Courses of Study
Sections
A graduate program in Global Studies
Last updated: August 23, 2011 at 4:33 p.m.
As even casual attention to recent mass media outlets attests, the term "globalization" is widely used to refer to diverse—possibly even unconnected—processes in the economic, cultural, political, and environmental domains. What seems to characterize "global" phenomena such as climate change, transnational capital flow, and the internet, for example, is that their causes and effects ramify all across the earth, viewed both as a bio-physical totality and as a social space. In doing so, these and other global phenomena reveal unprecedented levels of interconnectedness that bring into play institutional agents and institutions that transcend local, national, and regional boundaries. The program in Global Studies is designed to provide students with analytical and methodological skills to investigate globalization both specifically and generally—specifically, by offering advanced training in one relevant academic concentration and independent research leading to a Master’s Thesis; and generally, by exposing students to a broad range of elective courses taught by faculty from the university’s School of Arts and Sciences, Heller School of Social Policy and Management, and International Business School. The program prepares students for a variety of professional and academic trajectories. For some students the MA degree will be an important credential for advancement in already-chosen career paths; for others the degree will be preparation for advanced professional degree programs in law, diplomacy, international health, etc.; and for others their Brandeis experience will be a stepping stone toward admission to the most selective doctoral programs.
The general requirements for admission to the Graduate School, given in an earlier section of this Bulletin, apply to candidates for admission to this area of study. Candidates must also submit a personal statement that discusses their reasons for applying for this MA, and their academic training, career objectives, relevant experience, and current institutional affiliation (if any). A single sample of academic writing and two letters of recommendation are also required. Students are encouraged, though not required, to visit the campus and to talk to the director and others members of the faculty advisory committee.
Richard J. Parmentier, Director
(Anthropology)
David Engerman
(History)
Elizabeth Emma Ferry
(Anthropology)
Susan Holcombe
(Heller School)
John Plotz (on leave academic year 2011-2012)
(English)
Chandler Rosenberger
(Sociology)
Laurence Simon
(Heller School)
Affiliated Faculty
Richard Parmentier (Anthropology)
Program of Study
This graduate program involves a minimum of one academic year in residence at Brandeis in which students complete eight courses, including six semester-long courses and a master’s thesis, which counts as two courses. The curriculum includes three required and foundational courses, two electives in an area of concentration and one additional elective.
Students must successfully complete eight semester courses, including:
A. Two core courses: GS 201a (Global Agents), GS 202b (Critical Global Issues).
B. One graduate-level course in methodology.
C. Two elective courses in one area of concentration.
D. Two elective courses in Global Studies.
E. GS 204e (Master’s Thesis).
In consultation with the director, each student selects one area of concentration from the following:
Civil Society and Human Rights
Communications and Media
Culture and Globalization
Global and Regional Governance
Global Environment
Global Health
Global Political Economy
Immigration
Social Justice and Gender
Residence Requirement
The residence requirement for this program is one year of full-time study.
Master’s Thesis
The master’s thesis must be deposited electronically to the Robert D. Farber University Archives at Brandeis.
Global Economics Requirement
Although this program does not offer advanced technical training in global economics, it is essential that students have a solid grasp of the basics in this field. Students entering the program without a strong background in global economics will be required to take one elective course in this field, selected in consultation with the director.
Language Requirement
Knowledge of foreign languages, both written and oral, is important for understanding the complexity of other cultures, for functioning effectively in a non-Anglophone environment, and for accessing a broad range of primary sources and secondary literature. All Global Studies students must have advanced training in a foreign language, defined as at least one level beyond the undergraduate requirement at Brandeis. In cases where students lack sufficient language training, they can satisfy this requirement by an intensive summer course (either the semester before or after the residence year), by taking the corresponding course at Brandeis (as an additional course) or by private study and a qualifying language examination at the end of the second semester.
Courses of Instruction
(200 and above) Primarily for Graduate Students
GS
201a
Global Agents
Enrollment limited to students in the Graduate Program in Global Studies.
A foundational seminar providing an introduction to the literature on globalization as well as a look at the key players in international affairs (UN, World Bank/IMF, TNCs, NGOs, and regional organizations). The objective of the course is to make a critical analysis of these organizations and to assess the research resources and databases they generate. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Rosenberger
GS
202b
Critical Global Issues
This foundational seminar examines key issues from the primary area of concentration in the global studies program. The specific focus of the seminar will vary from year to year, reflecting the changing relevance of particular issues as well as the specific interests of the instructor. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Parmentier
GS
204e
Master' s Thesis
Staff
GS
301a
Readings and Research in Global Studies
Mr. Parmentier
Global Studies: Methodology Courses
Students may choose from the following list of courses that deal with the methodology for the design and implementation of research projects. Other graduate courses from relevant disciplines dealing with research methods may be substituted with the permission of the director.
