Search Results
Your search for courses · during 24FA, 25WI, 25SP · meeting requirements for IS, International Studies · returned 191 results
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AFST 120 Blackness and Whiteness Outside the United States 6 credits
This course examines blackness and whiteness as constructs outside the U.S. Racial categories and their meanings will be considered through a range of topics: skin color stratification, nationalism, migration and citizenship, education, popular culture and media, spatial segregation and others. Central to the course will be considering how racism and anti-blackness vary across societies, as well as the transnational and global flows of racial ideas and categories. Examples will be drawn from the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.
Not available to students who took AFST 100 Fall 2023
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AFST 289 Global Blackness and Social Movements 6 credits
This course considers Black social movements from around the globe, with an emphasis on non-U.S. contexts. Examining multiple movements both past and present, it takes a comparative approach to understanding the unique and variable ways that Black communities have articulated the Black condition, and mobilized and resisted oppression. Central to the course is the question of Blackness as a global and transnational identity; as well as the extent to which movements themselves form ties and mutually inform each other across national boundaries.
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ARBC 100.00 Arabs Encountering the West 6 credits
The encounter between Arabs and Westerners has been marked by its fair share of sorrow and suspicion. In this seminar we will read literary works by Arab authors written over approximately 1000 years–from the Crusades, the height of European imperialism, and on into the age of Iraq, Obama and ISIS. Through our readings and discussions, we will ask along with Arab authors: Is conflict between Arabs and Westerners the inevitable and unbridgeable result of differing world-views, religions and cultures? Are differences just a result of poor communication? Or is this “cultural conflict” something that can be understood historically?
Held for new first year students
- Fall 2024
- AI/WR1, Argument & Inquiry/WR1 IS, International Studies
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Student is a member of the First Year First Term class level cohort. Students are only allowed to register for one A&I course at a time. If a student wishes to change the A&I course they are enrolled in they must DROP the enrolled course and then ADD the new course. Please see our Workday guides Drop or 'Late' Drop a Course and Register or Waitlist for a Course Directly from the Course Listing for more information.
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ARBC 222 Music in the Middle East 6 credits
The Middle East is home to a great number of musical styles, genres, and traditions. Regional, ideological, and cultural diversity, national identity, and cross-cultural encounters–all express themselves in music. We will explore some of the many musical traditions in the Arab world, from early twentieth century to the present. Class discussions based on readings in English and guided listening. No prior music knowledge required, but interested students with or without musical background can participate in an optional, hands-on Arab music performance workshop, on Western or a few (provided) Middle Eastern instruments throughout the term.
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ARBC 310 Advanced Media Arabic 6 credits
Readings of excerpts from the Arabic press and listening to news editions, commentaries and other radio and TV programs from across the Arab world. Emphasis is on vocabulary expansion, text comprehension strategies, and further development of reading and listening comprehension. Class includes oral discussions and regular written assignments in Arabic.
- Winter 2025
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): ARBC 206 – Arabic in Cultural Context or equivalent with a grade of C- or better.
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ARBC 371 Readings in Premodern Arabic Science 3 credits
It is difficult to overstate Arab scientists’ contribution to science. A translation movement from Greek, Persian and Sanskrit into Arabic initiated in the eighth century, led to centuries of innovative scientific investigation, during which Arab scientists reshaped science in a variety of disciplines: from mathematics to astronomy, physics, optics and medicine. Many of their works entered Latin and the European curriculum during the Renaissance. In this reading course we will explore some of the achievements and thought processes in premodern Arabic scientific literature by reading selections from several seminal works. We will examine these in the cultural contexts in which they emerged and to which they contributed, and reflect on modern Western perceptions of this intellectual project. Readings and class discussions will be in both Arabic and English.
- Spring 2025
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): ARBC 206 – Arabic in Cultural Context or equivalent with a grade of C- or better.
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ARCN 101 The Human Story: Archaeology and the Anthropocene 6 credits
What are the origins of our species? How did our ancestors evolve in Africa and disperse to nearly every corner of the globe? How did people create tools and homes, transform landscapes, and build cities? What are the origins of art? Of agriculture? Of mass-transport and communication technologies? Writing is about 5000 years old, meaning over 99% of the human past (c. 4 million years) is documented only through the material record of fossils, artifacts, and environmental impacts. This course examines the material worlds of humanity, and how archaeology provides a unique, “big-picture” story of our shared past.
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ARTH 100.01 Art and Culture in the Gilded Age 6 credits
Staggering wealth inequality spurred by transformative technological innovation and unbridled corporate power. Political tumult fueled by backsliding civil rights legislation, disputed elections, and anti-immigrant sentiment. Culture wars. American imperialism. Such characteristics have increasingly fueled comparisons between the present day and the late-nineteenth century in the United States. The Gilded Age witnessed the flourishing of mass culture alongside the founding of many elite cultural organizations—museums, symphony halls, libraries—that still stand as preeminent civic institutions. With an occasional eye to the present, this seminar examines the art, architecture, and cultural history of the Gilded Age.
Held for new first year students
- Fall 2024
- AI/WR1, Argument & Inquiry/WR1
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Student is a member of the First Year First Term class level cohort. Students are only allowed to register for one A&I course at a time. If a student wishes to change the A&I course they are enrolled in they must DROP the enrolled course and then ADD the new course. Please see our Workday guides Drop or 'Late' Drop a Course and Register or Waitlist for a Course Directly from the Course Listing for more information.
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ARTH 100.02 Witches, Monsters and Demons 6 credits
Between 1300 and 1600 depictions of witches, monsters, and demons moved from the margins of medieval manuscripts and the nooks of church architecture to the center of altarpieces and heart of princely collections. Although this diabolical imagery was extremely diverse, it came from one place: the mind of the Renaissance artist. This course examines how images that came from within were devised and fashioned into works of art. It considers why fantastical imagery that showcased the artist’s imagination was so highly valued during the Renaissance–a period typically associated with the rebirth of classical antiquity. Finally, it explores the connection between illusions, visions, dreams, and other visual phenomena that highlighted the potential malfunction of the mind, and artistic creation. Some of the artists discussed include, but are not limited to, Hieronymus Bosch, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci.
Held for new first year students
- Fall 2024
- AI/WR1, Argument & Inquiry/WR1 IS, International Studies
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Student is a member of the First Year First Term class level cohort. Students are only allowed to register for one A&I course at a time. If a student wishes to change the A&I course they are enrolled in they must DROP the enrolled course and then ADD the new course. Please see our Workday guides Drop or 'Late' Drop a Course and Register or Waitlist for a Course Directly from the Course Listing for more information.
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ARTH 101 Introduction to Art History I 6 credits
An introduction to the art and architecture of various geographical areas around the world from antiquity through the “Middle Ages.” The course will provide foundational skills (tools of analysis and interpretation) as well as general, historical understanding. It will focus on a select number of major developments in a range of media and cultures, emphasizing the way that works of art function both as aesthetic and material objects and as cultural artifacts and forces. Issues include, for example, sacred spaces, images of the gods, imperial portraiture, and domestic decoration.
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ARTH 102 Introduction to Art History II 6 credits
An introduction to the art and architecture of various geographical areas around the world from the fifteenth century through the present. The course will provide foundational skills (tools of analysis and interpretation) as well as general, historical understanding. It will focus on a select number of major developments in a range of media and cultures, emphasizing the way that works of art function both as aesthetic and material objects and as cultural artifacts and forces. Issues include, for example, humanist and Reformation redefinitions of art in the Italian and Northern Renaissance, realism, modernity and tradition, the tension between self-expression and the art market, and the use of art for political purposes.
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ARTH 172 Modern Art: 1890-1945 6 credits
This course explores developments in the visual arts, architecture, and theory in Europe and America between 1890 and 1945. The major Modernist artists and movements that sought to revolutionize vision, culture, and experience, from Symbolism to Surrealism, will be considered. The impact of World War I, the Great Depression, and the rise of fascism will be examined as well for their devastation of the Modernist dream of social-cultural renewal. Lectures will be integrated with discussions of artists’ theoretical writings and group manifestoes, such as those of the Futurists, Dadaists, Surrealists, Constructivists, and DeStijl, in addition to select secondary readings.
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ARTH 215 Cross-Cultural Psychology in Prague: Czech Art and Architecture 4 credits
This course will examine key developments in Czech visual art and architecture from the early medieval to the contemporary periods. Slide-based lectures will be supplemented by visits to representative monuments, art collections, and museums in Prague.
- Fall 2024
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Acceptance in Cross-Cultural Studies in Prague Program and student has completed any of the following course(s): PSYC 110 – Principles of Psychology with a grade of C- or better.
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ARTH 225 The Naked and the Nude: A History 6 credits
Why did the naked human body become a central subject of Western art? What makes the representation of an unclad body "beautiful," and what makes it "erotic"? What types of bodies been portrayed in the history of art and what types of bodies have not? Who has been succesful in censoring the nude? Who been less succesful? These questions form the basis of this course which examines the history of the nude from antiquity to the present day.
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ARTH 250 The Coded Gaze: AI and Art History 6 credits
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can support or subvert human intelligence and it affects art and art history already today. This course will connect existing discourses in art history and the history of photography to recent AI questions and themes, demonstrating that many topics, which appear novel, have in fact a long and complex history. We will focus on questions of ethics that affect both AI and art history, including ownership of images, surveillance, and the representation of race and gender, while also exploring possible uses of AI in art history, e.g. the detection of forgeries, and the curation of AI artworks.
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ARTS 275 Studio Art Seminar in the South Pacific: The Physical and Cultural Environment 6 credits
This is a wide-ranging course that asks students to engage with their surroundings and make broad connections during the South Pacific program. It examines ecological topics, such as natural history, invasive species, conservation efforts, and how the physical landscape has changed since colonialism. Students will also study indigenous people’s history, culture, art, and profound relationship to landscape. This course includes readings, films, local speakers, and diverse site visits.
Open only to participants in Carleton OCS South Pacific Program
- Winter 2025
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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Acceptance in the Studio Art in the South Pacific Program and the student has completed any of the following courses: ARTS 110 – Observational drawing or ARTS 113 – Field Drawing or ARTS 114 – Introduction to Drawing Architecture with a grade of C- or better or equivalent.
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ASST 285 Mapping Japan, the Real and the Imagined 6 credits
From ancient to present times, Japan drew and redrew its borders, shape, and culture, imagining its place in this world and beyond, its cultural and racial identity. This course is a cartographic exploration of this complex and contested history. Cosmological mandalas, hell images, travel brochures, and military maps bring to light the imagined Japan—its religious vision, cartographic imagination, and political ambition—that dictated its geopolitical expansion abroad and the displacement of minority peoples “at home.” We will use a variety of textual and visual materials, including those in Carleton’s Rare Book and Map Collections.
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CAMS 210 Film History I 6 credits
This course surveys the first half-century of cinema history, focusing on film structure and style as well as transformations in technology, industry and society. Topics include series photography, the nickelodeon boom, local movie-going, Italian super-spectacles, early African American cinema, women film pioneers, abstraction and surrealism, German Expressionism, Soviet silent cinema, Chaplin and Keaton, the advent of sound and color technologies, the Production Code, the American Studio System, Britain and early Hitchcock, Popular Front cinema in France, and early Japanese cinema. Assignments aim to develop skills in close analysis and working with primary sources in researching and writing film history.
Extra Time Evening Screenings
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CAMS 212 Contemporary Spanish Cinema 6 credits
This course serves as a historical and critical survey of Spanish cinema from the early 1970s to the present. Topics of study will include the redefinition of Spanish identity in the post-Franco era, the rewriting of national history through cinema, cinematic representations of gender and sexuality, emergent genres, regional cinemas and identities, stars and transnational film projects, and new Spanish auteurs from the 1980s to the present.
Extra Time required. Evening Screenings.
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CAMS 214 Film History III 6 credits
This course is designed to introduce students to recent film history, 1970-present, and the multiple permutations of cinema around the globe. The course charts the development of national cinemas since the 1970s while considering the effects of media consolidation and digital convergence. Moreover, the course examines how global cinemas have reacted to and dealt with the formal influence and economic domination of Hollywood on international audiences. Class lectures, screenings, and discussions will consider how cinema has changed from a primarily national phenomenon to a transnational form in the twenty-first century.
Extra Time required for evening Screenings.
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CAMS 236 Israeli Society in Israeli Cinema 6 credits
This course will introduce students to the global kaleidoscope that is Israeli society today. Since the 1980s the Israeli public has increasingly engaged with its multicultural character, particularly through films and documentaries that broaden national conversation. Our approach to exploring the emerging reflection of Israel's diversity in its cinema will be thematic. We will study films that foreground religious-secular, Israeli-Palestinian, gender, sexual orientation, and family dynamics, as well as Western-Middle Eastern Jewish relations, foreign workers or refugees in Israel, army and society, and Holocaust memory. With critical insights from the professor's interviews with several directors and Israeli film scholars. Conducted in English, all films subtitled. Evening film screenings.
In Translation. Extra Time required for Evening Screenings.
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CCST 100.00 Growing Up Cross-Culturally 6 credits
From cradle to grave, a cultural lens shapes our sense of who we are. Yet, as we grow older, we also become creators of culture. This course proposes “seeing cross-culturally” to explore the ways societies view birth, infancy, adolescence, marriage, adulthood, and old age. Using fairy tales, movies, and articles, we investigate how humans talk about identity and belonging. We then discuss the myriad ways of “being cross-cultural.” First-year students interested in the Cross-Cultural Studies program are strongly encouraged to enroll in this seminar. While not required for the minor, the course will count as one of the electives.
Held for new first year students
- Fall 2024
- AI/WR1, Argument & Inquiry/WR1 IS, International Studies
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Student is a member of the First Year First Term class level cohort. Students are only allowed to register for one A&I course at a time. If a student wishes to change the A&I course they are enrolled in they must DROP the enrolled course and then ADD the new course. Please see our Workday guides Drop or 'Late' Drop a Course and Register or Waitlist for a Course Directly from the Course Listing for more information.
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CCST 208 International Coffee and News 2 credits
Have you recently returned from studying or living abroad? This course is designed to help you keep in touch with the culture you left behind, while deepening your understanding of current issues across the globe. Relying on magazines and newspapers in the local language or in English-language media, students will discuss common topics and themes as they play out in the countries or regions where they have lived or studied. Conducted in English. Recommended preparation: Participation in an off-campus study program (Carleton or non-Carleton), substantial experience living abroad, or instructor permission.
Recommended Preparation: Participation in an off-campus study program (Carleton or non-Carleton), substantial experience living abroad, or instructor permission.
- Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Spring 2025
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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CCST 245 Meaning and Power: Introduction to Analytical Approaches in the Humanities 6 credits
How can it be that a single text means different things to different people at different times, and who or what controls those meanings? What is allowed to count as a “text” in the first place, and why? How might one understand texts differently, and can different forms of reading serve as resistance or activism within the social world? Together we will respond to these questions by developing skills in close reading and discussing diverse essays and ideas. We will also focus on advanced academic writing skills designed to prepare students for comps in their own humanities department.
