This graduate-level seminar explores a variety of strategies for data collection and analysis, focusing on those that use empirical evidence but do not require quantifying data. This seminar is a survey course, designed to cover a wide range of methodologies; it does not provide intensive training in any single approach. The course is designed as a site of intellectual practice; while we will focus on technique, the seminar is less a “how to” step-by-step guide, and more a space to discuss what makes compelling scholarship.

Comparative politics is the study of a wide range of concepts -- governance, participation, equality, violence, and culture -- in a systematic way. By the end of the semester, students will be able to: articulate and critically assess the principal concepts examined in the study of comparative politics; describe variation in political institutions and outcomes around the world, drawing on historical and contemporary examples; and evaluate competing hypotheses about political phenomena in specific real-world cases.

This course examines the questions that political scientists ask, the range of methods they use to answer those questions, and the genres of communicating what they find. By the end of the course, students will be able to: articulate a research question; critically and reflectively consume and produce political science research through building a literature review and analyzing primary data; design and write a methodologically sound research project; and present findings from a research project in written form.

In this course, we will discuss the processes of creating, defining, promoting, and contesting the nation. What makes a nation different from an ethnic group or race? Where do nations and nationalism come from? By the end of the course, students will be able to: articulate and critically assess the main concepts in the study of nationalism and ethnic politics; evaluate academic typologies used to compare and contrast nationalism in different cases; and apply theories about nationalism to explain variation in political outcomes.

This seminar introduces students to empirical and theoretical work in the fields of cultural studies and international relations. Readings international relations to interrogate the role of popular culture, performative arts, and mass media in political life. The course encourages students to integrate theoretical discussion with applied examples, case studies, and analytic writing assignments. Coursework involves a commitment to close reading, debate and plurality in the classroom, and deep exploration of the key concepts in the study of culture and politics. goes here