Elective Courses

Coexistence Program > Master's Program > Curriculum > Elective Courses

The field of intercommunal conflict and coexistence is relatively new. Ideas that currently inform both its theory and its practice are drawn from many areas in the social sciences and the humanities, particularly international politics, sociology, social psychology, history and cultural studies.

Those who are adopting interdisciplinary approaches to their work are undertaking some of the most creative current work in this developing field. Therefore, in addition to the core courses that are obligatory, students are encouraged to take advantage of the wide range of other courses available at Brandeis that focus either on particular areas in conflict or on related issues. Students will make choices from these electives based on their perceived relevance to:

Their own learning needs in relation to the field
The needs of their existing or prospective fields of work
The focus of their master’s field project

The program maintains a list of courses that are preapproved as electives. Students may choose from among these courses, including a language option, or from another course from the Brandeis University Bulletin, provided the student can make a satisfactory argument for the relevance of their choice to the above criteria. Choices will be dependent upon the scheduling of these courses and the agreement of faculty teaching these courses. All course selections and their relevance must be discussed with and approved by the director.

One elective course [which one?] will be offered on a regular basis by the program. This course will be available to students in the program as well as to qualified graduate students and undergraduates from outside the program.

Brandeis Courses Approved as Electives:

Please note that classes may not be offered every year. Please check the Registrar's Web site to see course listings for each semester.

U.S. Focus

AMST 168b American Religious History
Charts the origins and development of the various — and primarily Judeo-Christian — religious movements that have shaped and been shaped by the American experience. Topics include the origins of the Bible Belt, the religious debate over slavery, the black church in America, the social gospel and the difference between fundamentalism and evangelicalism. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Farrelly

SOC 122a The Sociology of American Immigration
Most of us descend from immigrants. Focusing on the United States but in a global perspective, we address the following questions: Why do people migrate? How does this affect immigrants' occupations, gendered households, rights, identities, youth and race relations with other groups? Usually offered every second year.

POL 108a Social Movements in American Politics
Analysis of American mass political movements and their influences on American politics. Topics include the relationship between social movements and interest groups, the evolution of social movements into political parties and case studies of specific political movements. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Kryder

HS 428f Immigrant America
Prerequisite: HS 427f. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
International migration is a preeminently global phenomenon that plays a central role in the formation of multinational societies, especially so in the United States. Its study has become one of the most vital interdisciplinary fields for theory and research. Immigration is a transformative force, producing profound and unanticipated social changes in both sending and receiving societies, in intergroup relations and among the immigrants themselves and their descendants. Immigration is followed predictably not only by acculturative processes on the part of the immigrants, but also by varying degrees of nativism and xenophobia about the alien newcomers on the part of the natives, which in turn shape the immigrants' adaptation. And quintessentially, immigration begets ethnicity-collectivities, who perceive themselves and are perceived by others to differ in language, race, religion, national origin, ancestral homeland, cultural heritage and memories of a shared historical past. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Nguyen

AAAS 114b Race, Ethnicity and Electoral Politics in the United States
Explores the role that racial and ethnic politics play in American political campaigns and elections. Readings provide historical, theoretical and empirical overviews of racial and ethnic politics in four contexts: political parties, presidential elections, congressional campaigns and state legislative contests. Usually offered every third year.
Staff

AAAS 156a The Civil Rights Movement
Explores the civil rights movement through primary readings and films. Includes an assessment of the consequences of the movement and the ongoing controversies over the best ways to achieve equality for black Americans. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

POL 174b Seminar: Problems of National Security
Analysis of the role and utility of military power in international politics. Selected case studies from the last 50 years. Selected topics on post-Cold War military issues, including the spread of weapons of mass destruction, collective approaches to coercion and the role of U.S. military power in world stability. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Art

AMST 169a Ethnicity and Race in the United States
Provides an introductory overview of the study of race, ethnicity and culture in the United States. Focuses on the historical, sociological and political movements that affected the arrival and settlement of African, Asian, European, American Indian and Latino populations in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Utilizing theoretical and discursive perspectives, compares and explores the experiences of these groups in the United States in relation to issues of immigration, population relocations, government and civil legislation, ethnic identity, gender and family relations, class and community. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Davé

