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Stella Nair
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This class was absolutely amazing for me because I am interested in indigenous American cultures. The fact that I have visited a good number of the sites covered made it even better.
That being said, it requires a fair amount of effort in terms of readings and paying attention in class. Attendance is somewhat mandatory due to the pop quizzes she gives. But she drops quite a few and she never gives them out on guest lecture days.
She and her TAs are fair graders but they are not particularly easy either. She is very helpful and vested in your success in her class, provided you reach out to her during her office hours.
Exam questions are given out ahead of time. There is just a fun paper that accounts for 5% of the overall score; it can be done pretty quickly.
This class was a very tough GE. It requires lots of work and about 50 pages of readings per week. The readings should be done because there are pop quizzes in lecture and you have to site the readings in the midterm and final. Also, there are pop quizzes in discussion so attendance is also mandatory there. Although she posts her slides online, they’re only pictures. Would not recommend if you want an easy GE.
Nair was an easy professor to listen too, her voice is pleasant and she did not inject too much of her own political views into discussions about history. She was a bit critical on tourists, which I thought was unfair because she often generalized them. The pop quizzes were also bothersome but Nair was lenient in giving other opportunities to balance this out, i.e. being present for group discussions. She gives you a study guide for the exams, but it consist of 6 extensive prompts that she chooses from on the day of the test. Thus, if you want to do well, join a study group to help ease the heavy workload! She makes clear how to get a good grade in her class, follow her guidelines and you will do well. Also, for the paper we got to choose an object from Fowler museum to do our essay on, which was a nice break from the norm. Overall the class was very interesting, Nair's lectures were fun to listen to, and most of the readings I enjoyed studying.
This seminar was so much fun and so engaging. We just did weekly discussion posts on slack about the readings that we did, and these posts followed into discussion during seminar. The discussion is framed around the readings so you do have to complete all of them and attend every seminar to receive the best grade. Professor Nair is super engaging and will assist you with any extensions you need or questions you have. If you are going to do the readings and participate in the discussion this is an easy A.
Our only assignment to turn in was the final paper, which is long but is not a research paper, just an exploration of how the texts we covered in class can relate to a building of your choice. Amazing class
Super easy class if you just turn in the assignments. Content is simple to understand and the readings do not need to be closely covered. Discussion attendance is important and small group work is done and turned in during discussion. Papers are assigned with a lot of time to complete them and TAs are super helpful, as well as Professor Nair.
I took this class for an easy GE and because I thought it sounded interesting. I was excited to learn about indigenous cultures, but the textbook was very dry If it had actually described indigenous cultures and their art and architecture, I wouldn't have found it so boring. Instead, it dove into random details in way too much depth (often involving Europeans) rather than describing actual culture. The textbook didn't give a lot of applicable information to the class; the articles Professor Nair provided were more related. It was also frustrating to read because it compiled way too many different indigenous cultures into one book - so much so that it didn't really do a good job of adequately describing any particular one. Because of this, I feel like I didn't really learn a lot. Assignments are graded easily and it's pretty easy to get an A, but the workload was a lot. There were two essays throughout the quarter and the final was also two essays. I'm a decent writer and got A+s on the essays, but I hate writing and was already taking a writing II class. This class was way more writing intensive than expected which made the work far from worth it. I wish I could recommend taking this course because I want people to educate themselves on indigenous history, but sadly I cannot.
