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INST B100 Fundamentals of Economics for International Studies

Fall 2025

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to economic concepts and analytical frameworks that are essential for understanding the global economy. Students will develop economic literacy by examining microeconomic and macroeconomic principles, focusing on their application in international and global contexts. The curriculum examines economic phenomena from various theoretical perspectives, using real-world examples to illustrate how economic forces shape global interactions. Students will learn to comprehend, interpret, and critically assess economic phenomena and analyses as they appear in public discourse.

Course does not meet an Approach

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INST B101 Introduction to International Studies

Fall 2025

This course introduces students to International Studies, an interdisciplinary social scientific field. What is the contemporary "international" world order and how does one study it? How is the "International" similar or different to "Global," the "Planetary" or other ways of conceptualizing the "World"? The class seeks answers to these questions in a few parts. After a brief introduction, we will first conceptualize the planetary by theorizing the global environment, climate change, and biodiversity loss, the theory of the "Anthropocene," and social scientific critiques of this geologic theory. These critiques trace the roots of contemporary ecological crises to the history of colonialism, modernity and capitalism. Thus, in the second part of the course, we will investigate the historical origins of the present. We will situate the contemporary "international" world order within the longue durée: from early forms of "globalization," to colonialism, and imperialism; to revolutionary struggles for freedom, independence, and self-determination; and finally, the legacies of 20th-century histories of decolonization, modernization, development, and international relations theory. Through social scientific, ethnographic, and documentary case studies we'll explore the complex impacts of decolonization, development, postcolonialism and global inequality on local economies, ecologies, and cultures. Finally, we will conclude by examining globalization in the 21- century with case studies of global social movements for social, racial, and environmental justice that will challenge us to apply the insights we have gained across the course.

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Power, Inequity, and Justice (PIJ)

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INST B201 Themes in International Studies

Fall 2025

This is a topics course. Course content varies.

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Counts Toward: Anthropology; Environmental Studies.

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INST B308 Human Rights in a Global Perspective

Spring 2026

In the 20th century, the global world order transformed from one organized around empires and imperial domination to one of nation-states, self-determination, and human rights. This course will examine contemporary struggles for human rights within the context of the history of colonization and decolonization, the legacy of anti-colonial struggles and the significance of these legacies to contemporary struggles over nationalism, migration, racial justice and citizenship.

Course does not meet an Approach

Counts Toward: International Studies; Latin American Iberian Latinx.

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INST B315 Humans & Non-Humans

Spring 2026

Anthropology is the study of humans, but the idea of the "human" always implies the category of the "non-human." Humanity is defined in its relation to "non-humans": ranging from tools and technology, to domesticated (and undomesticated) animals, to agricultural crops, our local ecologies, and the global environment. What does it mean to be human? What is the agency of non-humans in human worlds? Do forests think? Do dogs dream? What is the agency of a mountain? What are the rights of a river? What is the cultural significance of DNA? This course will trace Anthropological debates over the "human" and "non-human" in contexts ranging from Amerindian cosmology, to political ecology, and science and technology studies.

Counts Toward: Anthropology; Latin American Iberian Latinx.

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INST B398 Senior Seminar

This non-thesis capstone course is a seminar in which students do research, presentations and a final essay. These delve into topics from relevant courses in previously-taken tracks and may incorporate experiences from Praxis, Summer, or Study Abroad.

Counts Toward: International Studies.

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INST B399 Senior Project in International Studies

This involves the writing of a thesis or the production of an extended document on platforms such as a DVD or a website with the guidance of a designated adviser in International Studies.

Counts Toward: International Studies.

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ANTH B213 Anthropology of Food

Not offered 2025-26

Food is part of the universal human experience. But everyday experiences of food also reveal much about human difference. What we eat is intimately connected with who we are, where we belong, and how we see the world. In this course, we will use a socio-cultural perspective to explore how food helps us form families, national and religious communities, and other groups. We will also consider how food may become a source of inequality, a political symbol, and a subject of social discord. Examining both practical and ideological meanings of food and taste, this course will address issues of identity, social difference, and cultural experience.

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Counts Toward: Child and Family Studies; Gender Sexuality Studies; International Studies; International Studies.