COML 108a Creating New Histories and Identities Beyond the Nation: Transnational Female Voices in the U.S.
Readings are in English.
An examination of literature (prose, poetry, memoirs) written by first- and second-generation immigrant women exploring the ways in which the experience of immigration shaped a new identity that at the same time incorporates and rejects national boundaries. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Reyes de Deu

Global Studies

SOC 121b Gender, Ethnicity, and Migration
Explores how immigrants' decisions to migrate, their new household set-up, identities, transnational ties,and the second-generation's fates are gendered. How do these gendered phenomena vary within and across racial/ethnic groups? A "sociological imagination" is used to address these issues. Usually offered every third year.

ANTH 129b Global, Transnational, and Diasporic Communities
Examines social and cultural dimensions of globalization from an anthropological perspective. Topics include the impact of global capitalism upon indigenous communities, global forms of popular culture and consumerism, transnational migration and diasporas, changing inequalities and gender systems, global sexual cultures and the AIDS pandemic. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Lamb

POL 147a The Government and Politics of China
Introduction to major themes of Chinese politics, emphasizing the rise of the Chinese Communists and the post-1949 trends in domestic politics, while also surveying historical, sociological and cultural influences in Chinese politics. Attention to the nature of the traditional state, impact of colonialism, national revolution and the course of contemporary state development. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Thaxton

POL 175b Global Civil Society
The role of international organizations in the contemporary global political and economic system, the ways in which they influence or contribute to major international policy issues and the interactions between international organizations and global civil society. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Thorne

Middle East

ECON 122b The Economics of the Middle East
Prerequisite: ECON 2a or the equivalent. Does not count toward the upper-level elective requirement for the major in economics.
Examines the Middle East economies — past experiences, present situation and future challenges — drawing on theories, policy formulations and empirical studies of economic growth, trade, poverty, income distribution, labor markets, finance and banking, government reforms, globalization and Arab-Israeli political economy. Usually offered every year.
Staff

HBRW 121b Conversation: Israel, Immigrants and Minorities
Prerequisite: Any 40-level Hebrew course or the equivalent. This course may not be repeated for credit by students who have taken HBRW 103a (Israel: Immigrants and Minorities). Four class hours per week.
An intermediate to mid-/high-level conversation course for students who wish to improve their speaking skills before entering more advanced-level courses. Role playing, vocabulary building and guided speaking activities develop conversational skills for various situations. Reading and discussion of contemporary texts assist in vocabulary building. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Azoulay

NEJS 195b War and Reconstruction in Iraq
Examines the aftermath of the 2003 war in Iraq. Issues of origin, legitimacy, and the nature of the outgoing regime are looked at against the backdrop of enormous social upheaval and the politics of occupation, democratization, constitutionalism, sectarianism, remembrance, and insurgency. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Makiya

NEJS 197b Political Cultures of the Middle East
Explores the way in which people make assumptions about power, authority, and justice. Focuses on Israel, Turkey, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, and Iraq, explaining the nature of political power in these states. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Makiya

POL 164a Conflict and Peacemaking in the Middle East
Evolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict--and the efforts to resolve it. Focuses on key documents and developments with particular emphasis on the Palestinian-Israeli dimension, and the different narratives adopted by the parties on the conflict. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Feldman

SOC 119a War and Possibilities of Peace
Ponders the possibility of a major "paradigm shift" under way from adversarialism and war to mutuality and peace. Examines war culture and peace culture and points in between, with emphases on the role of imagination in social change, growing global interdependence, and political, economic, gender, social class, and social psychological aspects of war and peace. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Fellman

NEJS 192a War and Peace in Israeli Thought and Praxis
Despite initial visions of a conflict-free process of settling Palestine, issues of war and peace became central to the Zionist experience. Course examines how Zionism, as an intellectual movement and a polity, has understood the conflict and coped with it. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Troen

NEJS 145a History of the State of Israel
This course may not be repeated for credit by students who have taken NEJS 157a in previous years.
Examines the development of the State of Israel from its foundation to the present time. Israel's politics, society, and culture will be thematically analyzed. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Troen