ANTH
202b
Designing Anthropological Research
Survey of principal methodological issues in anthropological fieldwork and analysis, including research design, technologies of data collection, and ethnographic representation. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Jacobson
HS
306f
Survey Design and Data Analysis for Development
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit. This course may not be repeated for credit by students who took HS 259f section 7 in spring 2006.
An introduction to survey design and applied principles of data analysis in development. Topics covered include: research design (hypothesis formulation, model building, experimental research design), data collection (principles of survey design, definition and measurement of variables, cross-sectional and panel surveys, focus groups and pilot tests of surveys), and data analysis (statistical and social significance, univariate and bivariate analysis, multivariate analysis). Usually offered every year.
Mr. Godoy
POL
100b
Political Science Methods: Research, Design, and Modes of Analysis
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Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or higher.
An introduction to nonstatistical research methods for analyzing political processes. Moves from selecting problems to composing a focused research question, examining relevant theory, conceptualizing variables, generating hypotheses, research design, research operations, and analysis. Uses examples from comparative, international, and American politics. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Kryder
POL
212a
Graduate Seminar: Research Methods and Methodology
Familiarizes students with the major research techniques of a qualitative nature for political science and addresses central issues in the logic of inquiry in social science. Issues and techniques include the case study method, the comparative method, counterfactual, and research design. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Kryder
SOC
136b
Historical and Comparative Sociology
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Prerequisite: SOC 1a or SOC 3b. Registration priority given to juniors and seniors.
Explores the relationship between sociology and history through examples of scholarship from both disciplines. Using historical studies, the course pays close attention to each author's research strategy. Examines basic research questions, theoretical underpinnings and assumptions, and uses of evidence. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Rosenberger or Ms. Hansen
SOC
181a
Methods of Social Inquiry
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Prerequisite: SOC 1a or SOC 3b. Registration priority given to juniors and seniors.
Introduces students to qualitative and quantitative approaches to social research. Throughout the course emphasis is on conceptual understanding, with hands-on applications and exercises. No statistical or mathematical background is necessary. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Cadge or Mr. Cunningham
SOC
183a
Evaluation of Evidence
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Prerequisite: SOC 1a or 3a. Registration priority given to juniors and seniors. This is an experiential learning course.
Focuses on gaining familiarity with basic tools for statistical analysis and the presentation of data, issues related to research design and construction, and the evaluation of evidence presented in quantitative models. No prior experience with statistics is assumed. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Cunningham
Global Studies Elective Courses
Each student must successfully complete two elective courses relevant to their chosen area of concentration. This coursework provides the basis for the student's research and writing of the Masters Thesis. (Note that the Heller School modules, courses indicated with an "f" after the course number, are half-semester courses; two such modules must be chosen to constitute one elective course.) Students may take graduate-level courses other than the ones listed below with the permission of the director.
AAAS
100b
Seminar: Political Economy of Developing Countries
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May not be repeated by students who took AAAS 170b in previous years.
Offers analysis of political and economic issues in developing countries with special emphasis on the major explanations for underdevelopment and alternative strategies for development. Topics include colonialism, nationalism, developing countries in the international system, state-building, rural development, and gender perspectives on underdevelopment. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Nyangoni
AAAS
117a
Communications and Social Change in Developing Nations
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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
AAAS
125b
Caribbean Women and Globalization: Sexuality, Citizenship, Work
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Utilizing perspectives from sociology, anthropology, fiction, and music to examine the relationship between women's sexuality and conceptions of labor, citizenship, and sovereignty. The course considers these alongside conceptions of masculinity, contending feminisms, and the global perspective. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Smith
AAAS
126b
Political Economy of the Third World
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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
AAAS
134b
Novel and Film of the African Diaspora
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Writers and filmmakers, who are usually examined separately under national or regional canonical categories such as "(North) American," "Latin American," "African," "British," or "Caribbean," are brought together here to examine transnational identities and investments in "authentic," "African," or "black" identities. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Smith
AAAS
146a
Africa in the Global Economy
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This course makes an important contribution to our understanding of Africa's relationship within the world economy and to our awareness of how economic liberalization programs and World Trade Organizational (WTO) systems are influencing the continent's industries. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Nyangoni
AAAS
163b
Africa in World Politics
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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
AMST
140b
The Asian American Experience
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This is an experiential learning course.