I took this class during covid times and it was super chill. Professor Nair is super caring about her students and about the content. The workload was medium. There were just a lot of readings you had to before discussion and sometimes they would be long or difficult. But I managed to get an A- without doing a single one. Her content is extremely interesting and she isn't boring. I like her very much. My TA was also a gem. The reading assignments would help with quizzes and assignments that would take place during the discussion but they were all fairly easy. They care a lot about participation but as long as you watch the lectures you can get an A in this class easily. The essay assignments were also fairly easy. You just have to know a few cultures (ex. Incan or Mayan) very well in order to ace these papers. There were three papers. A midterm, final paper, and a final test(which was just two essays). I loved this class and highly recommend
The workload for this class was somewhat heavy because we had to do long readings each week and watch two hour recorded lectures, which took up a lot of time. You also can't decide to not read the assigned readings because there's a possibility you'll get a pop quiz each week. Depending on the pop quizzes given by your specific TA, the questions can be pretty easy but the time preparing for the quiz is not worth it. Throughout the quarter, we got points for writing two papers and a couple papers for the final exam (which was take-home), which were not too difficult. We also had to post a comment about the readings each week on Slack for participation points. There's a textbook required but you can find a free pdf for it online. Overall, the class wasn't difficult, but the weekly readings were just time-consuming.
This class is my favorite class i've ever taken at UCLA! Even though I took it as GE and am not that into art, it got me so interested in indigenous rights, and prof nair and the book you read for class kind of blew my mind. I wouldn't say it's an easy GE, but if you want to learn about history of indigenous people in the americas, common misconceptions about them, and also the natural spaces around them, HIGHLY recommend. I've never written a bruinwalk review but i had to for this class
I took this class as a GE. The lectures are pretty boring (professor Nair seems nice overall though) and there is in fact a good amount of reading you have to do each week, but I found it manageable and not even that bad. The overall topics are actually quite interesting and there are really only two major assignments (paper 1 and paper 2 which also has a project component). Both essays are honestly really chill because you get to pick what you write about, and I had such a fun time doing the second paper/project (I wrote it on Genshin Impact - yes, the gacha game). If you get a good TA (mine was absolutely amazing but unfortunately she won't be TA'ing next year), the discussions are really fun and engaging as well. The final was okay (an essay on a random city you learned about + short responses on lecture material), but it sort of banks on you having done some reading and paid some attention to lecture. Overall I wouldn't exactly recommend this class especially if you know you won't do the readings (there's pop quizzes) but if you are at least slightly interested and can do at least one 18-ish page reading a week then it should be a relatively free A.
This class was absolutely amazing for me because I am interested in indigenous American cultures. The fact that I have visited a good number of the sites covered made it even better.
That being said, it requires a fair amount of effort in terms of readings and paying attention in class. Attendance is somewhat mandatory due to the pop quizzes she gives. But she drops quite a few and she never gives them out on guest lecture days.
She and her TAs are fair graders but they are not particularly easy either. She is very helpful and vested in your success in her class, provided you reach out to her during her office hours.
Exam questions are given out ahead of time. There is just a fun paper that accounts for 5% of the overall score; it can be done pretty quickly.
This class was a very tough GE. It requires lots of work and about 50 pages of readings per week. The readings should be done because there are pop quizzes in lecture and you have to site the readings in the midterm and final. Also, there are pop quizzes in discussion so attendance is also mandatory there. Although she posts her slides online, they’re only pictures. Would not recommend if you want an easy GE.
Nair was an easy professor to listen too, her voice is pleasant and she did not inject too much of her own political views into discussions about history. She was a bit critical on tourists, which I thought was unfair because she often generalized them. The pop quizzes were also bothersome but Nair was lenient in giving other opportunities to balance this out, i.e. being present for group discussions. She gives you a study guide for the exams, but it consist of 6 extensive prompts that she chooses from on the day of the test. Thus, if you want to do well, join a study group to help ease the heavy workload! She makes clear how to get a good grade in her class, follow her guidelines and you will do well. Also, for the paper we got to choose an object from Fowler museum to do our essay on, which was a nice break from the norm. Overall the class was very interesting, Nair's lectures were fun to listen to, and most of the readings I enjoyed studying.
This seminar was so much fun and so engaging. We just did weekly discussion posts on slack about the readings that we did, and these posts followed into discussion during seminar. The discussion is framed around the readings so you do have to complete all of them and attend every seminar to receive the best grade. Professor Nair is super engaging and will assist you with any extensions you need or questions you have. If you are going to do the readings and participate in the discussion this is an easy A.