- Winter 2025
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis WR2 Writing Requirement 2
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): One 200 or 300 Level course with a LA – Literary/Artistic Analysis course tag with a grade of C- or better.
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CCST 270 Creative Travel Writing Workshop 6 credits
Travelers write. Whether it be in the form of postcards, text messages, blogs, or articles, writing serves to anchor memory and process difference, making foreign experience understandable to us and accessible to others. While examining key examples of the genre, you will draw on your experiences off-campus for your own work. Student essays will be critiqued in a workshop setting, and all work will be revised before final submission. Some experimentation with blended media is also encouraged.
- Winter 2025
- ARP, Arts Practice IS, International Studies WR2 Writing Requirement 2
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Student has enrolled in any of the following course(s): Any Carleton OCS course or Non-Carleton OCS course with a grade of C- or better.
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CCST 398 The Global Panorama: A Capstone Workshop for European Studies and Cross-Cultural Studies 2 credits
The work of Cross-Cultural Studies and European Studies traverses many disciplines, often engaging with experiences that are difficult to capture in traditional formats. In this course students will create an ePortfolio that reflects, deepens, and narrates the various forms of experiences they have had at Carleton related to their minor, drawing on coursework and off-campus study, as well as such extracurricular activities as talks, service learning, internships and fellowships. Guided by readings and prompts, students will write a reflective essay articulating the coherence of the parts, describing both the process and the results of their pathway through the minor. Considered a capstone for CCST and EUST, but for anyone looking to thread together their experiences across culture. Course is taught as a workshop.
- Winter 2025
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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CHIN 251 Heroes, Heroines, Exceptional Lives in Chinese Biographical Histories 6 credits
Through generic and historical analysis of the two-millennia long biographical tradition in Chinese historical writing, this project explores lives of heroes and heroines, including, but not limited to: dynastic founders, ministers, generals, poets, assassins, and exceptional women. In this introduction to premodern Chinese culture and literature, students will experience, in English translation, some of the most beautiful works of ancient Chinese literature from the second century BCE through the eighteenth century CE. No prior Chinese language study required.
In translation
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CHIN 358 Advanced Chinese: Everyday Life in Ancient China 6 credits
Were chopsticks originally eating utensils? Did ancient Chinese sleep on beds and sit on chairs? What did they wear? In this course, students will find answers to questions like those in a series of expository writings concerning various aspects of daily life in ancient Chinese society, while enhancing their proficiency in comprehending authentic materials and producing extended discourse on related topics through a variety of oral and written coursework. This course also provides a fair amount of exposure to common sources for historical studies of China, and thus expands students’ vocabulary and knowledge about Chinese history and archaeology.
- Spring 2025
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): CHIN 206 – Chinese in Cultural Context with a grade of C- or better or satisfied the Chinese language requirement with a Carleton placement exam score of 300.
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CLAS 123 Greek Archaeology and Art 6 credits
This course explores the archaeology and art of the Ancient Greek world. Beginning with prehistory, we will track the development of the material culture of Ancient Greece through the Classical and Hellenistic periods, and conclude by discussing aspects of the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman empires that followed. We will focus throughout on aspects of archaeological practice, material culture and text, art and society, long-term social change, and the role of the past in the present.
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CLAS 214 Gender and Sexuality in Classical Antiquity 6 credits
In both ancient Greece and Rome, gender (along with class and citizenship status) largely determined what people did, where they spent their time, and how they related to others. This course will examine the ways in which Greek and Roman societies defined gender categories, and how they used them to think about larger social, political, and religious issues. Primary readings from Greek and Roman epic, lyric, and drama, as well as ancient historical, philosophical, and medical writers; in addition we will explore a range of secondary work on the topic from the perspectives of Classics and Gender Studies.
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CLAS 240 Rome: From Village to Superpower 6 credits
This class will investigate how Rome rose from a humble village of outcasts and refugees to become the preeminent power in the entire Mediterranean. We will trace Rome’s political evolution from kings to the Republic, alongside their gradual takeover of the Italian peninsula. We will study how Rome then swiftly overpowered what had been the most powerful kingdoms in the Mediterranean and established themselves as dominant. Who were these Romans and what were their political, military, religious, and social systems that enabled them to accomplish so much? What critical events shaped their development and ultimately led to total political control of the Mediterranean world?
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DANC 211 Cultures of Dance 6 credits
In this class we will look at dance from a global viewpoint, investigating forms, styles and contexts through various lenses (feminist, ethnographic, Africanist). We will examine and broaden the definition of dance and situate it within the discourse of “performance,” recognizing the larger meaning of “performance” to include all bodily movements, acts and gestures, whether onstage or off. We will ask questions about the performance of culture and ethnography, race and gender in the various dance cultures presented. Reading, writing, moving, discussing, and viewing live performance will shape class inquiry. No prior dance experience needed.
Extra time for two live performances
- Winter 2025
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis WR2 Writing Requirement 2
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Not open to students that have completed DANC 115 – Cultures of Dance with a grade of C- or better.
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ECON 240 Microeconomics of Development 6 credits
This course explores household behavior in developing countries. We will cover areas including fertility decisions, health and mortality, investment in education, the intra-household allocation of resources, household structure, and the marriage market. We will also look at the characteristics of land, labor, and credit markets, particularly technology adoption; land tenure and tenancy arrangements; the role of agrarian institutions in the development process; and the impacts of alternative politics and strategies in developing countries. The course complements Economics 241.
- Winter 2025
- QRE, Quantitative Reasoning SI, Social Inquiry IS, International Studies
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): ECON 111 – Principles of Microeconomics with a grade of C- or better or has received a score of 5 on the AP Microeconomics test or a score of 6 or better on the IB Economics test.
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ECON 244 Gender and Ethnicity in Latin American Economic Development 6 credits
Latin America has the highest level of inequality in the world, undergirded by significant ethnic and gender inequalities. The course will analyze key gender issues such as the feminization of poverty, female labor force participation and violence against women. We will also investigate how men can contribute to promoting gender equality and how public policy can promote healthy—rather than toxic—masculinities. We will explore what development means for indigenous peoples in the Americas, analyze different ways of measuring development with identity, and delve into how to promote better health and educational outcomes for indigenous peoples, in collaboration with indigenous communities and in ways that respect their worldview. This course is designed to be a combination of topics and tools. You will be equipped with a few useful tools from the economist’s toolkit, including using randomized controlled trials to measure the effectiveness of public policy and deploying nudges inspired by behavioral science to change behaviors in quick and low-cost fashion.
- Fall 2024
- IS, International Studies QRE, Quantitative Reasoning SI, Social Inquiry
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): ECON 111 – Principles of Microeconomics with a grade of C- or better or has received a score of 5 on the AP Microeconomics test or a score of 6 or better on the IB Economics test.
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ECON 277 History and Theory of Financial Crises 6 credits
This course provides a historical perspective on financial crises and highlights their main empirical patterns. This course also introduces economic theories of financial crises, in which leverage, moral hazard, mistaken beliefs, and coordination problems play a central role. We will also discuss some policy instruments used to balance risk exposure, such as deposit insurance, collective action clauses, exchange controls, and foreign reserves.
- Spring 2025
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): ECON 110 – Principles of Macroeconomics with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 5 on the Macroeconomics AP exam AND ECON 111 – Principles of Microeconomics with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 5 on the Microeconomics AP exam OR has received a score of 6 or better on the Economics IB exam.
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ENGL 135 Imperial Adventures 6 credits
Indiana Jones has a pedigree. In this class we will encounter some of his ancestors in stories, novels and comic books from the early decades of the twentieth century. The wilds of Afghanistan, the African forest, a prehistoric world in Patagonia, the opium dens of mysterious exotic London–these will be but some of our stops as we examine the structure and ideology and lasting legacy of the imperial adventure tale. Authors we will read include Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Rudyard Kipling and H. Rider Haggard.
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ENGL 209 Project Course 6 credits
This interdisciplinary course, taught in conjunction with a full-scale Carleton Players production, will explore one of Shakespeare’s greatest and most complex works, Twelfth Night. We will investigate the play’s historical, social, and theatrical contexts as we try to understand not only the world that produced the play, but the world that came out of it. How should what we learn of the past inform a modern production? How can performance offer interpretive arguments about the play’s meanings? Mixing embodied and experiential learning, individual and group projects may involve dramaturgy, stagecraft, literary analysis, music, and research in Special Collections.
- Spring 2025
- ARP, Arts Practice IS, International Studies
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ENGL 245 Bollywood Nation 6 credits
This course will serve as an introduction to Bollywood or popular Hindi cinema from India. We will trace the history of this cinema and analyze its formal components. We will watch and discuss some of the most celebrated and popular films of the last 60 years with particular emphasis on urban thrillers and social dramas.
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ENGL 279 Living London Program: Urban Field Studies 6 credits
A combination of background readings, guided walks and site visits, and individual exploration will give students tools for understanding the history of multicultural London. Starting with the city’s early history and moving to the present, students will gain an understanding of how the city has been defined and transformed over time, and of the complex cultural narratives that shape its standing as a global metropolis. There will be short written exercises (creative and analytical), informal mini-presentations, and a final group presentation focused on a specific urban site.
Requires participation in OCS Program: Living London
- Winter 2025
- No Exploration IS, International Studies
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Acceptance in the Carleton OCS Living London Program.
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ENGL 281.07 Reading Multicultural London 6 credits
A wide range of British writers have depicted London as a site of displacement, diaspora, community, and belonging. From the “Windrush Generation” in the 1950s to the present context of Brexit, this course will examine the depiction of multicultural London in fiction, film, and essay. Selected texts will reveal how diverse writers have been shaped by London and in turn shaped its narratives. Readings may include Samuel Selvon, Hanif Kureishi, Monica Ali, Zadie Smith, Andrea Levy, Kamala Shamsie, and Xiaolu Guo; and we will incorporate relevant museum exhibits and cultural events.
Requires participation in Carleton OCS London Program. For 2025 Winter Term offering, course completes IS not IDS.
- Winter 2025
- IS, International Studies WR2 Writing Requirement 2 LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Acceptance in the Carleton OCS Living London Program.
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ENGL 282 Living London Program: London Theater 6 credits
Students will attend productions (at least two per week) of classic and contemporary plays in a range of London venues both on and off the West End, and will do related reading. We will also travel to Stratford-upon-Avon for a three-day theater trip. Class discussions will focus on dramatic genres and themes, dramaturgy, acting styles, and design. Guest speakers may include actors, critics, and directors. Students will keep a theater journal and write several full reviews of plays.
Open only to participants in OCS Program: Living London
- Winter 2025
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis WR2 Writing Requirement 2
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Acceptance in the Carleton OCS Living London Program.
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ENGL 359 Contemporary World Literature 6 credits
Our focus is on contemporary writers. Specifically, we will privilege genre-bending fiction published within the last two decades in which we encounter a continuum, not a line of demarcation, between us and them, insider and outsider, here and there, then and now, femaleness and maleness, North and South, the local and the global. Authors to be read include Zinzi Clemmons, Teju Cole, Esi Edugyan, Mohsin Hamid, Tommy Orange, Zadie Smith, and Colson Whitehead.
- Fall 2024
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis WR2 Writing Requirement 2
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): One English Foundations including (100) course with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 5 on the English Literature and Composition AP exam or received a grade of 6 or better on the English Language A: Literature IB exam AND 6 credits from English courses (100-399) not including Independent Studies and Comps with a grade of C- or better.
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ENGL 381.07 Reading Multicultural London 6 credits
A wide range of British writers have depicted London as a site of displacement, diaspora, community, and belonging. From the “Windrush Generation” in the 1950s to the present context of Brexit, this course will examine the depiction of multicultural London in fiction, film, and essay. Selected texts will reveal how diverse writers have been shaped by London and in turn shaped its narratives. Readings may include Samuel Selvon, Hanif Kureishi, Monica Ali, Zadie Smith, Andrea Levy, Kamala Shamsie, and Xiaolu Guo; and we will incorporate relevant museum exhibits and cultural events.
Open only to students participating in OCS London Program
- Winter 2025
- IS, International Studies WR2 Writing Requirement 2 LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Acceptance in the Carleton OCS Living London Program.
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ENGL 395.00 Frankenstein’s Progeny 6 credits
Written in 1816 when she was only eighteen years old, Mary Shelley’s brilliant and controversial Frankenstein has not only lived on but has sparked two centuries’ worth of adaptations, interpretations, and creative re-imaginings, including recent fiction by Saadawi, McGill, and Tsai, an essay on transgender rage by Stryker, episodes of Black Mirror, and the novel and film Poor Things. We’ll study how several such radical revisions of the novel explore and extend its prescient themes of gender, sexuality, monstrosity, race, the ethics of science, women’s rights, and social justice.- Spring 2025
- LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis WR2 Writing Requirement 2
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Student must have completed any of the following course(s): ENGL 295 – Critical Methods and one 300 level ENGL course with grade of C- or better.
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ENGL 395.01 Postcolonial Novel: Forms and Contexts 6 credits
Authors from the colonies and ex-colonies of England have complicated our understandings of the locations, forms and indeed the language of the contemporary English novel. This course will examine these questions and the theoretical and interpretive frames in which these writers have often been placed, and probe their place in the global marketplace (and awards stage). We will read a number of major novelists of the postcolonial era from Africa, South Asia, the Caribbean and the diaspora as well as some of the central works of postcolonial literary criticism.
Not open to students who took ENGL 350 Postcolonial Novel
- Fall 2024
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis WR2 Writing Requirement 2
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Student must have completed any of the following course(s): ENGL 295 – Critical Methods and one 300 level ENGL course with grade of C- or better.
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EUST 110 The Power of Place: Memory and Counter-Memory in the European City 6 credits
This team-taught interdisciplinary course explores the relationship between memory, place and power in Europe’s cities. It examines the practices through which individuals and groups imagine, negotiate and contest their past in public spaces through art, literature, film and architecture. The instructors will draw on their research and teaching experience in urban centers of Europe after a thorough introduction to the study of memory across different disciplines. Students will be challenged to think critically about larger questions regarding the possibility of national and local memories as the foundation of identity and pride but also of guilt and shame.
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EUST 159 “The Age of Isms” – Ideals, Ideas and Ideologies in Modern Europe 6 credits
“Ideology” is perhaps one of the most-used (and overused) terms of modern political life. This course will introduce students to important political ideologies and traditions of modern Europe and their role in the development of political systems and institutional practices from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. We will read central texts by conservatives, liberals, socialists, anarchists and nationalists while also considering ideological outliers such as Fascism and Green Political Thought. In addition the course will introduce students to the different ways in which ideas can be studied systematically and the methodologies available.