NEJS 289a Seminar: States and Minorities in the Middle East
This course may not be repeated for credit by students who have taken NEJS 189b or 245b in previous years.
Examines major issues in the relations between the state and ethnic and religious minorities in the Arab countries, Israel, Turkey, and Iran in the 20th century. Topics vary from year to year. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Levy

POL 170a Arms Control in the Middle East
Explores and analyzes the theories behind, dynamics within, and problems encountered with arms control as part of regional security in the Middle East. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Feldman

SOC 157a Sociology of the Israeli-Palestinian Confrontation
An introduction to Jewish and Palestinian nationalisms; relevant sociological, political, religious, and resource issues; social psychological dimensions; and the conflict in world politics. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Fellman

Latin America

POL 132b Political Economy of Latin America
Examines the paradox that increasing economic, technological, and democratic development in Latin America has produced greater inequality and deeper economic crisis, and the popular responses to these developments. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Thorne

POL 131b Social Movements in Latin America
Origins, dynamics, and social and cultural impact of movements among indigenous groups, women, peasants, and blacks in Latin America since the 1980s. Comparative study of other social movements in Latin America and elsewhere in the world. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Thorne

South East Asia

SAS 140a We Who Are at Home Everywhere: Narratives from the South Asian Diaspora
Looks at narratives from various locations of the South Asian Diaspora, while paying close attention to the emergence of an immigrant South Asian public culture. Examines novels, poetry, short stories, film, and music in order to further an understanding of South Asian immigrant culture. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Singh

POL 150a Politics of Southeast Asia
Introduction to the politics of modern Southeast Asia, with the focus on the indigenous peoples and their cultures, societies, and histories. The greatly changed and changing political systems of Indonesia and Thailand are examined individually in some depth. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Hindley

African Studies

HIST 116a Black Homeland: West Africa
Surveys the history of the ancestral land of most African Americans from the rise of the great African empires through the period of the slave trade and colonialism. Traces the rise of African nationalism up to 1960. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Sundiata

AAAS 115a Introduction to African History
Explores the history of African societies from their earliest beginnings to the present era. Topics include African participation in antiquity as well as early Christianity and preindustrial political, economic, and cultural developments. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Sundiata

AAAS 163b Africa in World Politics
Explores the impact of African states in world affairs; the African and Afro-Asian groups in the United Nations; relations with Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and the Americas; the Afro-Asian Movement; nonalignment; the Organization of African Unity; and Pan-Africanism. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Nyangoni

Islam

POL 153a The New Europe: European Economic and Political Integration
The institutions and policymaking processes of the European Union (EU). Western European political and economic integration since 1945 and the resurgence of European integration since the mid-1980s. Social policy issues, policy harmonization and economic integration, European citizenship, and the reorientation of national politics in response to community expansion. The future of European unity and national cultures. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Ross

POL 145b The Islamic Challenge: Politics and Religion in the West
Few issues have caused more public furor than the accommodation of Islam in Europe and the United States. It is often overlooked that Muslims are developing the institutions of their faith in societies that offer everyone the freedom of choice and expression. This seminar looks at religious discrimination as a barrier to the civic and political inclusion of Muslim immigrants, the responses of governments, courts, and the general public, and what we know about the balance among "fundamentalists, " "moderates," and "progressive" Muslim viewpoints. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Klausen

NEJS 199b Contemporary Islamic Thought and Practice
An overview of the major issues and trends in contemporary Islamic thought and practice. Explores themes including scriptural interpretation, worship and devotion, Islamic law, human rights, social justice, visions of religious leadership, democracy, extremism, representations of Islam, globalization and transnational networks. Case studies of the United States and Europe, examining moderate and extremist voices, are used as the future of Islam is considered. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

IMES 104a Islam: Civilization and Institutions
Provides a disciplined study of Islamic civilization from its origins to the current state of affairs. Approaches the study from a humanities perspective. Topics covered will include the Qur'an, tradition, law, theology, politics, Islam and other religions, modern developments, women in Islam, and Islam and Middle Eastern politics. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

NEJS 144a Jews in the World of Islam
A social and cultural history of Jewish communities in the Islamic world. Special emphasis is placed on the Jewish communities in the Middle East since 1492. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Levy

