also learn how to write critique statements, give online presentations on current and historical works, and present your own projects within a formal critical structure. More information here.
An Immersion into Experience: Writing from Life
56:606:563 (H, CA), 4-week course running May 26 to June 18
Lauren Grodstein
This course is designed to allow students to plumb their own lives for subject matter for short stories or essays. The four subjects we’ll tackle are childhood, travel, grief, and work, but these subjects are broad enough that they welcome other topics into their scope. For instance, when considering travel, we might think about food, international norms, or the sad state of the airline industry; when we write about work, we might write about our houses, our hobbies, our loves. Each unit contains a lecture, several mandatory readings, a few suggested readings and/or videos (which are designed to help inspire you to write your weekly submission), and a mandatory discussion forum, in which you must respond to the readings and to one another’s posts). Graduate students are responsible for one six-nine page submission weekly, and undergraduates are responsible for four-seven page submissions.
Evil
56:606:582 (H, PR), 6-week course running July 6 to August 12
John Wall
Examines the phenomenon and meaning of evil, especially “moral” evil. Key questions pursued are how evil may be explained, why humanity is capable of It in the first place, whether it belongs to some or all people, how to differentiate its perpetrators and its victims, whether evil is compatible with the existence of a good God, and how one may judge the difference between evil and good. These and other fundamental questions are pursued through a wide range of classic, historical, and contemporary texts and in relation to examples of evil in today’s world.
FALL 2026
Introduction to Graduate Liberal Studies
56:606:500
John Wall and Tina Crafton
This required course introduces students to the theory and practice of liberal studies. The first half explores different ways of understanding the core liberal studies concept of interdisciplinary critical thinking, including historically, cross-culturally, and contemporarily. The second half develops resources for engaging in liberal studies in practice, including academic research, crossing disciplines, and effective writing. By the end of the course, students will have gained a deep understanding of the aims of liberal studies, ideas about how these connect to their own interests, and concrete approaches for succeeding in the program.
Note that up to and including Spring 2026 this was a 1-credit course on research and writing; starting in Fall 2026 it became the 3-credit course above.
Modern World Literature
56:606:544 (H, CA)
Rafey Habib
A culturally diverse study of major trends in modern literatures. We will read poems and short stories in the Western tradition, including works by T.S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf, and Borges, as well as feminists from Eastern traditions (Fatima Mernissi), and works by so-called “postcolonial” and postmodern authors in African and Arab traditions and those of the Indian subcontinent. We will look at these writers in their literary and social contexts to see what light they can throw on some of the dilemmas – of racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, and imperialism – facing our world today.
World Music
56:606:545 (H, X, CA)
Lindsay Sparks
World Music is designed to visually and aurally introduce the student to a variety of musical traditions from around the global, thereby giving the student a footing in ethnomusicology—the study of music and it’s relationship to history, culture, sociology, and anthropology. This course explores traditional, ceremonial, and popular music from Sub-Saharan Africa, India, Asia, the Middle East, Indonesia, Latin America, North America, and Europe. Students should develop not only a working knowledge about music, but also the ability to discuss musical happenings and relate music to a variety of cultural events.
Philosophy and Film
56:606:578 (H, PR)
Ed Young
Films offer perspectives on how life is experienced and on how it might be experienced from a perspective other than one’s own. As such, they can be seen as reflections on the importance of the ideas they represent. In virtue of their popularity, they are one of the primary means through which our society engages these ideas. Our course is dedicated to philosophical reflection on these representations and engagements. Using films as representations of thought experiments, we will analyze Hilary and Jackie for its implications regarding relativism and truth, The Matrix and Inception as illustrations of skepticism, Memento and Moon for factors that complicate our the issue of personal identity, I, Robot for its exploration of artificial intelligence, and Minority Report for its representation of the conflict between free will and determinism.