- Winter 2025
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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EUST 207 Rome Program: Italian Encounters 3 credits
Through a range of interdisciplinary readings, guest lectures, and site visits, this course will provide students with opportunities to analyze important aspects of Italian culture and society, both past and present, as well as to examine the ways in which travelers, tourists, temporary visitors, and immigrants have experienced and coped with their Italian worlds. Topics may include transportation, cuisine, rituals and rhythms of Italian life, urbanism, religious diversity, immigration, tourism, historic preservation, and language. Class discussions and projects will offer students opportunities to reflect on their own encounters with contemporary Italian culture.
Open only to participants in OCS Rome Program
- Spring 2025
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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Acceptance in the Carleton OCS History in Rome Program.
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EUST 278 Cross-Cultural Psychology Sem in Prague: Politics & Culture in Central Europe-Twentieth Century 6 credits
This course covers important political, social, and cultural developments in Central Europe during the twentieth century. Studies will explore the establishment of independent nations during the interwar period, Nazi occupation, resistance and collaboration, the Holocaust and the expulsion of the Germans, the nature of the communist system, its final collapse, and the post-communist transformation.
- Fall 2024
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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Acceptance in Cross-Cultural Studies in Prague Program and student has completed any of the following course(s): PSYC 110 – Principles of Psychology with a grade of C- or better.
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EUST 398 The Global Panorama: A Capstone Workshop for European Studies and Cross-Cultural Studies 2 credits
The work of Cross-Cultural Studies and European Studies traverses many disciplines, often engaging with experiences that are difficult to capture in traditional formats. In this course students will create an ePortfolio that reflects, deepens, and narrates the various forms of experiences they have had at Carleton related to their minor, drawing on coursework and off-campus study, as well as such extracurricular activities as talks, service learning, internships and fellowships. Guided by readings and prompts, students will write a reflective essay articulating the coherence of the parts, describing both the process and the results of their pathway through the minor. Considered a capstone for CCST and EUST, but for anyone looking to thread together their experiences across culture. Course is taught as a workshop.
- Winter 2025
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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FREN 206 Contemporary French and Francophone Culture 6 credits
Through texts, images and films coming from different continents, this class will present Francophone cultures and discuss the connections and tensions that have emerged between France and other French speaking countries. Focused on oral and written expression this class aims to strengthen students’ linguistic skills while introducing them to the academic discipline of French and Francophone studies. The theme will be school and education in the Francophone world.
- Winter 2025
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): FREN 204 – Intermediate French with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 4 or better on the French Language and Culture AP exam or received a score of 6 or better on the French: Language B IB exam or equivalent.
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FREN 208 French and Francophone Studies in Paris Program: Contemporary France: Cultures, Politics, Society 6 credits
This course seeks to deepen students’ knowledge of contemporary French culture through a pluridisciplinary approach, using multimedia (books, newspaper and magazine articles, videos, etc.) to generate discussion. It will also promote the practice of both oral and written French through exercises, debates, and oral presentations.
Requires participation in OCS Program: French and Francophone Studies in Paris
- Spring 2025
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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Acceptance in the Carleton OCS French and Francophone Studies in Paris Program and student has completed any of the following course(s): FREN 204 – Intermediate French or higher level course with a grade of C- or better.
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FREN 210 Coffee and News 2 credits
Keep up your French while learning about current issues in France, as well as world issues from a French perspective. Requirements include reading specific sections of leading French newspapers, (Le Monde, Libération, etc.) on the internet, and then meeting once a week to exchange ideas over coffee with a small group of students.
Sophomore Priority
- Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Spring 2025
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): FREN 204 – Intermediate French with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 4 or better on the French Language and Culture AP exam or received a score of 6 or better on the French: Language B IB exam or equivalent.
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FREN 236 Francophone Cinema and the African Experience 6 credits
Born as a response to the colonial gaze (ethnographic films, in particular) and ideological discourse, African cinema has been a determined effort to capture and affirm an African personality and consciousness. Focusing on film production from Francophone Africa and its diaspora over the past few decades, this course will address themes such as slavery, colonialism, and national identity, as well as the immigrant experience in France and in Quebec. It will provide an introduction to African symbolisms, world-views, and narrative techniques.
- Fall 2024
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): FREN 204 – Intermediate French with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 4 or better on the French Language and Culture AP exam or received a score of 6 or better on the French: Language B IB exam or equivalent.
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FREN 245 Francophone Literature of Africa and the Caribbean 6 credits
Reading and discussion of literary works, with analysis of social, historical and political issues, with an emphasis on cultural and literary movements such as Négritude (El Negrismo, in Cuba) and their role in shaping ideas of self-determination, Nationalism and Independence in the French colonies of the Caribbean and Black Africa. We will read works by Aimé Césaire (Martinique), Léopold Sédar Senghor (Senegal), Léon Gontran Damas (French Guiana), Jacques Roumain (Haîti), Laye Camara (Guinea), Mongo Béti (Cameroun), Simone Schwartz-Bart (Guadeloupe) and Alain Mabanckou (Congo). Conducted in French.
- Spring 2025
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): FREN 204 – Intermediate French with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 4 or better on the French Language and Culture AP exam or received a score of 6 or better on the French: Language B IB exam or equivalent.
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FREN 253 The French Revolution, Then and Now 6 credits
From an ad campaign showing Kylie Jenner dressed as Marie Antoinette to the mascot for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, the French Revolution is alive today. What does this say about its legacy? This course first investigates the systemic inequalities that contributed to the storming of the Bastille. Through texts, films, and music, we will analyze the denunciation of these inequities and the consequent transatlantic engagement with Haiti and the U.S. We will finish by discussing whose rights were affirmed during the French Revolution, whose were denied, and how this continues to inform contemporary culture and society.
- Winter 2025
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): FREN 204 – Intermediate French with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 4 or better on the French Language and Culture AP exam or received a score of 6 or better on the French: Language B IB exam or equivalent.
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FREN 254 French and Francophone Studies in Paris Program: French Art in Context 6 credits
Home of some of the finest and best known museums in the world, Paris has long been recognized as a center for artistic activity. Students will have the opportunity to study art from various periods on site, including Impressionism, Expressionism, and Surrealism. In-class lectures and discussions will be complemented by guided visits to the unparalleled collections of the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, the Centre Pompidou, local art galleries, and other appropriate destinations. Special attention will be paid to the program theme.
Requires participation in OCS Program: French and Francophone Studies in Paris
- Spring 2025
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Acceptance in the Carleton OCS French and Francophone Studies in Paris Program and student has completed any of the following course(s): FREN 204 – Intermediate French or higher level course with a grade of C- or better.
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FREN 259 French and Francophone Studies in Paris Program: Hybrid Paris 6 credits
Through literature, cultural texts, and experiential learning in the city, this course will explore the development of both the “Frenchness” and the hybridity that constitute contemporary Paris. Immigrant cultures, notably North African, will also be highlighted. Plays, music, and visits to cultural sites will complement the readings.
Requires participation in OCS Program: French and Francophone Studies in Paris
- Spring 2025
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
-
Acceptance in the Carleton OCS French and Francophone Studies in Paris Program and student has completed any of the following course(s): FREN 204 – Intermediate French or higher level course with a grade of C- or better.
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FREN 302 Creative Writing in French 6 credits
This course will give students the opportunity to refine their knowledge of French by practicing the art of creative writing. Guided by short readings in a variety of genres, students will engage in workshop-based activities, including class discussion, creative writing exercises (some using visual media or music), and constructive peer review. No previous experience in creative writing necessary.
- Winter 2025
- ARP, Arts Practice IS, International Studies
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): One 200 or 300 level FREN course excluding FREN 204 and Independent Studies with a grade of C- or better.
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FREN 310 The Art of Scandal 6 credits
What is scandal? Is it a product of the time and place where it occurs, or can it transcend national and temporal boundaries? This course seeks answers to these questions by examining the texts, films, and artistic productions that caused, exposed, or critiqued a scandal. We will explore topics such as passion, lies, revenge, rumor, and murder. From the Affair of the Poisons during the reign of Louis XIV to controversy over France’s literary prize (the Goncourt), we will analyze the evolution of social norms and public opinions in global French culture from the seventeenth century to the present day.
- Spring 2025
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): One 200 or 300 level FREN course excluding FREN 204 and Independent Studies with a grade of C- or better.
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FREN 350 Middle East and French Connection 6 credits
Persepolis, Syngue Sabour, Le rocher de Tanios—three prize-winning texts written in French by authors whose native tongue was not French but Arabic or Farsi. In this class we will direct our attention to the close—albeit problematic—relations between France and the Middle East (broadly considered) through an analysis of cultural and literary objects. What has this “French connection” meant for the Middle-Eastern and for French culture?
- Fall 2024
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): One 200 or 300 level FREN course excluding FREN 204 and Independent Studies with a grade of C- or better.
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FREN 359 French and Francophone Studies in Paris Program: Hybrid Paris 6 credits
Through literature, cultural texts, and experiential learning in the city, this course will explore the development of both the “Frenchness” and the hybridity that constitute contemporary Paris. Immigrant cultures, notably North African, will also be highlighted. Plays, music, and visits to cultural sites will complement the readings.
Requires participation in OCS Program: French and Francophone Studies in Paris
- Spring 2025
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Acceptance in the Carleton OCS French and Francophone Studies in Paris Program and student has completed any of the following course(s): FREN 204 – Intermediate French or higher level course with a grade of C- or better.
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GERM 209 German for Music Enthusiasts 2 credits
From chart-topping hits to old classics, explore the sounds of the German-speaking world while honing your language skills. Each weekly session explores the cultural and social context of selected songs, providing valuable insights into contemporary German society. Engage in interactive singing sessions to learn and perform these songs, improving your pronunciation and language fluency. No prior musical experience is required.
- Fall 2024
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): GERM 204 – Intermediate German with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 4 or better on the German Language and Culture AP exam or received a score of 6 or better on the German: Language B IB exam or equivalent.
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GERM 221 Modern Love: Sex, Gender, and Identity in Austria-Hungary around 1900 6 credits
We explore literature, music, and the fine arts of German-speaking countries around the topics of gender and sex(uality). We focus on the years between 1880 and 1920 in Austria-Hungary, but also venture into more recent times and other localities. How did images of men and women change over time? How did science factor into these images? What was/is considered “normal” when it comes to sex(uality) and gender, and what German-speaking voices have been pushing against those norms? How did these voices use literature, music, and the fine arts to reflect or criticize such norms? Taught in English.
Taught in English
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GERM 240 Half-Lives: Science, Protest, and Nuclear Power in Germany 6 credits
Why did a country known for ground-breaking scientific research decommission its final nuclear power plant in 2023? What historical factors inform Germany’s resistance to nuclear power? And how have literature, poetry, theater, and film responded to scientific progress in the Atomic Era? In this course, taught in English, we will explore the role of science and research in Germany and learn about the country’s singular and volatile response to nuclear power. Key topics include environmental activism, policy responses, and current events that impact Germany’s energy grid. In tandem with this historical inquiry, we will analyze works of literature, theater, and other media that depict the narrative fascination with nuclear physics, including the blockbuster Oppenheimer and the Netflix series Dark. In translation. Taught in English.
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GERM 320 Life under Socialism: Culture and Society in East Germany 6 credits
What was life like under “actually existing socialism?” What films, books, music, and other media did people in the German Democratic Republic (or East Germany) consume and how did they cope with their country’s dictatorship? How can the experiences of people—particularly women—living in the GDR provide useful context for contemporary socio-political issues in the United States and beyond? We will discuss topics such as gender equality, education, health care, and queer life in the GDR. Taught in German.
- Winter 2025
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
-
Student has completed any of the following course(s): GERM 204 – Intermediate German with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 4 or better on the German Language and Culture AP exam or received a score of 6 or better on the German: Language B IB exam or equivalent.
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GWSS 200 Gender, Sexuality & the Pursuit of Knowledge 6 credits
In this course we will examine whether there are feminist and/or queer ways of knowing, the criteria by which knowledge is classified as feminist and the various methods used by feminist and queer scholars to produce this knowledge. Some questions that will occupy us are: How do we know what we know? Who does research? Does it matter who the researcher is? How does the social location (race, class, gender, sexuality) of the researcher affect research? Who is the research for? What is the relationship between knowledge, power and social justice? While answering these questions, we will consider how different feminist and queer studies researchers have dealt with them.
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GWSS 240 Gender, Globalization and War 6 credits
We are surrounded by images, stories and experiences of war, conflict, aggression, genocide, and widespread human suffering. In this course we will engage with the field of transnational feminist theorizing in order to understand how globalization and militarism are gendered, and the processes through which gender becomes globalized and militarized. We will examine hegemonic ideals of security and insecurity and track how they are gendered. You will learn to conduct and analyze in-depth interviews focusing on the militarization of civilians/ordinary people so as to understand how all our lives have been shaped by the acceptance and/or resistance to globalized militarism.
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GWSS 243 Women’s and Gender Studies in Europe Program: Situated Feminisms: Socio-Political Systems and Gender Issues Across Europe
This course examines the history and present of feminist and LGBTQ activisms across Western and East-Central Europe. We study the impact of the European colonial heritage on the lives of women and sexual/ethnic minorities across European communities, as well as the legacies of World War II, the Cold War, and the EU expansion into Eastern Europe. Reproductive rights, LGBTQ issues, “anti-genderism,” sex work, trafficking, and issues faced by ethnic minorities are among topics explored. These topics are addressed comparatively and historically, stressing their ‘situated’ nature and considering their divergent sociopolitical national frameworks.
Acceptance in OCS Women's & Gender Studies in Europe Program
- Fall 2024
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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Acceptance in the Carleton OCS Women's and Gender Studies in Europe program.
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GWSS 244 Women’s & Gender Studies in Europe Program: Ethics and Politics of Cross-Cultural Research
This course explores the following questions: What are the ethics and politics of cross-cultural research? What is the relationship between methodology and knowledge claims in feminist research? What are the power interests involved in keeping certain knowledges marginalized/subjugated? How do questions of gender and sexuality, of ethnicity and national location, figure in these debates? We will also pay close attention to questions arising from the hegemony of English as the global language of WGS as a discipline, and will reflect on what it means to move between different linguistic communities, with each being differently situated in the global power hierarchies.
Acceptance in OCS Women's & Gender Studies in Europe Program
- Fall 2024
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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Acceptance in the Carleton OCS Women's and Gender Studies in Europe program.
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GWSS 267 Pagans, the Proletariat, Pussy Riot, and Putin: Gender and Sexuality in Russia 6 credits
Gender and sexuality has been reinvented and reinscribed for centuries in Russia. Beginning with the role gender in Slavic mythology and ancient Rus, this course examines how gender and sexuality evolve— or are reconfigured— in accordance with changing sociocultural, economic, and political norms (and vice versa). Considering how Western history and Cold War narratives position both gender and Russia, this course looks at gender and sexuality as ideological projects from the development of a national identity in the Russian Empire, to the New Soviet Woman. Most critically, it examines how gender and sexuality are weaponized by the Putin regime today.
