IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR AN ENJOYABLE, INSIGHTFUL "EASY" GE, TAKE THIS COURSE.

This class is by far my favorite course in the humanities I've taken at UCLA. I'm so happy I took it. The content was SO interesting and the course was really laid back which is what I needed during this stressful remote quarter.

Professor Ingenito is a brilliant professor who really cares about his students and it shows. He's so nice and approachable and he's insanely knowledgeable about the topics in the course, but what mattered to me was that he was able to breakdown complex concepts and gave us the foundation to analyze the works in the class. The first few weeks were like a crash course into sex, gender, and sexuality and a great intro into gender studies if that interests you. Getting the basics down made understanding the context of the texts on Persian love poetry and mysticism so much easier to understand. I feel like this course just generally made me a more informed, well-read human being.

Note: you definitely do NOT need to be Persian to take the class. Most people weren't Persian and didn't speak it, it's all in English. It was so cool seeing all types of people enjoy Persian literature.

The class was a laid back seminar style where we could freely ask questions when needed, and read through poems that we would then further analyze and tie together with important lecture/reading topics.

WORKLOAD:
Really manageable and if you put in effort and show interest, you will get an A.

This class consisted of weekly reports that were ~200 words where you analyzed the texts/made connections to lecture topics. Easy points and great way to master the topics without much stress.
Midterm + Final were both essays with broad topics that allowed you to pick what you were interested in from the course materials covered and use the readings to write about pretty much whatever you were intrigued by.

If you're interested in gender studies, human sexuality outside the Western context, poetry from Sufis like Rumi and Hafez, or even just into art and literature as a whole, TAKE THIS CLASS!

This is the first time I am actually writing a review on Bruinwalk because I absolutely LOVED this professor and this class. Professor Ingenito demonstrates such passion for the subject matter and just wants to see his students engage in the subject material and learn, which is further encouraged by the fact that he offers extra credit for simply attending lecture and participating. He wants his students to focus on learning and not stress about grades so he has made an effort to ensure that it is quite difficult to not do well in this class - all you need to do is show up and actually learn and engage with the course material and you will do well. The course material is also so incredibly interesting and a side of history that I never knew existed. I learned so much in this class and I enjoyed every second. Also, Ingenito is just the purest most wholesome professor I've ever had. He gets so excited about the topics we cover and the insight the students offer. Attending lecture each week and seeing his animated face light up in class really made my quarter. If you are looking for an easy, not to mention incredibly interesting GE with a professor who actually cares about his students, TAKE THIS CLASS. You will not regret it.

For a first time course, this class was beautifully constructed and planned out. The professor knew exactly what he wanted us to learn from this class and took the time to answer any questions we had. He really allowed his students to have a voice, which is very important. All of the readings connected weekly to what we were learning in class. Also, the syllabus was very straightforward.

Ingenito really cares for his students and it shows. He is the sweetest professor ever and if you are looking for an easy GE take this class. I feel like the review above me says it all so I'm not going to repeat much. Both TAs, Atiyeh, and Julie were GOATs. They explaining everything so well and were really nice and chill. 10/10 recommend this class to anyone.

TAKE THIS CLASS!!!!! I am a first-year student and wanted to take some GEs. I'm a STEM major but I would totally take this class again.

Professor Ingenito: You will never find someone as sweet and as passionate as he is! He truly cares about his students and the way his face lights up is the most wholesome thing ever. All he wants is to share his passion for Persian literature with his students. He doesn't care about grades as long as he knows that you understand the materials. He constantly asks for feedback and is so adaptable to his teaching styles to make sure each of his students is doing well.

Workload: Each class he assigns us reading or two for the next lecture and they are so interesting. Most of the time I never read them, I just skimmed through right before class to get a general idea, but almost all of the readings he gave us were something I enjoyed reading. They cover the topics of gender, sex, and love related to Persian poets, their works, and the Iranian government. I basically spent like one hour of work a week on this class.

Grades: The only thing you have to do in this class is to upload a weekly report which is around 200-300 words minimum. All you do is write about what you learned within the past week. That's literally it. The midterm and final are short papers (1,500 words) and on both of them, he asks you to just write a paper connecting the readings that were assigned in the quarter. THAT'S IT!!!!!! It shows just how much he truly just wants you to understand the coursework and general ideas in this class. He also gives extra credit for showing up to lectures.

TAs: Both of the TAs are awesome and you can't go wrong with picking one.

General Takeaway- For my first quarter at UCLA, this was my favorite class. It was nice having a professor that actually knew my name and genuinely cared about me and how I was doing. I loved that this class wasn't so focused on grades, and in all honestly, that led to me learning more because I simply was engaged with learning rather than focusing on making sure I got a good grade. I learned so much from this course and it truly changed my perspective on lots of things.

If you are looking for a very easy, low-workload GE, take this class. Ingenito is chill, but you will learn most of the content from the readings he assigns (about 2-3 research articles a week and/or website articles and media).

I think the other reviews have done a great job of explaining the course structure, but wow. This class was so eye-opening and interesting, and I definitely hope that it is taught in the future. I also hope to take another class with him someday :)