Race, Politics, and Religion
56:606:588 (H, X, PR, AS)
Nicholas Johnson
This course examines how religion shaped the political and racial priorities of American history. Topics include the role and definition of civil religion, the early struggles with defining the role of religion in a new republic, the impact of slavery, and more contemporary topics like religion in the Civil Rights era and the rising threat of white Christian nationalism.
Culture Wars
56:606:635 (H, X, AS)
Maxwell Burkey
This course invites students to think critically about the intersection of culture and politics in America. Calls for greater civility and cool-headed policy analysis abound in American public discourse, yet our politics remains engulfed in rancorous “culture wars” that frustrate our best hopes for national unity and reasoned consensus. What makes American politics irreducibly cultural? In what ways are political disagreements anchored to prior cultural commitment? And does this cultural underpinning of American politics imperil or enable our democracy? Is “culture war” a healthy component of democratic contestation, or evidence of democracy’s fracture? Though “culture war” is a perennial phenomenon, we will grapple with these contested questions in the context of contemporary life, with particular attention to the fragility of American democracy. We will begin by examining four dominant strands of cultural politics in America: the liberal tradition, the paranoid style, counterculture, and civil religion. With this grounding in canonical “cultural readings” of American politics in hand, we’ll interrogate a variety of ongoing “culture wars,” such as those in the arenas of education, patriotism, the family, identity politics, free speech and cancel culture, the urban-rural divide, climate change and public health, immigration, affirmative action and racial justice, gun control the second amendment, gay marriage, transgender rights, abortion and reproductive rights, and antisemitism, anti-Zionism, and Islamophobia.
Positive Psychology: On Happiness and the Good Life
56:606:668 (S, HW)
Eric Zillmer
Positive Psychology is the study of human potential and the outcomes of positive behavior. It looks at strengths rather than faults, with the goal of improving lives by focusing on what works instead of what does not. As an applied course, the approach will include real world examples to highlight the various concepts related to positive psychology. Each week, students will take a look at different aspects of life – work, home, social, cultural, and media-related – to better understand what it means to thrive using positive psychology principles. It is certain to be an interesting and thought-provoking course that will have students thinking differently about their approach to life.
SPRING 2027
Introduction to Graduate Liberal Studies
56:606:500
John Wall and Tina Crafton
This required course introduces students to the theory and practice of liberal studies. The first half explores different ways of understanding the core liberal studies concept of interdisciplinary critical thinking, including historically, cross-culturally, and contemporarily. The second half develops resources for engaging in liberal studies in practice, including academic research, crossing disciplines, and effective writing. By the end of the course, students will have gained a deep understanding of the aims of liberal studies, ideas about how these connect to their own interests, and concrete approaches for succeeding in the program.
Note that up to and including Spring 2026 this was a 1-credit course on research and writing; starting in Fall 2026 it became the 3-credit course above.
Greek Mythology
56:606:546 (H, CA, PR)
Katie Lantzas
Greek mythology has had a profound impact upon culture and language. We refer to these myths when we use terms such as Herculean task, narcissism, a Trojan virus, tantalizing aroma, and many more. From their original debuts to more current cinematic productions, Greek mythology has transcended boundaries, inspiring centuries of creativity and critical thought. In this class, we explore a broad range of myths and their underlying messages through the lenses of history, archaeology, psychology, and sociology. We discuss significant themes and archetypes and identify a few of the many ways in which these stories continue to have an impact on our culture.
Multi-Genre Writing Workshop
56:606:564 (H, CA)
Lauren Grodstein
This course explores the creation and revision of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Students will read poems, personal essays, and short stories to help develop their own creative processes while generating new work across each genre. Using writing prompts and exercises, students will produce both short and long-form original work and respond to one another’s writing in a workshop format.