- Winter 2025
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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GWSS 325 Women’s & Gender Studies in Europe Program: Continental Feminist, Queer, Trans* Theories
Addressing the impact of Anglo-American influences in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, this course examines European, including East-Central European, approaches to key gender and sexuality topics. It raises questions about the transfer of feminist concepts across cultures and languages. Some of the themes explored include nationalism and gender/sexuality, gendered dimensions of Western and East-Central European racisms, the historical influence of psychoanalysis on Continental feminist theories, the implications of European feminisms in the history of colonialism, the biopolitics of gender, homonationalism, as well as Eastern European socialist/communist theories of women’s emancipation.
Acceptance in OCS Women's & Gender Studies in Europe Program
- Fall 2024
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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Acceptance in the Carleton OCS Women's and Gender Studies in Europe program.
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HIST 100.01 Exploration, Science, and Empire 6 credits
This course provides an introduction to the global history of exploration. We will examine the scientific and artistic aspects of expeditions, and consider how scientific knowledge–navigation, medicinal treatments, or the collection of scientific specimens–helped make exploration, and subsequently Western colonialism, possible. We will also explore how the visual and literary representations of exotic places shaped distant audiences’ understandings of empire and of the so-called races of the world. Art and science helped form the politics of Western nationalism and expansion; this course will explore some of the ways in which their legacy remains with us today.
Held for new first year students
- Fall 2024
- AI/WR1, Argument & Inquiry/WR1 IS, International Studies
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Student is a member of the First Year First Term class level cohort. Students are only allowed to register for one A&I course at a time. If a student wishes to change the A&I course they are enrolled in they must DROP the enrolled course and then ADD the new course. Please see our Workday guides Drop or 'Late' Drop a Course and Register or Waitlist for a Course Directly from the Course Listing for more information.
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HIST 100.02 U.S.-Latin American Relations: A Declassified View 6 credits
“Colossus of the North” or “Good Neighbor”? While many of its citizens believe the United States wields a benign influence across the globe, the intent and consequences of the U.S. government’s actions across Latin America and Latin American history offers a decidedly more mixed picture. This course explores the history of Inter-American relations with an emphasis on the twentieth century and the Cold War era. National case studies will be explored, when possible through the lens of declassified U.S. national security documents. Latin American critiques of U.S. involvement in the region will also be considered.
Held for new first year students
- Fall 2024
- AI/WR1, Argument & Inquiry/WR1 IS, International Studies
-
Student is a member of the First Year First Term class level cohort. Students are only allowed to register for one A&I course at a time. If a student wishes to change the A&I course they are enrolled in they must DROP the enrolled course and then ADD the new course. Please see our Workday guides Drop or 'Late' Drop a Course and Register or Waitlist for a Course Directly from the Course Listing for more information.
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HIST 100.03 Migration and Mobility in the Medieval North 6 credits
Why did barbarians invade? Traders trade? Pilgrims travel? Vikings raid? Medieval Europe is sometimes caricatured as a world of small villages and strong traditions that saw little change between the cultural high-water marks of Rome and the Renaissance. In fact, this was a period of dynamic innovation, during which Europeans met many familiar challenges–environmental change, religious and cultural conflict, social and political competition–by traveling or migrating to seek new opportunities. This course will examine mobility and migration in northern Europe, and students will be introduced to diverse methodological approaches to their study by exploring historical and literary sources, archaeological evidence and scientific techniques involving DNA and isotopic analyses.
Held for new first year students
- Fall 2024
- AI/WR1, Argument & Inquiry/WR1 IS, International Studies
-
Student is a member of the First Year First Term class level cohort. Students are only allowed to register for one A&I course at a time. If a student wishes to change the A&I course they are enrolled in they must DROP the enrolled course and then ADD the new course. Please see our Workday guides Drop or 'Late' Drop a Course and Register or Waitlist for a Course Directly from the Course Listing for more information.
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HIST 100.05 Music and Politics in Europe since Wagner 6 credits
This course examines the often fraught, complicated relationship between music and politics from the mid-nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth. Our field of inquiry will include all of Europe, but will particularly focus on Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union. We will look at several composers and their legacies in considerable detail, including Beethoven, Wagner, and Shostakovich. While much
of our attention will be devoted to "high" or "serious" music, we will explore developments in popular music as well.Held for new first year students
- Fall 2024
- AI/WR1, Argument & Inquiry/WR1 IS, International Studies
-
Student is a member of the First Year First Term class level cohort. Students are only allowed to register for one A&I course at a time. If a student wishes to change the A&I course they are enrolled in they must DROP the enrolled course and then ADD the new course. Please see our Workday guides Drop or 'Late' Drop a Course and Register or Waitlist for a Course Directly from the Course Listing for more information.
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HIST 100.06 Food and Public Health: Why the Brits Embraced White Bread 6 credits
Food, health, medicine, public policy and the built environment… all were transformed as Britain industrialized in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This course explores how cultural, social and economic changes shaped the culture of food consumption during this transitional period. We also explore changing ideas in medical history and public health from the early modern to modern period. We will consider how our historical understanding can inform our views of the present through an academic civic engagement project that will connect students to Northfield communities.
Held for new first year students
- Fall 2024
- AI/WR1, Argument & Inquiry/WR1 IS, International Studies
-
Student is a member of the First Year First Term class level cohort. Students are only allowed to register for one A&I course at a time. If a student wishes to change the A&I course they are enrolled in they must DROP the enrolled course and then ADD the new course. Please see our Workday guides Drop or 'Late' Drop a Course and Register or Waitlist for a Course Directly from the Course Listing for more information.
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HIST 111 Uncharted Waters: The History of Society and the Sea 6 credits
This course introduces students to maritime history, marine environmental history, and issues in contemporary marine policy. While traditional histories have framed the sea as an empty space and obstacle to be traversed, or as a battleground, we will approach the ocean as a contact zone, a space of labor, and as the site of focused scientific research, thereby emphasizing human interaction with the oceans. We will examine how people have come to know, utilize, and govern the world’s oceans across time and space, and we will explore how this history informs contemporary issues in maritime law, governance, and ocean conservation.
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HIST 112 Freedom of Expression: A Global History 6 credits
Celebrated as the bedrock of democracy, freedom of expression is often seen as an American or western value. Yet the concept has a rich and global history. In this course we will track the long and turbulent history of freedom of expression from ancient Athens and medieval Islamic societies to the Enlightenment and the drive for censorship in totalitarian and colonial societies. Among the questions we will consider are: How have the parameters of free expression changed and developed over time? What is the relationship between free speech and political protest? How has free speech itself been weaponized? How does an understanding of the history of free speech help us think about the challenges of combating hatred and misinformation in today’s internet age?
- Winter 2025
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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HIST 141 Europe in the Twentieth Century 6 credits
This course explores developments in European history in a global context from the final decade of the nineteenth century through to the present. We will focus on the impact of nationalism, war, and revolution on the everyday experiences of women and men, and also look more broadly on the chaotic economic, political, social, and cultural life of the period. Of particular interest will be the rise of fascism and communism, and the challenge to Western-style liberal democracy, followed by the Cold War and communism's collapse near the end of the century.
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HIST 150 Politics of Art in Early Imperial China 6 credits
Poetry has been playing an important role in politics from early China down to the present. Members of the educated elite have used this form of artistic expression to create political allegories in times of war and diplomacy. Students will learn the multiple roles that poet-censors played in early imperial China, with thematic attention given to issues of self and ethnic/gendered identity, internal exile and nostalgia, and competing religious orientations that eventually fostered the rise of Neo-Confucianism. Students will write a short biography of a poet by sampling her/his poems and poetics (all in translation) from the common reading pool.
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HIST 153 History of Modern China 6 credits
This course examines major features of the trajectory of China’s recent past spanning from the seventeenth century through the present. Students will analyze deep socio-cultural currents that cut across the changes in socioeconomic as well as political arenas. Themes for discussion will include state formations, social changes, economic developments, religious orientations, bureaucratic behaviors, and cultural refinements that the Chinese have made. Students are also expected to develop skills to frame key historical questions against broader historiographical contexts by engaging in analyses of many different types of primary sources.
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HIST 154 Social Movements in Postwar Japan 6 credits
This course tackles an evolving meaning of democracy and sovereignty in postwar Japan shaped by the transformative power of its social movements. We will place the anti-nuclear movement and anti-base struggles of the 1950s, the protest movements against revision of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty of the 1960s, and environmentalist movements against the U.S. Cold War projects in Asia to see how they intersect with the worldwide “New Left” movements of the 1960s. Topics include student activism, labor unionism, Marxist movements, and gangsterism (yakuza). Students will engage with political art, photographs, manga, films, reportage, memoirs, autobiographies, interview records, novels, and detective stories.
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HIST 161 From Mughals to Mahatma Gandhi: An Introduction to Modern Indian History 6 credits
An introductory survey course to familiarize students with some of the key themes and debates in the historiography of modern India. Beginning with an overview of Mughal rule in India, the main focus of the course is the colonial period. The course ends with a discussion of 1947: the hour of independence as well as the creation of two new nation-states, India and Pakistan. Topics include Oriental Despotism, colonial rule, nationalism, communalism, gender, caste and race. No prior knowledge of South Asian History required.
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HIST 170 Modern Latin America 6 credits
This course focuses on some of the principal challenges that Latin Americans have confronted over the first two centuries of post-colonial existence (ca. 1820-2020). Case studies will highlight themes and concerns still pertinent today, such as: political instability and authoritarianism, economic underdevelopment and poverty, neo-colonial challenges to national sovereignty, deeply ingrained socioeconomic and racial inequalities, and popular struggles to attain meaningful political, economic, and cultural rights, among others.
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HIST 201 Rome Program: Building Power and Piety in Medieval Italy, CE 300-1150 6 credits
Through site visits, on-site projects, and readings, this course explores the ways in which individuals and communities attempted to give physical and visual form to their religious beliefs and political ambitions through their use of materials, iconography, topography, and architecture. We will also examine how the material legacies of imperial Rome, Byzantium, and early Christianity served as both resources for and constraints on the political, cultural, and religious evolution of the Italian peninsula and especially Rome and its environs from late antiquity through the twelfth century. Among the principal themes will be the development of the cult of saints, the development of the papal power and authority, Christianization, reform, pilgrimage, and monasticism.
Open only to participants in Carleton OCS Rome Program
- Spring 2025
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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Acceptance in the Carleton OCS History in Rome Program.
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HIST 206 Rome Program: The Eternal City in Time: Structure, Change, and Identity 6 credits
This course will explore the lived experience of the city of Rome in the twelfth-sixteenth centuries. Students will study buildings, urban forms, surviving artifacts, and textual and other visual evidence to understand how politics, power, and religion (both Christianity and Judaism) mapped onto city spaces. How did urban challenges and opportunities shape daily life? How did the memory of the past influence the present? How did the rural world affect the city and vice versa? Students will work on projects closely tied to the urban fabric.
OCS Rome Program
- Spring 2025
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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Acceptance in the Carleton OCS History in Rome Program.
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HIST 209 Slavery in the Atlantic World 6 credits
This course explores the history of enslavement in the Atlantic World, including West Africa, South America, the Caribbean, North America, and Europe. The course examines the intersecting themes of power, labor, law, race, gender, sexuality, and resistance. It will consider how these themes each shaped the construction of different institutions of enslavement while simultaneously focusing on the experiences of the enslaved who lived and died within in these systems. Using a comparative methodology, we will ask canonical questions, such as what constitutes a slave society and which forms did resistance, rebellion, and revolution by enslaved people take.
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HIST 231 Mapping the World Before Mercator 6 credits
This course will explore early maps primarily in medieval and early modern Europe. After an introduction to the rhetoric of maps and world cartography, we will examine the functions and forms of medieval European and Islamic maps and then look closely at the continuities and transformations in map-making during the period of European exploration. The focus of the course will be on understanding each map within its own cultural context and how maps can be used to answer historical questions. We will work closely with the maps in Gould Library Special Collections to expand campus awareness of the collection.
Extra time is required for a one-time map show in the library which we will schedule at the beginning of term.
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HIST 233 The Byzantine World and Its Neighbors, 750-ca. 1453 6 credits
The Byzantine world (eighth-fifteenth centuries) was a zone of fascinating tensions, exchanges, and encounters. Through a wide variety of written and visual evidence, we will examine key features of its history and culture: the nature of government; piety and religious controversy; art and music; the evolving relations with the Latin West, Armenia, the Slavic North and West, and the Dar al-Islam (the Abbasids and Seljuk and Ottoman Turks); gender; economic life; and social relations.Extra Time for special events and a group project (ecumenical council).
Extra Time for special events and a group project (ecumenical council).
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HIST 245 Ireland: Land, Conflict and Memory 6 credits
This course explores the history of Ireland from Medieval times through the Great Famine, ending with a look at the Partition of Ireland in 1920. We examine themes of religious and cultural conflict and explore a series of English political and military interventions. Throughout the course, we will analyze views of the Irish landscape, landholding patterns, and health and welfare issues. Finally, we explore the contested nature of history and memory as the class discusses monuments and memory production in Irish public spaces.
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HIST 251 Japan and Europe: Worlds Apart? 6 credits
This course examines Japanese and European history from c. 1500 to 1900, tracking the disparate ways in which these regions changed over this time period and highlighting their entanglement. We will focus on three modules, each centered on the era when European global expansion was at its peak and when Japan was isolationist. We will explore developments in regional and global trade networks and state and financial institutions, in addition to news networks, the world of publishing, and the social world of intellectual exchange. Finally, the course compares changing views and practices in the fields of science and medicine.
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HIST 262 Borders Drawn in Blood: The Partition of Modern India 6 credits
India’s independence in 1947 was marred by its bloody partition into two nation states. Neighbors turned on each other, millions were rendered homeless and without kin, and gendered violence became rampant, all in the name of religion. Political accounts of Partition are plentiful, but how did ordinary people experience it? Centering the accounts of people who lived through Partition, this course explores how divisions and differences calcified, giving birth to national and religious narratives that obscure histories of intersecting identities. With right wing Hindu nationalism ascendant in India and Islamic nationalism in Pakistan on the rise, Partition alas is not over.
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HIST 264 A History of India Through Food 6 credits
Indian cuisine is today famed worldwide and known for its complex diversity. This course will explore food as a gateway through which to understand a broader history of society, economy and politics in the Indian subcontinent. An analysis of the production, distribution, and consumption of food and spices, beginning in the ancient era and ending in contemporary times, will allow us to examine community formation, patterns of wealth distribution, and state-building strategies. We will look at topics including farming and the environment, medical and religious systems, culture, caste, and colonialism.
