Contacts | Program of Study | Program Requirements | Summary of Requirements for Students Completing the Final Paper/Capstone | Summary of Requirements for Students Completing the BA Thesis | Honors | Advising | Grading | Global Studies Courses

Department Website: http://globalstudies.uchicago.edu

Program of Study

Please note that this curriculum applies to all students entering the College in Autumn Quarter 2020 or later. Students who began in Autumn Quarter 2019 may petition to complete the major under the new requirements; otherwise, they will be held to the previous curriculum. All students who started prior to Autumn Quarter 2019 will continue under the previous curriculum. To review those requirements, please visit the archived version of the 2019–20 College Catalog.

The bachelor of arts degree program in Global Studies is an interdisciplinary major concerned with the interconnected and interdependent nature of the contemporary world. Its main task is to understand the flow of bodies, capital, power, and ideas that shape locations across the planet and make them part of a radically unequal but nonetheless shared global space. Students employ interdisciplinary methods and analytics, and take courses across the College in programs such as environmental studies, public health sciences, anthropology, and history, or in area studies. 

Like the concept of the “global” itself, the major is not limited to specific sites or themes, but rather aims to provide students with a critical analytical framing with which to pursue their own scholarly interests. These are in areas as diverse as climate change, human rights, public health, international law, and urban studies. Students are guided by a set of thematic tracks to help them narrow their focus and develop an expertise within a given field, while engaging with the broader theoretical thrust of the major. Thanks to this flexibility, Global Studies students are often double majors and go on to a wide variety of careers.

Program Requirements

Students must complete a total of 1000 units (1200 units if a student chooses to pursue honors or to write a BA thesis), a research activity, a final research paper/project/thesis, and a language requirement, broken down as follows: 

Introductory Courses (2 courses)

All students are required to take the two-quarter introductory sequence to the major, GLST 23101 Global Studies I and GLST 23102 Global Studies II. These courses are offered annually and in sequence. Students are expected to complete the sequence in their second year (if possible), especially if they plan to study abroad during their third year.

Methods Course (1 course)

In their third year, students must take either a designated methods course from a Global Studies instructor, or they may enroll in an approved methods course in another program. This course must be suited to the thesis project developed and proposed in GLST 23102 Global Studies II and may double-count with a second major when appropriate. Approved courses outside of Global Studies include: ANTH 21420 Ethnographic MethodsCMLT 20109 Comparative Literature - Theory and Practice, GLST 26374 Ethnographic Methods in Chicago, SOCI 20001 Sociological Methods, or STAT 22000 Statistical Methods and Applications.

Thematic Tracks (4 courses) 

Majors must take four courses in one of the following tracks. These courses may come from the approved course list posted on the Global Studies website or may be selected in consultation with the Program Administrator.

Political Economy

Recommended for double majors in Economics; Sociology; Political Science; Law, Letters, and Society; Public Policy Studies; and Anthropology

REPRESENTATIVE COURSES
PBPL 25550Economic Development and Policy100
HIST 11301Global British Empire to 1784: War, Commerce, and Revolution100
PLSC 27541Race, Capitalism and the Atlantic World100
PHIL 22220Marx's Capital, Volume I100
ECON 17110International Monetary Systems100
SOCI 20297Education and Social Inequality100

Health, Environment, and Urban Studies

Recommended for double majors in Environmental and Urban Studies, Geographical Studies, Public Policy Studies, Anthropology, Sociology, Environmental Science, and History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science and Medicine

REPRESENTATIVE COURSES
HMRT 22201Philosophies of Environmentalism and Sustainability100
ENST 24102Environmental Politics100
RLST 27802Technology and the Human100
ENST 26801The Global Urban100
SOCI 20104Urban Structure and Process100

Law, Borders, and Security

Recommended for double majors or minors in Law, Letters, and Society; Public Policy Studies; Anthropology; and Human Rights

REPRESENTATIVE COURSES
HIST 29319Human Rights: Philosophical Foundations100
GLST 25701Anthropology of Borders100
PBPL 22100Politics and Policy100
ANTH 21356The State as Imagination, Fetish, Spectacle100
LLSO 28040Introduction to Law, Letters, and Society100
HMRT 21005Militant Democracy and the Preventative State100
CMLT 29024States of Surveillance100

Race, Gender, and Religion

Recommended for double majors in Anthropology, History, Religious Studies, Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies, and Gender and Sexuality Studies

REPRESENTATIVE COURSES
ANTH 22770Anthropology of Power, Status, and Performance100
RLST 21401Latin American Religions, New and Old100
GNSE 28498Women, Development and Politics100
GLST 25630Religious Violence100
ANTH 22845Xenophobia and the Politics of Belonging100
GNSE 26111Queer Asia(s) 1100

Electives (3 courses)

Electives must be selected from the approved course list posted on the program website. Students may petition for the addition of courses in the social sciences or humanities and relevant to the themes pursued in Global Studies. These may include courses such as the European Civilization in Paris program or East Asian Civilizations in Beijing, as well as other courses that may not fit within the specific tracks, but may not double-count to fulfill College requirements. 

Foreign Language Requirement

Students must complete six quarters of study of a language of their choice.

Research Activity Requirement

Students must have a supervised research experience before they graduate. Research activities include serving as a research assistant to a professor in any capacity, or participation in volunteer, employment, or internship opportunities relevant to the major. Students should work with the appropriate program adviser to identify opportunities and should have their activity approved ahead of the experience itself. Most activities should last no less than six weeks, though intensive programs of shorter duration may be considered. The research activity may be linked to the student’s BA thesis and ideally serves as an introduction to that topic. International experiences are encouraged for the completion of this requirement, but the requirement may be met with domestic projects dealing with global issues (for example, an internship with a domestic NGO or lawmaker). Study abroad programs alone do not fulfill this requirement; however, many students use them as an opportunity to conduct additional research.

Thesis or Final Paper/Capstone

Students have two options to complete the Global Studies major:

BA Thesis and Seminar

Students may opt to write a BA thesis organized around a contemporary global issue. For students opting to write the thesis, the process begins in the third year, when they must secure a faculty reader and submit a topic proposal together with the completed faculty reader form. In their fourth year, thesis-writing students must take a two-quarter BA thesis seminar (GLST 29800 BA Thesis Seminar I and GLST 29801 BA Thesis Seminar II) in the Autumn and Winter Quarters. The final version of the BA thesis is due by the end of the second week of the quarter in which the student plans to graduate. Successful completion of the thesis requires a passing grade from the faculty reader. 

Students who hope to count their thesis for two different majors must first obtain written permission to do so from the directors of both programs; otherwise, they will be required to write two theses. Regardless of the requirements of the second major, the thesis seminar cannot be waived for the thesis to count towards the Global Studies major. 

The BA thesis and seminar are requirements for students to graduate with honors in the Global Studies major.

Final Paper/Capstone

Students may opt out of writing a thesis, and instead produce a shorter final paper (approximately 20–35 pages) or project such as a podcast, short film, artwork, or other multimedia project. These projects must be approved by the Associate Director or the Faculty Director of the program. In the case of projects deviating from the standard paper format, students must demonstrate that they have the skills and/or training in their chosen medium. This paper or project should grow out of one or more of the student’s courses in the major track, and should be developed in coordination with that course instructor. This project must involve original research and be in addition to course assignments. If students choose to write a final paper with a different instructor or separate from their coursework, they must sign up for an independent reading course with the instructor who will guide a final paper. Final approval of this paper or project should be sent in writing by this instructor. 

Summary of Requirements for Students Completing the Final Paper/Capstone

GLST 23101-23102Global Studies I-II200
One methods course100
Four courses in one thematic track400
Three elective courses300
Foreign language requirement-
Research activity-
Total Units1000

Summary of Requirements for Students Completing the BA Thesis

GLST 23101-23102Global Studies I-II200
One methods course100
Four courses in one thematic track400
Three elective courses 300
Foreign language requirement-
Research activity-
GLST 29800BA Thesis Seminar I100
GLST 29801BA Thesis Seminar II100
Total Units1200

Honors

Students with an overall GPA of 3.2 or higher and a major GPA of 3.5 or higher will be eligible for honors. To be awarded final honors, students must have an overall GPA of 3.2 or higher, a major GPA of 3.5 or higher, complete both quarters of the BA thesis seminar, and write a BA thesis judged "high pass" by the faculty reader.

Advising

Students should select their courses for the Global Studies major in close consultation with the program administrator. The Global Studies program publishes a list of courses approved for the major each quarter, both online and outside the Global Studies program office, Gates-Blake 119.

Students should meet with the program administrator early in their final year to be sure they have fulfilled all requirements.

Grading

Students who are majoring in Global Studies must receive quality grades in all courses meeting the requirements of the degree program (i.e., they cannot use Pass/Fail or audited courses for major requirements).

Global Studies Courses

GLST 20004. Introduction to Asian American Studies. 100 Units.

This course seeks to examine the historical context and pragmatic implications of the ethnopolitical category "Asian American." How has this category invented or domesticated norms of Asianness even as it elides, or seeks to merge, intra-ethnic and geopolitical tensions? What is the nature of the relationship between "Asia" and "America," and how does being "Asian American" regiment transnational relations and the politics of identity? Discussions will cover the Chinese Exclusion Act, Japanese internment camps, the Korean and Vietnam wars, affirmative action debates, model minority and perpetual foreigner tropes, as well as responses to COVID-19. How does Asian Americanness inform approaches to race and ethnicity? In other words, what difference does it make? Through the works of Mae M. Ngae, Rey Chow, Dorinne Kondo, Yến Lê Espiritu, Jasbir Puar, Jodi Kim, and others, students will be introduced to a variety of ways forward.

Instructor(s): Alice Yeh     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): CRES 20004, ANTH 23608, HIST 28001

GLST 20150. Sustainable Urban Development. 100 Units.

