New & Featured Courses

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RELS 105: Religion and Popular Culture in America

Prof. Claire Rostov | TR 4:20-5:40pm | 4 units

Prerequisites: None

Core Requirements: CPUD

Course Description: Religions is not just located in churches and temples, it can also be found online, in sport stadiums, at movie theaters, and in many other unexpected places. In this class, we will analyze the diverse sites in which religion animates popular culture by looking at fashion, music videos, sports, TikToks, advertisements, celebrities, video games, Disney, memes, children's toys, comics, and more. By exploring a variety of examples from different times, places, and religious traditions, we will study how religion intersects with popular culture and what makes it appealing, seductive, and controversial. We will also examine why religious symbols and imagery are so common in popular culture, how religious groups use popular culture, and why popular culture fandoms often resemble religion.

Allegorical image with George Washington

RELS 145: Introduction to American Religions

Prof. Claire Rostov | MWF 10:05-11:00am | 4 units

Prerequisites: None

Core Requirements: CPUD & CPPE

Course Description: To make sense of contemporary American culture and society, we need to understand the crucial role that religion has played in forming and shaping the nation. From the first Native American inhabitants to the early Protestant colonists, from enslaved Africans to Catholic, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim immigrants, we will learn about the influence of religion on various communities throughout American history. By focusing on life in early America, we will consider how Americans have developed, negotiated, and interpreted their religious traditions in new settings and circumstances. Throughout the course, we will pay special attention to how religious debates dovetailed with the pressing social issues of the day, and how religion has alternately served as a vehicle for liberation and venue of oppression.

Protesters in front of the United States Supreme Court building

RELS 202: Sacred Flesh: Bodies, Religion, and Power in America

Prof. Claire Rostov | MWF 11:10am-12:05pm | 4 units

Prerequisites: None

Core Requirements: CPUD

Course Description: Praying, fasting, singing, kneeling, raising hands - all of these are bodily movements that are widely recognized to be "religious." But we often don't think of other bodily practices and experiences such as dressing and tattooing our bodies, or bodily sensations and feelings such as ecstasy and joy, as equally essential to religious life. In this course, we will consider how the human body has been a primary site of religious meaning and contestation in the United States in the past and present. We will investigate how religious traditions have shaped ideas about what bodies are for and which bodies matter by looking at how bodies intersect with state power, legal rulings, medical authority, and assumptions about race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and disability. In doing so, we will consider how and why some bodies have become symbols of purity, while other bodies are deemed dangerous. We will pay particular attention to moments in American history when bodies have become contested terrain in religious debates over issues such as enslavement, missionary projects, religious freedom, and reproductive rights.

SPAN 361: Nature and the Environment in Spanish Literature

Prof. Alberto Lopez Martin | MWF 11:10am-12:05pm | 4 units

Prerequisites: None

Core Requirements: CPRF

Course Description: This course examines the representation of nature and environmental concerns in Peninsular Spanish literature. It focuses primarily on contemporary genres such as climate fiction, neorural narratives, ecopoetry, ecosocial theater, and feminist rural essay, through the works of authors including Jorge Riechmann, Irene Sola, Ana Merino, and Maria Sanchez. The course also considers earlier examples of ecological awareness, from Miguel Delibes in the latter half of the twentieth century to Golden Age writers such as Sor Marcela de San Felix, while critically engaging with genres like pastoral poetry. Students will apply ecocriticism as the main theoretical framework to analyze these diverse literary contributions.

Image caption: Mountain Landscape by Carlos de Haes

Science Courses

PHYS 102: Introduction to Astronomy

Prof. Sabrina Stierwalt | MW 2:50-4:10pm | 4 units

Prerequisites: None

Core Requirements: CPMS

Course Description: A survey of the solar system, stars and stellar evolution, galaxies and cosmology. Are there other Earth-like planets? What happens when stars die? Can you escape a black hole? Will an asteroid impact happen (again)? What is our best defense against climate change?

Physics majors cannot take this course for credit toward the Physics major.

Colorful visualization of an atomic structure

PHYS 106: Relativity, Quanta, and All That

Prof. Alec Schramm | MWF 10:05am-11:00am | 4 units

Prerequisites: MATH 109 or MATH 110 or MATH 114 or MATH 128

Core Requirements: CPMS

Course Description: Our view of the physical world changed radically with the advent and development of relativity and quantum mechanics. This course is an introduction to the scientific and epistemological revolutions of 20th century physics, together with some of the discoveries and technologies which resulted. Specific topics may include: the physical structure of space and time; time dilation and length contraction; the global positioning system; fundamentals of quantum mechanics; quantum entanglement and teleportation; nuclear physics; quarks and leptons; big bang cosmology and the early universe. Students are expected to have a strong understanding of algebra and trigonometry. Not open to students who have completed PHYS 110, PHYS 115, PHYS 125, or PHYS 230; or equivalent.

PHYS 206: Space, Time, and Black Holes

Prof. Alec Schramm | MWF 12:15pm-01:10pm | 4 units

Prerequisites: Physics 110 or 115; Physics 125 or 230; or permission of instructor

Core Requirements: CPMS

Course Description: In 1905, Einstein upended classical notions of space and time with the publication of the special theory of relativity. Ten years later, he published the general theory of relativity, which describes gravity in terms of the curvature of four-dimensional spacetime. This course introduces these paradigm-shifting theories with discussions space and time, mass and energy, cause and effect, and the physics of black holes.

Social Science Courses

ECON 201: Sustainability Lab

Prof. Bevin Ashenmiller | W 4:20-5:45pm | 2 units

Prerequisites: None

Course Description: This class will introduce students to a variety of topics related to sustainability, business management, the circular economy, and secondhand retail using a hands-on approach. The students in this class will run Touchdown Thrift, our on campus thrift store. Opportunities will exist for students to work in all areas related to the store, including inventory, pricing, marketing, stocking, design, finances, and accounting. This class is graded on a Credit/No Credit basis only.

Interdisciplinary Courses

CORE 98: Experiencing Los Angeles Cultures

Prof. Edmond Johnson | Self-directed; no meeting times | 1 unit

Prerequisites: None

Course Description: This course is designed to expose students to some of the many cultures of Los Angeles, a vibrant microcosm of the "complex, interdependent, pluralistic world" of the 21st century described in Occidental College's mission statement. Students may acquire one semester unit of credit for participating in eight off-campus "field experiences." Students will select these from a list of destinations provided by the course instructor and are responsible for documenting each field experiences using Canvas. Students will be required to submit at least two short response papers related to their field experiences. This course is graded CR/NC only. Students may take this course twice, for a maximum of two units being applied toward the degree.

Image of an orchestra playing in Thorne Hall

CORE 99: Experiencing the Arts

Prof. Edmond Johnson | Self-directed; no meeting times | 1 unit

Prerequisites: None

Course Description: This course is designed to expose students to the diverse array of artistic events that are held each semester on the Occidental campus?from musical and theatrical performances to art openings and film screenings and more. To receive credit, students must engage with at least eight arts events during the course of the semester and complete two short reflection papers. Students will select these events from a list available on the course's Canvas page. This course is graded CR/NC and does not fulfill any Core requirements. Students may take this course twice, for a maximum of two units being applied toward graduation.

Courses by Division

Arts & Humanities Courses

RELS 105: Religion and Popular Culture in America

RELS 145: Introduction to American Religions

RELS 202: Sacred Flesh: Bodies, Religion, and Power in America

SPAN 361: Nature and the Environment in Spanish Literature