This course examines the first circumnavigation of the globe during the 16th century and considers how the two maritime empires of the time, Spain and Portugal, spawned not only the opening of new routes of commerce and the development of cartography but also the very idea of globalization.
A course concerned with analyzing how international and global integration shape local development. After reflecting on this integration during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and its impact on nation-state formation and economic development, students analyze the construction of the post-World War II international system around the Bretton-Woods institutions. Attention is also given to how international norms pertaining to human rights and democracy apply to diverse countries during the current period of globalization, and to how transnational linkages shape economic and cultural transformations. The course concludes with discussion of living abroadincluding topics such as language acquisition and personal transformation. Required core course for IGS majors.
This course examines the implications of West and Central Africa's relations with and influences on the wider Atlantic world from the late 15th century, focusing on political formation, trade and socioeconomic change, and cultural interactions in Atlantic Africa. The course also considers topics such as diaspora, colonialism, decolonization, transnational social movements, democratization, development, migration, popular culture, tourism, and the global ramifications of West and Central Africa's integration into the Atlantic world.
This course examines how global perspectives influence the way we communicate and collaborate across cultures. Applying a community-based framework, students observe another culture from the inside, exploring how to become an effective communicator across cultures and analyzing how global competency promotes a more diverse and inclusive community. The course is required for every student enrolled in the Ghana on the World Stage program.
This course explores various meanings and roles of the human body in the Middle East North Africa region, as well as the connections between individual experiences of the body and the collective political "body" of the nation, society, and state. Course themes include health and medicine, sports, environment, war, gender and sexuality, religion, and politics. Drawing upon contemporary ethnographies from the region, students will examine the body's embeddedness in structures of power, such as kinship networks, political and religious movements, and government and non-government organizations. Students will apply anthropological thinking to understand how embodied experiences in these structures shapes people's sense of who they are and how they are in the world.
A comparative study of the origins and patterns of political violence and nonviolent resistance in contemporary Europe. When and how do cultural traits, such as ethnicity, religion, or language, become politicized? Under what conditions is violence more likely to take place in some regions and during particular historical periods? Why are civilians targeted on the basis of their cultural identities? When is political violence gendered? How are peace and war officially and unofficially commemorated across the European states? How do states achieve both peace and justice in the aftermath of wars? These questions are addressed by critically assessing existing theories and explanations in political violence literature across social science and humanities disciplines. In addition to analyzing conditions conducive to political violence, students also examine processes and practices of violence prevention and conflict management. This course is only available through the European Studies Program. This course is only available through the European Studies Program.
Globalization and the Challenges of Development in Ghana explores the multifaceted ways in which globalization manifests itself around the world and examines globalization's complex impacts on Ghanaian citizens and on society as a whole.
An interdisciplinary seminar required of all seniors in international and global studies. Shared readings on key topics and concepts in globalization are discussed in relation to students' geographic concentration and abroad experiences. Additionally, each student produces and presents a major research paper related to the student's course work as well as abroad experience and language study. This seminar is normally offered in the fall, in part to reintegrate majors who were abroad in the spring or summer as well as to draw best on the abroad experience while still fresh. This course also serves as the writing intensive credit within the major.
An interdisciplinary seminar required of all seniors in international and global studies. Shared readings on key topics and concepts in globalization are discussed in relation to students' geographic concentration and abroad experiences. Additionally, each student produces and presents a major research paper related to the student's course work as well as abroad experience and language study. This seminar is normally offered in the fall, in part to reintegrate majors who were abroad in the spring or summer as well as to draw best on the abroad experience while still fresh. This course also serves as the writing intensive credit within the major.
Study of a variable topic of special interest pertaining to Italian literature, culture, or cinema. Taught in English. This course may be repeated for credit when the topic differs.
Study of a variable topic of special interest pertaining to Italian literature, culture, or cinema. Taught in English. This course may be repeated for credit when the topic differs.
This course examines the processes, causes, and consequences of interstate war and internationalized intrastate conflicts—from a theoretical as well as an empirical perspective. It identifies the key variables, causal paths, and conditions under which conflicts begin, intensify, and terminate. The study is organized and conducted at various levels of analysis, ranging from individual and domestic to interstate and global. The course also considers how theoretical explanations and empirical findings can inform the selection of foreign policy instruments to resolve contemporary armed international conflicts.
This course analyzes the emergence of China's environmental crisis and its national and global implications. Students explore the historical development of China's current environmental crisis, with special focus on institutions, laws, and regulations that have contributed to environmental degradation during the post-1949 era. The course addresses the efforts, and limited ability, of civil society and China's state to rein in pollution and remediate environmental damage, as well as China's engagement with global environmental norms and policymaking.
A comparison of the politics of sub-Saharan Africa. An exploration of state-society relationships in independent Africa and the challenges of warlord politics to the African state system.
This course examines 1) some of the major social and political ideologies of the 20th century (such as liberalism, socialism, nationalism, feminism, environmentalism); 2) theories of social and political movements in modern societies and market democracies; and 3) concrete examples of such social and political movements in the contemporary world.
This course examines the dynamics of international political and economic relations. Issues of trade, monetary and financial networks, investment, North-South relations, and the international system will be explored. The international context of development will receive particular attention.
The sources, subjects, and major principles of international law. The function of law in the international community.