The course covers concepts and methods of sustainable urbanism, livable cities, resiliency, and smart growth principles from a social, environmental and economic perspective. In this course we examine how the development in and of cities - in the US and around the world - can be sustainable, especially given predictions of a future characterized by increasing environmental and social volatility. We begin by critiquing definitions of sustainability. The fundamental orientation of the course will be understanding cities as complex socio-natural systems, and so we will look at approaches to sustainability grouped around several of the most important component systems: climate, energy, transportation, and water. With the understanding that sustainability has no meaning if it excludes human life, perspectives from both the social sciences and humanities are woven throughout: stewardship and environmental ethics are as important as technological solutions and policy measures.

Instructor(s): Winter: Staff, Spring: Evan Carver     Terms Offered: Spring Winter
Note(s): ENST 21201 and 20150 are required of students who are majoring in Environmental and Urban Studies and may be taken in any order.
Equivalent Course(s): ARCH 20150, ENST 20150, CEGU 20150, PBPL 20150

GLST 20203. Caste and Race: The Politics of Radical Equality. 100 Units.

This course will explore the bodies of knowledge surrounding the politics and practices of caste in South Asia. We will study the emergence and development of radical social movements in the colonial and postcolonial periods that were opposed to caste oppression, along with scholarship that seeks to understand how such a form of social hierarchy and difference operates within regional and national communities. We will also examine how caste interacts with forms of identity such as class, gender, and religion. Caste has often been compared to race: we will study historical parallels as well as present scholarship and activism that aligns political struggles against caste and racial injustice in South Asia and the United States. Through close readings of primary sources and secondary literature in the fields of history, political science, anthropology and literature, the course will foreground the ubiquity of caste in everyday life in South Asia; the epistemologies that have developed to explain, understand and accommodate it; and finally the urgent, radical struggles that seek to annihilate it.

Instructor(s): Ahona Panda     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): SALC 30203, SOCI 30529, KNOW 20203, GNSE 32233, SOCI 20529, KNOW 30203, GNSE 22233, SALC 20203

GLST 20994. Introduction to Jainism. 100 Units.

Jainism has long been on the margins of Religious Studies, little known beyond its otherworldly emphasis on extreme forms of asceticism, nonviolence, and vegetarianism. This course seeks to expand this popular understanding of Jainism by posing a question: What does it mean to be a Jain in the world when the Jain religion is fundamentally otherworldly in its orientation? By reading ethnographies and historical studies alongside primary sources, this course will introduce students to Jainism as an enduring lived religion whose meaning and practices have changed over time, across regions, between sectarian communities, and in conversation with Buddhism and Hinduism. By the end of the quarter, students can expect to understand Jainism as a minor religion with a major impact.

Instructor(s): Sarah Pierce Taylor     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course counts as a Gateway course for RLST majors/minors.
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 20904, SALC 20910

GLST 21001. Climate Change, Environment, and Society. 100 Units.

How has natural and anthropogenic climate change shaped historical relationships between humans and their environments? Against the backdrop of planetary environmental emergencies of the early-21st century, this discussion-based course will consider various time scales of ecological, technological, social, and political transformation, including: the rise of agriculture, state formation, and civilizational collapse; the "Medieval Warm Period" and the "Little Ice Age"; the Industrial Revolution, imperialism, and the consolidation of a global fossil fuel regime; the "Great Acceleration" of the mid-20th century; the development of modern climate science; and the social, political, and technological responses to human-induced global warming. Within these time scales, we will explore past dynamics of climate change, the environment, and society through the historical study of land management, population displacement and migration, resource extraction, energy production and consumption, the global commons, as well as the role of national and international governance arrangements in mediating the unequal distribution of environmental risk across the world. Ethics, morality, equity, and justice, among other concepts, will be investigated as we analyze historical connections among socio-environmental transformations and class-based, racialized, and gendered forms of inequality.

Instructor(s): Christopher Kindell     Terms Offered: Autumn Winter
Note(s): Students who have taken ENST 21201: Human Impact on the Global Environment may not enroll in this course.
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 25031, ENST 20011, CEGU 20001

GLST 21002. The Politics of Environmental Knowledge. 100 Units.

How has "nature" been understood and investigated in the modern world? Building upon diverse approaches to environmental history and philosophy, the history of science, and cultural studies, this course surveys the major frameworks through which the environment has been understood, investigated, and transformed since the origins of global modernity. Such issues are explored with reference to the mobilization of science, technology, and politics in several major areas of socio- environmental transformation in the modern world. Case studies might explore, among other issues, empire, race, and public health; cities and infectious disease since the Black Death; the 'great enclosures' of land associated with settler colonialism; the 'Green Revolution' in industrial agriculture; strategies of resource stewardship, land conservation, terraforming, hydrological engineering and watershed protection; the politics of global warming; and current debates on urban sustainability, carbon capture and geo-engineering. The course also considers the rise and evolution of environmentalist movements and conservation strategies, and the contested visions of nature they have embraced. The course concludes by investigating the competing paradigms of knowledge, science, and environment that underpin divergent contemporary programs of environmental governance and visions of 'sustainability'.

Instructor(s): Jessica Landau      Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): ENST 20012, CEGU 20002, HIST 25032

GLST 21009. Justice, Solidarity, and Global Health. 100 Units.

Global health, it is said, is "one of the great moral movements of our time." Health inequalities around the world are staggering, as is their toll on human suffering. What does a just response entail? What moves us to be just, and why do we so often fail? What do our failures of response tell us about the moral complexities involved, and importantly, about ourselves? In this course, we will consider these questions critically in terms of a basic problem of solidarity. Solidarity rests on our capacity for other-regard-for sympathy toward another-but how do we do that for distant others who are worlds apart? Is it possible, and what are the moral dangers of assuming that we can or cannot? We will test the importance of such questions for a just global health by examining some key theories of health justice, the insights of cultural and religious studies, and the question of what moves us to be just.

Instructor(s): Daniel T. Kim     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HIPS 21009, HLTH 21009, RLST 26309, CCTS 21009

GLST 21090. Reading Transnational Early Modern Race through Gender. 100 Units.

Is race an anachronistic expression in Renaissance Europe? What are the stakes for studies of race in premodern periods? How did early modern race operate differently from contemporary racialized epistemologies and in what ways are we continuously influenced by the premodern times? This course tackles these questions by foregrounding two vocabularies in the early modern racial paradigm: gender and transnational constructions. We will read primary texts set and produced both in Renaissance Europe and its colonies in Africa, Americas, and Asia, and ask: how did the structural relationship of race and gender work in tandem with, or against each other? What roles did transnational and transcultural exchanges such as Christian missions, colonization, commerce, and slave trade play in the ideations of race? We will pay close attention to fictionalized female characters and women writers, ranging from the desired white beauties in Shakespeare's Othello and Cervantes's The Bagnios of Algiers, to Nahua (Mexico) and Visayan (the Philippines) women in The Florentine Codex and The Boxer Codex, to the spiritual diaries of indigenous and black nuns in the Colonial Spanish America, to Aphra Behn's depiction of Oroonoko's execution in Surinam, and finally to the unwritten disposable lives of enslaved black women in the Atlantic slave trade.

Instructor(s): Yunning Zhang      Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): CMLT 31090, RDIN 21090, CMLT 21090, SPAN 22090, GNSE 23166

GLST 21301. (Re)Branding the Balkan City: Comtemp. Belgrade/Sarajevo/Zagreb. 100 Units.

The freedom to make and remake our cities (and ourselves) is one of the most precious yet most neglected of the human rights," argues David Harvey. In this course, we use an urban studies lens to explore the complex history, social fabric, architecture, infrastructure, and cultural transformation of the former Yugoslav capitals. Since their inception, these cities have relied on multifaceted exchanges of peoples and political projects, forms of knowledge, financial and cultural capital, means of production, and innovative ideas. Among others, these exchanges produced two phenomena, Yugoslav architecture, embodying one of the great political experiments of the modern era, and the Non-Aligned Movement, as explored in recent documentary films (Turajlić 2023), museum exhibits (MoMA 2018, "Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia 1948-1980"), and monographs (Tito in Africa: Picturing Solidarity). Drawing on anthropological theory and ethnography of the city, we consider processes of urban destruction and renewal, practices of branding spaces and identities, metropolitan citizenship, arts and design, architectural histories and styles, and the broader politics of space. The course is complemented by cultural and historical media, guest speakers, and virtual tours. Classes are conducted in English.

Instructor(s): Nada Petkovic     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): ARTH 31333, ARCH 21300, REES 21300, REES 31303, HIST 24008, BCSN 21300, BCSN 31303, ARTH 21333

GLST 21501. Genealogies of Environmental Organizing and Activism. 100 Units.

This course explores how organizations-civic, private, governmental-working in the field of environmental advocacy construct, deploy and are shaped by distinct discourses governing relationships between nature and society. The environment is a field of social action in which organizations attempt to effect change in large domains like resource conservation, access, stewardship, and a basic right to environmental quality in everyday life. The work of effecting change in these complex domains can assume a variety of forms including public policy (through the agencies of the state), private enterprise (through the agency of the market), 'third sector' advocacy (through the agency of nonprofit organizations) and social activism (through the agency of social movements and community organizations). State, market, civil society and social movement organizations are where ideas are transmitted from theory to practice and back again in a recursive, dialectical process. These contrasting forms of organization have different histories, wellsprings and degrees of social power. Moreover, they bring different epistemologies to their claims about being legitimate custodians of nature-that is to say they can be understood genealogically. As such, organizations working to effect environment change are at once animated by and constitutive of distinct discourses governing the relationships between nature and society. The course explores how those distinct discourses are associated with a suite of different organizational realms of social action; the goal is trying to connect the dots between discursive formations and organizational forms.

Instructor(s): Mary Beth Pudup     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): This course counts towards the ENST 4th year Capstone requirement.
Equivalent Course(s): ENST 21501, HMRT 21501, SSAD 21501, CEGU 21501, SSAD 41501, CEGU 31501, MAPS 31101

GLST 21600. Francophone Caribbean Culture and Society: Art, Music, and Cinema. 100 Units.

This course provides an interdisciplinary survey of the contemporary Francophone Caribbean. Students will study a wide range of its cultural manifestations (performing arts like music and dance, literature, cinema, architecture and other visual arts, gastronomy). Attention is also paid to such sociolinguistic issues as the coexistence of French and Kreyòl, and the standardization of Kreyòl.

