GLOBAL
STUDIES COURSES
This course introduces students to the reasons for the emergence of a global political economy. Students will examine the basic concepts and vocabulary in the political-economic analysis of globalization such as free trade, international division of labor, neo-liberalism, privatization, structural adjustment, and sustainable development. The course will explore the consequences of changing patterns of transnational economic and governance structures for nation-states, ecosystems, and people's lives. The repercussions of economic globalization on the international and intranational distribution of power will also be examined. Finally, the course will introduce students to the opposition movements that have formed to contest globalization such as those emerging from labor movements, environmentalism, and feminism. (Professors Collins, Molk, Trichur)
GS215 World Regional Geography
This course explores a variety of concepts such as boundaries, cartography, cultural landscapes, diffusion, globalization, hearths, migration, natural resources, place, population growth, scale, supranationalism and urbanization to help you become more geographically literate.
GS222 Asian Political Economy
This is an intensive seminar on the political economy of East Asia, South Asia, Southeast and Northeast Asia, n the contemporary world system. The work in the seminar will involve coming to terms with the geographical and historical rise of East Asia and the newly-emergent city-states and "quasi states" in the region. We will also study the circumstances behind the spectacular socio-economic transformations in China in the 20th century. The related differential geographies of Northeast and Southeast Asia will be approached through the concept of "network power" in the East Asian region. The seminar will also investigate the problematic of nationalism and nation-states in India and Southeast Asia. The nature of the social transformations in South Asia will be mediated through contemporary debates on neo-liberalism, gender, identity, community, and communalism. What are the prospects for East Asia in the new global millennium? What are the prospects for India and South Asia in the 21st century in the context of neo-liberal politics and the withdrawal of the State from the development project? The seminar will use texts, films, and guest speakers to elaborate on contemporary regional perspectives on world capital accumulation and global formation, and the future of social movements in the 21st century global political economy. (Professor Trichur)
GS230 Secrets and Lies: Nationalism,
Violence, and Memory
This course explores the complex,
power-laden, and often painful processes through which nations
come to grips—or fail to come to grips—with their
violent pasts. All national communities are, on some level,
established and maintained through violence; consequently,
the complex question of how to remember (or forget) especially
intense periods of violence is as widespread as the phenomenon
of nationalism itself. The primary task of this course is to
examine these processes through a comparative look at multiple
case studies such as South Africa, Israel/Palestine, Rwanda,
Lebanon, Chile, and the United States. Issues covered include
truth commissions, war crimes trials, reparations, historiographical
debates about violence, and the politics of denial. (Professor
Collins)
GS247 SPTP: Japanese Culture and the West
This course explores, in a creative manner, the dynamics of Japanese
culture, old and new, high and low, within itself and in relation
to other cultures, particularly the West. Its approach is broadly
comparative: it is interdisciplinary, examining the interrelationships
among the different arts and cultural phenomena in Japanese society;
and intercultural, studying the mutual relationships and influences
between Japan and Western countries in modern times. Each topic will
be put in wide historical, religious, social, and artistic contexts,
in search of its contemporary meanings and expressions. The course
is crosslisted with Asian Studies. (Professor Yoko Chiba)
GS247 SPTP: Globalization and Food
This course examines a variety of
key food commodities that are traded today on a massive global
scale.
We look at the evolution of each of these products and the forces
of production, distribution, and consumption that have shaped
them as global commodities. In addition to historical and anthropological
methods of analysis, the course also emphasizes spatial analysis
of contemporary commodity production, trade, and consumption
patterns
on a global scale using Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
technology as a tool. Specific commodities analyzed, which may
vary from
year to year, include: beef, chocolate (cocoa), cod, coffee,
corn, potatoes, rice, salmon, salt, sugar, tea, tobacco, and
wheat.
