The final which ended up being extra credit saved my behind. But for the critical memos, I got a B+, and then two A-s. You can write whatever you want but just make sure your argument is backed up with evidence. Also, use the articles in comparison and contrast with one another. Also towards the end, attendance became mandatory for some reason and there was a sign-in sheet.

Ah good ole Panagia. If you have taken PS10 with him you'll more or less know what to expect from his lecturing style. Workload was 3 viewing memos that pertained to a specific set of movies/theories talked about in class, and a final memo which was slightly longer. While he'll provide an overarching topic to discuss in your viewing memos, the grade assigned are totally up to the interpretation of the TAs, so going to at least one office hour to get an idea of what they are looking for is recommended. Furthermore, some of the readings do run more on the dense side (as do in most theory classes), but are needed in writing the viewing memos.

I personally found Panagia's style of lecturing where he'll start with a basic concept and then seemingly pull info/analysis out of nowhere to make a (sometimes) coherent argument quite engaging, but it is definitely not for everyone. As mentioned in other comments, the lectures really don't provide you with an answer in regards to the memos, and will require you to operate in a zone of ambiguity. If you do enjoy writing about theory or in depth analysis of films/politics, this is the class for you.

I stopped going to lectures after the first class, after I realized that all of the assignments are graded by the TA, and if that TA is well-organized, they will explain what they want to see in your paper during discussions. I focused my energy into discussions and often went to office hours with my TA, and I was able to get an A+ on all my papers.

Professor Panagia does such a great job at expanding your world view. He is very passionate about political theory and cares a lot about making sure that you see the world in a different way too. Not going to lie though, his lectures a bit difficult to get through at first especially if you’ve never taken a political theory/philosophy class before. It does get easier the more you expose yourself to the assigned readings though!

I would recommend anyone to take this class if you’re curious about political thinking and willing to go through some dense (but interesting) reading in order to fully understand the material. Also heads up, this is not a contemporary political theory class, its heavily focused on the origins of Western philisophical/political thinking.

Regarding assignments the writing prompts are a bit difficult but the TA’s have been pretty generous this quarter. *Also Rui Zhou is an awesome TA I would totally recommend him!* If you’re not really into reading or writing, or you’re just taking this as a GE, I wouldn’t recommend it unless you are actually interested in philosophy. But if you ARE interested Professor Panagia and the TA’s will do a great job for you.

This class was a super interesting class. Professor Panagia clearly knows what he is talking about and is excited to discuss it with the class, but sometimes he gets lost on tangents and it becomes hard to follow. In addition, the notes he does show are confusing. He is very helpful if you have questions and uses pop culture analogies to better explain the topics. If you take this class, i definitely recommend going to your discussion sessions and really paying attention because the TAs (I had Vanessa Pooudomsak) are very helpful in clarifying. In addition, the TAs give helpful advice for the three main projects due throughout the quarter. Overall, an interesting class, but make sure to really pay attention and find a good group of students to discuss the readings and projects with.

Professor Panagia always started class with meditation which was initially sort of comedic but slowly became a helpful way to focus. It usually only took about 3-5 minutes of the beginning of class. Professor Panagia would always begin lecture immediately after on readings he assigned for the week. Our class was Tuesday's and Thursday's so he would have us submit a page of notes and annotations by 12pm on Tuesday's. In my section (with TA Rui Zhou, AMAZING btw), we would submit a forum post and reply to count as participation for the class since the professor would lecture the entire class time. Professor Panagia's lectures consisted of him talking based off of annotations/notes he took. It sort of got confusing at times but he said very fascinating, interesting things all the time. There isn't any other homework than the notes and annotations, as well as the forum post, other than readings. There were no tests, instead, podcast or essay option each worth 20%, three total. I did all podcasts and got A- on all of them, 100% on the homework which was the remainder of the grade, leaving me with an A. Professor Panagia recorded all of his lectures (as did Rui) and was always dressed so nice for our class. Best professor I have had yet!

Professor Panagia is an amazing professor. I was not expecting to enjoy the content of this class, but he made it fun and interesting. He posted all of the readings on the website so there was no need to buy a textbook. The assignments were adjusted to take the stresses of Covid into consideration, meaning that our 3 essays could take the form of a regular essay, a podcast or a video lecture. My TA (Vanessa) was incredible, very sweet, and was always willing to give me feedback on a draft thesis statement before moving forward with my writing. I was encouraged to write about what interested me rather than sticking directly with the prompt which made the class so much more enjoyable. Would totally take again, a great intro into political theory

Panagia is a great dude. He’s very knowledgeable about the subject and is honestly a king. His lectures are kinda hard to follow, at least through zoom. I got used to it a couple weeks in, but he does say “um” a lot. Otherwise, they’re really valuable lectures and I recommend attending all of them. The readings are sometimes long and convoluted but can be skimmed, or cleared up easily by looking up summaries or videos. The 3 assignments (essays or podcasts, whichever you choose) were actually really fun, and aren’t hard depending on who your TA is and how much they’re willing to help. Naomi is an AMAZING TA; if you can, you should definitely be in her section. Overall, I LOVED this class and felt like I learned so much! Very relevant. Would absolutely recommend it for a GE & poli sci major req.

Panagia is an absolutely amazing professor, I'd very highly recommend him! He's crazy smart and is able to make the very confusing political theory digestible to a new student. At first, this class was very overwhelming, but after time you get the flow of the course and his lecture style. To do well in this class, I'd recommend going to lecture and section and to have someone (a friend or TA) that you can bounce ideas off of. The course content is hard, but if you go to Panagia's lecture and your discussion, you'll do more than fine. Panagia and the TAs are incredibly supportive during COVID/virtual learning. Make an effort and you'll do well in this class. If you can, get Naomi as your TA. She was an absolute gem and I'd recommend her to anyone.

This class was extremely boring, but if you go to lecture and have a good TA it is very manageable. I never did any of the readings and received an A on every paper. The class is basically graded on the three papers and they are very confusing and are given without much direction, so you really have to listen to what your TA wants. There are no finals and no exams, so your performance on these papers really matters.