Instructor(s): Gerdine Ulysse     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Taught in English.
Equivalent Course(s): LACS 21600, KREY 21600, FREN 21601, CRES 21600

GLST 21601. Catalan Culture and Society: Art, Music, and Cinema. 100 Units.

This course provides an interdisciplinary survey of contemporary Catalonia. We study a wide range of its cultural manifestations (architecture, paintings, music, arts of the body, literature, cinema, gastronomy). Attention is also paid to some sociolinguistic issues, such as the coexistence of Catalan and Spanish, and the standardization of Catalan.

Instructor(s): Bel Olid     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): The course will be conducted in English.
Equivalent Course(s): SPAN 21610, CATA 21600

GLST 21816. A History of Youth in Latin America. 100 Units.

This course will examine the history of youth-as a social category, and as an experience-in Latin America. We will consider histories of childhood, student activism, and youth culture across the region to consider how young people experience everyday life, and how they effect change. Course materials will combine primary sources including film, music, and other visual and performance artworks with scholarship on childhood and youth.

Instructor(s): Diana Schwartz-Francisco     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 26302, CHDV 21816, LACS 21816

GLST 21950. Dark Stairways of Desire": Lusting beyond the Norm in Contemporary Catalan Literature. 100 Units.

Although we can find a significant number of authors exploring queer desire and identities throughout the history of Catalan Literature (from lesbian scenes in Joanot Martorell's "Tirant lo blanc" to expanding gender identities in Maria Aurèlia Capmany's "Quim/Quima"), more recent Catalan Literature is blooming with queerness and non-normative lust. This course will give an overview of contemporary Catalan works influenced by feminist and queer debates from the seventies on. Beginning with renowned poet Maria Mercè Marçal's only novel, "The Passion According to Rennée Vivien," winner of several of the most prestigious literary awards for Catalan Literature, we will go on to discover 21st-century works by Eva Baltasar and Anna Punsoda. We will also read poems, short stories and excerpts from authors such as Maria Sevilla, Mireia Calafell, Raquel Santanera, Sebastià Portell, Sil Bel and Ian Bermúdez, among others.

Instructor(s): Bel Olid     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Taught in English.
Equivalent Course(s): CATA 21950, SPAN 21950, GNSE 23150

GLST 22101. Disease, Health, and the Environment in Global Context. 100 Units.

Recent concerns about monkeypox, COVID-19, Zika virus, and Ebola have attracted renewed attention to previous disease outbreaks that have significantly shaped human political, social, economic, and environmental history. Such diseases include: smallpox during the 16th-century Columbian exchange; syphilis during the 18th-century exploration and settlement of the Pacific; bubonic plague in the late-19th-century colonization and urbanization of South and East Asia; and yellow fever during America's 20th-century imperial projects across the Caribbean. Through readings, discussions, library visits, and written assignments that culminate in a final project, students in this course will explore how natural and human-induced environmental changes have altered our past experiences with disease and future prospects for health. First, we will examine how early writers understood the relationship between geography, environment, hereditary constitution, race, gender, and human health. We will then analyze the symbiotic relationship among pathogens, human hosts, and their environments. Finally, we will explore how social factors (e.g. migration, gendered divisions of labor, poverty, and segregation) and human interventions (e.g. epidemiology, medical technology, and sanitary engineering) have influenced the distribution of infectious diseases and environmental risks.

Equivalent Course(s): HLTH 22100, HIST 25033, HIPS 22210, CEGU 22100, RDIN 22100

GLST 22105. Sex and Gender in The City. 100 Units.

This course is designed to introduce students to some of the key concerns at the intersection of gender studies and urban studies. In this course, we will take gender relations and sexuality as our primary concern and as a constitutive aspect of social relations that vitally shape cities and urban life. We will examine how gender is inscribed in city landscapes, how it is lived and embodied in relation to race, class, and sexuality, and how it is (re)produced through violence, inequality, and resistance. Over the course of the quarter, we will draw on an interdisciplinary scholarship that approaches the central question of how and why thinking about urban life in relation to gender and sex matters.

Instructor(s): Sneha Annavarapu     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course counts as a Foundations course for GNSE majors
Equivalent Course(s): ARCH 22105, SOCI 28088, ENST 12105, GNSE 12105

GLST 22123. Global Perspectives on Reproductive Justice Theory and Practice. 100 Units.

The US Supreme Court's 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization has sharpened our awareness of the perils that besiege our reproductive futures. This course offers a deep dive into comparative reproductive justice theory and practice rooted both in unique cultural particularities and in globally resonant issues and challenges. While exposing students to the foundational texts shaping the reproductive justice movement, the course shall engage critically with the possibilities and limitations of a rights based framework and the challenges and liberatory potential of a justice based approach to reproductive decision-making. Drawing from literature and media from across the world, the course shall provide global perspectives on issues as varied as contraception, assisted reproductive technology, mass sterilization, and family leave, along with scholarship and resources from the US. While engaging critically with theory, the course shall also provide practitioners' perspectives through guest lectures by ethnographers, lawyers, and healthcare professionals working in the field. This course counts as a Foundations course for GNSE majors.

Instructor(s): Malavika Parthasarathy     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 12123, HMRT 12123

GLST 22211. Against Caste and Race: A Parallel History of Resistance in India and in the United States. 100 Units.

The present moment represents a critical juncture in the history of movements against race-based discrimination in the United States, and caste-based oppression in India and in the Indian diaspora across the world. Since 2021, several educational institutions and corporations in the US have recognized caste as a protected category. Against this background, the course invites students to pay attention to caste as an emergent and recent form of discrimination in the US, and evaluate it against the oldest, race. The course will provide students with an overview of the major intellectual trajectories of the two movements and identify notable moments of synchronicity and solidarity between them. To this end, students will read seminal works by anti-caste and anti-race intellectuals and activists. Together, we will seek to understand the affective experiences at stake by watching films, listening to podcasts, and reading poetry and fiction. The focus will be on the analysis of innovative strategies of resistance offered against caste and race, and modes through which the discriminated claimed selfhood and emerged as subjects. Students will also examine how race and caste privileges that operate at an everyday level are directly linked with histories of discrimination and perpetuate structural exploitation. Finally, we will have a chance to compare the emergence of Critical Caste Studies as a new disciplinary approach alongside the rise of Critical Race Studies.

Instructor(s): Sanjukta Poddar     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): SALC 25324, CRES 22211, HIST 26814

GLST 22312. Cities, Nature and the Planet. 100 Units.

Cities face major challenges in addressing environmental risk and vulnerability, but also great opportunity to reconsider the design, planning and economic systems upon which they have traditionally relied. This course takes a contemporary look into how urbanization affects planetary health, focusing on cities as sites of global resource extraction, waste generation, biodiversity loss, and increasing social inequality and climate vulnerability; but also as centers of population, innovation and social organization, which can facilitate climate solutions. Using a range of social science approaches and methods, students will consider critiques of historical urban planning and linear city resource economies, and analyze contemporary approaches related to climate action, green space planning, and nature-based solutions, with specific attention on environmental goals and equity outcomes. Through critical exploration of both historical urban planning, and contemporary frameworks for sustainable city agenda setting, students will consider the environmental past, present and future of global cities. In Autumn 2024, this course will be part of the Paris Urbanism Study Abroad program. Students will focus on Paris but take a comparative look at cities across the Global North and Global South.

Instructor(s): Sabina Shaikh     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): This course is part of the Paris Urbanism Study Abroad program
Equivalent Course(s): CEGU 22312, PBPL 22312

GLST 22700. Diaspora(s) 100 Units.

This class will orient students to the practices, frameworks, and geographies of diasporic communities from the early modern period to the present. The term's initial origins in Jewish experiences of forced dispersal and migration underscores how its meaning is shaped by histories of collective displacement and loss, as well as invention and heritage. The discourse of diaspora remains foundational for several interdisciplinary fields, including Black studies, Asian American studies, Indigenous studies, Latinx studies, and more. Within these intellectual orientations, diasporic identities are notably expansive and unfixed. As observed by the late cultural theorist Stuart Hall, "diaspora identities are those which are constantly producing and reproducing themselves anew, through transformation and difference," bridging old and new traditions of worldmaking, resistance, and solidarities within and across distinct diasporic sensibilities." Students in this class will work with scholarly, literary, sonic, and visual materials demonstrating how use of diaspora alternately mobilizes and roots people, in ways that claim pasts and futures at once.

Instructor(s): Adam Green     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): RDIN 12200, HIST 12706, CRES 12700

GLST 22770. Que otros sean lo Normal": Pertinencia y otredad en la literatura trans en español. 100 Units.

¿Qué nos dicen de una sociedad sus alteridades? Es decir, ¿cómo nos informa de la norma lo que queda fuera de ella? A partir de la lectura y análisis de obras escritas por autores trans, conoceremos más a fondo la actualidad de algunos países hispanohablantes, centrándonos en un elemento básico de cualquier identidad: el género. El curso está organizado a partir de la lectura y visualización de materiales reales y con actividades orales y escritas dirigidas a ampliar el conocimiento de la literatura contemporánea en español (y las sociedades en las que florece), y también a reforzar las habilidades de expresión oral y escrita de les participantes.

Instructor(s): Bel Olid     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Taught in Spanish.
Equivalent Course(s): SPAN 22770, GNSE 23158

GLST 23101-23102. Global Studies I-II.

This is the Global Studies program’s core sequence, typically taken during a student’s second year. Global Studies I is an orientation course for students interested in majoring in Global Studies, while Global Studies II seeks to impart important theories and research practices through intensive, critical readings.

GLST 23101. Global Studies I. 100 Units.

What is the "globe" in Global Studies? This course introduces the Global Studies major by considering how people have organized and conceptualized political and social difference across space. From World Systems theory and coloniality to the movement of global capital and the problem of the nation-state, we will prioritize approaches offering insight into the unequal distribution and flow of power worldwide. This course will also provide brief introductions to the pressing issues confronting Global Studies today, including public health and infectious disease, borders and migration, climate change, and transnational religious and political movements.