POL 128a The Politics of Revolution: State Violence and Popular Insurgency in the Third World
Introduction to twentieth-century revolutionary movements in the Third World, focusing on the emergence of peasant-based resistance and revolution in the world beyond the West, and on the role of state violence in provoking popular involvement in protest, rebellion, and insurgency. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Thaxton

Development

COEX 260f Development, Aid, and Coexistence (Module 1)
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Increases the knowledge and skills of students undertaking development and aid work in conflict situations. Explores how such work can address development needs, as well as the need to increase intercommunal equity, understanding, and cooperation. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Johnson

COEX 261f Advanced Development, Aid, and Coexistence (Module 2)
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit. COEX 260f prerequisite.
This seminar builds on the concepts and theories offered in the basic course. Students will master the skills of conflict mapping, strategic intervention, and analysis using case studies of current and past conflicts where development assistance was also required. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Johnson

AAAS 126b Political Economy of the Third World
Development of capitalism and different roles and functions assigned to all "Third Worlds," in the periphery as well as the center. Special attention will be paid to African and Afro-American peripheries. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Nyangoni

ECON 175a Introduction to the Economics of Development
Prerequisite: ECON 2a or permission of the instructor. Does not count toward the upper-level elective requirement for the major in economics.
An introduction to various models of economic growth and development and evaluation of these perspectives from the experience of developing and industrial countries. Usually offered every year.
Staff

HS 262f Culture, Power, and Development
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Students engage with constructs of cultural superiority, debate about modernization, and learn about what motivates individual and cultural change. Students are introduced to alternative theoretical approaches to culture and development and learn how to apply those theories to different historical contexts as well as contemporary situations.
Ms. Ready

AAAS 117a Communications and Social Change in Developing Nations
Examines the role of communications and information systems within and between developed and underdeveloped nations. Addresses the larger perspective of global communications. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Nyangoni

POL 146b Seminar: Topics in Revolutions in the Third World
May be repeated for credit with permission of the instructor.
Explores revolutionary situations, revolutionary movements (successful and unsuccessful), and revolutionary regimes in the Third World since World War II. Specific topics may vary from year to year. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Hindley

Policy

COEX 270a The Future of Diversity Work
This course may not be taken for credit by students who have taken COEX 270f in previous years.
This seminar uncovers the myths and challenges of race and multiculturalism and explores various approaches that have addressed them. It examines future scenarios to help form a more constructive approach to coexistence which goes beyond those challenges. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Johnson

HS 279a Planning and Implementation: Concepts and Methods
For students who wish to study in more depth analytical methods utilized in development planning. Issues and methods of project implementation are discussed, and, drawing on case studies, the course examines the complex interactions between beneficiary communities, social mobilization and leadership, participation and training, and other factors that affect accountability and achievement.
Ms. Howard or Mr. Simon

POL 151a Seminar: Cultural Pluralism and Democratic Governance
Prerequisites: Sophomore or junior class standing and at least two prior politics courses.
How liberal democracies respond to the social and political challenges of linguistic, cultural, religious, racial, and gender differences. Examines legal, political, and normative issues arising out of these differences, and the implications of various responses for the stability of a liberal democratic state. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Burg

HIST 115a History of Comparative Race and Ethnic Relations
This course may not be repeated for credit by students who have taken AAAS 116b in previous years.
Explores and understands the origin and nature of racial and ethnic differences in the United States, South Africa, and Brazil. Explores how theoreticians explain and account for differences, and how race and ethnicity relate to economic class and social institutions. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Sundiata

SOC 138a Sociology of Gender and Race
Examines gender and race as intersecting and interacting principles that organize societies. Uses a variety of media to analyze how gender and race (re)create forms of domination and subordination in labor markets, family structures, in realms of cultural presentation (eg. Media), and social movements. Usually offered every second year.