GS247 SPTP: Migration, Nationalism and Transnationalism
This course focuses on international migration in the context
of restructuring in the contemporary global system. Students
will
gain a global perspective on the nature of migration movements,
why they take place, and how they affect migrating peoples,
as
well as the societies receiving them. Themes include: 1) transnationalism
and new approaches to national identity and citizenship; b)
migration
as a social network-driven process; c) gendered migration; d)
migration and the formation of ethnic minorities. This course
analyzes some of the ways in which transnational movements of
people, goods, and services between particular cities impact
and
transform the relationships between cities and nations. This
course will also explore the political meaning of contemporary
nationalism,
including the politics of identity, embodiment and community,
and the possibilities of new forms of citizenship such as aboriginal
citizenship, sexual citizenship, and cultural citizenship. The
orientation of the course is to approach citizenship from its
constituted others, strangers, outsiders and aliens, and how
space enables the formation of these identities. Particular
emphasis
will be placed on the (trans)formations of Latino identities
in the U.S. due to the processes of colonialisms, nationalisms,
and
postcoloniality. (Professor Chew Sanchez)
GS247 SPTP: Marx's Critique of Political Economy
This seminar engages with some of Marx's many works including
Capital. The questions raised in this seminar related to Marx's
theory of historical and social change, global class struggles
and workers' movements, commodity fetishism, ideology and ideological
state apparatuses, money and credit, limits to capital accumulation,
and the unfolding of different forms of crises in the world economy
and the interstate system. The seminar also engages with recent
critical interventions in the materialist tradition that addres
contemporary global political economy in the context of processes
of globalization. (Professor Trichur)
GS247 SPTP: Introduction to Geographic Information Systems
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is the use of computers
to manage, display and analyze spatial or geographical information.
This course introduces students to the basic concepts, functions,
and applications of GIS. We discuss maps, data sources and management,
and geographic techniques, including global positioning systems,
aerial photography, and satellite imagery. Through a series of
exercises using ArcView software, students explore the analytical
functions of GIS. Each student develops a GIS project with data
appropriate to his/her area of interest. This course is dual
listed with Geology. (Carol Cady, GIS Specialist/Maps Librarian)
GS255 Popular Culture
This introductory course is designed to
introduce students to some key themes in the study of popular
media and debates about the role of media in contemporary societies.
This course gives students an introduction to some methodologies
that are often used to study culture and to apply such theories
and methods of analysis to case studies related to music, sports,
comics, fashion, television, cyberculture, film or advertising.
Emphasis will be placed on the study of various cultural expressions
in non-Western countries as well as ethnic subcultures in the
United States and their complex negotiations with the dominant
culture and their co-resisters in a global/local struggle over
meaning. The main objectives are: (1) understand key theoretical
concepts in the study of media culture; (2) to develop new skills
in critical analysis of products and practices of the cultural
sphere; (3) to become familiar with a variety of media forms
and research techniques; and (4) to analyze the implications
of the
globalization of media. (Professor Chew Sanchez)
GS280 Culture and Ecology
This course introduces the student to the study of human ecology
from a global and intercultural perspective. The texts, lectures
and films are designed to provide an overview and appreciation
of the origins, development and variation of human ecological
knowledge and practices around the world, including foraging,
subsistence agriculture, pastoralism and intensive and industrial
agriculture systems; an introduction to the major concepts and
theories of human ecology; an understanding of the concept of
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and its relationship to
western science especially in the areas of ecosystem conceptualization
and modeling, adaptation and resource use and management; a means
of evaluating the sustainability and potential applications of
indigenous ecological knowledge and practices in contemporary
society. Also offered through Native American Studies and Anthropology.
GS301 Theories of Global Political
Economy
The course focuses on political economy at the global level.
It will explore such questions as: How did the present global
economy emerge? What are its central dynamics and who
benefits and loses from its operations? What can we say
about its future direction? The course will employ a
case study approach to illustrate the ways in which transnational
political-economic
forces affect local political-economies. It will examine
the most significant socioeconomic processes affecting states
and markets in a globalized world, especially the processes of
trade liberalization and trade blocs, democratization and the
erosion of state powers, geopolitical security and insecurity,
technological change, and environmental change. Finally,
in order for students to grasp the relationship between these
global processes and their effects on individuals, communities,
and places, the course will examine the primary social institutions
that manifest, promote, and resist these political-economic changes.
Students will learn of the origins, functions, and impacts
of
transnational corporations, international financial institutions,
transnational trade organizations, and non-governmental social
movement organizations. (Professor Trichur)
GS302 Theories of Cultural Studies
This
course will introduce the growing field of cultural studies through
an examination of its
major
theoretical paradigms, particularly as these bear on the question
of unequal global power relations. Areas of theory to be explored
may include Marxism, critical theory, post-structuralism, feminist
theory and emerging work in postmodernism and post-colonial studies.
Students will explore a range of strategies for "reading" cultural
practices and texts not simply as reflections of reality, but as
political
interventions, expressions of desire, attempts to persuade and producers
of power. Through a combination of theoretical criticism and analysis
of specific materials, students will prepare to undertake independent
research in global studies with an informed understanding of how
cultural
studies challenge and enrich traditional social science and humanities
approaches. (Professors Chew Sanchez, Collins, Gonzalez, Kim)
GS330 Palestinian Identities
More than half a century after their dispossession, the Palestinian
people continue to live a diasporic and tormented national existence.