Instructor(s): Callie Maidhof     Terms Offered: Autumn

GLST 23102. Global Studies II. 100 Units.

This second part of the introductory course sequence for Global Studies will familiarize students with empirical work within this interdisciplinary field, and will guide them through the practical steps of putting together a research project. How do we move from a research interest to a research question? How do we approach the study of social dynamics from a global perspective that emphasizes interconnectedness? How do we track the movement of ideas, people, culture, and capital across borders? How do we incorporate considerations of power, positionality, and reflexivity in our research practice? We will engage with scholarship across the social sciences and cover topics related to the four thematic tracks in the Global Studies major. As we analyze a variety of empirical cases, we will discuss approaches to case selection, theoretical grounding, data collection and analysis, and ethical research practices. At the end of the course, students will produce an annotated bibliography and a preliminary draft of their thesis proposal.

Instructor(s): Caterina Fugazzola and Staff     Terms Offered: Spring Winter
Prerequisite(s): GLST 23101

GLST 23111. Black Theology: Hopkins Versus Cone. 100 Units.

Black Theology of Liberation, an indigenous USA discipline and movement, began on July 31, 1966 and spread nationally and internationally when James H. Cone published his first book in March 1969. Since that time, a second generation has emerged. In this course, we will create a debate between the second generation (represented by Dwight N. Hopkins) and the first generation (represented by James H. Cone). We will look at the political, economic, cultural, gender, and sexual orientation parts of this debate.

Instructor(s): Dwight Hopkins     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): AMER 23111, RLST 23111, CRES 23111, FNDL 25308

GLST 23129. Transnational Queer Politics and Practices. 100 Units.

This course aims to examine gender and sexual practices and identities in a transnational perspective. As people and ideas move across national, cultural, and racial borders, how is sexuality negotiated and redefined? How are concepts such as "global queerness" and the globalization of sexualities leveraged for change? How are queer identities and practices translated, both culturally and linguistically? To explore transnational articulations of queerness we will draw on a range of theoretical perspectives, including postcolonial, feminist, queer, and indigenous approaches to the study of sexualities. We will engage with scholarship on the politics of global gay rights discourses, on the sexual politics of migration, and on the effects of colonialism and neoliberal capitalism. By analyzing queer experiences and practices in a transnational context, our goal is to decenter and challenge Western-centric epistemologies and to dive into the complexities of cultural representations of queerness around the globe.

Instructor(s): Caterina Fugazzola     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 23119, GNSE 33119, SOCI 30323

GLST 23150. Capitalism and Doing Good? 100 Units.

This class asks the question: is it possible to believe in capitalism (i.e., the private ownership of wealth) and do good for society? Restated, are there values that can accompany capital accumulation for positive social impact on people and the environment?

Instructor(s): Dwight Hopkins     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 23150

GLST 23311. Feminist Ethics. 100 Units.

Many injustices in the world are related to gender oppression and inequality. In this introductory course, we will examine the ways that feminist ethics aims to identify, assess, and correct gender biases that cause this harm. We will begin by situating feminist ethics within its historical context to understand how and why it developed. We will then consider different methods that feminists use to identify and critique oppressive social structures. With these tools in hand, we will assess several acute sources of gender oppression and inequality, including the global labor market, reproductive mores, and climate change. In doing so we will also consider proposals to remedy these harms. Throughout the course, we will ponder the intersection of gender with religion, race, class, and global location. We will be attentive to the role that Western feminism has had in shaping global views on oppression and inequality. We will also evaluate the influence of religion on feminist ethics. As we read, we will explore the normative commitments that are expressed in the texts, as well as the bases for these commitments and the sources of authority to which the authors appeal as they claim to advance gender justice. This course is an undergraduate course that assumes no prior knowledge in ethics, feminist studies, or religious studies. It will include some lectures but will be primarily seminar based.

Instructor(s): Kat Myers     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course counts as a Foundations course for GNSE majors.
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 12114, RLST 23311

GLST 23456. Comparative Politics of the Middle East. 100 Units.

This course offers undergraduates the opportunity to critically engage with key themes in Comparative Politics and to explore these themes through the lens of Middle East politics. Every week, we introduce a Comparative Politics theme-such as State Formation, Colonial Legacies, Civil Conflict, Contentious Politics, Revolutions, and Politics of Development-and consider how these have played out in the Middle East from the postcolonial period to the present. We explore questions such as: why is authoritarianism so solidified in the Middle East despite consistent challenges? How do civil society actors and oppositions navigate the authoritarian landscape? Why is the Middle East more prone to civil conflicts and often economically underdeveloped compared to many other world regions? Students learn to critically discuss, think, and write about these questions beyond the news headlines, culturalist explanations, and popular misconceptions about the Middle East. Priority for this class will be given to advanced undergraduates and those majoring in Political Science or a related field.

Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 23456

GLST 23500. Alone in the Mountains: Tales of Freedom and Violence in Contemporary Catalan Literature. 100 Units.

From witches to "goges" ("water women"), Catalan folklore shows a tradition of women living on their own in the mountains, liberated from societal conventions. These women are portrayed as fascinating yet threatening figures. This ancient imagery has permeated contemporary literature, manifested in novels that depict women who remove themselves from "civilization" to inhabit rural areas of Catalunya, seeking freedom and having to confront at the same time societal norms, abusive partners or even their own personal demons. The mountains, far from ideal and peaceful, are an untamed and often brutal space in which human lives hold no greater value than those of goats, mushrooms, rivers. In this course we shall engage with four novels authored by women: "Solitude (1904) by Victor Català, "Stone in a Landslide" (1984) by Maria Barbal, "When I Sing Mountains Dance" (2019) by Irene Solà, and "Alone" (2021) by Carlota Gurt. Through the analysis of these literary works, we aim to delve into Catalan culture and explore its literary archetypes, while establishing significant connections among these texts and their place in modern and contemporary literature.

Instructor(s): Bel Olid     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Taught in English, but students seeking credit for the HLBS major/minor must do part of the readings and written work in Catalan or Spanish as necessary for their degree.
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 23157, SPAN 23501, CATA 23500

GLST 23516. American Wars and the 20th Century World (1900-1990) 100 Units.

This course explores the history of American military power from the Spanish-American War to the end of the 1980s, focusing on the social, cultural, racial, and human rights aspects of the U.S. military and soldiering in the 20th century. This course will only lightly discuss military strategy and tactic, and instead focus on the broader array of issues which stem from American wars. The course will cover topics such as American military occupations, the desegregation of the Armed Forces, military justice and war crimes, and the rise (and fall) of human rights in American imaginations of war. We will be concerned with questions such as the relationship of the military to state-building in the U.S. and abroad, war as a state-making and race-making mechanism, and the importance of human rights and justice within imaginations of American military power. This course seeks to understand how war and peace shaped the history of the United States in the twentieth century, and the role of grassroots actors in defining the nature of war.

Instructor(s): Syrus Jin, Pozen Center for Human Rights Graduate Lecturer     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 27210, HMRT 23516

GLST 23526. Race, Decolonization, and Human Rights in the 20th Century. 100 Units.

This course draws on a wide range of materials including historical secondary literature, primary sources, works of political theory on Black political thought, and post-colonial literature and film. Topics will include the colonial civilizing missions of the 19th century, the history of self-determination as an idea, the international repercussions of Apartheid, violent and negotiated decolonization in East Africa, post-colonial migration to Europe and the racialized politics of deportation, among others. The primary geographic focus of this course is on Africa.

Instructor(s): Usama Rafi, Pozen Center for Human Rights Graduate Lecturer     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): CRES 23526, HMRT 23526

GLST 23825. Human Rights in the Middle East. 100 Units.

This seminar explores the broad range of human rights struggles, concerns and activism in the contemporary Middle East region. The class will examine human rights issues posed by authoritarian, dictatorial and single-party state formations in the Middle East particularly by looking at the effects of internal security apparatuses, mechanisms of state violence, and struggles for political participation and liberty. We explore ongoing indigenous struggles for recognition and autonomy, such as the Kurdish, Sahrawi and Amazigh cases, while also contextualizing the region's complex history of colonial and neocolonial interventions by force and their human rights implications. We will examine the varied roles that non-state actors play in Middle Eastern human rights spheres, from militias to NGOs to religious and communal structures. The course will look to local actors and movements to explore forms of resistance, struggle, and social change while maneuvering through often highly-constrained political spaces. We pay particular attention to marginalized communities by looking at the rights struggles of minorities, women, children, migrant workers, the disabled, and the LGBTQ+ community in Middle Eastern contexts. Personal Status Laws and their effects on rights, especially with regard to marital relations and parental rights are considered. Interdisciplinary and varied modes of knowledge production including film serve as source materials.

Instructor(s): Lindsay Gifford, Pozen Center for Human Rights Assistant Research Professor     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HMRT 23825, HMRT 33825, NEHC 23825, NEHC 33825

GLST 24202. Justice in an Unjust World: Theories of Justice. 100 Units.

Justice as a possibility, an ideal, and as a telos is fundamental to theological and philosophical systems of ethics. Yet, each theory was formulated within and against a deeply unjust world. Every theory of justice implies an anthropology and an ontology, and each asks the question: Why isn't life fair? How can we can we create a just society against a world that is so obviously unjust? Each theory then proposes a just solution and every theory implies a set of practices that can be interrogated. As our contemporary society becomes more sharply divided, the issues of distribution, obligation, entitlement, fair exchanges of social goods and labor, and the fair sharing of social burdens becomes more important and demanding of more inquiry. This seminar will interrogate several theories of justice, beginning in classic Hellenistic texts and moving forward to the animating theories of the classic liberal tradition: libertarianism, utilitarianism, social contract theory, and Marxism. We will then turn to other sources of justice theory such as Catholic liberation theology, capacity theory, and Jewish justice theory. We will also use our seminar to explore contemporary cases in law, medicine, science and policy that raise issues of justice and injustice. While the seminar will focus on distributive practices, we will also explore how these practices structure our systems of retributive and restorative justice.