- Winter 2025
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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HIST 265 Central Asia in the Modern Age 6 credits
Central Asia–the region encompassing the post-Soviet states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, and the Xinjiang region of the People’s Republic of China–is often considered one of the most exotic in the world, but it has experienced all the excesses of the modern age. After a basic introduction to the long-term history of the steppe, this course will concentrate on exploring the history of the region since its conquest by the Russian and Chinese empires. We will discuss the interaction of external and local forces as we explore transformations in the realms of politics, society, culture, and religion.
Participation in 2025 Spring Russophone Studies in Central Asia
- Spring 2025
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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HIST 270 Nuclear Nations: India and Pakistan as Rival Siblings 6 credits
At the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947 India and Pakistan, two new nation states emerged from the shadow of British colonialism. This course focuses on the political trajectories of these two rival siblings and looks at the ways in which both states use the other to forge antagonistic and belligerent nations. While this is a survey course it is not a comprehensive overview of the history of the two countries. Instead it covers some of the more significant moments of rupture and violence in the political history of the two states. The first two-thirds of the course offers a top-down, macro overview of these events and processes whereas the last third examines the ways in which people experienced these developments. We use the lens of gender to see how the physical body, especially the body of the woman, is central to the process of nation building. We will consider how women’s bodies become sites of contestation and how they are disciplined and policed by the postcolonial state(s).
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HIST 274 The Andes Under Inca & Spanish Rule 6 credits
This course examines imperial rule in the Andes under both Inca and Spanish rule. Indigenous intermediaries will be highlighted throughout, including the ethnic lords (kurakas) who mediated the competing interests of their communities and the state, as well as the indigenous and mestizo writers who drew from Andean and European traditions to craft a new kind of history of the Andes and the Inca dynasty. Visions of the Inca past and the strategies of survival developed by ethnic lords and communities during Spanish rule will inform our study of the Great Andean Rebellion, which foreshadowed the Latin American wars of independence by a generation.
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HIST 276 In Search of Moctezuma: Reimagining Mexico’s Indigenous Past 6 credits
Even while still on the campaign trail, Spain’s conquistadors endeavored to describe Mexico's native societies to other Europeans. Thus began a centuries-long fascination with all things Mesoamerican, real and imaginary. This course explores how the Mesoamerican past has been imagined by indigenous and non-indigenous people. Potential subjects include Spanish conquistadors and missionaries, early Mexican nation-builders and artists, professional and pseudo-archaeologists, apocalyptic doomsayers, promoters of the Mexican tourist industry, and the counterculture and Chicano movements of the 1960s. Importantly, we will also consider how Mexico's indigenous groups have come to understand their own past from the time of Spanish rule to the present day.
- Spring 2025
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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HIST 336 Controversial Histories: Ideological Conflict and Consensus in Historical Perspective 6 credits
This seminar explores how people in diverse times and places discussed, debated and decided the issues and ideals that shaped their lives, communities, and world. Particular attention will be paid to the role of institutions and individuals; communicative networks and textual communities; the forms and functions of polemical discourse; and the dynamics of group formation and stigmatization in the historical unfolding of conflict and consensus. Theoretical readings and select case studies will provide the common readings for the seminar. Each student will pursue a research project of 25 pages on this theme in a period and region of their choosing.
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HIST 347 The Global Cold War 6 credits
In the aftermath of the Second World War and through the 1980s, the United States and the Soviet Union competed for world dominance. This Cold War spawned hot wars, as well as a cultural and economic struggle for influence all over the globe. This course will look at the experience of the Cold War from the perspective of its two main adversaries, the U.S. and USSR, but will also devote considerable attention to South America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Students will write a 20 page paper based on original research.
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JAPN 250 Gothic Literature in Twentieth Century Japan—Empire, Colonies, and Subjects 6 credits
This course looks at Gothic both as a genre born in the colonial and imperial context and also as a post-colonial discursive practice that criticizes the colonial condition. The course focuses on the engagement with the Gothic genre in modern Japanese literature of the twentieth century. We will examine the Gothic elements, such as the haunted mansions, female ghosts, supernatural phenomena, and the fantastic animals and beasts within Japanese literature as they relate to issues, such as gender, race, and identity, in the colonial history of the Empire of Japan. All materials are in English.
In translation
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JAPN 251 The Tale of Genji—A Thousand Years of Words and Images 6 credits
Considered by many as the world’s first novel, The Tale of Genji, written around 1000 CE, depicts the lives and struggles of the Heian aristocrats. This class will introduce students to the celebrated classic, theories on the work, and one-thousand-years of visual history. Unlike today’s solitary reading activities, the tale in premodernity was experienced as the combination of texts, images, and sounds. This course observes and discusses an intertwined history of words and images from premodernity to modernity, examining the dynamics between texts and images through the screen art, incense, manga, theater, and movies. All materials are in English.
In Translation
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JAPN 343 Advanced Japanese: Nature in Popular Media 6 credits
This course examines Japanese popular media through an environmental lens, spanning from the thireteenth century to the present. It explores how novels, films, and animation depict the evolving human relationship with the non-human world amidst political, cultural, and philosophical shifts. Topics include modernization, internal colonization, gender dynamics, and industrial disasters, with a focus on canonical authors and global issues. Students develop skills in cultural comprehension through discussions and written assignments.
- Spring 2025
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): JAPN 206 – Japanese in Cultural Context with grade of C- or better.
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JAPN 346 Advanced Japanese: Consumerist Culture in Contemporary Japan 6 credits
This course focuses on the consumerist culture in Japan. It will look at the contemporary Japanese short stories, movies, new media, and critical theories that focus on the overt consumption of material and immaterial commodities, such as food, fashion,and brands, in contemporary Japan. This course will help students develop reading andlistening skills, situated in the contemporary Japanese cultural context. Students will practice and integrate their Japanese through in-class discussion and written assignments.
- Winter 2025
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): JAPN 206 – Japanese in Cultural Context with grade of C- or better.
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LATN 237 Amor, Furor, Ira: The Epics of Vergil and Ovid 6 credits
Two superlative Latin poets; two radically different epic poems. In this course we will read selections from the Aeneid and the Metamorphoses, focusing in particular on each poet's depiction of powerful emotions and their consequences.
- Winter 2025
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): LATN 204 – Intermediate Latin Prose and Poetry with a grade of C- or better or equivalent.
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LTAM 220 Eating the Americas: 5,000 Years of Food 6 credits
Food is both a biological necessity and a cultural symbol. We eat to survive, we “are what we eat,” and delicious foods are “to die for.” What does this all mean in the context of Latin America, which gave us the origins of peanut butter (peanuts), spaghetti sauce (tomatoes), avocado toast (avocados), french fries (potatoes), and power bowls (quinoa)? In this class, we will explore the long history humans have had with food in Latin America, drawing from archaeology, ethnohistory, and anthropology to explore the relationship between food, culture, power, identity, gender, and ethnicity.
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LTAM 230 Ancient People of the Andes 6 credits
Who were the first settlers of South America? Was Caral the first city on earth? Who made the Nazca Lines? How did the Inka build Machu Picchu? Which societies flourished or collapsed in the Andean region of South America? This course will examine these questions using archaeology to understand the sociopolitical arrangements that existed among ancient Andean peoples prior to the arrival of the Spanish. Evidence used to explore these themes comes from a range of prehispanic societies, including the Chavin, Tiwanaku, Wari, Moche, Chimu, and Inka. Offered at both the 200 and 300 levels; coursework will be adjusted accordingly. Students who have previously taken any 200-level LTAM social science or humanities course or a 200-level ARCN course should register for LTAM 330; students who have not should register for LTAM 230.
Offered at both the 200 and 300 levels; coursework will be adjusted accordingly. Students who have previously taken any 200-level LTAM social science or humanities course or a 200-level ARCN course should register for LTAM 330; students who have not should register for LTAM 230.
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LTAM 300 Issues in Latin American Studies 6 credits
This is an advanced multidisciplinary research seminar on contemporary Latin America. New forms of political populism, indigenous understanding of the relationship between human and non-human forms of being, transformative urbanistic solutions at work in its largest cities, the political economy of migration, and vibrant cultures of protest, will be among our topics of study. Ideal for students going to or returning from study abroad in Latin America. Required course for minors and majors in Latin American Studies.
- Fall 2024
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): HIST 170 – Modern Latin America, POSC 221 – Latin American Politics, SOAN 353 – Ethnography of Latin America, SPAN 242 – Intro to Latin American Lit with grade of C- or better.
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LTAM 330 Ancient Peoples of the Andes 6 credits
Who were the first settlers of South America? Was Caral the first city on earth? Who made the Nazca Lines? How did the Inka build Machu Picchu? Which societies flourished or collapsed in the Andean region of South America? This course will examine these questions using archaeology to understand the sociopolitical arrangements that existed among ancient Andean peoples prior to the arrival of the Spanish. Evidence used to explore these themes comes from a range of prehispanic societies, including the Chavin, Tiwanaku, Wari, Moche, Chimu, and Inka. Offered at both the 200 and 300 levels; coursework will be adjusted accordingly. Students who have previously taken any 200-level LTAM social science or humanities course or a 200-level ARCN course should register for LTAM 330; students who have not should register for LTAM 230.
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LTAM 398 Latin American Forum 2 credits
This colloquium will explore specific issues or works in Latin American Studies through discussion of a common reading, public presentation, project, and/or performance that constitute the annual Latin American Forum. Students will be required to attend two meetings during the term to discuss the common reading or other material and must attend, without exception. All events of the Forum which take place during fourth week of spring term (on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning). A short integrative essay or report will be required at the end of the term. Intended as capstone for the Latin American Studies minor.
- Spring 2025
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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MELA 230 Jewish Collective Memory 6 credits
Judaism emphasizes transmitting memory from one generation to the next. How have pivotal events and experiences in Jewish history lived on in Jewish collective memory? How do they continue to speak through artistic/literary composition and museum/memorial design? How does Jewish collective memory compare with recorded Jewish history? We will study turning points in Jewish history including the Exodus from Egypt, Jewish expulsion from medieval Spain, the Holocaust, and Israeli independence, as Jews in different times and places have interpreted them with lasting influence. Research includes work with print, film, and other visual/ performative media.
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MEST 148 The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict 6 credits
This course will provide students with the knowledge and tools to engage productively and respectfully with current events in the Middle East. It will do so by situating the contemporary Israeli-Palestinian conflict in its broader historical context. In addition to studying key events in the history of the conflict, we will examine the conflicting narratives formed by different actors within the Israeli and Palestinian communities, as well as those produced within other related populations. Our discussions will be based on readings of primary sources, academic studies from multiple disciplines, and portrayals of the conflict in music, cinema, and literature.
- Fall 2024
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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MUSC 127 Music and Censorship 6 credits
This course examines the causes, methods and logic behind attempts to censor music by governments, commercial corporations and religious authorities through guided listening, reading, and writing assignments. Lectures focus first on the “entartete musik” of Nazi Germany. Contemporary cases of music censorship are then selected from a wide range of countries, including the United States, South Africa, and Russia. The music studied includes that by Pussy Riot, Paul Simon, Pete Seeger, and Richard Wagner.
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MUSC 140 Ethnomusicology and the World’s Music 6 credits
This course introduces the discipline of ethnomusicology and its history, theory, methods, and contemporary critiques. Centering the social and cultural analysis of music, the course explores case studies of global popular, vernacular, and classical musics. We will expand our skills as listeners while also considering key issues, such as the “world music” market; ethnographic methods; gesture, dance, and embodiment; copyright and repatriation; the role of media forms and AI technologies; and the politics of representation. No musical experience necessary.
Sophomore Priority
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MUSC 188 Carleton Chinese Music Ensemble 1 credits
The ensemble will use indigenous instruments and a Chinese approach to musical training in order to learn and perform music from China. In addition to the Wednesday meeting time, there will be one sectional rehearsal each week. Prerequisite: Previous experience in a music ensemble, Chinese Musical instruments or instructor permission.
Prerequisite: Previous experience in a music ensemble, Chinese Musical instruments or instructor permission
- Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Spring 2025
- ARP, Arts Practice IS, International Studies
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MUSC 192 West African Drum Ensemble 1 credits
The ensemble will use indigenous instruments and an African approach to musical training in order to learn and perform rhythms and songs from West Africa.
- Winter 2025, Spring 2025
- ARP, Arts Practice IS, International Studies
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MUSC 304 Party Politics: Popular Music in the Middle East 6 credits
In this research-based course, students will develop listening and analytical skills specific to music in Turkey, Iran, and Arab-majority societies. We will listen to indie rock, hip-hop, mahraganat, Arab pop, techno-dabke, and other popular styles. Topics include the role of radio technology in the Egyptian music industry; the relationship between music and nationalism; how class and gender inform musical performance; and the pleasures and politics of partying. Students will develop individual research topics related to the course (e.g., focusing on a song or artist), with the course culminating in a final research paper. No previous musical experience required.
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PHIL 100.01 Utopias 6 credits
What would a perfect society look like? What ideals would it implement? What social evils would it eliminate? This course explores some famous philosophical and literary utopias, such as Plato's Republic, Thomas More's Utopia, Francis Bacon's New Atlantis, Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed, and others. We will also consider some nightmarish counterparts of utopias, dystopias. One of the projects in this course is a public performance, such as a speech or a short play.
Held for new first year students
- Fall 2024
- AI/WR1, Argument & Inquiry/WR1
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Student is a member of the First Year First Term class level cohort. Students are only allowed to register for one A&I course at a time. If a student wishes to change the A&I course they are enrolled in they must DROP the enrolled course and then ADD the new course. Please see our Workday guides Drop or 'Late' Drop a Course and Register or Waitlist for a Course Directly from the Course Listing for more information.
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PHIL 100.02 This Course is About Discourse: An Introduction to Philosophy Through Dialogues 6 credits
Most philosophy comes in the form of books or articles where the author expounds their view over the course of many pages. But there is a long tradition of writing philosophy as a dialogue between multiple characters. These dialogues are a hoot to read and philosophically illuminating. This course is an introduction to philosophy through dialogues from various philosophical traditions around the world. The dialogues we'll read ask questions like: What is justice? Is there a God? What is the nature of personal identity? What is the nature of reality? What do we owe to nature? How does science work?
Held for new first year students
- Fall 2024
- AI/WR1, Argument & Inquiry/WR1 IS, International Studies
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Student is a member of the First Year First Term class level cohort. Students are only allowed to register for one A&I course at a time. If a student wishes to change the A&I course they are enrolled in they must DROP the enrolled course and then ADD the new course. Please see our Workday guides Drop or 'Late' Drop a Course and Register or Waitlist for a Course Directly from the Course Listing for more information.
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PHIL 124 Friendship 6 credits
What is friendship? Are there different types of friendships? What makes a friendship good? While this course will familiarize you with a variety of scholarly views on friendship from both historically canonical and contemporary sources, our main goal is to become more reflective about our lived experience of friendship here and now.