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ANTH B339 Migrants, Refugees, and Life Across Borders

Fall 2025

Borders are often taken for granted as natural divisions in the world, but they are actually the products of political, historical, and social processes. Border crossing is often framed as an aberration or even a crisis, but people have moved for as long as humans have existed. This course approaches borders from an anthropological perspective by foregrounding the experiences of the people who move across them. We explore the interconnected categories of migrants and refugees to understand how people cross borders under different kinds of circumstances: some voluntary, others fleeing conflict or persecution, and still others that seem to fall between these ideal types. We will critically examine how migrants and refugees are qualitatively described and quantitatively defined, as these discursive constructions often determine legal status and reception in host countries, and also inform governmental and humanitarian responses. We will examine ethnographic case studies focusing migrant and refugee movements within and between Africa, Europe, and the Americas, considering how these particular stories help us understand the broader phenomenon of human mobility. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing and higher.

Course does not meet an Approach

Counts Toward: Africana Studies; International Studies; International Studies.

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ANTH B354 Political Economy, Gender, Ethnicity and Transformation in Vietnam

Not offered 2025-26

Today, Vietnam is in the midst of dramatic social, economic and political changes brought about through a shift from a central economy to a market/capitalist economy since the late 1980s. These changes have resulted in urbanization, a rise in consumption, changes in land use, movement of people, environmental consequences of economic development, and shifts in social and economic relationships and cultural practices as the country has moved from low income to middle income status. This course examines culture and society in Vietnam focusing largely on contemporary Vietnam, but with a view to continuities and historical precedent in past centuries. In this course, we will draw on anthropological studies of Vietnam, as well as literature and historical studies. Relationships between the individual, family, gender, ethnicity, community, land, and state will pervade the topics addressed in the course, as will the importance of political economy, nation, and globalization. In addition to class seminar discussions, students will view documentary and fictional films about Vietnamese culture. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or higher or first years with ANTH 102.

Writing Attentive

Counts Toward: Environmental Studies; Gender Sexuality Studies; Growth and Structure of Cities; International Studies; International Studies.

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CITY B240 Cities of the Global South

Spring 2026

This course surveys the dynamic social and spatial processes that make (and constantly re-make) cities in the Global South. We examine what it means to be a city in the 'Global South' and study the commonalities that unite these spaces in a post-colonial, post-Bretton Woods world. That said, this is a course that centers diversity among cases in Latin America, the Middle East/North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia: the unique demands and interventions of people and community groups working for a better urban life, the experimental efforts of local political leaders and planners, and the ways in which particular local histories layer upon themselves to produce a world of singular urban experiences. Local film, memoir, activist non-fiction, and interviews with local planners and practitioners will supplement academic readings to provide a 'street-level' view of everyday life in global cities.

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Counts Toward: International Studies; International Studies.

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EALC B264 Human Rights in China

Fall 2025

This course will examine China's human rights issues from a historical perspective. The topics include diverse perspectives on human rights, historical background, civil rights, religious practice, justice system, education, as well as the problems concerning some social groups such as migrant laborers, women, ethnic minorities and peasants.

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Inquiry into the Past (IP)

Counts Toward: East Asian Languages & Culture; Gender Sexuality Studies; History; International Studies; International Studies.

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EALC B325 Topics in Chinese History and Culture

Section 001 (Fall 2025): Law and Society/Imperial China
Section 001 (Spring 2026): Chinese Environmental Culture

Fall 2025, Spring 2026

This is a topics course. Course content varies.

Counts Toward: East Asian Languages & Culture; History; International Studies; International Studies.

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EALC B353 The Environment on China's Frontiers

Fall 2025

This seminar explores environmental issues on China's frontiers from a historical perspective. It focuses on the particular relationship between the environment and the frontier, examining how these two variables have interacted. The course will deal with the issues such as the relationship between the environment and human ethnic and cultural traditions, social movements, economic growth, political and legal institutions and practices, and changing perceptions. The frontier regions under discussion include Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and the southwestern ethnic areas, which are all important in defining what China is and who the Chinese are.

Counts Toward: East Asian Languages & Culture; Environmental Studies; International Studies.

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ECON B225 Economic Development

Fall 2025

Examination of the issues related to and the policies designed to promote economic development in the developing economies of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Focus is on why some developing economies grow faster than others and why some growth paths are more equitable, poverty reducing, and environmentally sustainable than others. Includes consideration of the impact of international trade and investment policy, macroeconomic policies (exchange rate, monetary and fiscal policy) and sector policies (industry, agriculture, education, population, and environment) on development outcomes in a wide range of political and institutional contexts. Prerequisite: ECON B105.

Course does not meet an Approach

Counts Toward: Environmental Studies; Growth and Structure of Cities; International Studies; International Studies.