Instructor(s): Laurie Zoloth     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course counts as an elective course for the "Inequality, Social Problems, and Change" minor.
Equivalent Course(s): PBPL 23305, RLST 24102

GLST 24406. Sovereign Rights: Decolonization and the Cold War in Image and Word. 100 Units.

This course explores two historical processes often discussed in isolation: decolonization and the Cold War. Through our particular emphasis on solidarity movements arising from the global South, we consider a point in time during which shouts for political and economic equality among nations envisioned potential futures that would alter the global landscape. What transformed perceptions of the 'Third World' from a loose coalition of governments that sought to upend contemporary global structures, into an amorphous constitution of states perpetually in need of humanitarian aid? Over the course of the quarter we will explore these trajectories through a mixture of primary documents and visual sources, contextualized by both foundational historical scholarship and more recent interventions. Short writing assignments, library and museum visits, and class discussions will culminate in an opportunity for students to use course themes to design their own exhibit according to their own interests.

Instructor(s): Eilin Rafael Pérez, Graduate Lecturer     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HMRT 23406, CRES 21306

GLST 24500. The Just War. 100 Units.

Questions about war, the taking of human life, the obligations of citizenship, the role of state power, and international justice are among the most pressing topics in ethics and political life. This class will examine these matters through a close reading of Michael Walzer's Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations, first published in 1977 and now in its 5th edition. Widely considered a classic in the ethics of war, JUW develops a theory for evaluating whether to enter war as well as decisions within war-what are known as the jus ad bellum and the jus in bello. Walzer applies his theory to a number of actual cases, ranging from military interventions to reprisals to terrorism to insurgencies to nuclear policy, all informed by the history of warfare and arguments in the history of Western thought. We will critically examine Walzer's theory, his use of cases, and the conclusions to which his arguments lead. Along the way, we'll examine core ideas in political morality, e.g., human rights; state sovereignty; morality, necessity, and extremity; liability and punishment, nonviolence, and killing and murder.

Instructor(s): John Sianghio     Terms Offered: Spring. FNDL agreed to let RLST take over as parent of this course
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 24110, FNDL 24500

GLST 24501. French for Global Studies and Economics. 100 Units.

Designed as an alternative to FREN 20100 for students in Business Economics, Global Studies and related fields of study, this four-skills course meets the grammatical objectives of FREN 20100 while equipping students with the basic communication skills and cultural awareness necessary in the areas of international exchange and economics. Through exposure to a wide range of material-including essays, newspaper and journal articles, film reviews, professional writing practices-and interactive exercises including discussions, in-class activities, and group projects in simulated professional situations, students will acquire the linguistic skills and sociocultural knowledge required for engagement in international exchange and business economics as well as to participate in larger debates in the Francophone context.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): FREN 10300 or placement in FREN 20100.
Equivalent Course(s): FREN 14500

GLST 24506. The Rights of Immigrants and Refugees in Practice. 100 Units.

This course employs an interdisciplinary approach to examine the work of social justice advocacy for and by non-citizens in the U.S. including asylum seekers, immigrant workers, women as migrants, migrant children, and the undocumented. Our readings will place selected case studies in their local, national, and international context. We will draw on sources from law, history, sociology, political science, and the arts. Texts, films, and guest speakers will address the history of immigrants' rights advocacy in the Chicago and the U.S., with selected global examples. Topics will include the rights of asylum seekers, the problems of migrant workers (guest-workers and the undocumented), women and children as migrants, and the impact of the global pandemic on migration in general. The case studies will illuminate the role of immigrants as leaders and the relationship between impacted communities and the state. We will meet with journalists, elected officials, organizers, academics, artists, lawyers, and immigrant community leaders to discuss distinct approaches to migrants' rights advocacy.

Instructor(s): Susan Gzesh     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): SOSC 24506, HMRT 26813, LLSO 24506, CHST 24506

GLST 24550. Major Trends in Islamic Mysticism. 100 Units.

An examination of Islamic mysticism, commonly known as Sufism, through secondary English literature and translations of premodern Arabic Sufi texts. The goal is to gain firsthand insight into the diverse literary expressions of Islamic spirituality in their historical context, and to understand exactly what, how, and why Sufis say what they say.

Instructor(s): Yousef Casewit     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): This course meets the CS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 24550, SIGN 26068, MDVL 24550, ISLM 32419

GLST 24700. Introduction to Basque Culture. 100 Units.

Straddling the border of southern France and northern Spain, the land of the Basques has long been home to a people who had no country of their own but have always viewed themselves as a nation. No one has ever been able to find their roots, and their peculiar language is not related to any other in the world, but they have managed to keep their mysterious identity alive, even if many other civilizations tried to blot it out. The aim of this course is to create real situations that will enable the students to learn the meaning of Basque culture. It will be a guided tour throughout Basque history and society. Students will learn about the mysterious origins of the language; they will visit the most beautiful places of the Basque country; they will get to know and appreciate Basque traditions, gastronomy, music . . . and most importantly, they will be able to compare and contrast their own cultures and share their ideas during the lessons, creating an enriching atmosphere full of entertaining activities, such as listening to music, reading legends and tales, watching documentaries, and much more.

Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course will be conducted in English. Prior knowledge of Basque language or culture is not required.
Equivalent Course(s): BASQ 24700, SPAN 24701

GLST 24902. Religion and Human Rights. 100 Units.

Religion played a crucial, but often overlooked, role in the development of post-World War II conceptions of human rights, providing principles and ideas that continue to influence contemporary human rights debates in the fields of law, public policy, and international relations. This no-prior-knowledge-necessary course explores the complex, sometimes fraught, relationship between religion and human rights from World War II to the present. We will begin by juxtaposing the role religious ideas played in the drafting of core post-war human rights documents (e.g. the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, etc.) with the decision by drafters to omit direct references to the divine or the beliefs of specific religious communities. Using case study analysis and close reading of primary religious texts, scholarly commentary, and historical accounts, we will examine the ways in which individuals and groups from multiple religious (and non-religious) traditions both apply and push back against existing human rights norms. Throughout the course we will discuss the role religion might play in debates surrounding emerging, but still contentious, conceptions of human rights. This includes: universal healthcare, LGBTQIA+ rights, ever more complex manifestations of religious freedom, as well as whether human rights as conceived of in the mid-20th Century can be reconciled with decolonial and post-colonial perspectives.

Instructor(s): John Sianghio     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): This course counts as an approved course for the Democracy Studies minor.
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 24903, RLST 24901, HMRT 24901, DEMS 24901

GLST 25132. Debate, Dissent, Deviate: Literary Modernities in South Asia. 100 Units.

This class introduces students to the modernist movement in post-independence South Asia. Modernism will be understood here as a radical experimental movement in literature, film, photography and other arts, primarily aimed at critiquing mainstream narratives of history and culture.  Given its wide scope, we will analyze a variety of texts over the ten-week duration of the class. These include novels, short stories, manifestos, essays, photographs, and films. The chronological span of the class is from the 1930s to the 1970s. Our aim will be to understand the diverse meanings of modernism as we go through our weekly readings. Was it a global phenomenon that was adopted blindly by postcolonial artists? Or were there specifically South Asian innovations that enable us to think about the local story as formative of global modernism? What bearings do such speculations have on genre, gender, and medium, as well as on politics? I will help situate the readings of each week in their specific literary and political contexts. Students will be able to evaluate, experiment with, and analyze various forms of modernist literary expressions emerging out of South Asia. This class will provide them with critical tools to interpret, assess, compare, and contrast cultural histories of non-Western locations and peoples, with an eye for literary radicalism. No prior knowledge of any South Asian history or language is necessary.

Instructor(s): S. Dasgupta     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): KNOW 25320, ENGL 25320, SALC 25320, SALC 35320, CRES 25320, GNSE 25320

GLST 25151. Pacific Worlds: Race, Gender, Health, and the Environment. 100 Units.

This discussion-based course will introduce students to both classical and recent scholarship in Pacific World historiography. By adopting micro-historical, comparative, and transnational methods, students will examine the formation of three overlapping "worlds": The Antipodes, Polynesia, and the northeastern Pacific. Analyzing the myriad intersections of race, gender, health, and the environment, we will explore a range of large-scale historical processes that shaped and reshaped the Pacific between the mid-eighteenth and the mid-twentieth centuries. These processes include European exploration, settler colonialism, and indigenous sovereignty; sex, depopulation, and race science; labor, migration, and urbanization; industrialization and environmental exploitation; and imperial expansion and citizenship. The course is intended for students with an interest in the Pacific Islands, Australasia, and the North American West, as well as those interested in race, gender, health, or the environment within indigenous, immigrant, or settler colonial contexts. Required readings - which will consist of book chapters and academic articles - will be used to contextualize and critically analyze a variety of primary sources during each class session.

Instructor(s): Christopher Kindell     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course counts towards the ENST 4th year Capstone requirement. Restricted to 3rd and 4th year students.
Equivalent Course(s): CRES 20151, HIST 25030, HIPS 20151, ENST 20151, GNSE 22151, HLTH 20151

GLST 25209. Jews, Arabs, and Others: Nations from the Nile to the Jordan. 100 Units.

This course considers nationbuilding as an ongoing and recurring process in the Middle East, realigning identities and communities according to the political concerns of the time. In particular, we will examine how Arabs and Others have figured in the political imagination of both Egypt and Israel-Palestine. When can Egyptians, Palestinians, and Israelis consider themselves "Arab"--and when not? What are the stakes of naming Arab-ness or claiming it for oneself? To answer these questions, this course will include readings and popular films on Arab nationalism and minorities in Egypt, the question of Jewish versus Israeli nationalism, Arab (or Mizrahi) Jews in Israel, and the relationship of Palestinian nationalism to the borders that have been drawn within the historic land of Palestine.

Instructor(s): Callie Maidhof     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 25209, ANTH 24110

GLST 25245. Serious Play: Video Games and Global Politics. 100 Units.

This course approaches video games as cultural and political artifacts that can be studied to shed light on global political events and processes. Questions we will explore throughout the course include: How do we understand the relationship between video games and global capitalism? What can video games tell us about large-scale processes such as climate change, migration, war…? How do we understand issues of representation in gaming? What do video games have to do with international relations? We will approach video games from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives, analyzing them as a form of entertainment but also as forms of art, as political objects, as reflections of social dynamics, and as channels for social critique and change. The course does not require any previous gaming knowledge nor experience, and it welcomes gamers and non-gamers interested in exploring the relationship between games and global politics.

