SAST 2050

It is clear that professor Cohen is passionate in what he teaches. In class we would analyze Indian classical texts and talk about its purpose. For hw he would assign a section for students to read and analyze the text and they would present their findings in class. To be honest, it was quite nerve-recking to present your analysis in front of all the students and this style of learning wasn't listed on the syllabus. If I did know beforehand about this way of engaging, I would have not signed up for this class. However, professor Cohen is so sweet and he makes presentations seems less daunting. We had to write around 3 essays about 5 pages long. A LOT OF WRITING on a very small topic to be honest, but doable!!

Richard Cohen is a fascinating person. One time he showed up to class (a Zoom lecture from his house, indoors) wearing an Indian hat and blanket with no explanation. The man is white. Eccentricities aside, he was very well qualified to be teaching the class. He is clearly an expert on the content. One of the readings we did was from his own translation of the Chandayan. The homework consisted of a few essays scattered throughout the year (four for us, but it was supposed to be five), lots of readings that you could easily get away with not doing, and a couple of short in-class presentations that didn’t require too much preparation, but did require you to do the reading. He agreed to sign the form to make the course fulfill the second writing requirement, even though it wasn’t listed that way on SIS. While it does involve a lot of writing, he grades the essays generously, so you don’t need to be a super skilled writer to do well. He spent a lot of his lectures reading from a word document that he posted online, which was kind of boring, and he grades attendance and participation, so you can’t skip. I somehow got a good grade for participation despite not really participating very much though, so it’s probably fine as long as you show up. I would recommend taking this class with a friend to help pass the time.

Easy class to fulfill requirements but be prepared to be bored out of your mind during lectures. Cohen is a nice person but he is an extremely dry lecturer. The essays are easy grades so don't stress too much. #tCF2020

I thought this class was good to take, as it taught me about really deep and profound Indian classical texts, such as the Rig Veda, Upanishads, Ramayana, and Mahabharata. The only graded work required for this class is 4 papers and 1 final exam paper, but they are pretty doable and Mr. Cohen grades fairly. I got a 95+ on my first three papers, so they are relatively easy to write as long as you do the necessary readings and go to class. The main downside of this class is that I found lectures to be pretty boring. But I do recommend taking the class, as it satisfies three of your requirements: the second writing requirement, humanities, and non-western perspectives.