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PHIL 270 Ancient Greek Philosophy 6 credits
Is there a key to a happy and successful human life? If so, how do you acquire it? Plato and Aristotle thought the key was virtue and that your chances of obtaining it depend on the sort of life you lead. We’ll read texts from these authors that became foundational for the later history of philosophy, including the Apology, Gorgias, Symposium, and the Nicomachean Ethics, while situating the ancient understanding of virtue in the context of larger questions of metaphysics (the nature of being), psychology, and ethics.
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PHIL 272 Early Modern Philosophy: Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Philosophy 6 credits
Our inquiry into seventeenth and eighteenth century philosophy is not limited to any geographic region: it is open to Indigenous philosophical traditions as well as those of Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia. We will cover selections from Anton Wilhelm Amo, Mulla Sadra, Sor Juana Inés de La Cruz, Im Yunjidang, Isaac Newton, Baruch Spinoza, Immanuel Kant, and more. The topics include, but are not limited to, the mind body distinction, divinity, love, freedom, virtue, and the good life. The final paper project for this course asks you to creatively connect philosophical concepts, themes, or problems from different units of the course.
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PHIL 274 Existentialism 6 credits
We will consider the emergence and development of major themes of existentialism in the works of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, as well as “classical” existentialists such as Heidegger, Sartre and De Beauvoir. We will discuss key issues put forward by the existentialist movement, such as “the question of being” and human historicity, freedom and responsibility and look at how different authors analyzed the nature and ambitions of the Self and diverse aspects of subjectivity.
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PHIL 275 Latina Feminist Philosophy 6 credits
Latina feminist philosophers have developed and continue to develop valuable philosophical contributions to feminist scholarship and the discipline of philosophy more broadly. This course sheds light on these contributions by exploring the major questions, concepts, and debates within the Latina (and Latinx) feminist philosophical tradition. We will specifically explore the relationships between race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and identity; lived experience, embodiment, and knowledge; and the possibilities for self/social transformation through the process of creative writing.
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PHIL 318 Buddhist Studies India Program: Buddhist Philosophy
This course introduces students to major trends in Buddhist philosophy as it developed in India from the time of the Buddha until the eleventh century CE. The course emphasizes the relationships between philosophical reasoning and the meditation practices encountered in the Buddhist Meditation Traditions course. With this in mind, the course is organized into three units covering the Indian philosophical foundations for the Therav?da, Zen, and Tibetan Vajray?na traditions. While paying attention first and foremost to philosophical arguments and their evolution, we also examine the ways in which metaphysics, epistemology and ethics inform one another in each tradition.
Open only to participants in OCP GEP Buddhist Studies India program
- Fall 2024
- IS, International Studies No Exploration
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Acceptance in the Carleton OCS Buddhist Studies in India program.
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POSC 120 Democracy and Dictatorship 6 credits
An introduction to the array of different democratic and authoritarian political institutions in both developing and developed countries. We will also explore key issues in contemporary politics in countries around the world, such as nationalism and independence movements, revolution, regime change, state-making, and social movements.
- Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Spring 2025
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
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POSC 170 International Relations and World Politics 6 credits
What are the foundational theories and practices of international relations and world politics? This course addresses topics of a geopolitical, commercial and ideological character as they relate to global systems including: great power politics, polycentricity, and international organizations. It also explores the dynamic intersection of world politics with war, terrorism, nuclear weapons, national security, human security, human rights, and the globalization of economic and social development.
- Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Spring 2025
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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POSC 190 In the News: Us, China, and World Politics 3 credits
How will Russia’s invasion of Ukraine end? Will new conflicts break out across the Taiwan Strait? How will a backsliding Turkey and a highly volatile Syria evolve in response to the devastating Kahramanmaras earthquake? This course provides a forum to discuss and analyze such important current global affairs through reading and debating news headlines. We will follow major news stories chosen by students, analyze reporting from multiple sources and perspectives, and conduct individual research. The goal of this course is to encourage students to think deliberately about current events, and to practice the research and analytical skills needed to gain a deeper understanding of global affairs. Students will also leverage course readings and discussions to produce their own editorial articles or detailed research proposal for future inquiries at the end of the course.
2nd 5 weeks
- Winter 2025
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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POSC 201 Statecraft and the Tools of National Power 6 credits
This course covers the science and art of statecraft, which is the application of the tools of national power. Students will study how nations use diplomatic, economic, and military power to achieve stated national policy objectives. The course is team-taught by three career national security professionals. Case studies are used to assess the application of diplomatic, economic, and military power in the real world. Course readings, papers, and significant classroom discussion will deliver content to students and set the stage for the International Strategic Crisis Negotiation Exercise, which is a graded part of the course.
Not open to first years.
- Spring 2025
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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POSC 221 Latin American Politics 6 credits
This course will enable students to think critically and comparatively about the Latin American political and socio-economic reality. The course serves as an introduction for those who are unfamiliar with the contemporary history, politics, and social structures of the region. Instruction in this class, however, will go beyond a mere introduction to Latin American political history. It will challenge students to analyze complex problems in Latin American politics and development and encourage them to provide informed arguments on these matters.
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POSC 231 American Foreign Policy 6 credits
An introduction to the actors and processes of American foreign policymaking and to the substance of American foreign policy. The course aims to provide students with an understanding of how knowledge of the past, the global policy environment, the processes of foreign policymaking, and the specifics of a foreign policy issue come together to help determine modern American foreign policy. The course will review the structure of the international system of states, state power and interests, the historical context of American foreign policy, actors in American foreign affairs, models of foreign policy decision making, and the instruments of foreign policy. Recommended preparation: POSC 122, AP American Government or AP U.S. History.
- Spring 2025
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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POSC 235 The Endless War on Terror 6 credits
In the aftermath of 9/11, the U.S. launched the Global War on Terror to purportedly find, stop,and defeat every terrorist group with a global reach. Without question, the Global War on Terror has radically shaped everything from U.S. foreign policies and domestic institutions to civil liberties and pop culture. In this course, we will examine the events of 9/11 and then critically assess the immediate and long-term ramifications of the endless Global War on Terror on different states and communities around the world. While we will certainly spend time interrogating U.S. policies from the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations, we will also examine reactions to those policies across both the global north and the global south.
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POSC 242 Middle East Politics 6 credits
This course introduces the politics and political structures of states in the Middle East. We explore the political origins of Middle Eastern states, and investigate how regional politics are shaped by colonialism, religion, tribes, the family, and more. We examine the persistence of authoritarianism and its links to other issues like nationalism and militarism. The course covers how recent and current events like the revolutionary movements of the ‘Arab Spring’ civil society affect the states and their societies. We conclude with a consideration of the future of Middle Eastern politics, evaluating lingering concerns and emerging prospects for liberalization and reform.
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POSC 245 Geopolitics of Southeast Asia 6 credits
This course will cover key thematic issues of Southeast Asian politics, including the challenges of democracy, geopolitical conflicts with China, politics of borderlands, environmental politics, the rise of the power of non-state actors, and struggles for citizen-sovereignty of the people. We will examine these geopolitical frontier issues against the background of Southeast Asia's societal evolution through kingdoms, colonial eras, emergence of nation-states, and the influence of globalization on politics. Why is Southeast Asia a misunderstood region of the world? What can we learn from Southeast Asian political orders to understand the faith of freedom, self-governance, and democracy?
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POSC 251.00 Science and Humanity 6 credits
The modern age has been characterized by the unprecedented advance of natural science and the attempt to achieve technological mastery of nature. How did this come about? What worldview does this express, and how does that worldview affect the way we live and think? We will investigate these questions by studying classic works by some of modernity‘s philosophic founders (including Bacon, Descartes, and Hobbes) as well as some of its most penetrating interpreters and critics (including Jonathan Swift, Rousseau, and Nietzsche).
- Winter 2025
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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POSC 265 Public Policy and Global Capitalism 6 credits
This course provides a comprehensive introduction to comparative and international public policy. It examines major theories and approaches to public policy design and implementation in several major areas: international policy economy (including the study of international trade and monetary policy, financial regulation, and comparative welfare policy), global public health and comparative healthcare policy, institutional development (including democratic governance, accountability systems, and judicial reform), and environmental public policy. Recommended Preparation: STAT 120 is strongly recommended.
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POSC 276 Imagination in Politics: Resisting Totalitarianism 6 credits
Ideological fanaticism is on the rise today. Individuals prefer the incantation of slogans and clichés to autonomous thinking, moderation, and care for the diversity and complexity of circumstances and of human beings. The results are the inability to converse across differences and the tendency to ostracize and exclude others in the name of tribal and populist nationalism, as well as of racism. Hannah Arendt called totalitarianism this form of ideological hypnosis, which characterizes not only totalitarian political regimes, but can also colonize liberal-democracies. In this class we will read some of the works of Arendt to better understand the power of imagination to enhance critical and independent thinking and resist totalitarianism.
- Winter 2025
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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POSC 281 U.S.-China Rivalry: The New Cold War? 6 credits
This course surveys key security dynamics, actors and issues in the Asia-Pacific. We will begin with a brief overview of historical conflicts and cooperations in the region, focusing on the impact of decolonization, communism, and the Cold War. We will then proceed to discuss contemporary security issues; topics include territorial disputes, Taiwan, nuclear proliferation, the U.S. alliance system, regional organizations like ASEAN, and U.S.-China rivalry. We will also study major international relation paradigms and theories, including heterodox approaches relevant to major actors in the Asia-Pacific, to guide our investigation of these security issues. No prior knowledge required.
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POSC 282 Terrorism and Counterterrorism 6 credits
This course focuses on the historic and modern use of violence or the threat of violence by non-state actors to secure political outcomes. We will review the strategy and tactics of various terror groups, use case studies to understand the logic of terrorism, assess why some groups succeed while others fail, and study terrorist organizations’ efforts at recruitment and indoctrination. These topics will be addressed from theoretical and practical perspectives, with input from expert guest speakers. Finally, we will assess counterterrorism measures, including the moral, ethical, legal, and practical approaches to creating security in the modern world.
- Winter 2025
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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POSC 285 The U.S. Intelligence Community 6 credits
This course covers the U.S. Intelligence Community, how intelligence supports national security policy development, and how intelligence is applied to execute strategy in pursuit of policy objectives (specifically, implementation of national security and foreign policy initiatives). Studying the structure, processes, procedures, oversight, and capabilities of the Intelligence Community will enhance understanding of how intelligence supported or failed policymakers in national security decision-making, including the areas of diplomatic and economic cooperation and engagement, and security challenges ranging from deterrence to conventional war. The course concludes with the study of asymmetric/hybrid warfare in our modern age and how intelligence might be used to better understand the changing dynamics of future global conflict.
- Winter 2025
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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POSC 322 Polarization and Populism in Latin America 6 credits
Polarization and populism have shaped Latin American politics and development for much of the region's history. These forces have re-emerged in the post-Cold War period in acute and powerful ways in threatening democracy and systems of accountability. This course will examine these forces and adjacent phenomena such as democratic backsliding, the aggrandizement of presidential powers, socio-economic conflicts, contentious politics, and the continuation of state crises in Latin America. Students will work on their own research projects.
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POSC 324 Rebels and Risk Takers: Women and War In the Middle East 6 credits
How are women (and gender more broadly) shaping and shaped by war and conflict in the Middle East? Far from the trope of the subjugated, veiled, and abused Middle Eastern woman, women in the Middle East are active social and political agents. In wars and conflicts in the Middle East region, women have, for example, been combatants, soldiers, activists, spies, homemakers, writers, and political leaders. This course surveys conflicts involving Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, and Iraq–along with Western powers like the U.S., UK, and Australia–through the wartime experiences of women.
- Fall 2024
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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POSC 333 Global Social Changes and Sustainability 6 credits
This course is about the relationship between social changes and ecological changes to understand and to be able to advance analytical concepts, research methods, and theories of society-nature interactions. How do livelihoods of individuals and groups change over time and how do the changes affect ecological sustainability? What are the roles of human institutions in ecological sustainability? What are the roles of ecosystem dynamics in institutional sustainability? Students will learn fundamental theories and concepts that explain linkages between social change and environmental changes and gain methods and skills to measure social changes qualitatively and quantitatively.
Extra Time required.
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POSC 348 Strangers, Foreigners and Exiles 6 credits
The course explores the role that strangers play in human life, the challenges that foreigners create for democratic politics, the promises they bring to it, as well as the role of exiles in improving the cultural capacity of societies to live with difference. We will read texts by Arendt, Kafka, Derrida, Sophocles, Said, Joseph Conrad, Tzvetan Todorov, and Julia Kristeva. Special attention will be given to the plight of Roma in Europe, as a typical case of strangers that are still perceived nowadays as a menace to the modern sedentary civilization.
- Spring 2025
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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POSC 372 Mansions and Shantytowns: Politics of The Spaces We Live in 6 credits
This course explores theories about spaces/places and investigates the impact of our physical environment on a broad range of social and political issues. We will look at how parks, monuments, residential communities, and other features of our cities and towns are made, who makes them, and in turn, their effects on our daily lives. Students will engage with important contemporary issues such as residential segregation, public space management, protest policing, etc. Most of the course will focus on urban politics, with a brief foray into rural issues. The goal of this course is to encourage students to think about everyday environmental features in a more systematic and theoretic manner and design social scientific inquiries into spatial issues.
- Winter 2025
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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POSC 378 Political Economy & Ecology of Southeast Asia: Social Changes in Southeast Asia 6 credits
Informed by the assigned readings, students will visit markets, factories, farms, and various cultural and natural sites to see first-hand the changes and challenges occurring in these areas. The course covers: (1) issues of livelihood transition from rural to urban; (2) the interaction between market systems and social relations; and (3) the impact on society of changes in physical infrastructures such as roads and telecommunication. Students will keep a journal and produce three thematic short essays, a 15-20-minute video, or a well-organized blog to document their learning.
Participation in Carleton OCS Political Economy and Ecology in Southeast Asia Program
- Winter 2025
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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Acceptance in the Political Economy and Ecology in Southeast Asia Program.
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POSC 379 Political Economy and Ecology of S.E. Asia: Diversity of Social Ecological Systems in Southeast Asia 6 credits
Connecting the first and the second components, this course examines key actors, issues, and interests in the political economy of and ecology of Southeast Asia. Students will connect economy to ecology in Southeast Asia by connecting field experiences and observation to real data, facts, and cases that illustrate the interaction between economy and ecology. This course requires students to identify a topic of interest based on their field experience, research it using techniques taught in the field research and methods course, and write a research report in the form of a term paper.
Participation in Carleton OCS Political Economy and Ecology in Southeast Asia Program
- Winter 2025
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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Acceptance in the Political Economy and Ecology in Southeast Asia Program.