Instructor(s): Caterina Fugazzola      Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course does not require any previous gaming knowledge nor experience and it welcomes gamers and non-gamers interested in explored the relationship between games and global politics
Equivalent Course(s): MAAD 10245

GLST 25310. Extinction, Disaster, Dystopia: Environment and Ecology in the Indian Subcontinent. 100 Units.

This course aims to provide students an overview of key environmental and ecological issues in the Indian subcontinent. How have the unique precolonial, colonial, regional and national histories of this region shaped the peculiar nature of environmental issues? We will consider three major concepts-"extinction", "disaster" and "dystopia" to see how they can be used to frame issues of environmental and ecological concern. Each concept will act as a framing device for issues such as conservation and preservation of wildlife, erasure of adivasi (first dwellers) ways of life, environmental justice, water scarcity and climate change. The course will aim to develop students' ability to assess the specificity of these concepts in different disciplines. For example: What methods and sources will an environmental historian use to write about wildlife? How does this differ from the approach an ecologist or literary writer might take? Students will analyze various media: both literary and visual, such as autobiographies of shikaris (hunters), graphic novels, photographs, documentary films, ethnographic accounts and environmental history.

Instructor(s): Joya John     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): CRES 25310, ENGL 22434, SALC 25310, HIST 26806

GLST 25316. Making a Home in the Colonial City: Insights from Literature, Films, and History. 100 Units.

The proposed course is an invitation to students to imagine the life-worlds, experiences, and spaces of the colonized populations of South Asia, particularly, from the perspective of city-dwellers. The objective of the course is three-fold: thematic, methodological, and epistemological. First, to introduce students to debates in colonial modernity using the narrative of the rise of modern cities in colonial India. Second, to equip students to handle different kinds of primary material in order to understand the interconnections between colonialism, urban space, and indigenous responses. Finally, to open up the exciting field of colonial and postcolonial studies to anyone interested in South Asia, its literature, its films, its history, and its people.

Instructor(s): Sanjukta Poddar     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): SALC 25316, GNSE 25316

GLST 25630. Religious Violence. 100 Units.

Are there "proper" or "improper" practices of religion? Is it at best a matter of private belief, to be kept separate from or protected by the state? Or is it something that at times requires the state's intervention? Does religion represent the last vestiges of the premodern world, or is it something that is integral to modern life? To answer these questions, we will call on anthropologists and other social scientists and theorists to understand, first, what is "religion," and then what is, can be, or should be its relationship to gender, the nation, and the modern state in various historical and geographical locations, with particular attention to the Middle East and South Asia.

Instructor(s): Callie Maidhof     Terms Offered: Not offered 2022-2023
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 26630, ANTH 24730

GLST 25655. Global Society and Religion. 100 Units.

Globalization has given rise to a world-wide religious revival, instead of solidifying secularization, as many expected. Global Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity flourish in the contexts of neoliberal capitalism, mass migration, and online communities. This undergraduate seminar seeks to understand this phenomenon through a series of case studies of globalized religions in China, Indonesia, India, Nigeria, Italy, and the US. These case studies will highlight historical through-lines from colonization to globalization, ethnographic data of religious motivations and belonging, and social scientific theory of diaspora and nationalism. This course is tailored for Global Studies and Religious Studies majors and double majors, but all undergraduates are welcome. No prior knowledge or coursework is required.

Instructor(s): Kunze, Andrew     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 26655

GLST 25673. Non-Violence: Gandhi, Mandela, and MLK. 100 Units.

How is non-violence relevant for global protest movements? This course will give students a multi-religious and transnational understanding of non-violence, focused on, but not limited to, three of its most famous practitioners: Mohandas Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King. Starting with the Indian term ahiṃsā (literally "non-injury"), we will examine classical Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain traditions of non-violence as the foundations for its later adaptations in Christian and secular contexts. Gandhi's reinterpretation of Hindu sacred texts informed his anti-colonial movement, which directly influenced Mandela and MLK. Studying the interconnected biographies of these three figures, we will consider the powers and limitations of non-violence for their movements against colonization, apartheid, and systemic racism. Students' final projects will then argue how non-violence impacts a protest movement of their choice: for example, Black Lives Matter, the farmers' protests in India, or civil disobedience in Hong Kong. No prior knowledge or coursework is required.

Instructor(s): Kunze, Andrew     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 26673

GLST 25701. Anthropology of Borders. 100 Units.

Today, the world may seem more connected than ever. Infectious disease, data, global capital, and even "culture" seem to travel in the blink of an eye. At the same time, we're witnessing the fortification of borders, and a resurgence of rightwing ethnonationalist populism on both sides of the Atlantic. Borders take on new significance national debates and security policy, and for those who rarely come into contact with borders, they may seem like mere metaphor for how a nation positions itself with regard to immigration, public health, and trade. But beyond the party platforms of politicians in the world's capitols, borders are very real places, constituted by the practices of state and non-state actors alike, and creating new forms of life in response to the technologies that police them. In this course, we will take an anthropological view of borders in order to understand how they are created, policed, and inhabited, following and bucking trends in the micropractices of military, police, and bordercrossers both legal and illegal.

Instructor(s): Callie Maidhof     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 25256, CHST 25701

GLST 25723. Dressed to Kill?": The Political Economy and Global Geographies of Fashion. 100 Units.

What can the fashion industry tell us about the global economy? What kinds of geographical, economic, and ecological relations are embedded in fashion commodities? What kinds of work-creative, destructive, and mundane-and what kinds of workers make our clothes, shoes, and accessories? Is there a difference between "fast" and "slow" fashion? Using the fashion industry as a site of analysis, this course will examine various aspects of the contemporary economy including the commodity,

Instructor(s): Anindita Chatterjee     Terms Offered: Winter

GLST 25724. Yes, but make it fashion!" Fashion, Culture, and Identity. 100 Units.

In this course, we will explore the role of fashion in socio-cultural life, and the ways in which fashion simultaneously expresses and is shaped by identity. How do communities on the margins challenge dominant ideas of beauty, modesty, freedom, desire, and fashion? Conversely, how does fashion on the margins become mainstream? Drawing on studies across disciplines and the world, we will use fashion as a lens to examine among other things, blackness, queerness, masculinities, caste, Islam, and occupation.

Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 25724

GLST 25781. Vampire Money": Philanthro-capitalism and the Scripting of Global Futures. 100 Units.

What are the characteristics and contradictions of billionaire philanthropy under capitalism? In this course, we will put "big philanthropy" under the microscope. In other words, we will discuss frameworks to understand and assess the philanthropy of the richest people in the world. We will ask: What are the conditions of possibility for this philanthropy? How has the wealth channeled through such philanthropy been earned, and does it matter? How does big philanthropy frame socio-economic problems, and what solutions does it posit for these problems? Is philanthropy ideologically neutral? What are the impacts of such philanthropy on public policies in health, education, agriculture and more across the globe? What is the relationship between philanthropy, inequality, and democracy? And finally, what are the alternatives to big philanthropy? We will answer these questions through the critical examination of the philanthropic programs and claims of foundations established by Bill and Melinda Gates, the Rockefellers, the Walton Family, and George Soros among others. We will situate this analysis within the theoretical framework of philanthro-capitalism-a framework that offers us ways to understand big philanthropy under the conditions of global capitalism.

Instructor(s): Anindita Chatterjee     Terms Offered: Autumn

GLST 25850. No Justice, No Speech! Free Speech and Palestine in the University and Beyond. 100 Units.

Are there-or should there be-limits to free speech? What is the relationship between free speech and hate speech? Does speech deserve special kinds of protections (or limits) in the context of the university campus? In this course, we will critically engage with these questions as they relate to political organizing and political expression on (and in) Palestine. Our course will examine these foundational questions before turning to some of the sticking points in the debate over free speech and Palestine today: What is freedom of expression in Israel-Palestine, and what does it have to do with the politics of US campuses? What is BDS, and is it intended to foster or limit academic freedom? Is anti-Zionism anti-Semitic? To consider these questions, we will do critical readings of primary texts such as the BDS guidelines issued by PACBI (Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel) and the definition of anti-Semitism issued by the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance), as well as ethnographic and other accounts of the problem of political expression in Palestine today.

Instructor(s): Callie Maidhof     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): PBPL 25850, PARR 22100, LLSO 25850, NELC 25850

GLST 25945. Settler Colonialism: From the US to Palestine. 100 Units.

In this course, we will consider settler colonialism as a contemporary, ongoing process as it unfolds in both North America and the Middle East, thinking through the problems of state formation, citizenship, land expropriation, and the law in these two contexts. While US and the state of Israel share a (tentative) commitment to liberal democracy, this has hinged on the erasure of indigenous populations even as the states expanded to envelop greater swaths of territory. In the process, settler and indigenous peoples have been moved, as well as transformed, producing new subjectivities in relation to both the state and international law. Over the quarter, we will examine the transformations of space and subjects effected by the settler colonial project, drawing on historical, anthropological, and theoretical literature.

Instructor(s): Callie Maidhof     Terms Offered: Not offered 2022-2023
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 25945, RLST 26945, CRES 25945

GLST 26035. Approaches to Social Science Research Design. 100 Units.

This course explores critical foundations of social science research design. The course will place emphasis on how social scientists identify and create data to empirically examine social phenomena. The course will cover the relationship between research questions, design, and generating data across different methodological and epistemological approaches in the social sciences.

Instructor(s): Proctor, Andrew     Terms Offered: Summer. Offered summer 2024
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 26035, SOCI 28099, SOSC 26035

GLST 26322. Healing Traditions. 100 Units.