Examines the political, economic, social, and contemporary issues related to Asians in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. Topics include patterns of immigration and settlement, and individual, family, and community formation explored through history, literature, personal essays, films, and other popular media sources. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Davé
AMST
142b
Love, Law, and Labor: Asian American Women and Literature
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Explores the intersection of ethnicity, race, class, gender, and sexualities in the lives and literatures of diverse Asian American women. Discusses the historical, social, political, and economic forces shaping those lives and how they are reflected in literature. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Davé
ANTH
108b
History, Time, and Tradition
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Explores topics relating to the historical dimension of societies in cross-cultural and interdisciplinary perspectives: the cultural construction of the past, temporal and calendrical systems, the invention of tradition, ethnohistorical narrative, cultural memory and forgetting, historical monuments, and museums. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Parmentier
ANTH
112a
African Art and Aesthetics
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This is an experiential learning course.
Studies the visual arts and aesthetics of sub-Saharan Africa and the African Diaspora, with attention to the spiritual, social, and cultural dimensions of art and performance. Special emphasis on the historical dynamism and cultural creativity of "tradition-based" and contemporary African artists. Usually offered every third year.
Staff
ANTH
114b
Verbal Art and Cultural Performance
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Cross-cultural and interdisciplinary study of genres of verbal art and oral performance. Complex social uses of verbal arts in festival, drama, ritual, dance, carnival, and spectacle. Difficulty of reconstructing original context of narrative, oratory, poetry, and epic. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Parmentier
ANTH
121a
Crossing Cultural Boundaries
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May not be taken for credit by students who have taken ANTH 33b in prior years.
An examination of situations where individuals, either actually or imaginatively, willingly or unwillingly, cross over the boundaries separating their own culture and other cultural traditions. The understandings and misunderstandings that result from these encounters are examined in primary texts and images and in scholarly reconstructions. Transient experiences are compared with sites that develop over a long period of time (colonial settlements, plantations, frontiers). Potentials for reflexive self-understanding and meaningful dialogue are sought in fictional and nonfictional representations of boundary crossings. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Parmentier
ANTH
127a
Medicine, Body, and Culture
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Examines main areas of inquiry in medical anthropology, including medicine as a sociocultural construct, political and economic dimensions of suffering and health, patients and healers in comparative medical systems, and the medical construction of men's and women's bodies. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Lamb, Ms. Kammerer or Ms. McCullough
ANTH
129b
Global, Transnational, and Diasporic Communities
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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. Includes a focus on the South Asian diaspora when taught by Ms. Lamb. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Ferry or Ms. Lamb
ANTH
130b
Visuality and Culture
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Explores the nature of the visual image in sociocultural theory and in ethnographic representation. Topics include the history of ethnographic film, development of indigenous arts, visuality in popular culture and mass consumption, and film in postcolonial representation. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Schattschneider
ANTH
139b
Language, Ethnicity, and Nationalism
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It is often assumed that language differences divide people, while a common language unites them. To what extent is this true? Taking cross-cultural and historical approaches, we examine the role of language in creating concepts of tribe, ethnicity, and nation. Explores what kinds of social groupings these terms might label, some ideologies connected with their use, and their relationship with communication systems. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. McIntosh
ANTH
144a
The Anthropology of Gender
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Anthropology majors have priority for enrollment.
An examination of gender constructs, sexuality, and cultural systems from a comparative perspective. Topics include the division of labor, rituals of masculinity and femininity, the vexing question of the universality of women's subordination, cross-cultural perspectives on same-sex sexualities and transsexuality, the impact of globalization on systems, and the history of feminist anthropology. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Lamb or Ms. Schattschneider
ANTH
163b
Production, Consumption, and Exchange
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Prerequisite: ANTH 1a or ECON 2a or permission of the instructor.
We read in newspapers and books and hear in everyday discussion about "the economy," an identifiably separate sphere of human life with its own rules and principles and its own scholarly discipline (economics). The class starts with the premise that this "commonsense" idea of the economy is only one among a number of possible perspectives on the ways people use resources to meet their basic and not-so-basic human needs. Using extensive cross-cultural case studies, looks at the satisfaction of these needs (which we might call economic activity) as they interact with other aspects of life: gender, kinship, ideas of morality and taste, spirit possession, politics, and so on. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Ferry
BIOL
134b
Topics in Ecology
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Prerequisites: BIOL 23a or permission of the instructor. Topics may vary from year to year. Please consult the Course Schedule for topic and description. Course may be repeated once for credit with permission of the instructor.