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PSYC 358 Cross-Cultural Psychology Seminar in Prague: Psychopathology 6 credits
In the West mental illness has traditionally been approached with a biomedical model that views it as independent of culture. By contrast the “relativist” position assumes that, to a large extent, human behaviors are culturally determined and that the etiology and manifestation of mental disorders are affected by society and culture. This course will address such issues as well as their implications for assessment and treatment through an examination of several Western and non-Western societies, with a special emphasis on Czech society. There will be several guest lectures by Czech psychology professors as well as excursions within Prague to psychiatric hospitals and clinics, where students will meet with Czech clinicians and patients.
- Fall 2024
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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Acceptance in Cross-Cultural Studies in Prague Program and student has completed any of the following course(s): PSYC 110 – Principles of Psychology with a grade of C- or better.
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RELG 100.01 The Historical Jesus and the Christ of Faith 6 credits
For nearly two thousand years, Christians have considered Jesus the unique, miracle-working Son of God who came to earth to save humanity from its sins. But does this picture hold up to historical scrutiny? Who do historians think Jesus was? This seminar introduces the tools of historical inquiry that scholars use to reconstruct Jesus's original message. It also surveys how Americans in different cultural contexts have imagined Jesus, from the liberating Christ of Black theology, to the eastern sage and hippie of the 1960s, to the rabbi who never intended a non-Jewish movement.
Held for new first year students
- Fall 2024
- AI/WR1, Argument & Inquiry/WR1 IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies
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Student is a member of the First Year First Term class level cohort. Students are only allowed to register for one A&I course at a time. If a student wishes to change the A&I course they are enrolled in they must DROP the enrolled course and then ADD the new course. Please see our Workday guides Drop or 'Late' Drop a Course and Register or Waitlist for a Course Directly from the Course Listing for more information.
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RELG 100.02 The Qur’an as Literature 6 credits
The Qur'an is best known as the sacred text of Islam, but it is also one of the most widely read, dynamic, and influential texts in human history. It is not every text that can compel people to regard it as divine revelation. In fact, Muslims consider the Qur'an's literary composition a miracle. This course explores the literary style and structure of the Qur'an through close reading of its English translation. It also introduces students to the history of the Qur'an and its significance in Muslims' everyday lives. No background knowledge is assumed; nor is this an introduction to Islam.
Held for new first year students
- Fall 2024
- AI/WR1, Argument & Inquiry/WR1
-
Student is a member of the First Year First Term class level cohort. Students are only allowed to register for one A&I course at a time. If a student wishes to change the A&I course they are enrolled in they must DROP the enrolled course and then ADD the new course. Please see our Workday guides Drop or 'Late' Drop a Course and Register or Waitlist for a Course Directly from the Course Listing for more information.
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RELG 100.03 Christianity and Colonialism 6 credits
From its beginnings, Christianity has been concerned with the making of new persons and worlds: the creation of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. It has also maintained a tight relationship to power, empire, and the making of modernity. In this course we will investigate this relationship within the context of colonial projects in the Americas, Africa, India, and the Pacific. We will trace the making of modern selves from Columbus to the abolition (and remainders) of slavery, and from the arrival of Cook in the Sandwich Islands to the journals of missionaries and the contemporary fight for Hawaiian sovereignty.
Held for new first year students
- Fall 2024
- AI/WR1, Argument & Inquiry/WR1 IS, International Studies
-
Student is a member of the First Year First Term class level cohort. Students are only allowed to register for one A&I course at a time. If a student wishes to change the A&I course they are enrolled in they must DROP the enrolled course and then ADD the new course. Please see our Workday guides Drop or 'Late' Drop a Course and Register or Waitlist for a Course Directly from the Course Listing for more information.
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RELG 100.04 Religion, Science, and the Moral Imagination 6 credits
How do we imagine the relationship between religion and science? Are they at odds, in harmony, or different ways of imagining ourselves, our world, and our futures? This course explores historical understandings of religious and scientific thought, and asks how the two came to be separated in the modern world. We use the imagination to explore the power dynamics and moral judgments embedded in assumptions about matter, nature, bodies, persons, and progress. We draw on literature, philosophy, and theology to consider questions about authority, ethics, and existential hope, focusing on climate crisis, AI and personhood, racism, and the possibility of alternative futures. Argument & Inquiry
Held for new first year students
- Fall 2024
- AI/WR1, Argument & Inquiry/WR1
-
Student is a member of the First Year First Term class level cohort. Students are only allowed to register for one A&I course at a time. If a student wishes to change the A&I course they are enrolled in they must DROP the enrolled course and then ADD the new course. Please see our Workday guides Drop or 'Late' Drop a Course and Register or Waitlist for a Course Directly from the Course Listing for more information.
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RELG 120 Introduction to Judaism 6 credits
What is Judaism? Who are Jewish people? What are Jewish texts, practices, ideas? What ripples have Jewish people, texts, practices, and ideas caused beyond their sphere? These questions will animate our study as we touch on specific points in over three millennia of history. We will immerse ourselves in Jewish texts, historic events, and cultural moments, trying to understand them on their own terms. At the same time, we will analyze them using key concepts such as ‘tradition,’ ‘culture,’ ‘power,’ and ‘diaspora.’ We will explore how ‘Jewishness’ has been constructed by different stakeholders, each claiming the authority to define it.
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RELG 122 Introduction to Islam 6 credits
This course is a general introduction to Islam as a prophetic religious tradition. It explores the different ways Muslims have interpreted and put into practice the prophetic message of Muhammad through analyses of varying theological, legal, political, mystical, and literary writings as well as through Muslims’ lived histories. These analyses aim for students to develop a framework for explaining the sources and vocabularies through which historically specific human experiences and understandings of the world have been signified as Islamic. The course will focus primarily on the early and modern periods of Islamic history.
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RELG 155 Hinduism: An Introduction 6 credits
Hinduism is the world’s third-largest religion (or, as some prefer, “way of life”), with about 1.2 billion followers. It is also one of its oldest, with roots dating back at least 3500 years. “Hinduism,” however, is a loosely defined, even contested term, designating the wide variety of beliefs and practices of the majority of the people of South Asia. This survey course introduces students to this great variety, including social structures (such as the caste system), rituals and scriptures, mythologies and epics, philosophies, life practices, politics, poetry, sex, gender, Bollywood, and—lest we forget—some 330 million gods and goddesses.
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RELG 218 The Body in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam 6 credits
Mind and body are often considered separate but not equal; the mind gives commands to the body and the body complies. Exploring the ways the three religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam think about the body will deepen our understanding of the mind-body relationship. We will ask questions such as: How does the body direct the mind? How do religious practices discipline the body and the mind, and how do habits of body and mind change the forms and meanings of these practices? Gender, sexuality, sensuality, and bodily function will be major axes of analysis.
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RELG 278 Love of God in Islam 6 credits
As the chosen messenger of God's final revelation, Muslims consider Muhammad to be God's beloved par excellence. He is believed to have not only received God's words but to have also experienced the divine. For Muhammad's followers, love has been a central means of attaining experiential knowledge of God. The Islamic tradition, particularly in the form of Sufism, developed a highly sophisticated literature for understanding God through love. This course will trace and analyze the historical development of this literature and the practices associated with it from the Qur'an (600s) to Rumi (1200s).
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RELG 282 Samurai: Ethics of Death and Loyalty 6 credits
This course explores the history of samurai since the emergence of warrior class in medieval times, to the modern developments of samurai ethics as the icon of Japanese national identity. Focusing on its connection with Japanese religion and culture, we will investigate the origins of the purported samurai ideals of loyalty, honor, self-sacrifice, and death. In addition to regular class sessions, there will be a weekly kyudo (Japanese archery) practice on Wednesday evening (7-9 pm), which will enable students to study samurai history in context through gaining first-hand experience in the ritualized practice of kyudo.
Extra Time for weekly kyudo (Japanese archery) practice on Wednesday evening (7-9 pm)
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RELG 359 Buddhist Studies India Program: Buddhist Meditation Traditions
Students will complement their understanding of Buddhist thought and culture through the study and practice of traditional meditation disciplines. This course emphasizes the history, characteristics, and approach of three distinct meditation traditions within Buddhism: Vipassana, Zazen, and Dzogchen. Meditation practice and instruction is led in the morning and evening six days a week by representatives of these traditions who possess a theoretical as well as practical understanding of their discipline. Lectures and discussions led by the program director complement and contextualize the three meditation traditions being studied.
Open only to participants in OCP GEP Buddhist Studies India Program
- Fall 2024
- IS, International Studies No Exploration
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Acceptance in the Carleton OCS Buddhist Studies in India program.
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RUSS 100.00 From Underground Man to Invisible Man 6 credits
In 1864 Fyodor Dostoevsky created an unnamed character whose response to his own alienation was to retreat to a life under the floorboards, where he mused on the imperfectability of human society and the nature of free will. A century later, African-American writer Ralph Ellison, author of the novel Invisible Man, called Dostoevsky his “literary ancestor.” In this course we will study Notes from Underground in its original cultural context and then turn to how the book was adapted, contested, and reinterpreted by Dostoevsky’s literary descendants around the world, each in their own way investigating what it means to be human.
Held for new first year students
- Fall 2024
- AI/WR1, Argument & Inquiry/WR1 IS, International Studies
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Student is a member of the First Year First Term class level cohort. Students are only allowed to register for one A&I course at a time. If a student wishes to change the A&I course they are enrolled in they must DROP the enrolled course and then ADD the new course. Please see our Workday guides Drop or 'Late' Drop a Course and Register or Waitlist for a Course Directly from the Course Listing for more information.
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RUSS 205 Russian in Cultural Contexts 6 credits
Students will study Russian in the context of contemporary life and culture of the Russophoneworld. In this course, they will continue developing their proficiency in conversation, listening comprehension, and writing, as well improving their grammatical skills by studying topics in Russian syntax, morphology, verbal aspect and verbal governance. The course draws on a variety of sources for reading and discussion, including contemporary literature, the periodic press, film, and music.
- Winter 2025
- IS, International Studies No Exploration
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): RUSS 204 – Intermediate Russian with a grade of C- or better or equivalent.
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RUSS 228 Russophone Studies in Central Asia: Contemporary Kazakhstani Culture and Post-Colonial Identity 6 credits
In this course we will study how contemporary Kazakhstani post-colonial identity is expressed and negotiated in the works of Russophone prose and poetry, as well as in film, theater, contemporary art, and urban space. Other topics will include the changing role of the Russian language in Central Asia, linguistic, gender and cultural hybridity, trauma and (post)memory, cultural, ecological and gender activism. Taught in English.
Requires Participation in OCS program in Kazakhstan
- Spring 2025
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Acceptance in the Carleton OCS Russophone Studies in Central Asia program.
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RUSS 242 Russian Short Story 6 credits
In their short prose masterpieces, just as in their famous novels, Russian writers showed formal excellence and bold insights into the big questions of life and death: What kind of life is worth living? What is true compassion and love? What is to be done about evil? We will read short stories by some of the greatest Russian writers, including Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Chekhov, Bunin, Nabokov, and Petrushevskaya, in the context of Russian culture and history. In English translation. No knowledge of Russian language or history is required.
In translation
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RUSS 266 The Brothers Karamazov 3 credits
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s last novel, The Brothers Karamazov, is many things: a riveting murder mystery, a probing philosophical treatise, one of the best known novels in world literature, and a complex book worth reading and discussing with serious readers of diverse backgrounds. We will familiarize ourselves with the historical and philosophical context in which it was written, while grappling with the fundamental questions it raises: What does it mean to act morally? Why do humans so often act against their own best interest? How do we reconcile a world of chaos and suffering with the notion of a benevolent god? Conducted entirely in English.
1st 5 weeks, in translation
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RUSS 267 War and Peace 3 credits
Against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, Lev Tolstoy challenges readers to confront some of the most confounding questions of human existence: How can we reconcile the notion of free will with the seemingly ineluctable forces of history? Is individual moral action possible in war? How can we live a meaningful life in the face of inevitable death? And what might lie after death? In this course we read War and Peace in its cultural and historical context, while also considering how it continues to be relevant to our lives today. Conducted in English. No knowledge of Russian literature or history required.
2nd 5 weeks, in translation
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RUSS 331 The Wonderful World of Russian Animation 6 credits
Beginning in the 1910’s, Russian and then the Soviet Union was home to some of the most creative and innovative animated films in the world. In this course we will examine selected animated shorts in the context of Russian history and culture. Topics to be considered include the roots of animated film in the folk tale, the role of cartoons in educating the model Soviet child, the language of Soviet colonial discourse, and the ways in which post-Soviet animated films perpetuated or subverted past traditions.
- Fall 2024
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): RUSS 205 – Russian in Cultural Contexts with a grade of C- or better or equivalent.
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SOAN 110 Introduction to Anthropology 6 credits
Anthropology is the study of all human beings in all their diversity, an exploration of what it means to be human throughout the globe. This course helps us to see ourselves, and others, from a new perspective. By examining specific analytic concepts—such as culture—and research methods—such as participant observation—we learn how anthropologists seek to understand, document, and explain the stunning variety of human cultures and ways of organizing society. This course encourages you to consider how looking behind cultural assumptions helps anthropologists solve real world dilemmas.
Sophomore Priority.
- Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Spring 2025
- CX, Cultural/Linguistics IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
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SOAN 203 Anthropology of Good Intentions 6 credits
Is the environmental movement making progress? Do responsible products actually help local populations? Is international AID alleviating poverty and fostering development? Today there are thousands of programs with sustainable development goals yet their effectiveness is often contested at the local level. This course explores the impacts of sustainable development, conservation, and AID programs to look beyond the good intentions of those that implement them. In doing so we hope to uncover common pitfalls behind good intentions and the need for sound social analysis that recognizes, examines, and evaluates the role of cultural complexity found in populations targeted by these programs. The department strongly recommends that Sociology/Anthropology 110 or 111 be taken prior to enrolling in courses numbered 200 or above.
- Fall 2024
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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SOAN 209 Language, Culture, and Power 6 credits
This course introduces linguistic anthropology, the study of language in social contexts. People use language to navigate the world and to make judgments about others. Has anyone ever correctly guessed your background after you used a specific word (pop vs. soda)? Have you ever been teased due to your accent? By surveying cross-cultural research from around the world, we ask: How do linguistic practices contribute to the construction of social identity and social difference? How might perceptions of language create and reinforce social divisions and inequality? Students will also consider ways they may advocate for linguistic social justice.
- Winter 2025
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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SOAN 228 Public Sociology of Religion 6 credits
This course focuses on special topics in the public sociology of religion. We will look at the intersection of race, religion, and politics in the U.S.; the intersection of science and religion in Indigenous-led environmental movements; and varieties of public religion around the world—including Islamic feminism and democracy in Egypt and Indonesia, Coptic Christianity and the Muslim Brotherhood, orthodox Jewish movements in Israel, American evangelicals in the U.S., and Black church mobilization in the U.S. civil rights movement. As we do so, we will examine core theoretical perspectives and empirical developments in the contemporary sociology of religion. The department strongly recommends that Sociology/Anthropology 110 or 111 be taken prior to enrolling in courses numbered 200 or above.
