Phenomenology: The Feel of Lived Experience

The goal of this seminar is to explore the phenomenological method and its relevance for ethnographic and historical research. We will discuss work by Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, Sartre, Levinas, Petitmengin, and others in the philosophical tradition, and work by those in the empirical tradition like James, Jaspers, Parnas and Sass, Hufford, Taves, Radcliffe and others, and read them alongside ethnographic and historical work which sets out to understand subjective experiences like depression, trauma, identity, mysticism, smell and despair. Prerequisite: By instructor consent. Significant work outside of class time is expected of the student in this course.