Non-Western and Comparative Studies
Last updated: July 14, 2011 at 3:50 p.m.
Objectives
The non-Western and comparative studies requirement is designed to encourage students to explore societies, cultures and experiences beyond those of the Western tradition. The common goal of the courses in the program is to acquaint students with world views, indigenous intellectual traditions, historical narratives and social institutions that have developed largely outside European society and its North American transplants.
By examining some particular culture, society or region of the non-Western world (such as those of Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Oceania), or by systematically comparing a range of values and institutions across cultural boundaries, students will be able to broaden their understanding of human achievements and potentialities beyond the Western heritage. As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, and at the same time more diverse, such an understanding is all the more necessary.
Through the study of non-Western societies in their original settings, it is expected that students will also gain a better understanding of minority groups and diasporic cultures (such as African-American, Latino, Asian and Muslim) in the United States and the West in general. Non-Western courses expand students’ horizons and help them better understand their own history and culture.
Courses that satisfy the requirement may have Western components or modes of analysis, but their primary purpose is to foster an understanding of non-Western cultures, experiences and perspectives. For example, in a course on the political economy of Africa that employs Western methodologies, the history and culture of Africa still occupy a central place. The program draws attention to the intellectual and methodological problems inherent in the study of cultural systems other than those of the West.
Courses of Instruction
AAAS
18b
Africa and the West
AAAS
60a
Economics of Third World Hunger
AAAS
80a
Economy and Society in Africa
AAAS
85a
Survey of Southern African History
AAAS
109a
Religion in Africa
AAAS
115a
Introduction to African History
AAAS
122a
Politics of Southern Africa
AAAS
123a
Third World Ideologies
AAAS
126b
Political Economy of the Third World
AAAS
132b
Introduction to African Literature
AAAS
133b
The Literature of the Caribbean
AAAS
134b
Novel and Film of the African Diaspora
AAAS
158a
Theories of Development and Underdevelopment
AAAS
163b
Africa in World Politics
AAAS
175a
Comparative Politics of North Africa
ANTH
1a
Introduction to the Comparative Study of Human Societies
ANTH
55a
Anthropology of Development
ANTH
80a
Anthropology of Religion
ANTH
105a
Myth and Ritual
ANTH
111a
Aging in Cross-Cultural Perspective
ANTH
112a
African Art and Aesthetics
ANTH
119a
Conquests, Resistance, and Cultural Transformation in Mexico and Central America
ANTH
127a
Medicine, Body, and Culture
ANTH
133a
Culture and Power in Africa
ANTH
134a
South Asian Culture and Society
ANTH
136a
Archaeology of Power: Authority, Prestige, and Inequality in the Past
ANTH
144a
The Anthropology of Gender
ANTH
147b
The Rise of Mesoamerican Civilization
ANTH
153a
Writing Systems and Scribal Traditions
ANTH
156a
Power and Violence: The Anthropology of Political Systems
ANTH
163b
Production, Consumption, and Exchange
ANTH
168a
The Maya: Past, Present and Future
ANTH
178b
Culture, Gender, and Power in East Asia
ANTH
184b
Cross-Cultural Art and Aesthetics
CHIN
130b
China on Film: The Changes of Chinese Culture
CLAS
135a
The Silk Road: China Looks West, the Mediterranean Looks East
COML
122b
Writing Home and Abroad: Literature by Women of Color
COML
146b
Classical East Asian Poetics
COML
165a
Reading, Writing, and Teaching across Cultures
COML
166b
Literacy, Language and Culture
ECON
26a
Latin America's Economy
ECON
30a
The Economy of China
ECON
122b
The Economics of the Middle East
ECON
176a
The Household, Health, and Hunger in Developing Countries
ENG
20a
Bollywood: Popular Film, Genre, and Society
ENG
22a
Filmi Fictions: From Page to Screen in India
ENG
77b
Literatures of Global English