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ECON B236 Introduction to International Economics

Fall 2025, Spring 2026

An introduction to international economics through theory, policy issues, and problems. The course surveys international trade and finance, as well as topics in international economics. It investigates why and what a nation trades, the consequences of such trade, globalized production, the role of trade policy, the economics of immigration, the behavior and effects of exchange rates, and the macroeconomic implications of trade and capital flows.Prerequisites: ECON B105. The course is not open to students who have taken ECON B316 or B348.

Counts Toward: Growth and Structure of Cities; International Studies; International Studies.

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ECON B316 International Macroeconomics

Spring 2026

Examines the theory of, and current issues in, international macroeconomics and international finance. Considers the role of international factors in macroeconomic performance; policy-making in an open economy; exchange rate systems and exchange rate behavior; international financial integration; and international financial crises. Writing Intensive.Prerequisite: ECON B202 and ECON 253 or 304.

Writing Intensive

Counts Toward: International Studies; International Studies.

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ECON B317 The Economics of Agricultural and Rural Development

Spring 2026

Close to 900 million people living in extreme poverty live in rural regions and derive their income from agriculture. Many of them practice subsistence farming, consuming only what they grow. This class examines the economics of agricultural systems in poor countries, the challenges facing them, and why they account for such a large share of the world's poor. The class will do this from the perspectives of microeconomic theory, econometric research, development economics, environmental economics, and political economy. Writing Intensive. Prerequisite: ECON B200: Intermediate Microeconomics and either ECON B253: Introduction to Econometrics or ECON B304: Econometrics

Writing Intensive

Quantitative Readiness Required (QR)

Counts Toward: International Studies; International Studies.

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ENGL B237 Cultural Memory and State-Sanctioned Violence in Latinx Literature

Spring 2026

This course examines how Latinx literature grapples with state-sanctioned violence, cultural memory, and struggles for justice in the Americas. Attending to the histories of dictatorship and civil war in Central and South America, we will focus on a range of genres-including novels, memoir, poetry, film, and murals-to explore how memory and the imagination can contest state-sanctioned violence, how torture and disappearances haunt the present, how hetereopatriarchal and white supremacist discourses are embedded in authoritarian regimes, and how U.S. imperialism has impacted undocumented migration. Throughout the course we will analyze the various creative techniques Latinx cultural producers use to resist violence and imagine justice.

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Counts Toward: Comparative Literature; Gender Sexuality Studies; International Studies; Latin American Iberian Latinx; Spanish.

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GNST B245 Introduction to Latin American, Iberian and Latina/o Studies

Spring 2026

A broad, interdisciplinary survey of themes uniting and dividing societies from the Iberian Peninsula to the Americas. The class introduces the methods and interests of all departments in the concentration, posing problems of cultural continuity and change, globalization and struggles within dynamic histories, political economies, and creative expressions. Course is taught in English.

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Power, Inequity, and Justice (PIJ)

Counts Toward: Africana Studies; Growth and Structure of Cities; International Studies; International Studies; Latin American Iberian Latinx; Spanish.

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HIST B101 The Historical Imagination

Spring 2026

Explores some of the ways people have thought about, represented, and used the past across time and space. Introduces students to modern historical practices and debates through examination and discussion of texts and archives that range from scholarly monographs and documents to monuments, oral traditions, and other media.

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Inquiry into the Past (IP)

Counts Toward: International Studies; International Studies.

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HIST B200 The Atlantic World 1492-1800

Not offered 2025-26

The aim of this course is to provide an understanding of the way in which peoples, goods, and ideas from Africa, Europe. and the Americas came together to form an interconnected Atlantic World system. The course is designed to chart the manner in which an integrated system was created in the Americas in the early modern period, rather than to treat the history of the Atlantic World as nothing more than an expanded version of North American, Caribbean, or Latin American history.

Inquiry into the Past (IP)

Counts Toward: Africana Studies; Anthropology; International Studies; International Studies; Latin American Iberian Latinx; Peace Justice and Human Rights.

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HIST B237 Themes in Modern African History

Section 001 (Spring 2026): Public History in Africa

Spring 2026

This is a topics course. Course content varies

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Inquiry into the Past (IP)

Counts Toward: Africana Studies; Gender Sexuality Studies; Growth and Structure of Cities; International Studies; International Studies; Museum Studies.

