Over the last 75 years, the U.S. military has been used as a foreign policy cudgel in an often inexplicable fashion, making our country appear imperialistic, hypocritical, and erratic. The results are embarrassing—the world’s most powerful military has not won a war since 1945, has destroyed numerous societies, created millions of refugees, spawned disdain for our policies, and created many enemies who will seek payback for U.S. hubris. We will look at case studies of American foreign policy fiascos that have eroded the reputation of America around the world. Learn more.

This course will be comprised of lectures by and interviews with SCOTUS watchers including the author of Supreme Inequality Adam Cohen, Berkeley School of Law dean Erwin Chemerinsky, Berkeley Journalism professor Cynthia Gorney, journalist Emily Bazelon, Berkeley Law professor Catherine Fisk, civil rights and immigration lawyer Ira Kurzban, and Berkeley Chancellor’s Professor of Law Bertrall Ross. We will explore the Court’s potential impact on key areas such as religious freedom and reproductive, workers’, and immigrants’ rights. We will listen to some of this term’s oral arguments, read a few briefs, and discuss the most important cases currently on the docket. Learn more.

In this survey course about issues affecting Native peoples, we will discuss historical events such as the assimilation era and its devastating policies of allotment and Indian education; the shift toward the Indian New Deal and its decriminalization of Native identity and strengthening of Native government; the backsliding into the destructive federal policies of termination and relocation, which utterly transformed Native communities; the response to termination by Red Power activists, and, beginning in the 1970s and continuing into the present, the era of Native sovereignty and self-determination. Learn more.

In this time of isolation, when we are not seeing those we love — children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, old and good friends — we have all thought about what each of these significant people mean to us. The last third of our lives is the perfect time to conceive of letters, poems, artwork, and even lists that evoke the meaning of these relationships. Legacy letters tell the story of our important relationships so that long after we’re gone, our beloved relatives and friends will have something from us. Create your own legacy letter, portrait, poem, or notes to initiate a keepsake for others that will be your gift to them and to yourself. Learn more.

During this period in America, great cities sprung up in the east, vast lands in the west were opened to millions of pioneers, and many came to see “the good life” as theirs for the taking. All this came at a price: Native Americans were pushed out of their traditional lands, a brutal slave empire grew in the south, and the forests east of the Mississippi were largely destroyed. In this lecture course, we will trace the impact of several key players: Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster, John Q. Adams, and slave-rebels Nat Turner and Cinque. Learn more.

This course continues the journey into the string quartet repertory begun in the “The Classical String Quartet.” We will explore works by early, middle, and late Beethoven, as well as quartets by Brahms, Dvořák, Debussy, and Ravel. We will discuss the influence of romanticism on the genre’s style and the changes that came about when the pieces were intended for public performance rather than private enjoyment. Note: Registrants need not have taken “The Classical String Quartet” to fully engage with this course. Learn more.

What role, if any, should religion play in politics? From the French system of the separation of church and state to the Vatican City’s complete synthesis of the (Catholic) church and state, or from Indonesia’s Muslim-majority secular democracy to the Islamic Republic of Iran, there are a seemingly endless array of ideas and examples of how to relate religion and politics. Where does the relationship work best? Where does it fall apart and even lead to violent conflict? Using examples from around the world and a broad selection of world religions, this course will try to answer the eternally vexing question of when, if ever, politics and religion can fit together. Learn more.

We often speak of conspiracy theory as an ominous, metastasizing force in modern history, but what exactly does this term mean? This class defines the phenomenon, sets it apart from mere theorizing, and follows it through four distinct historical eras — from the Crusades to the present — showing how particular conspiracy theories reflect the history of their times. We’ll explore the social and psychological roots of this idea system, the sources of its power, and the underlying mythic structure common to all conspiracy theory. Learn more.