BISR Fall Term 2026 - Brooklyn Institute for Social Research

BISR

BISR Fall Term 2026

October Courses

The Counter-Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Critique of Reason
Michael Stevenson
Tuesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Philosophy
The Future of Palestine: Imagining Liberation (In-Person)
Suzanne Schneider
Tuesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
Simone de Beauvoir: Existentialism, Phenomenology, Feminism
Theodra Bane
Sunday, 2:00-5:00pm ET
  • Feminism
  • Philosophy
The Black Panther Party: Revolution, Repression, and Black Radical Politics (In-Person)
Nara Roberta Silva
Tuesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • African-American studies
  • politics
  • Sociology
Reading Sianne Ngai: Aesthetics, Emotions, and Capitalism
Rebecca Ariel Porte
Wednesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • aesthetics
Reading Sianne Ngai: Aesthetics, Emotions, and Capitalism (In-Person)
Rebecca Ariel Porte
Monday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • aesthetics
The Book of Job: Punishment and Reward
Heather Ohaneson
Monday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Philosophy
Lesbian Politics: Sex, Difference, and Domination (In-Person)
Hannah Leffingwell
Monday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
Thomas Bernhard: the Arts Trilogy
Lauren K. Wolfe
Wednesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Literature
Thomas Bernhard: the Arts Trilogy (In-Person)
Lauren K. Wolfe
Tuesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Literature
The Mexican Revolution
Geo Maher
Thursday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
Andrea Dworkin: Sex, Power, and Politics (In-Person)
Robyn Marasco
Wednesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Feminism
  • politics
Why did Plato Write? Philosophy, Dialogue, and Dialectic
Bruce King
Thursday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
The Political Economy of the Soviet Union
Olena Lyubchenko
Thursday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • History
  • Marxism
  • Political Economy
Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master and Margarita
Ruth Averbach
Monday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master and Margarita (In-Person)
Ruth Averbach
Wednesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
Fascist Aesthetics: Beauty, Violence, and Spectacle
Audrey Nicolaides
Wednesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • aesthetics
  • Critical Theory
  • fascism
Decolonizing the Human: an Introduction to Sylvia Wynter
Asma Abbas
Sunday, 1:00-4:00pm ET
  • Black Studies
  • Post-colonialism
Introduction to Kierkegaard: Existentialism, Faith, and Death
Michael Stevenson
Thursday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Philosophy
  • religion
Clubland: New York City Nightlife and Dance Culture (In-Person)
Andy Battle
Wednesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Art History
  • Cultural Studies
  • Urban Studies
Horror Film: Genre, Transgression, and Terror
Isi Litke
Wednesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
Horror Film: Genre, Transgression, and Terror (In-Person)
Isi Litke
Sunday, 2:00-5:00pm ET
Gothic Feminism: Repression, Transgression, and Rage
Jessie Kindig
Tuesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Feminism
  • Feminist Theory
  • Literary Theory
Gothic Feminism: Repression, Transgression, and Rage (In-Person)
Jessie Kindig
Monday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Feminism
  • Feminist Theory
  • Literary Theory

November Courses

Maurice Merleau-Ponty: Philosophy, Phenomenology, and the Body
Michael Stevenson
Tuesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Philosophy
The Sublime: Aesthetics, Terror, and Pleasure
Rebecca Ariel Porte
Monday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Art Theory
  • Philosophy
Care Work: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Adriana Garriga-López
Tuesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
What is Participatory Democracy? Theory, Activism, and Power
Nara Roberta Silva
Tuesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Political Theory
  • politics
The Subway: Urbanism, Infrastructure, and Social Life
Andy Battle
Tuesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • History
  • Sociology
  • Urban Studies
The Subway: Urbanism, Infrastructure, and Social Life (In-Person)
Andy Battle
Wednesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • History
  • Sociology
  • Urban Studies
Critical Theory and the Now: an Introduction to the Frankfurt School
Audrey Nicolaides
Monday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Critical Theory
  • Marxism
  • Philosophy
Critical Theory and the Now: an Introduction to the Frankfurt School (In-Person)
Isi Litke
Wednesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Critical Theory
  • Marxism
  • Philosophy
Hannah Arendt: The Origins of Totalitarianism
Orlando Reade
Monday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Philosophy
  • Political Theory
Ruth Wilson Gilmore: Race, Capitalism, and Incarceration
Theodra Bane
Sunday, 2:00-5:00pm ET
Aristotle and the Poets: Truth, Fiction, and Tragedy
Bruce King
Laura Slatkin
Thursday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Classics
  • Philosophy
  • Poetics
Queer NYC: After Stonewall (In-Person)
Hannah Leffingwell
Wednesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
Artistic Realism: From Representation to Revolution
Eli Zadeh
Wednesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Art History
  • Cultural History
Annie Ernaux: Shame and the Politics of Memory (In-Person)
Danielle Drori
Tuesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
Andrei Tarkovsky: the Poetics of Cinema (In-Person)
Ruth Averbach
Tuesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
King Lear: Madness, Sovereignty, and Crisis (In-Person)
Jude Webre
Thursday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • History
  • Literature
  • Political Theory
Gershom Scholem: Mysticism and the Philosophy of History
Yitzhak Lewis
Sunday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Religious Studies
Thomas Mann: The Magic Mountain (In-Person)
James Wagner
Monday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
Museums: a Critical Introduction
Türkan Pilavci
Wednesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
Family Policing: Welfare, Surveillance, and Abolition
Sophie Lewis
Sunday, 2:00-5:00pm ET
Tragedy and Decolonization: From Pessimism to Emancipation
Alberto Toscano
Wednesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Classics
  • Literary Theory
  • Marxism
  • Political Theory
  • Post-colonialism
Femme Politics: Freedom, Affect, and Eros
Sophie Lewis
Wednesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
Stoicism: a Philosophical Introduction (In-Person)
Robbie Howton
Monday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
Bach: Music and Transcendence
Nathan Shields
Sunday, 2:00-5:00pm ET
  • Music