Annually, a different aspect of the global biosphere is selected for analysis. In any year the focus may be on specific ecosystems (e.g., terrestrial, aquatic, tropical, arctic), populations, system modeling, restoration ecology, or other aspects of ecology. Usually offered every year.
Staff
COML
122b
Writing Home and Abroad: Literature by Women of Color
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Examines literature (prose, poetry, and memoirs) written by women of color across a wide spectrum of geographical and cultural sites. Literature written within the confines of the "home country" in the vernacular, as well as in English in immigrant locales, is read. The intersections of race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, and class as contained by the larger institutions of government, religion, nationalism, and sectarian politics are examined. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Singh
COML
165a
Reading, Writing, and Teaching across Cultures
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This is an experiential learning course.
Examines contemporary literary representations of literacy, schooling, and language from a cross-cultural perspective. Students also analyze their own educational trajectories and experiences with writing and reading. Students have the opportunity to work directly on projects in Haiti and Lesotho designed to encourage the development and distribution of picture books for young children in their home languages. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Hale
ENG
127b
Migrating Bodies, Migrating Texts
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Beginning with the region's representation as a tabula rasa, examines the textual and visual constructions of the Caribbean as colony, homeland, backyard, paradise, and Babylon, and how the region's migrations have prompted ideas about evolution, hedonism, imperialism, nationalism, and diaspora. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Smith
FREN
165b
Subsaharan Africa and the French Language
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Prerequisite: FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
Studies writing in French in Subsaharan Africa, with particular emphasis upon its cultural and historical contexts. Topics include Negritude, African languages, defining "tradition," oral and written literature, Islam, film, and gender. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Hale
HIST
115a
History of Comparative Race and Ethnic Relations
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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
HIST
179a
Labor, Gender, and Exchange in the Atlantic World, 1600-1850
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An examination of the interaction of cultures in the Atlantic World against a backdrop of violence, conquest, and empire-building. Particular attention is paid to the structure and function of power relations, gender orders, labor systems, and exchange networks. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Sreenivasan
HIST
215a
World History
Designed to introduce students to the methods, sources, and writings about global and non-Western histories. Taught collectively by specialists in Latin American, Asian, African, and Middle Eastern history. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Sreenivasan
HS
236a
International Health Systems
Studies how global movements in dealing with health have shaped health systems, the emerging challenges developing countries are facing, and how these might affect health systems. Students will study the link between health and development, how health systems are organized, how health care is financed, and the role of public and private sectors in providing health care, regulation, and consumer behavior. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Nandakumar
HS
253f
HIV/AIDS and Public Policy
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
This half-semester course is geared toward students with limited experience in HIV/AIDS as a public policy issue. In the first sessions, students learn the key perspectives to frame the HIV/AIDS epidemic as a policy issue, including an economic perspective, a social impact perspective, and a rights perspective. The second half of the course reviews lessons from the international experience in responding to the epidemic. Attention is given to sector-based interventions and necessary coordination between sectors for specific interventions to be effective. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Kaufman
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. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Ready
HS
268f
Law, Society, and the Shaping of Public Policy in Developing Countries
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Through a primer on law and legal institutions, examines the use of the legal order to solve problems of poverty, vulnerability, and environmental degradation in developing nations. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Russell-Einhorn
HS
269f
Food Security and Nutrition
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Explores how international and national agencies define and measure food security and nutritional status and set goals for strategic interventions. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Lockwood
HS
276f
World Health
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
A primer on major diseases and problems of health care in developing nations. Topics include descriptions of disease incidence and prevalence, including infectious, chronic, and mental disease; determinants of health, including culture and behavior; the roles of nutrition, education, and reproductive trends and poverty; demographic transitions, including aging and urbanization; the structure and financing of health systems; and the globalization of health. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Bhalotra
HS
283f
Gender and Development
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Gender, as a social construct, is explored in diverse cultures and societies. Examines gender's major influence on the development process. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Espinosa and Ms. Ready
HS
285f
Rights-Based Approach to Development I
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Provides a broad introduction to international human rights laws, mechanisms, and practices, including special protections for vulnerable groups and the key debates underpinning the rights-based approach to development and poverty. Also covers the international and regional institutions that exist to protect human rights. Usually offered every year.
Staff
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.