This seminar is a comparative exploration of medical and healing traditions and their religious, spiritual, and cultural intersections. Students will gain an understanding of the history of medicine in the Middle East, India, China, and the West, including the metaphysical systems that inform those traditions. Within the frameworks of Islamic Medicine, i.e. "prophetic medicine" and Sufi healing practices, Avicenna and the Galenic tradition, Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda and Buddhist medicine, we will discuss the following topics: Ritual healing, faith and prayer, divine healers and medical authority, etiology and pathology, religious pharmacology and drugs, mental health, spiritual states and possession, and near death experiences, among others. Students will conduct research on a particular modality in conversation with recent trends in health in modern allopathy while evaluating efficacy, scope and place of traditional modalities.

Instructor(s): Mukhtar Ali     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 26322, KNOW 26322, RLST 26322, CCTS 26322, HLTH 26322

GLST 26374. Ethnographic Methods in Chicago. 100 Units.

What can the neighborhoods and communities of Chicago teach us about the wider forces shaping our society-globalization, mass mediation, immigration, and nationalism? This class prepares students to conduct ethnographic fieldwork through practical experience at field sites around our campus and city. Our course readings and discussions will equip students with the anthropological theory and methodological tools necessary for successful fieldwork. Students will apply these concepts and methods by visiting a field site of their choosing in Chicago, for example, an RSO, an NGO, a religious community, a park, or a diner. The course culminates with student presentations of their ethnographic data-field notes, maps, interviews, photos-and their analysis of how the minutia of everyday life helps us understand Chicago's global society. No prior knowledge of anthropological theory or experience with ethnographic fieldwork is required.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): CHST 26374, ENST 26374

GLST 26380. Indigenous Politics in Latin America. 100 Units.

This course examines the history of Indigenous policies and politics in Latin America from the first encounters with European empires through the 21st Century. Course readings and discussions will consider several key historical moments across the region: European encounters/colonization; the rise of liberalism and capitalist expansion in the 19th century; 20th-century integration policies; and pan-Indigenous and transnational social movements in recent decades. Students will engage with primary and secondary texts that offer interpretations and perspectives both within and across imperial and national boundaries.

Instructor(s): Diana Schwartz Francisco     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): LACS 36380, HIST 26318, RDIN 26380, RDIN 36380, HIPS 26380, LACS 26380, CRES 26380, ANTH 23077

GLST 26382. Development and Environment in Latin America. 100 Units.

Description: This course will consider the relationship between development and the environment in Latin America and the Caribbean. We will consider the social, political, and economic effects of natural resource extraction, the quest to improve places and peoples, and attendant ecological transformations, from the onset of European colonialism in the fifteenth century, to state- and private-led improvement policies in the twentieth. Some questions we will consider are: How have policies affected the sustainability of land use in the last five centuries? In what ways has the modern impetus for development, beginning in the nineteenth century and reaching its current intensity in the mid-twentieth, shifted ideas and practices of sustainability in both environmental and social terms? And, more broadly, to what extent does the notion of development help us explain the historical relationship between humans and the environment?

Instructor(s): Diana Schwartz Francisco     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): GEOG 26382, HIPS 26382, CEGU 26382, LACS 36382, HIST 36317, ANTH 23094, HIST 26317, LACS 26382, ENST 26382

GLST 26383. Mapping Global Chicago: Immigration Law, Policy & Diaspora. 100 Units.

Mapping Global Chicago is an interdisciplinary research lab that undergraduates may take for course credit. In this lab, students work together to create public scholarship investigating the idea of the "global city" here in Chicago. This year, students will conduct research projects centered around immigration policies and laws, as well as the intersection of immigration with criminal justice. This course is in collaboration with Chicago Appleseed, a community driven nonprofit that advocates for fair, accessible, and anti-racist courts. In addition to working alongside Appleseed's staff on immigration court reform projects, enrolled students will court-watch, interview people working in and impacted by the immigration and legal systems, and explore diverse research methods. Students will deliver their research findings to a live audience during a final presentation. Please direct any questions to Professor Callie Maidhof (cmaidhof@uchicago.edu) and Ethan Chen (ethanjchen@uchicago.edu). Applications for the course are due by Tuesday, 12/12/2023 (11:59 pm CT), and students will receive notification about their enrollment status around the second week of the winter quarter.

Instructor(s): Callie Maidhof     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Please direct any questions to Professor Callie Maidhof (cmaidhof@uchicago.edu) and Ethan Chen (ethanjchen@uchicago.edu). Applications for the course are due by Tuesday, 12/12/2023 (11:59 pm CT), and students will receive notification about their enrollment status around the second week of the winter quarter.
Equivalent Course(s): CHST 26383, LLSO 26383, ENST 26383, PBPL 26383

GLST 26388. Food Justice and Biodiversity in Latin America. 100 Units.

This course asks how the relationships between food production and consumption, economic justice, and biodiversity have changed over the last century in Latin America and the Caribbean. As a region known both for its ecological diversity and as a producer of tropical foods regularly consumed in the United States, plantation-style agriculture has often undermined its celebrated biodiversity. In centering the role of workers and consumers, this course considers the layered relationships- ecological, social, political, economic and cultural-between the production and consumption of food from Latin America and the Caribbean. In Autumn 2022, the course will also engage questions of food justice and biodiversity in the Chicagoland area and in particular among Latine/x com

Instructor(s): Diana Schwartz Francisco     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Preferred: some background in Latin American history, geography and/or contemporary issues
Equivalent Course(s): LACS 26388, ENST 26388, HIST 26323

GLST 26660. Global Studies and Religion. 100 Units.

Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity have all flourished in the contexts of neoliberal capitalism, mass migration, and online communities. While many predicted that globalization would bring a wave of secularization, it has actually given rise to a global revival of religious life and religious institutions. This undergraduate seminar seeks to understand this phenomenon through a series of case studies of globalized religions in China, Indonesia, India, Nigeria, Italy, and the US. These case studies will highlight historical through-lines from colonization to globalization, ethnographic data of religious motivations and belonging, and social scientific theory of diaspora and nationalism. This course is tailored for Global Studies and Religious Studies majors or double majors, but all undergraduates are welcome.

Instructor(s): Andrew Kunze     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 26660

GLST 26674. The Global Black Panther Party. 100 Units.

In America, the Black Panther Party and its leaders, like Fred Hampton in Chicago, are famous for their revolutionary fight against white supremacy and their violent suppression by US government forces. But what does a Global Studies approach teach us about the Black Panthers? This seminar explores how the Black Panther Party's worldwide networks impacted global understandings of politics, race, and religion. Our readings examine a series of comparative case studies, including the Dalit Panther Party in India, the Mizrahi Black Panther Party in Israel, and the Polynesian Panthers in New Zealand. We analyze primary sources, such as the various Panther Parties' publications, their mainstream press coverage, and their pop cultural representations, like Ta-Nehisi Coates' Black Panther graphic novel and the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. In this course, students learn the global Black Panther Parties' roles in reshaping worldwide conceptions of race, caste, and religion through their encounters with the Nation of Islam, Hindu Nationalism, Zionism, and Indigenous rights. No prior knowledge or coursework is required.

Instructor(s): Andrew Kunze     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 26674, ANTH 20537, RDIN 26674

GLST 26801. The Global Urban. 100 Units.

This course was conceived with the aim of "globalizing" urban scholarship. To this end, we will highlight different urban trajectories and forms and different ways of being urban around the world. We will focus on urban experiences in the Global South and in Southeast Asia particularly. We will spend the first week of the course discussing how and why Southern cities are different. We will talk about their explosive growth in the twentieth century, the precarious nature of urban employment, informal settlement as a major urban form, the housing divide as a social structure distinct to such cities, class formation, economic and spatial restructuring under neoliberalism, and the nature of urban citizenship. We will spend the second week examining two very different cases: Manila and Phnom Penh. In the third week, we will focus exclusively on Hong Kong, and students will be tasked with conducting their own urban fieldwork.

Instructor(s): Marco Garrido     Terms Offered: Summer
Equivalent Course(s): ENST 26801

GLST 26802. Epic Religion: From the Ramayana to Game of Thrones. 100 Units.

What can epic literature and media teach us about religion? In this introductory seminar, students explore answers to this question, focusing on the ways epics dramatize the human relationship to divinity. We read the epics through the relationships of its central characters-humans, heroes, and gods. By following the winding quests and gory battles of these narratives, students examine how epics present various forms of human-divine relationships-transactional, intimate, inspirational, and manipulative. We employ a comparative approach to the genre; our readings originate in different world regions and historical periods-from ancient India and Greece to West Africa, England, and the contemporary US. We will read these texts closely and examine how they reflect particular views of the human condition within religious worldviews. Considering the contexts of post-colonization, nationalism, and globalization, we analyze how mass media-comic books, TV series, films, and social media-shape and spread those views to new popular audiences.

Instructor(s): Andrew Kunze     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 26802, CMLT 26802, SALC 26802

GLST 26807. The Science, History, Policy, and Future of Water. 100 Units.

Water is shockingly bizarre in its properties and of unsurpassed importance throughout human history, yet so mundane as to often be invisible in our daily lives. In this course, we will traverse diverse perspectives on water. The journey begins with an exploration of the mysteries of water's properties on the molecular level, zooming out through its central role at biological and geological scales. Next, we travel through the history of human civilization, highlighting the fundamental part water has played throughout, including the complexities of water policy, privatization, and pricing in today's world. Attention then turns to technology and innovation, emphasizing the daunting challenges dictated by increasing water stress and a changing climate as well as the enticing opportunities to achieve a secure global water future.

Instructor(s): Seth Darling      Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): None
Equivalent Course(s): ENST 20300, HIPS 20301, MENG 20300, ANTH 22131, HIST 25426

GLST 27305. Haj to Utopia: Race, Religion, and Revolution in South Asian America. 100 Units.

With the election of Kamala Harris to the office of Vice President in the 2020 election, it would appear that Americans of South Asian descent find themselves nearer than ever to the center of U.S. political power. But what if one narrated the history of South Asian Americans not according to their inevitable embrace of imperialist politics, economic and cultural capital, but as fraught subjects of a settler colonial regime? What are the alternative futures, of life, love, and liberation, imagined by transnational revolutionaries? How does the politics of immigrant identity operate at the nexus of race and caste? How does religion index race in the eyes of the surveillance state? How do South Asian histories of migration prefigure the mass displacements, border enforcements, and unequal labor conditions that have defined the politics of globalization in the 21st century?