September Courses

Proust in Time: Time Regained
Rebecca Ariel Porte
Monday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Literature
Every Cook Can Govern: an Introduction to C.L.R. James
Nara Roberta Silva
Tuesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
Late-Capitalist Architecture
Isi Litke
Tuesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Architecture
  • Political Economy
Late-Capitalist Architecture (In-Person)
Isi Litke
Monday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Architecture
  • Political Economy
Master/Slave: Hegel and Beyond
Audrey Nicolaides
Wednesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Philosophy
  • Political Theory
Taxes: Law, Finance, and Inequality
Jenny Logan
Sunday, 2:00-5:00pm ET
  • Legal Studies
  • Political Economy
Gender, Sex, and Performance: an Introduction to Judith Butler
Hannah Leffingwell
Wednesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Feminism
  • Feminist Theory
  • Queer and Gender Studies
  • Queer Studies
Gender, Sex, and Performance: an Introduction to Judith Butler (In-Person)
Hannah Leffingwell
Monday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Feminism
  • Feminist Theory
  • Queer and Gender Studies
  • Queer Studies
State, Power, and Democratic Socialism: an Introduction to Nicos Poulantzas
Rafael Khachaturian
Tuesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Marxism
  • Political Theory
Pop Art: Culture, Consumption, and the Postmodern
Hannah Gadbois
Wednesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • aesthetics
  • Art History
Philosophy and War
Alberto Toscano
Wednesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Philosophy
  • Political Theory
David Lewis: Nature, Time Travel, and Possible Worlds (In-Person)
Robbie Howton
Tuesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Philosophy
Attention and Distraction: Religion, Philosophy, and the Good
Liane Carlson
Tuesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
Literary Translation: the Location of Meaning (BISR Practicum)
Lauren K. Wolfe
Wednesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • BISR Practicum
African American Literature in the 21st Century: Race, Aesthetics, and Theory
Joseph Earl Thomas
Sunday, 2:00-5:00pm ET
  • African-American studies
  • Cultural Studies
  • Literary Theory
  • Literature
Reading the Iliad
Bruce King
Laura Slatkin
Thursday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Classics
  • Literature
Reading the Iliad (In-Person)
Bruce King
Friday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Classics
  • Literature
Truth and Beauty: Kant’s Critical Aesthetics
Michael Stevenson
Tuesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • aesthetics
  • Philosophy
Mike Davis: City of Quartz
Andy Battle
Tuesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Political Economy
  • Urban Studies
Mike Davis: City of Quartz (In-Person)
Andy Battle
Monday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Political Economy
  • Urban Studies
Introduction to Marxist Economics
Lygia Sabbag Fares
Thursday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Economics
  • Political Economy
Creative-Critical Writing: Imaginaries (BISR Practicum)
Paige Sweet
Miranda Trimmier
Tuesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
Sigmund Freud: Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (In-Person)
Danielle Drori
Tuesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
  • Psychoanalysis
Solarpunk: Theory, Fiction, and Radical Futures
Theodra Bane
Sunday, 2:00-5:00pm ET
  • aesthetics
  • Ecology
  • Literature
  • Science Fiction
  • Technology
Deleuze and Guattari: Anti-Oedipus
Robyn Marasco
Thursday, 6:30-9:30pm EST
  • Marxism
  • Philosophy
  • Psychoanalysis
Deleuze and Guattari: Anti-Oedipus (In-Person)
Robyn Marasco
Wednesday, 6:30-9:30pm EST
  • Marxism
  • Philosophy
  • Psychoanalysis