An exploration of the conservation and wilderness preservation movements, and their impacts on peoples, landscapes, and animal populations, with a focus on North America and Africa. The class will examine the historiography of these interrelated phenomena, including their connections with colonialism, urban growth, anti-colonial resistance, local and indigenous agency, tourism, and landscape ecology. Case studies will might include the Kruger National Park in South Africa, and various U.S. national parks. Attention will also be given to recent work on private and public/private conservation. Students will develop research projects in an area of their interest.
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.
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 uses contemporary cinema to introduce students to the diverse histories, communities, and sociocultural practices associated with the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Students will watch and analyze a series of feature films made by MENA-based filmmakers, considering their form, style, and content–as well as the sociopolitical conditions under which they were made. The focus will be on reading these films ethnographically–i.e., students will engage them as texts that shed light on contemporary life in the MENA region. Through this work, students will explore topics that have been of enduring interest to filmmakers from–and scholars of–the region, including gender identities and sexuality, religious practices and daily life, family and kinship, class, and sociopolitical conflict.
How do diasporic communities form, survive, and thrive? What sociocultural, political, and/or economic forces pull them together or push them apart? How do such communities in the United States confront these forces in a moment of sociopolitical upheaval? This course considers these questions by focusing on the Coptic Christian diaspora in Nashville. Grounded in the anthropological study of diaspora but taking a case study approach, this class explores the origins of this community as well as the dynamics shaping it today. Through this exploration, students will gain a deeper understanding of contemporary migration from the Middle East and North Africa as well as community-formation among those who have left.
This course examines circumstances that facilitate or hinder the political, social, and economic incorporation of immigrants. In addition to reviewing early twentieth-century sociological theories of immigration, the course analyzes contemporary research on immigration from the standpoint of political science and related disciplines. While focused primarily on explaining patterns by which immigrants are incorporated in the United States and Europe, it also compares cases from Latin America, Eurasia, the Middle East, and other regions in relation to shared or dissimilar immigration policies, levels of economic development, and demographic compositions.
A general survey of political life in Latin America, as well as specific study of the most important countries-Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Venezuela. Determinants and outcomes of political process are studied, as well as the political process itself. Consideration is given to both domestic and foreign influences and policies.
Fitness. Flexibility. Focus. Freedom. These are just a sampling of popular buzzwords associated with the trans-sectarian array of disciplines that have come to be gathered under the term “yoga.” This course tracks the historical evolution of yogic systems from their mythologized origins in South Asia to their diverse expressions in the globalized present. Along the way, it asks how yogic technologies of contemplation and physical practice have come to promise seemingly dissimilar images of human flourishing, ranging from spiritual liberation to optimal health and wellness, commercial success, and bodily transformation.
Fitness. Flexibility. Focus. Freedom. These are just a sampling of popular buzzwords associated with the trans-sectarian array of disciplines that have come to be gathered under the term “yoga.” This course tracks the historical evolution of yogic systems from their mythologized origins in South Asia to their diverse expressions in the globalized present. Along the way, it asks how yogic technologies of contemplation and physical practice have come to promise seemingly dissimilar images of human flourishing, ranging from spiritual liberation to optimal health and wellness, commercial success, and bodily transformation.
This course examines the relationship between individuals and the state in Putin's Russia. Students analyze a variety of texts -- fiction, cinema, journalism, and popular culture -- dealing with the chaos of the "wild 1990s," Putin's subsequent solidification of power, and the rise of a prominent protest culture. A special area of focus is the EuroMaidan revolution and the ongoing "hybrid war" in the Donbas, Ukraine. This course is taught in English.
An introduction to the culture of Spain emphasizing literature, the arts, and history from 1700 to the present. This course, along with SPAN 301, SPAN 303, and SPAN 304, constitutes the core of the major in Spanish. Students are strongly encouraged to take all four of these courses before undertaking more advanced study.
An introduction to the study of Latin America emphasizing literature, history, and the arts from the independence period to the present. This course, along with SPAN 301, SPAN 302, and SPAN 303, constitutes the core of the major in Spanish. Students are strongly encouraged to take all four of these courses before undertaking more advanced study.
An introduction to the study of Latin America emphasizing literature, history, and the arts from the independence period to the present. This course, along with SPAN 301, SPAN 302, and SPAN 303, constitutes the core of the major in Spanish. Students are strongly encouraged to take all four of these courses before undertaking more advanced study.
A study of the major figures and movements beginning with Ruben Dario and modernismo. Special emphasis on the poetry of Huidobro, Neruda, Vallejo, Borges, Mistral, Paz, and Alegria.
A study of diverse ways in which Latin American literature and culture have portrayed the relationship between humans and the natural environment and the struggle for environmental justice. Students study texts, films, and other materials from selected geographic regions to foster understanding of the cultural, political, and ecological history of environmental issues in Latin America.
Shared readings on key topics and concepts related to the Hispanic world. Each student also engages in research on a topic of interest, culminating in a critical research paper and an oral presentation. This seminar serves to fulfill the writing-intensive requirement within the major.
Italian
An intensive, introductory course with emphasis on the fundamentals of grammar (both written and spoken) and extensive practice in listening comprehension and reading. Four class hours per week.
This course focuses on natural landscapes, human impact on the environment, and environmental justice as portrayed within contemporary Italian literature, cinema, and art. Taught in Italian.
Latin
An intensive, introductory course in Latin emphasizing forms and syntax and with extensive readings. Four class hours per week.