Despite the high level of media attention paid to this conflict,
decades-old questions remain in the minds of many casual observers:
Who are the Palestinians? Why are they stateless? What do they
want? Why are they so controversial? The purpose of this course
is to examine the multiple and sometimes contradictory ways in
which Palestinians have been and are being defined and redefined
(both by themselves and by others) as a political and cultural
community. To this end, we explore a series of narrative accounts
(novels, memoirs, films) of Palestinian life, both in the diaspora
and under Israeli occupation. (Professor Collins)
GS331 The Sense of Place
This course is an interdisciplinary study of place through the social
sciences and humanities. Cultural studies of landscape and place
incorporate methods, concepts, and perspectives from a number of
academic fields. In this course, we will explore a number of these
fruitful lines of research in order to achieve an appreciation of
place as cultural construction and place-making as an individual
and collective process; a grasp of the basic concepts, literature,
and methodological and theoretical approaches relevant to the study
of place; the skills and support necessary to carry out ethnographic
and cultural studies on sense of place. Also offered as
Anthropology 331.
GS340 Global News Analysis
The United States currently wields a tremendous
amount of cultural and political power on the international scene-yet
Americans are notoriously uninterested in "foreign affairs." Furthermore,
the understanding we have of the historical and cultural contexts
in which these "affairs" take place is often quite shallow, particularly
in the case of so-called "Third World" contexts. In many cases
the knowledge we do have is gained largely through the consumption
of television, newspaper, and (increasingly) Internet reports.
It is essential, then, that we develop the tools necessary to be
critical readers and viewers of the news. In this course, we examine
the production and reception of mainstream foreign news reporting
in the U.S. Through this specific topic, we explore more general
issues concerning ideology, the representation of "other" cultures,
and the role of institutions in defining the bounds of legitimate
knowledge. Extensive previous knowledge of the actual cases discussed
is not required for the course; what is required is an interest
is learning more about them, and, more generally, a desire to be
an active and critical consumer of "the news." (Professor Collins)
GS347 Why Do 'They' Hate 'Us'?
This course explores a range of historical and political perspectives
on the attacks of September 11, 2001. The overarching purpose of
the course is to situate the event itself in several thematic contexts,
including the history of imperialism; the history of US involvement
in the Middle East; the globalization of violence (including "terrorism");
and the role of the mass media in shaping public perceptions of
international conflict. The course is run as a seminar and is reading-intensive.
Students are expected to offer critical presentations of course
materials; to critique one another's oral and written work; and
to engage in semester-long research projects culminating in public
presentations. (Professor Collins)
GS347 SPTP: The Body: Culture and Society
This course explores the politics and power of the body in
society and culture. It considers the roles of medicine, science,
and the media in constructing, managing, and enabling the social
and personal body. Throughout the course, we center the question
of how the body gets raced, gendered, normalized and pathologized.
Cosmetic
surgery is a principal topic through which to examine these
themes, but other body practices – tattooing, piercing, makeup,
etc. – are also considered. (Professor Kim)
GS347 SPTP: Decolonization
The dismemberment of European colonial authority during the twentieth
century led to the emergence of a ‘New World Order’ rooted
in the ideal of the nation state. This course will examine that
global transformation with specific reference to the decolonizing
projects of Britain in India and Palestine; France in Vietnam and
Algeria, and the legacies and tragedies of the European scramble
for Africa, and in particular the Belgian retreat from the Congo.
While acknowledging ‘decolonization’ as a concept of
Western political authority equal consideration will be granted
to the various intellectual discourses that formed the ideological
wing of the anti-colonial independence struggle. Forty years after
empires retreated from their military spheres of influence, other
forms of global domination have emerged and different questions
might now be asked of what precisely did decolonization deliver.
Through this course students will formulate a powerful context
for the current political crises affecting the world in particular
the divisions between India and Pakistan, Israel and Palestine,
the Iraq conflict, Africa, and the savage capitalism governing
South and Central America. (Professor Mitchell)
GS347 SPTP: Women & Globalization
This course examines globalization through
a gender lens, looking at how the processes of economic global restructuring
impact and depend upon certain gender arrangements and ideologies.
We will study how globalization has affected women in their status,
daily lives, politics, communities, opportunities, and migration.
We also explore how globalization has given rise to new forms of
feminist theory, methodology, and activism that challenges assumptions
of commonality among women while forging alliances along class,
race, and community lines in addition to gender. We examine how
inequalities for women have both expanded and changed under globalization
on the basis of race, class, sexuality, region and nationality.
We explore what new possibilities for activism and research we can
develop that address and challenges these inequalities. (Professor
Kim)