Our only assignment to turn in was the final paper, which is long but is not a research paper, just an exploration of how the texts we covered in class can relate to a building of your choice. Amazing class
Super easy class if you just turn in the assignments. Content is simple to understand and the readings do not need to be closely covered. Discussion attendance is important and small group work is done and turned in during discussion. Papers are assigned with a lot of time to complete them and TAs are super helpful, as well as Professor Nair.
I took this class for an easy GE and because I thought it sounded interesting. I was excited to learn about indigenous cultures, but the textbook was very dry If it had actually described indigenous cultures and their art and architecture, I wouldn't have found it so boring. Instead, it dove into random details in way too much depth (often involving Europeans) rather than describing actual culture. The textbook didn't give a lot of applicable information to the class; the articles Professor Nair provided were more related. It was also frustrating to read because it compiled way too many different indigenous cultures into one book - so much so that it didn't really do a good job of adequately describing any particular one. Because of this, I feel like I didn't really learn a lot. Assignments are graded easily and it's pretty easy to get an A, but the workload was a lot. There were two essays throughout the quarter and the final was also two essays. I'm a decent writer and got A+s on the essays, but I hate writing and was already taking a writing II class. This class was way more writing intensive than expected which made the work far from worth it. I wish I could recommend taking this course because I want people to educate themselves on indigenous history, but sadly I cannot.
I took this class during covid times and it was super chill. Professor Nair is super caring about her students and about the content. The workload was medium. There were just a lot of readings you had to before discussion and sometimes they would be long or difficult. But I managed to get an A- without doing a single one. Her content is extremely interesting and she isn't boring. I like her very much. My TA was also a gem. The reading assignments would help with quizzes and assignments that would take place during the discussion but they were all fairly easy. They care a lot about participation but as long as you watch the lectures you can get an A in this class easily. The essay assignments were also fairly easy. You just have to know a few cultures (ex. Incan or Mayan) very well in order to ace these papers. There were three papers. A midterm, final paper, and a final test(which was just two essays). I loved this class and highly recommend
The workload for this class was somewhat heavy because we had to do long readings each week and watch two hour recorded lectures, which took up a lot of time. You also can't decide to not read the assigned readings because there's a possibility you'll get a pop quiz each week. Depending on the pop quizzes given by your specific TA, the questions can be pretty easy but the time preparing for the quiz is not worth it. Throughout the quarter, we got points for writing two papers and a couple papers for the final exam (which was take-home), which were not too difficult. We also had to post a comment about the readings each week on Slack for participation points. There's a textbook required but you can find a free pdf for it online. Overall, the class wasn't difficult, but the weekly readings were just time-consuming.
This class is my favorite class i've ever taken at UCLA! Even though I took it as GE and am not that into art, it got me so interested in indigenous rights, and prof nair and the book you read for class kind of blew my mind. I wouldn't say it's an easy GE, but if you want to learn about history of indigenous people in the americas, common misconceptions about them, and also the natural spaces around them, HIGHLY recommend. I've never written a bruinwalk review but i had to for this class
I took this class as a GE. The lectures are pretty boring (professor Nair seems nice overall though) and there is in fact a good amount of reading you have to do each week, but I found it manageable and not even that bad. The overall topics are actually quite interesting and there are really only two major assignments (paper 1 and paper 2 which also has a project component). Both essays are honestly really chill because you get to pick what you write about, and I had such a fun time doing the second paper/project (I wrote it on Genshin Impact - yes, the gacha game). If you get a good TA (mine was absolutely amazing but unfortunately she won't be TA'ing next year), the discussions are really fun and engaging as well. The final was okay (an essay on a random city you learned about + short responses on lecture material), but it sort of banks on you having done some reading and paid some attention to lecture. Overall I wouldn't exactly recommend this class especially if you know you won't do the readings (there's pop quizzes) but if you are at least slightly interested and can do at least one 18-ish page reading a week then it should be a relatively free A.