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HIST B242 American Politics and Society: 1945 to the Present

Fall 2025

This course examines transformations in American culture, politics, and society from World War II to the present, focusing on flashpoints of government policy, popular culture, and social activism. We will trace this history with a focus on four central themes: (1) U.S. domestic and foreign policy and the fear of annihilation, from the Cold War, the specter of nuclear warfare, and the War in Vietnam to the War on Terror and climate change; (2) the growth and convergence of movements for social justice, including African American, Latinx, Asian American, indigenous, feminist, and LGBTQ+ rights and liberation; (3) the rise of the New Right, neoliberalism, the reshaping of party politics, and their impact on social welfare, healthcare, and the environment; and (4) the politics of popular culture, especially television, music, and digital media. Across these themes, we will consider where government leaders and popular culture have worked to reinforce social norms and sharpen political divides and how social movements have reshaped American politics and society.

Inquiry into the Past (IP)

Counts Toward: Gender Sexuality Studies; International Studies; International Studies.

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HIST B257 British Empire I: Capitalism and Slavery

Fall 2025

Focusing on the Atlantic slave trade and the slave plantation mode of production, this course explores English colonization, and the emergence and the decline of British Empire in the Americas and Caribbean from the 17th through the late 20th centuries. It tracks some of the intersecting and overlapping routes-and roots-connecting histories and politics within and between these "new" world locations. It also tracks the further and proliferating links between developments in these regions and the histories and politics of regions in the "old" world, from the north Atlantic to the South China sea.

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Inquiry into the Past (IP)

Counts Toward: Growth and Structure of Cities; International Studies; International Studies.

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HIST B258 British Empire: Imagining Indias

Not offered 2025-26

This course considers ideas about and experiences of "modern" India, i.e., India during the colonial and post-Independence periods (roughly 1757-present). While "India" and "Indian history" along with "British empire" and "British history" will be the ostensible objects of our consideration and discussions, the course proposes that their imagination and meanings are continually mediated by a wide variety of institutions, agents, and analytical categories (nation, religion, class, race, gender, to name a few examples). The course uses primary sources, scholarly analyses, and cultural productions to explore the political economies of knowledge, representation, and power in the production of modernity.

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Inquiry into the Past (IP)

Power, Inequity, and Justice (PIJ)

Counts Toward: International Studies; International Studies.

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HIST B264 Passages from India: 1800-Present

Fall 2025

This course explores the histories and effects of migration from the Indian subcontinent to far-flung destinations across the globe. It starts with the circular migrations of traders, merchants, and pilgrims in the medieval period from the Indian subcontinent to points east (in southeast Asia) and west (eastern Africa). However, the focus of the course is on modern migrations from the subcontinent, from the indentured labor migrations of the British colonial period (to Africa, the Caribbean, and the South Pacific) to the post-Independence emigrations from the new nations of the subcontinent to Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States.

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Inquiry into the Past (IP)

Power, Inequity, and Justice (PIJ)

Counts Toward: International Studies; International Studies.

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HIST B292 Women in Britain since 1750

Not offered 2025-26

Focusing on contemporary and historical narratives, this course explores the ongoing production, circulation and refraction of discourses on gender and nation as well as race, empire and modernity since the mid-18th century. Texts will incorporate visual material as well as literary evidence and culture and consider the crystallization of the discipline of history itself.

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Inquiry into the Past (IP)

Power, Inequity, and Justice (PIJ)

Counts Toward: Gender Sexuality Studies; International Studies; International Studies.

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HIST B319 Topics in Modern European History

Section 001 (Spring 2026): Growing Up in Communism

Spring 2026

This is a topics course. Course content varies.

Counts Toward: Growth and Structure of Cities; International Studies; International Studies.

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HIST B337 Topics in African History

Section 001 (Spring 2026): Cities, Epidemics, Pandemics

Spring 2026

This is a topics course. Topics vary.

Counts Toward: Africana Studies; Gender Sexuality Studies; Health Studies; Health Studies; International Studies; International Studies.

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HIST B371 Topics in Atlantic History: The Early Modern Pirate in Fact and Fiction

Spring 2026

This course will explore piracy in the Americas in the period 1550-1750. We will investigate the historical reality of pirates and what they did, and the manner in which pirates have entered the popular imagination through fiction and films. Pirates have been depicted as lovable rogues, anti-establishment rebels, and enlightened multiculturalists who were skilled in dealing with the indigenous and African peoples of the Americas. The course will examine the facts and the fictions surrounding these important historical actors.

Writing Intensive

Counts Toward: International Studies; International Studies; Latin American Iberian Latinx.