Staff
HS
293f
Religion and Development
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Explores the connections between religion and development from theoretical, activist (engaged religious), and practitioner (faith-based NGO) perspectives. Considers (1) basic social science perspectives on the connections of religious cosmology, beliefs, and practices to social and cultural identity, solidarity, and ideas about human dignity, social inequalities, and the desirability or inevitability of social change and (2) notions of religious obligations and the role of religion as a motivating force or barrier to social transformation and sustainable development. This module seeks to build a positive understanding of the potential contributions of religious forces, with attention to peace-building and economic-development activities. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Sampath
HSSP
102a
Global Perspectives on Health
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A primer on major issues in health care in developing nations. Topics include the natural history of disease and levels of prevention; epidemiological transitions; health disparities; and determinants of health including culture, social context, and behavior. Also covers: infectious and chronic disease incidence and prevalence; the role of nutrition, education, reproductive trends, and poverty; demographic transition including aging and urbanization; the structure and financing of health systems; and the globalization of health. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Bhalotra
POL
127a
Ending Deadly Conflict
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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
POL
127b
Seminar: Managing Ethnic Conflict
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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
158b
Comparative Perspectives on the Law and Politics of Group Rights
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Prerequisite: POL 11b or POL 14b.
The creation of new group rights for disadvantaged populations in democratic states through constitutional reform and affirmative action, and the legal and political dilemmas raised by efforts to implement these rights. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Klausen
POL
165a
Seminar: Globalization and Governance in the Trading System
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Examines three tiers of governance in the trading system: the rules and authority of international agencies such as the World Trade Organization; the policymaking functions of national political institutions; and the role and influence of corporations, labor unions, citizen groups, and other private actors. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Chase
POL
172b
International Political Economy
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Prerequisite: POL 15a.
The politics and modern evolution of international economic relations, comprising trade, money, multinational productions, and development. Also the role of states and transnational actors in international markets and the global differentiation of power, and distribution of wealth. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Chase
POL
173a
U.S. Foreign Economic Policy
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Presents the history and politics of the foreign economic policy in the United States. Emphasis is on political and economic considerations that influence the domestic actors and institutions involved in the formulation of policy. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Chase
POL
174b
Seminar: Problems of National Security
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Analysis of the role and utility of military power in international politics. Selected case studies from the last fifty 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
POL
214b
Graduate Seminar: Selected Topics in World Politics
Provides graduate students an opportunity to engage in research and discussion of selected issues in the international dimensions of world politics. Each term it deals with a different topic in greater depth than is possible in the context of the program's field seminar in this area. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Art or Mr. Chase
SAS
110b
South Asian Postcolonial Writers
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Examines the postcolonial novel written in English within the shared history of colonialism, specifically British imperialism, for South Asia. Writers include R.K. Narayan, Salman Rushdie, Anita Desai, Arundhati Roy, Mohsin Hamid, Romesh Gunesekera and Daniyal Mueenudin. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Singh
SAS
140a
We Who Are at Home Everywhere: Narratives from the South Asian Diaspora
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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
SAS
170b
South Asia in the Colonial Archive
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Looks at colonial constructions of gender and race through a historical and literary investigation of British colonialism in South Asia. Examines intersections and constructions of gender, race, class, and sexuality in literature, public culture, and film within the parameters of British colonialism. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Singh
SOC
120b
Globalization and the Media
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Investigates the phenomenon of globalization as it relates to mass media. Topics addressed include the growth of transnational media organizations, the creation of audiences that transcend territorial groupings, the hybridization of cultural styles, and the consequences for local identities. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Miller
SOC
128a
Religion and Globalization
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Examines the experience of religion as a global, social and individual marker of identity. Looks into the social-psychology of religious resurgence and new movements (Islamic, Evangelical, occult and others) with special attention paid to the role and character of globalization and its impact on religious activism and consciousness in the world today. Readings cover key comparative models in ongoing contemporary thought and research. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Hayim
SOC
146a
Mass Communication Theory
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An examination of key theories in mass communication, including mass culture, hegemony, the production of culture, and resistance. Themes discussed include the nature of media effects, the role of the audience, and the extent of diversity in the mass media. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Miller
SOC
189a
Sociology of Body and Health
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Explores theoretical considerations of the body as a cultural phenomenon intersecting with health, healing, illness, disease, and medicine. Focuses on how gender, race, class, religion, and other dimensions of social organization shape individual experiences and opportunities for agency and resistance. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Shostak
SOC
193a
Environment, Health, and Society
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This is an experiential learning course.
This course draws on sociological perspectives to examine two key questions: (1) How does social organization enter into the production of environmental health and illness? and (2) How do scientists, regulators, social movement activists, and people affected by illness seek to understand, regulate, and intervene in relationships between the environment and human health? Usually offered every year.
Ms. Shostak