Gods and Monsters: Understanding Power
56:606:583 (H, PR)
Greg Salyer
We experience power in some form everyday, yet we rarely think critically about the role it plays in our lives. Gods and monsters symbolize the extreme poles of our understandings of power and thus serve as instructive benchmarks for this interdisciplinary exploration. The course approaches the study of power from theoretical (e.g., philosophical, political, sociological, and historical), literary, and artistic perspectives and applies these understandings to issues in the public sphere. Some of the questions we will ask include: How are gods and monsters made and what cultural functions do they serve? What is power? How is it created, maintained, and distributed? How does power change? How is power gendered? Readings will include religious analyses of anthropomorphism, Freud on religion the Id, Medieval literary criticism on monsters, Nietzsche on the will to power and Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Michel de Certeau on belief, Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, the Book of Job, 1984, The Handmaid’s Tale, Ceremony, and various articles on the social construction of gender.
Psychology of Religious Beliefs, Values, and Symbols
56:606:586 (H, S, PR, HW)
Stuart Charmé
Religion remains one of the most puzzling aspects of human behavior for psychologists to explain, since it involves some of the strongest and strangest beliefs, values, emotions, and experiences that people have. This course will explore a variety of theories intended to show possible psychological interpretations for belief in God, prayer and rituals, religious myths and symbols, and altered states of consciousness involved in phenomena such as mysticism, near-death experience, possession, and apparitions. We will analyze the work of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Erich Fromm, and others.
Riots, Rebellions, and Revolutions
56:606:618 (S, X, WH)
Steve Snow
The course analyzes several types of political violence, on the micro and macro levels. We begin by focusing on riots, which are divided into the “senseless” and “political.” Often looting accompanies rioting, which tends to make genuine political grievances (which may be racist and xenophobic) seem like senseless violence. The classic example of grievance-based group violence is the slave rebellion, of which we analyze several examples. Pogroms—a type of riot in which the state is complicit—which involve persecution of religious or racial minorities, and we compare European, American and South Asian examples. In the US, racial pogroms, and the riots of the 1960s, were an important cause of the rise of militant African-American groups such as the Black Panthers, the revolutionary trajectory of which we discuss in some detail. Finally, we analyze socialist revolutions in theory and practice, paying especial attention to the Cuban and Nicaraguan revolutions. We aim to understand some of the most important causes of these events, and analyze the ideologies and other factors that inspired the participants.
Sickness and Health in American Culture
56:606:665 (H, X, AS, HW)
Cornelia Lambert
This course considers the development of uniquely American attitudes to sick and well bodies from the Early Republic to today. Using texts and imagery, we’ll think about our cultural attitudes towards aspects of the modern body, including weight-gain (or loss), disability, beauty, aging, cuteness, and diet / fitness regimens. What assumptions do we make about bodies that look a certain way? What are the historical and cultural roots of these assumptions?
SUMMER 2027
New Media Art
56:606:551 (H, CA)
Elizabeth Demaray
This class is dedicated to advancing the conceptual and practical uses of digital media in a fine arts context. Focused on a nexus of theory and studio-based work, the course utilizes much of the technology already available in our day-to-day lives to make video art, mash-ups, interactive media and web based artworks. New Media Art also offers the opportunity to actively participate in the innovations that are the hallmark of this new medium while tracing the historic significance of computing, hacktivism and shared interfaces. Students need no prior background in art to take this class.
Media in American Culture: From Photography to the Internet
56:606:554 (H, AS, CA)
Cori Hall Healy
This course examines the role media plays in the formation of American culture. We will discuss how photographs, television shows, films, and the internet define national narratives regarding class, race, and gender. Using discussion boards, guided viewings, and lectures, students will learn how to analyze media artifacts in reference to political and cultural theories.
Fiction Workshop: Methods of Fiction
56:606:562 (H, CA)
Lauren Grodstein
Methods of Fiction is a workshop designed for every writer – from novice to well-practiced – interested in strengthening his or her short stories and novels. We will investigate the foundations of fiction: character, plot, dialogue, and setting, and practice by submitting our own short works. We will complement our writing with the discussion of memorable contemporary short stories.
FALL 2027
Coming soon!