The class was heavy and quite hard to follow as an upper class. Since I am not art history major, the topic was hard to understand with lots of specific terms. Be aware of pop quiz and do the readings carefully. The final exam was hard in which she will test you on specific image explained in class. DON'T TAKE THIS CLASS!

I've had Swati twice now, and both courses have literally changed the way I see the world. She is brilliant in explaining colonial and capitalist theory/critique and relates it all to urban planning and public/domestic architecture. She might seem intense at first, but I came to love it. Has lots of office hours and the reader has great articles

genuinely one of the worst classes i've taken in college. you can barely understand her and half of the words that she uses to describe architecture in her lectures are in her native language like bruh how I am supposed to know what that means. this class was sooo boring and section was too. if u need a GE do NOT take her.

Don't take, very inconsistent and all over the place. Multiple assignments were graded, then randomly regraded multiple times, taking points off. Expectations for assignments and tests are not clear. Nightmare professor. Responds to emails rudely.

Overall, a great, knowledgeable professor. Very clear grading criteria. Attendance is mandatory. Lectures are interesting, and readings are very supplemental to the in-class material. Very organized class structure.

She is the hardest grading teacher I have had at UCSB. TAs will grade something, then she regrades it with a lower grade with no explanation. She tests on specifics, rather than concepts, which is reflected in her lectures, which are not interesting or engaging. She is not a bad teacher necessarily, but she is just not good at explaining things.