- Spring 2025
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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SOAN 262 Anthropology of Health and Illness 6 credits
An ethnographic approach to beliefs and practices regarding health and illness in numerous societies worldwide. This course examines patients, practitioners, and the social networks and contexts through which therapies are managed to better understand medical systems as well as the significance of the anthropological study of misfortune. Specific topics include the symbolism of models of illness, the ritual management of misfortune and of life crisis events, the political economy of health, therapy management, medical pluralism, and cross-cultural medical ethics. The department strongly recommends that Sociology/Anthropology 110 or 111 be taken prior to enrolling in courses numbered 200 or above.
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SOAN 312 How Rude: (Im)politeness and (Dis)respect in Language 6 credits
Expressions of politeness and impoliteness differ between societies. From smiling at strangers to addressing a woman as “ma’am,” what is polite in one setting can be strange or antagonistic in another. This course focuses on cross-linguistic expressions of (im)politeness and (dis)respect, but also touches upon non-verbal behavior and communication. Older cross-cultural literature has focused on the positive valuations of politeness, deference, and respect in language. By balancing past scholarship with recent works on linguistic impoliteness and disrespect, we’ll explore language’s role in social relations, from creating harmony to sowing conflict. Expected preparation: prior Sociology/Anthropology course or instructor permission is recommended.
The department strongly recommends that Sociology/Anthropology 110 or 111 be taken prior to enrolling in courses numbered 200 or above.
- Spring 2025
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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SOAN 313 Woke Nature: Towards an Anthropology of Non-Human Beings 6 credits
The core of anthropological thought has been organized around the assumption that the production of complex cultural systems is reserved to the domain of the human experience. While scholars have contested this assumption for years, there is an emerging body of scholarship that proposes expanding our understandings of culture, and the ability to produce meaning in the world, to include non-human beings (e.g. plants, wildlife, micro-organisms, mountains). This course explores ethnographic works in this field and contextualizes insights within contemporary conversations pertaining to our relationship with nature, public health, and social justice movements that emerge within decolonized frameworks. The department strongly recommends that Sociology/Anthropology 110 or 111 be taken prior to enrolling in courses numbered 200 or above.
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SOAN 322 Buddhist Studies India Program: Contemporary Buddhist Culture
This course introduces students to the complexity and plurality of Buddhist traditions that have flourished in diverse societies and cultures in the modern era. This course enables students to sympathetically understand and critically investigate various Buddhist traditions and their historically and culturally specific configurations of philosophical beliefs, cultural values, everyday practices, social institutions, and personal experiences. Focusing on Buddhist traditions of South and Southeast Asia, Japan, and Tibet, we explore topics including syncretism and popular religion, monasticism, gender, economic development, social movements, political violence, and religious revival. Students expand their research skills in anthropology through field assignments in Bodh Gaya.
Open only to participants in OCP GEP Buddhist Studies India program
- Fall 2024
- IS, International Studies No Exploration
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Acceptance in the Carleton OCS Buddhist Studies in India program.
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SOAN 323 Mother Earth: Women, Development and the Environment 6 credits
Why are so many sustainable development projects anchored around women's cooperatives? Why is poverty depicted as having a woman's face? Is the solution to the environmental crisis in the hands of women the nurturers? From overly romantic notions of stewardship to the feminization of poverty, this course aims to evaluate women's relationships with local environments and development initiatives. The course uses anthropological frameworks to evaluate case studies from around the world. The department strongly recommends that Sociology/Anthropology 110 or 111 be taken prior to enrolling in courses numbered 200 or above.
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SOAN 326 Ecology and Anthropology Tanzania Program: Cultural Anthropology of East Africa
The course introduces students to East Africa–its geography, people groups, and their cultures. The focus will be on the peoples of Tanzania and their linguistic groupings. We shall look at what scholars and the citizens themselves say about their origins, social, economic, ecological, and modern conditions. The course explores the history, social structure, politics, livelihood and ecology, gender issues, and the changes taking place among the Maasai, Arusha, Meru, Chagga, and Hadzabe cultural groups. Homestays, guest speakers, and excursions in northern Tanzania offer students and instructors enviable interactions with these groups and insights into their culture and socio-ecology. Students are required to have taken one Anthropology, Biology or Environmental Studies course or have instructor permission.
Requires participation in Ecology and Anthropology Tanzania Program
- Fall 2024
- IS, International Studies No Exploration
-
Acceptance in the Carleton OCS Ecology and Anthropology in Tanzania program.
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SOAN 331 Anthropological Thought and Theory 6 credits
Our ways of perceiving and acting in the world emerge simultaneously from learned and shared orientations of long duration, and from specific contexts and contingencies of the moment. This applies to the production of anthropological ideas and of anthropology as an academic discipline. This course examines anthropological theory by placing the observers and the observed in the same comparative historical framework, subject to the ethnographic process and to historical conditions in and out of academe. We seek to understand genealogies of ideas, building on and/or reacting to previous anthropological approaches. We highlight the diversity of voices who thought up these ideas, and have influenced anthropological thought through time. We attend to the intellectual and political context in which anthropologists conducted research, wrote, and published their works, as well as which voices did/did not reach academic audiences. The course thus traces the development of the core issues, central debates, internecine battles, and diversity of anthropological thought and of anthropologists that have animated anthropology since it first emerged as a distinct field of inquiry to present-day efforts at intellectual decolonization.
The department strongly recommends that 110 or 11 be taken prior to enrolling in courses number 200 or above.
- Winter 2025
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry WR2 Writing Requirement 2
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Student must have completed any of the following course(s): SOAN 110 – Introduction to Anthropology or SOAN 111 – Introduction to Sociology AND one 200 or 300 level SOAN course with a grade of C- or better.
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SPAN 203 Social Justice and Cultural Immersion in Mexico 6 credits
This course is the second part of a two-term sequence, starting with a special section of SPAN 204 in the fall. The course offers an immersive experience in language and culture, focusing on boosting Spanish skills through instruction and immersion while exploring social justice issues. Participants connect with local leaders to deepen their understanding of Mexican culture. Upon returning to campus, students analyze their experiences through reflections and present their findings in a poster presentation. This program aims to equip participants with language proficiency and cultural sensitivity for a globalized world.
Open only to students who participate in Social Justice & Cultural Immersion in Mexico winter break program
- Winter 2025
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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Student is a member of the Winter Break Spanish 204/203 Program.
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SPAN 205 Conversation and Composition 6 credits
A course designed to develop the student’s oral and written mastery of Spanish. Advanced study of grammar. Compositions and conversations based on cultural and literary topics. There is also an audio-video component focused on current affairs.
- Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Spring 2025
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis LP Language Requirement
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): SPAN 204 – Intermediate Spanish with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 4 or better on the Spanish Literature AP exam or received a score of 4 or better on the Spanish Language AP exam or received a score of 6 or better on the Spanish IB exam or equivalent.
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SPAN 208 Coffee and News 2 credits
An excellent opportunity to brush up your Spanish while learning about current issues in Spain and Latin America. The class meets only once a week for an hour. Class requirements include reading specific sections of Spain’s leading newspaper, El País, everyday on the internet (El País), and then meeting once a week to exchange ideas over coffee with a small group of students like yourself.
- Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Spring 2025
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): SPAN 204 – Intermediate Spanish with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 4 or better on the Spanish Literature AP exam or received a score of 4 or better on the Spanish Language AP exam or received a score of 6 or better on the Spanish IB exam or equivalent.
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SPAN 220 Racism, Immigration, and Gender in Contemporary Latin American Narrative 6 credits
This course focuses on contemporary short stories and short novels. We will read some of the most relevant living authors from Latin America including Carlos Gamerro, Pilar Quintana, Kike Ferrari, Yeniter Poleo, Antonio José Ponte, among others. This will expose students to the most pressing issues in today’s Latin America, ranging from gender, violence, racism, and immigration. We will interview at least one of the authors read during the term and discuss the social implications of their literature in today’s world.
In Trans
- Spring 2025
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
-
Student has completed any of the following course(s): SPAN 204 – Intermediate Spanish with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 4 or better on the Spanish Literature AP exam or received a score of 4 or better on the Spanish Language AP exam or received a score of 6 or better on the Spanish IB exam or equivalent.
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SPAN 229 Madrid Program: Current Issues in Spanish Politics 6 credits
This course offers a fresh look of Spain’s current political and economic life. Discussion topics include the rise of Podemos and the new Spanish political scene, the Catalan separatist movement, political corruption, illegal immigration, and the role of the European Union.
Acceptance in Carleton OCS Madrid Program
- Fall 2024
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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Acceptance in the Spanish Studies in Madrid Program and student has completed the following course(s): SPAN 205 – Conversation and Composition or a higher course with a grade of C- or better.
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SPAN 242 Introduction to Latin American Literature 6 credits
An introductory course to reading major texts in Spanish provides an historical survey of the literary movements within Latin American literature from the pre-Hispanic to the contemporary period. Recommended as a foundation course for further study. Not open to seniors.
Not open to seniors
- Winter 2025
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): SPAN 204 – Intermediate Spanish with a grade of C- or better or equivalent AND does not have Senior Priority.
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SPAN 246 Not by Blood: Family Beyond Kinship 6 credits
Motherhood is central in Latin-American literature of the twenty-first century. Beyond the tendency to represent motherhood as a paradise of love and snuggles, Latin-American writers have been proposing new reconfigurations of family. Families that are not bonded by blood. In this class we will study novels, poems, and short stories about these non-traditional families, for example, families that are led by trans-women, families that are formed between species (with plants or animals), among others. We will analyze what insights these fictional families can offer on topics such as race, reproductive rights, legalization of abortion, marriage equality, and new feminisms.
- Fall 2024
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): SPAN 205 – Conversation and Composition with a grade of C- or better or equivalent.
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SPAN 247 Madrid Program: Muslim Spain 6 credits
This course examines the Islamic influence in the Iberian Peninsula between the 8th and the 16th centuries. The theoretical sessions will cover different periods (emirate, caliphate, taifa kingdoms, Almoravid, Almohad, and Nasrid) focusing on material culture, including the Mosque of Cordoba, Medina Azahara, Toledo, and the Alhambra. The course also aims to offer a more current vision of how Spaniards have integrated (or rejected) this Islamic past into their own national identity. These topics will address debates that have emerged within Spanish historiography over the past years: Was it an invasion or a conquest? Coexistence, tolerance, or confrontation?
Acceptance in Carleton Madrid OCS Program
- Fall 2024
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Acceptance in the Spanish Studies in Madrid Program and student has completed the following course(s): SPAN 205 – Conversation and Composition or a higher course with a grade of C- or better.
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SPAN 263 History of Human Rights 6 credits
This course proposes a genealogical study of the concept of Human Rights. The course will begin with the debates in sixteenth century Spain about the theological, political and juridical rights of “Indians.” The course will cover four centuries and the following topics will be discussed: the debates about poverty in sixteenth century Spain; the birth of the concept of tolerance in the eighteenth century; the creation of the modern political constitution in the United States, France and Spain; the debates about women’s rights, abortion and euthanasia, etc.
- Spring 2025
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): SPAN 204 – Intermediate Spanish with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 4 or better on the Spanish Literature AP exam or received a score of 4 or better on the Spanish Language AP exam or received a score of 6 or better on the Spanish IB exam or equivalent.
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SPAN 320 Death and Dying under Capitalism: An Ecological and Humanistic Perspective 6 credits
Within the capitalist system, the concept of dying well (Ars moriendi) has progressively lost its collective sense and meaning, relegated instead to the realm of individual responsibility. Simultaneously, the notion of a dignified death has ceased to be an inalienable right for all individuals, becoming contingent upon inherited privileges and access to private resources. Death, transformed into a taboo, coexists with an apocalyptic culture and a state of eco-anxiety stemming from ecological crises and the looming extinction of numerous species, potentially including humans. Some of our guiding questions will be: What implications does dying under capitalist conditions entail? Can cultural representation do more than merely comply with, comment or oppose these scenarios? Our exploration will encompass a diverse array of texts, films, and workshops featuring various guest speakers.
- Winter 2025
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): One SPAN course numbered 205 or higher excluding Independent Studies with a grade of C- or better.
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SPAN 330 The Invention of the Modern Novel: Cervantes’ Don Quijote 6 credits
Among other things, Don Quijote is a "remake," an adaptation of several literary models popular at the time the picaresque novel, the chivalry novel, the sentimental novel, the Byzantine novel, the Italian novella, etc. This course will examine the ways in which Cervantes transformed these models to create what is considered by many the first "modern" novel in European history.
- Fall 2024
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): One SPAN course numbered 205 or higher excluding Independent Studies with a grade of C- or better.
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SPAN 369 The Carnival Trail: Carnival Literature in Latin America 6 credits
Carnivals are frequently associated with colourful crowds, merrymaking and excess. But what role do carnivals play in the construction of national and collective identities? We will try to answer this and other questions focusing on films, paintings, and literary texts from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries that represent some of the most popular carnivals in Latin America: Candombe (Uruguay), Yawar Fiesta (Peru), Blacks and Whites (Colombia), Oruro (Bolivia), and Rio (Brazil). We will analyze them from an interdisciplinary perspective that includes literary criticism, anthropology, and history. Students will engage with debates about nation, popular culture, modernity/modernization, and intangible cultural heritage.
- Spring 2025
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): One SPAN course numbered 205 or higher excluding Independent Studies with a grade of C- or better. Not open to students that have taken SPAN 250 – The Carnival Trail: Carnival Literature in Latin America.
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THEA 209 Project Course 6 credits
This interdisciplinary course, taught in conjunction with a full-scale Carleton Players production, will explore one of Shakespeare’s greatest and most complex works, Twelfth Night. We will investigate the play’s historical, social, and theatrical contexts as we try to understand not only the world that produced the play, but the world that came out of it. How should what we learn of the past inform a modern production? How can performance offer interpretive arguments about the play’s meanings? Mixing embodied and experiential learning, individual and group projects may involve dramaturgy, stagecraft, literary analysis, music, and research in Special Collections.
- Spring 2025
- ARP, Arts Practice IS, International Studies
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THEA 309 Project Course 6 credits
This interdisciplinary course, taught in conjunction with a full-scale Carleton Players production, will explore one of Shakespeare’s greatest and most complex works, Twelfth Night. We will investigate the play’s historical, social, and theatrical contexts as we try to understand not only the world that produced the play, but the world that came out of it. How should what we learn of the past inform a modern production? How can performance offer interpretive arguments about the play’s meanings? Taken at the 300 level, this course requires a major scholarly or creative term-long project.
Instructor consent required
- Spring 2025
- ARP, Arts Practice IS, International Studies
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This course requires permission from the instructor.
To request permission, click this link and fill out the request form.
Please note: the link will open in a new window. Once you have received permission from the instructor, you will be able to return to this page to register for the course.