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MEST B210 The Art and Architecture of Islamic Spirituality

Spring 2026

This course examines how Muslim societies across time and space have used art and architecture in different ways to express and understand inner dimensions of spirituality and mysticism. Topics to be studied include: the calligraphical remnants of the early Islamic period; inscriptions found on buildings and gravestones; the majestic architecture of mosques, shrines, seminaries, and Sufi lodges; the brilliant arts of the book; the commemorative iconography and passion plays of Ashura devotion; the souvenir culture of modern shrine visitation; and the modern art of twenty-first century Sufism. Readings include works from history, religious studies, anthropology, sociology, and the history of art and architecture.

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Counts Toward: Growth and Structure of Cities; History; History of Art; International Studies; Visual Studies.

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MEST B305 Merchants, Pilgrims & Rogues: Travels through the Mid East

Spring 2026

This course will critically approach the various ways that people have traveled to and within the Middle East, Central Asia, and North Africa in the medieval and modern periods. It will explore the many reasons that induced people to travel by looking at travelogues produced by these various travelers, the material culture of travel (e.g. pilgrimage scrolls, architecture and infrastructure that facilitated travel and lodging, movement of commodities, postcards, etc.), and scholarly work on travel, tourism, and migration more broadly. This course will include travels by merchants, pilgrims, adventurers, scholars, conquering armies, imperial powers, oil tycoons, and refugees.

Writing Attentive

Counts Toward: History; International Studies.

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PHIL B221 Ethics

Fall 2025

An introduction to ethics by way of an examination of moral theories and a discussion of important ancient, modern, and contemporary texts which established theories such as virtue ethics, deontology, utilitarianism, relativism, emotivism, care ethics. This course considers questions concerning freedom, responsibility, and obligation. How should we live our lives and interact with others? How should we think about ethics in a global context? Is ethics independent of culture? A variety of practical issues such as reproductive rights, euthanasia, animal rights and the environment will be considered.

Writing Attentive

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Counts Toward: Gender Sexuality Studies; International Studies; International Studies.

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POLS B131 Introduction to Comparative Politics

Spring 2026

This course is designed to provide an introduction to the discipline of comparative politics. We will explore the primary approaches and concepts scholars employ in order to systematically analyze the political world. In doing so, we will also examine the political structures, institutions, and behaviors of a number of countries around the world. Questions we will engage with include: What is power and how is it exercised? What are the differences between democratic and authoritarian regimes? How do different countries develop their economies? What factors shape the relationships between states and their societies? By the end of this course, students will be equipped to answer these questions and prepared for further study in political science.

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Counts Toward: International Studies; International Studies.

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POLS B241 The Politics of International Law and Institutions

Spring 2026

An introduction to international law, which assumes a working knowledge of modern world history and politics since World War II. The origins of modern international legal norms in philosophy and political necessity are explored, showing the schools of thought to which the understandings of these origins give rise. Significant cases are used to illustrate various principles and problems. Prerequisite: POLS B141

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Counts Toward: International Studies; International Studies.

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POLS B249 Politics of Economic Development

Fall 2025

How do we explain the variations of political and economic systems in the world? What is the relationship between the state and the market? To what extent does the timing of industrialization affect the viability of certain developmental strategies? This seminar introduces the intellectual history of comparative political economy and development studies with readings on both comparative political economy and international political economy. First, we will examine the debates on the dynamics of the state and the market in the development and globalization process. Second, we will explore specific case studies to discuss: 1) how the political and economic processes have changed in response to the interaction of the domestic and international arenas, 2) whether and how the late developers learned from the experiences of early developers, 3) how the international economy and international financial crisis shaped domestic development strategies. Lastly, we will analyze the developmental concerns at the sub-national level with financial liberalization. Prerequisite: Freshman can enroll after they have taken 100 level courses in social science and after getting instructor permission.

Course does not meet an Approach

Counts Toward: International Studies.

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POLS B283 Middle East Politics

Fall 2025

This course offers an overview on the contemporary politics of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and the relevant social (mostly political) science work on it. It brings together empirical knowledge on domestic and transnational politics in different countries of the region and how empirical political science around the big questions is conducted. Each module of the course revolves around a central question that has been keeping social and political scientists busy in the last decades: What triggers risky protest movements in authoritarian settings? Why has the MENA region remained authoritarian despite successive global waves of democratization? Under which conditions do transitions to democracies succeed? Do monarchies in the Middle East have an advantage in ensuring political stability, and if so, why? Is it impossible to ensure good governance and peace at the same time in divided societies? What motivates people to take up arms in the name of religion and sect? What are the reasons behind the economic underdevelopment of the MENA region? Students are also invited to think about these "big questions" and take MENA countries as their case studies, while at the same significantly enhancing their contextual knowledge about the region. No prerequisites, but either some prior familiarity with the Middle East or a prior political science course encouraged.