HS 472b Policy and Program Implementation
Provides doctoral students with frameworks of use for the study of the implementation of public policies. Considers the implementation process in the United States from a broad perspective, ranging from the context of legislation and the role of courts to how the role of street-level bureaucrats can be studied. Political science, organizational theory, and sociological perspectives are used to develop frameworks for understanding the process through which public policy is realized and how it impacts institutions and individuals.
Mr. Prottas

HS 532b Social Policy Analysis: Technique and Application
Examines approaches to policy analysis and assesses strength and limitations of various methods. Exposes students to a range of methods and theoretical frameworks for exploring and understanding contemporary social problems and policy challenges. Begins with an overview of the stages of policy process, including policy formulation, rule making, and implementation. Policy analysis will be defined and a distinction made with policy research. The course also focuses on the criteria for evaluating policy options, including efficiency, equity, security, and liberty. Ethics and the role of values in shaping analysis will be explored. Actual policy analysis is evaluated in the areas of children and family policy, health, and welfare policy. Students have the opportunity to write and present a policy analysis critique.
Mr. Doonan

Organizational Development

HRNS 237b Organizational Theory and Behavior
Core course required of all Hornstein students.
Organizations, even when carefully designed to be effective and benign environments, have characteristics that sometimes confound and frustrate the most dedicated professional. Examines major theories of organization, with special attention to the implications they hold for understanding and managing what goes on. By applying different analytic frameworks to real and simulated organizational dilemmas, students gain perspectives and skills to help them productively work in communal institutions. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Shevitz

HS 253b Leadership and Organizational Behavior
Focuses on leadership and managing organizations. Uses cases on a variety of organizations to expose students to problems and to improve their effectiveness in analyzing, diagnosing, and leading people in organizations. Students learn organizational concepts, analytic frameworks, and models, and practice their leadership skills in class. Uses case discussions, simulations, role-playing, mini-lecturing, and experimental exercises. Provides an opportunity to develop leadership skills through group work and reflection.
Mr. Chilingerian

Arts and Culture

COEX 250a The Arts of Building Peace
How can music, theater, poetry, literature, and visual arts contribute to community development, coexistence, and nonviolent social change? In the aftermath of violence, how can artists help communities reconcile? Students explore these questions through interviews, case studies, and projects. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Cohen

Conflict and Case Studies

POL 127b Seminar: Managing Ethnic Conflict
Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or higher.
Comparative study of the sources and character of interethnic conflict, with emphasis on the processes by which groups become politicized, and the strategies and techniques for managing conflict in a democratic system. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Burg

POL 127a Ending Deadly Conflict
Prerequisite: POL 127b or permission of the instructor.
Examines strategies for ending violent internal (primarily ethnic) conflicts, with emphasis on identifying conditions conducive to negotiated settlements. Case studies are examined in light of analytical literature. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Burg

Human Rights and Law

LGLS 124b International Law and Development
Surveys public and private forms of international law with special application to developing countries, and to political and social development in the global economy. Examines basic legal concepts of property, contract, and rule of law in the context of national and cultural transformations. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

POL 163a Seminar: Human Rights and International Relations
Prerequisite: POL 15a or equivalent.
How human rights issues are affecting and being handled by the nation-state system. Traditional vs. reformist views. Universalism vs. cultural relativism. Contemporary case studies. Usually offered every year.
Staff

NGOs

ANTH 156a Power and Violence: The Anthropology of Political Systems
Political orders are established and maintained by varying combinations of overt violence and the more subtle workings of ideas. The course examines the relationship of coercion and consensus, and forms of resistance, in historical and in contemporary settings. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Ferry

HS 286f Civil Society and Non Governmental Organizations
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
The phenomenal growth in non governmental organizations throughout the world in the past two decades has transformed the delivery of development assistance and relationships between the North and South. Examines the nature of civil society, types of and relationships among NGOs, and NGO relationships with the state, multilateral and bilateral organizations, and community organizations.
Ms. Roper

Assorted

POL 161b Causes and Prevention of War
Insights from world history, the social sciences, and political philosophy about the causes, prevention, and control of war. Students learn about current war/peace diplomacy through participation in a simulation. Usually offered every year.
Staff

POL 103b Seminar: Political Leadership
Examines political leadership through biographies, autobiographies, and biographical fiction. These are used to help us understand and compare different modes of political leadership, including the "apolitical-rationalist" (McGeorge Bundy), "political" (Lincoln, Johnson, Truman), and the ostensibly "non-political expert" (Robert Moses). Usually offered every year.
Mr. Levin

Please note that students can also choose from the other courses in the University Bulletin with the approval of the director.


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