The seminar considers how thinkers communicated their ideas in the context of the new forms of power, domination, and surveillance that emerged during the Renaissance and early modern period.  How did rulers, states, and churches regulate intellectual life? How did dissidents and minorities criticize power? How did they circumvent censorship and avoid persecution? How did intellectuals manage to speak truth to power, or to tailor their ideas to the needs of their patrons, helping to construct social hierarchy and cultural hegemony? We will read a selection of authors and genres, including works by Machiavelli, Erasmus, Elizabeth I, Sarra Copia Sulam, Paolo Sarpi, Francis Bacon, and Thomas Hobbes. The close reading of primary sources will be complemented by attention to the technologies through which ideas circulated and the barriers they encountered (print/manuscript/censorship). To facilitate access to rare books and archival material, the entire seminar will be held at the Bancroft Library. During the last month of classes, the seminar will host Filippo De Vivo (https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/people/professor-filippo-de-vivo), Chair of Italian Culture at Berkeley in Spring 2026, who will share his work on power and communication, considering forms of propaganda and control, and also the arts of communicative resistance by subaltern groups.

Instructors: Diego Pirillo and Kinch Hoekstra

Are you interested in, or even just curious about, earning a PhD in political science or a related
field? Great! Berkeley’s Political Science Department is thrilled to announce a new initiative to
help undergraduate students learn about pursuing a PhD in political science.

This initiative is designed to help students learn about what it means to earn a PhD in political
science and how to prepare for and apply to PhD programs. The goal is to build a community of
undergraduate scholars who will be connected with each other and with faculty and graduate
students at Berkeley. Students will learn about political science research, ways to prepare to be
a competitive PhD applicant, and receive support and advice on the application process.

The program is open to students who are in at least their second year of college studies. The
program is focused on helping students from historically minoritized or underrepresented
groups, including but not limited to, non-cis-gendered individuals, members of the queer
community, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), Latinx, individuals who are
differently abled or who experience disability, first-generation college students, and those from
low-income / low-resource backgrounds.

Students who are selected for the program will participate in a series of workshops throughout
the semester, will be advised on pursuing research opportunities as an undergraduate, and will
have the opportunity to receive mentoring from graduate students and faculty. Students may
earn one credit unit for completing the program.

Apply here: https://forms.gle/ehn3S2oxCrgynAeWA

Applications will be accepted throughout the enrollment phases, with applications received by October 20th will be prioritized for the 1st enrollment phase, and applications received by November 14th evaluated for phase 2.

The faculty director for the program is Ryan Brutger (brutger@berkeley.edu).

192 is an elective course only.  It does NOT count as a requirement for the major.