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Counts Toward: Hebrew and Judaic Studies; International Studies; International Studies.

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POLS B289 Revolutions and Political Violence

Not offered 2025-26

The course aims to understand why ethnic riots, civil conflict, and political protest occur and why participation in these events varies among individuals, groups, and states.

Course does not meet an Approach

Counts Toward: International Studies.

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POLS B391 International Political Economy

Fall 2025

This seminar examines the growing importance of economic issues in world politics and traces the development of the modern world economy from its origins in colonialism and the industrial revolution, through to the globalization of recent decades. Major paradigms in political economy are critically examined. Aspects of and issues in international economic relations such as development, finance, trade, migration, and foreign investment are examined in the light of selected approaches. This course is open to all students who have the prerequisites. Prerequisite: One course in International Politics or Economics is required. Preference is given to seniors although juniors are accepted.

Writing Attentive

Counts Toward: International Studies; International Studies.

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RUSS B232 Coal, Oil, Nuclear: Narrative Afterlives

Not offered 2025-26

Coal. Oil. Nuclear energy. These items give shape to our everyday lives in countless ways. They impact our health, our politics, and our very survival on earth.. Nevertheless, because these resources permeate nearly every aspect of our existence, the human mind can struggle to comprehend them in their totality. In this course, we'll explore texts that engage with our environment to help us bring humans' relationship to these materials into focus. Scientific, historical, and economic studies tend to focus on their scale and widespread impact. Reading stories, watching

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Power, Inequity, and Justice (PIJ)

Counts Toward: Comparative Literature; Environmental Studies; International Studies.

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SOCL B307 Transnational Queer Politics

Fall 2025

As people and ideas traverse national, cultural, and social borders, how are gender and sexuality negotiated and redefined? This course uses queer politics and practices as an entry point to examine transnational processes such as global diffusion, international organizations, colonialism, global capitalism, and neoliberalism. Instead of taking gender and sexual categories like "gay," "lesbian," and "trans" for granted, we will use a feminist and queer sociological approach to interrogate how gender and sexual categories are produced, maintained, and reconfigured in non-western societies. Furthermore, we will consider how to address the limits of global LGBT rights discourse, social movements, and politics through postcolonial and intersectional lenses. Together, we will cultivate critical tools to assess the relationships between gender, sexuality, and globalization and how these processes influence the lived experiences of queer/trans individuals worldwide. Prerequisite: At lease one course in the social sciences.

Counts Toward: Gender & Sexuality Studies; Gender Sexuality Studies; Gender Sexuality Studies; International Studies.

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SOCL B336 Modernizing China

Spring 2026

Today, China is the world's second-largest economy and a major contender for the global superpower status to the United States. Yet, China was once one of the world's poorest countries in the mid-twentieth century. How did China modernize itself from the "Sick Man of Asian" to an emergent global economic, cultural, and political superpower? How are these changes impacting Chinese society and the world? At what/whose cost? This course takes a sociology of development lens to understand contemporary China's modernization projects. We will critically examine various modernization projects, including the "Great Leap Forward," the post-socialist market reform, and "One Belt One Road." Together, we will also consider how these measures create sweeping social changes in every fabric of Chinese social life-from the shifting relationship between the state and society, the one-child policy, to profound changes in family, kinship structure, and the most intimate aspects of life. Through examining and reflecting on various modernization projects in China, students will be able to critically analyze how social policies generate both intended and unintended consequences to social life. Prerequisite: One course in the Social Sciences or permission of instructor.

Course does not meet an Approach

Counts Toward: East Asian Languages & Culture; International Studies.

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SPAN B232 Encuentros culturales en América Latina

Fall 2025

This course introduces canonical Latin American texts through translation scenes represented in them. Arranged chronologically since the first encounters during the conquest until contemporary times, the readings trace different modulations of a constant linguistic and cultural preoccupation with translation in Latin America. Translation scenes are analyzed through close reading, and then considered as barometers for understanding the broader cultural climate. Special emphasis is placed on key notions for literary analysis and translation studies, as well as for linking the literary text with cultural, social, political, and historical processes. Prerequisite: SPAN B120 or another SPAN 200-level course.

Writing Attentive

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Inquiry into the Past (IP)

Counts Toward: International Studies; International Studies; Latin American Iberian Latinx.

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