Karuna Mantena

Grading was a little arbitrary, just make sure you're communicating with your TA. First paper's grade was purposefully deflated but the grading gets easier as the semester goes on.

This was a great class, and I left very satisfied with what I'd learned. Although her lecturing style is a little tangential and boring, you end up pretty much only needing to do the readings in order to do well on the midterm and final. She straight up tells you that she doesn't need content from the lectures on either major exam, so it was pretty easy to just pay attention in discussion and do the readings. She does pop quizzes to test that you've done the readings, but the questions are vague and you can usually answer them even if you've just skimmed the readings. Was a little disappointed she didn't cover more contemporary protests, but we learned a ton about both Gandhi and King.

Readings, two fairly easy short writing assignments (400 words), one essay, two exams (analyzing quotes, IDs, essay). All graded by your TA, so choose wisely. I had Praboda who I wrote a review on.

This class was one of my favorites! The lectures themselves can be a little boring at times, especially since my class was in the Cinema and no computers, but the content is incredibly interesting. She is passionate and knowledgable and loves to talk about her work. She doesn't upload the slides, because they aren't content heavy, but she goes pretty slow, so taking notes is easy. She does give a fair amount of reading, but how close you need to do so is dependent on your TA and they are quite interesting. She sometimes does quick "pop quizzes" on the readings, but often if you even read the titles of them you'll have the answer. The workload is very doable. If you're interested in the content, definitely take it. You will leave with a deep understanding of the subject.

I think it depends on the TA you have because after reading the most recent CULPA review, I thought the grading was going to be harsh. My TA was a fair if not generous grader, so I was able to get an A- without fully reading the texts or absorbing the lecture content. That being said, the readings were interesting and I enjoyed writing the midterm, paper, and final.

The professor often ended her lecture 10-20 minutes before class actually ended so we got to leave early which was super nice. She always made sure to ask if anyone had questions. She is nice and approachable so don't hesitate to go up and talk to her! I left the Political Science major (not because of this class) so maybe I am not the most representative sample but I found the lectures to be a little boring/dry. The professor is not trying to "get" you, so everything is very upfront and made simple. The midterm and final were take-home which was great.

I took Professor Mantena's Politics of Nonviolence this spring. I loved her class and the content of the course itself, but I have to say that if you are an overachiever who will kill him/herself without a flat A in a class, this class is not for you. I have a 4.2 GPA with an Economics-Political Science major at CC and this was my junior year. I did every single reading and completed the take-home exams over the course of the entire week that was given to complete them, yet for every Passage ID, the TA found some sort of reason to take off 0.5-2 points for each one. For both the Midterm and Final Exam, I got 7 and 9 points taken off respectively on just the Passage IDs. As for the comments, it was usually one minuscule piece of detail that I "should have" mentioned that cost me the points. Even with that being said, Professor Mantena is a wonderful, caring professor who is very well-acquainted with the material. However, both TAs, were very strict and frankly unfair with the grading. I talked to one person in the class who got a 80 on one exam, and when we compared our exam content after grades were released, there was pretty much no difference other than the fact that I spoke a lot more in sections. I ultimately finished the class with a B+. My GPA was brought down significantly because of this class. I recommend the course itself but certainly not if you're looking for an ea…

I absolutely enjoyed taking this course. While the course focuses on protest movements at large and considers the moral, tactical and strategic significance of non-violence as a means of political action— you also wind up learning a lot about the histories of the Civil Rights Movement and the Indian Independence Movement. The course encourages you to think critically about political action and protest movements— and we frequently dedicated a lot of time to connect the things we learnt to modern-day protest movements. Take this course even if you don't think you agree with the philosophies of Martin Luther King and Gandhi— because you'll definitely learn to think critically about what it means for an oppressed group to acquire political power/catalyse political change within oppressive institutions. This course changed my worldview, and I absolutely think this is what all Pol Sci courses should be like. Professor Mantena is, without question, one of the most incredible professors that I have had during my time at Columbia. Besides being extremely knowledgeable about protest movements, non-violence as a means of political action, and the historical time periods that the course covers— she is an incredibly kind and empathetic professor. She was one of the few professors that expressed enthusiastic solidarity with the Grad Workers' protests, and she even gave a few TAs the chance…