ENG
127a
The Novel in India
ENG
167a
Decolonizing Fictions
FA
33b
Islamic Art and Architecture
FA
34a
History of Asian Art
FA
40a
The Gift of the Nile: Egyptian Art and Archaeology
FA
70b
The Art of China
FA
71b
The Art of Japan
FA
77b
Twentieth-Century and Contemporary Latin American Art
FA
79a
Modernism Elsewhere
FA
170a
Arts of the Ming Dynasty
FA
171b
Buddhist Art
FA
178a
Frida Kahlo: Art, Life and Legacy
FA
197a
Studies in Asian Art
FREN
164a
Haiti, Then and Now
FREN
165b
Subsaharan Africa and the French Language
HISP
111b
Introduction to Latin American Literature and Culture
HISP
163a
The Latin American Boom and Beyond
HISP
164b
Studies in Latin American Literature
HIST
56b
World History to 1960
HIST
71a
Empire and Its Discontents: Latin America from Conquest to Independence
HIST
71b
Latin American History, 1870 to the Present
HIST
80a
Introduction to East Asian Civilization
HIST
80b
East Asia: Nineteenth Century to the Present (China and Japan)
HIST
111b
The Iranian Revolution: From Monarchy to the Islamic Republic
HIST
112a
Nationalism in the Middle East
HIST
116a
Black Homeland: West Africa
HIST
148b
Central Asia in Modern Times
HIST
173b
Latin American Women: Heroines, Icons, and History
HIST
174a
The Legacy of 1898: U.S.-Caribbean Relations since the Spanish-American War
HIST
175a
Topics in Latin American History
HIST
176a
The Emergence of Modern Japan
HIST
176b
Japan and Korea in Modern World History
HIST
178a
Middle Eastern Encounters in the Age of Colonialism
HIST
181a
Seminar on Traditional Chinese Thought
HIST
184a
Silk, Silver, and Slaves: China and the Industrial Revolution
HIST
184b
Swashbuckling Adventurers or Sea bandits? The Chinese Pirate in Global Perspective
IMES
104a
Islam: Civilization and Institutions
IMES
105a
War and Revolution in the Middle East
JAPN
120a
Readings in Contemporary Japanese Literature
JAPN
120b
Readings in Modern Japanese Literature
JAPN
125b
Putting Away Childish Things: Coming of Age in Modern Japanese Literature and Film
JAPN
130a
The Literature of Multicultural Japan
JAPN
135a
Screening National Images: Japanese Film and Anime in Global Context
JAPN
140a
The World of Early Modern Japanese Literature
JAPN
145a
The World of Classical Japanese Literature
LGLS
124b
International Law and Development
MUS
3b
Introduction to World Music
MUS
4a
Introduction to Chinese Music
NEJS
113b
Law in the Bible and the Ancient Near East
NEJS
116a
Ancient Near Eastern Religion and Mythology
NEJS
122a
Magic and Witchcraft in the Ancient Near East
NEJS
144a
Jews in the World of Islam
NEJS
161b
Representations of the Middle Eastern City in Literature, Art, and Architecture
NEJS
185b
The Making of the Modern Middle East
NEJS
186a
Introduction to the Qur'an
NEJS
187a
Political Islam
NEJS
188a
The Rise and Decline of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1800
NEJS
188b
The Destruction of the Ottoman Empire, 1800-1923
NEJS
193a
Societies in Conflict: Exploring the Middle East through Authentic Materials
NEJS
194b
Sufi Teachings
NEJS
196a
Marriage, Divorce, and Sexual Ethics in Islamic Law
NEJS
196b
The Middle Eastern City: Intersections of Art, Literature and History
NEJS
197b
Political Cultures of the Middle East
POL
128a
The Politics of Revolution: State Violence and Popular Insurgency in the Third World
POL
133a
Contemporary Politics in the Middle East
POL
144a
Latin American Politics I
POL
144b
Latin American Politics II
POL
146b
Seminar: Topics in Revolutions in the Third World
POL
147a
The Government and Politics of China
POL
147b
Seminar: The Modern Chinese Revolution
POL
148a
Seminar: Contemporary Chinese Politics
POL
150a
Politics of Southeast Asia
POL
180b
Sustaining Development
REL
107a
Introduction to World Religions
REL
151a
The Buddha: His Life and Teachings
REL
161a
Chinese Religion and Thought: Understanding Confucianism and Daoism (Taoism)
SAS
100a
Introduction to South Asia
SAS
101a
South Asian Women Writers
SAS
110b
South Asian Postcolonial Writers
SAS
150b
Indian Film: The Three-Hour Dream
SOC
127a
Gods and Nations: Identity in Global Relations
THA
130a
Suzuki
WMGS
141a
Gender in Iranian Cinema