Instructor(s): Anand Venkatkrishnan     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): AMER 27305, HIST 26813, CRES 27305, SALC 27305, RLST 27305

GLST 27321. Legal Borderlands: Spaces of Exception in US History. 100 Units.

The periphery of the United States is not only made up of physical borderlands but also of legal interstitial zones, places that test the reach of American sovereignty. This discussion-based seminar will look at places where American law bumps up against other defining markers, the contact zones that challenge the prevalent legal paradigms. We will examine how these areas define what constitutes an American; how the government makes specific identities within its jurisdiction visible and invisible. Topics we will cover include: statelessness and denaturalization, American extraterritorial courts in China, gender and sexuality under the law, outlawing "coolies," the insular cases and citizen-subjects, and Guantanamo Bay, not to mention the making and unmaking of physical borderlands around the United States.

Instructor(s): Savitri Kunze, Pozen Center for Human Rights Social Science Teaching Fellow     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HMRT 27321

GLST 27552. Race, Religion, and Emancipation. 100 Units.

In this course we will interrogate the complex relationship between race, religion, and emancipation in the modern period. Drawing on both historical and philosophical approaches, we will ask: What is emancipation, and who is it for? How has emancipation been articulated in relation to religion, and how has this relationship revealed complications in modern ideas of freedom? How has religion functioned as a vehicle for racialization, and how has it been racialized itself? Is religion an impediment to freedom or a means for its actualization? Beginning in the European Enlightenment, we will consider these questions in relation to two distinct, though (crucially) related sites: Jewish emancipation in 18th and 19th century Europe, and Black emancipation in the United States. In doing so, we will treat the relationship between religion, race, and emancipation as a central tension of the modern period, the continuing importance of which has significant consequences for liberatory intellectual and political movements in the present. Readings will include philosophical, historical, and theological approaches by authors including Immanuel Kant, Karl Marx, W.E.B. DuBois, Saidiya Hartman, and James Cone. No prior knowledge is required, though students with background knowledge in race and ethnic studies, religious studies, and philosophy may find it helpful.

Instructor(s): William Underwood     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 27552, CRES 27552

GLST 27601. Women and Islam. 100 Units.

This course is an introduction to the field of women, gender and Islam. We will examine the literature on Islamic legal, historical, Quranic and sacred textual constructs of women as well as critically explore the lived realities and experiences of Muslim women living in Muslim-majority societies and in the west. In centering the work of Muslim feminist scholars, students will gain an understanding of the contemporary debates around women's rights, sexuality, roles, responsibilities and gender relations in the context of Islamic law and the hadith literature. The discursive constructions and social realities of Muslim women are critically examined through historic and literary representations, ethnographic accounts, human rights discourses, sexual politics and secular and Islamic feminism(s). Moreover, this course situates Muslim women as complex, multidimensional actors engaged in knowledge production and political and feminist struggles, as opposed to the oppressed, victim-centered images that have regained currency in the representation of Muslim women in the post 9/11 era.

Instructor(s): Maliha Chishti     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): This course meets the LMCS or SCSR Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 27601, ISLM 37601, HMRT 27601, GNSE 37608, GNSE 27608

GLST 27617. Introduction to Global Catholicism. 100 Units.

With over a billion adherents, Catholicism is both the largest Christian denomination and a global religious tradition. This course introduces students to multiple ways Catholicism shapes the moral and political commitments of believers and how it informs politics and the larger society. How does the Catholic church, at once centralized and internally diverse, exist as a multilingual and multicultural community? How has Catholicism responded to increasingly secularized cultures in industrialized nations? What place do religious beliefs have in the public sphere? We will examine the different ways Catholics approach these moral, social, and theological questions and how their answers shape and are shaped by their cultural locations. No previous coursework is required to enroll.

Instructor(s): Joseph Haydt     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): FNDL 27617, GRMN 27617, RLST 27617

GLST 27656. Pilgrimage, Voyage, Journey. 100 Units.

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness "Adventure is worthwhile in itself "To travel is to live In "Pilgrimage, Voyage, Journey," we interrogate and complicate these kinds of platitudes, examining claims about the nature and possibilities of travel in its many iterations. Throughout the quarter, we ask why people travel, what might be gained or lost by traveling, what is unique to the experience of travel, and, ultimately, whether or not we should travel. We draw from memoir, fiction, film, and contemporary journalism as we consider claims about the effects of travel on travelers, non-travelers, local communities, and the world at large. We think about links between conceptions of travel and broader historical and social structures, considering the histories of class-exclusive travel, ways that colonialism has shaped travel, and the ethics of travel with respect to its impact on both local communities and the environment. Central to our inquiry is an examination of claims about both the religious value or potential of travel - including those found in accounts of pilgrimages and monastic journeys - and the ways that travel can often become linked to ideas of the "spiritual."

Instructor(s): Bevin Blaber     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 27656

GLST 27659. Parties and Feasting in/as Religion. 100 Units.

Are parties and feasts-a quinceañera, a rave, Thanksgiving dinner-sacred or secular? How do we know, and how can we describe and analyze their religious significance? In this course, we will survey parties, feasts, and festivals from antiquity to the present. Topics will include sacrifice and communal meals, drinking and (divine) hangover cures, dance and communal ecstasy, pilgrimage (Mecca and Burning Man), party-associated violence, and the ethics and power dynamics of partying. Students will become familiar with selected texts (all in translation) from ancient Near Eastern, Greek, and Roman sources to modern journalism and ethnography of Islamic pilgrimage. We will also consider material evidence of parties and feasts ancient and modern (trash!). Students will begin to analyze these events comparatively and as ritual. Along the way, we will briefly consider difficulties for such analysis and/or for material studies of religion. No prior knowledge of texts, languages, or periods is assumed or required, but those enrolled must have previously attended at least one party or feast.

Instructor(s): Doren Snoek     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 27659

GLST 27713. Israel and American Jewry: Peoplehood, Religion, and Politics. 100 Units.

Israel and North America currently constitute the two leading centers of Jewish demography, identity and existence. Broadly speaking, they represent the two major Jewish responses to modernity - Zionism as a form of modern nationalism on the one hand, and integration into a liberal western society and body politic on the other. Their relations respond to this initial divide, while at the same time trying to coalesce a collective notion of Jewish peoplehood, based on culture, identity and a sense of a shared history and fate. The aim of this course is to learn more about the emergence of these two centers, and then explore the past, present and future of their relations. In recent years, the issue of religion has emerged as a crucial factor in Israel-Diaspora relations, especially in relation to the Jewish center in North America. The historical development of progressive Jewish strands in the United States, together with the fundamental changes in the religious makeup of Jewish society and the perception of the political role of religion in the state of Israel, have led to tension and strife regarding such issues as religious praxis, social identity and the public sphere. Religion with therefore be the main theme through which the relations will be explored, both historically and in relation to current affairs and issues.

Instructor(s): David Barak-Gorodetsky     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): JWSC 26713, AMER 27713, SOCI 20545, RLST 27713

GLST 27721. Race and Religion: Theorizing Blackness and Jewishness. 100 Units.

Founded on ideals of universalism, pluralism and secularism, France and the United States are fraught with contradictions when it comes to race and religion. Which religions are accepted? Which religions are suspect? Is it minority that defines the difference-or only particular kinds of minority, such as race? To untangle the intersections of race and religion, we will examine Blackness and Jewishness as they are represented in political polemic, fiction, memoir and philosophy from the 1960s to the present. This course introduces students to the foundational concepts for the critical study of race and religion through exploring the constructions of Black and Jewish identity. We will examine the contradictions of secular politics and culture in France and the United States, and discuss how religion, race, and intersecting categories such as gender and sexuality, can become tools of critique. Readings include works by thinkers such as Césaire, Fanon, Memmi, Levinas and Foucault, along with literary classics by Nella Larsen and Sarah Kofman, and contemporary critical essays by Judith Butler, Christina Sharpe and Talal Asad. Throughout this course, we will examine how the concepts of race and religion are key components of the political, philosophical and ethical projects of these authors. No prerequisite knowledge of critical theory, or this historical period, is expected.

Instructor(s): Kirsten Collins     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): CMLT 27721, ANTH 23916, FREN 27721, CRES 27721, GNSE 27721, JWSC 27721, RLST 27721

GLST 28447. It's the End of the World as We Know It: Apocalyptic Literature and Millenarian Movements. 100 Units.

The "end of the world" has been a matter of fascination for human beings for thousands of years. This course takes a cross-cultural approach to the study of texts and movements concerned with the end times, traditionally called "apocalyptic" and "Millenarian." We will focus on three major aspects of these movements: the historical and cultural circumstances in which they arose, the institutions and traditions that served as their foundations, and finally their theological and political principles, including how they dealt with failed expectations. We will cover a wide range of contexts, including Roman-occupied Judea during the first century CE, the Xhosaland of southern Africa in the mid 19th century, and the rise of QAnon in the 21st century United States. No prerequisite knowledge of the historical periods or religious traditions examined required.

Instructor(s): Marshall Cunningham     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 28447, HIST 25219, CMLT 28447, JWSC 28447

GLST 28612. The Global Revolt Against Liberalism. 100 Units.

Is liberalism in crisis? Only ten years ago, the ideology that won the Cold War seemed to reign supreme. Values such as individualism, free enterprise, representative government, and religious tolerance, were seen as more than hallmarks of order, but the very goals to which every nation should aspire. Since then, however, in the United States and across the globe, the liberal consensus has been challenged by populists, socialists, religious traditionalists, and others. Some have protested the close relationship between liberalism and capitalism. Some objected to liberalism's breakup of "organic" ethno-religious communities. And some maintained that liberalism is no more than Western imperialism with a human face. What happened? Were these revolts mere setbacks on the long 'arc of history'? Or were they, rather, a reflection of a deep philosophic unease with the very premises of modernity? Is this the end of the liberal world order? What will replace it? And what is the role of religion in the contemporary political imagination? This class will combine readings in political theory, the philosophy of history, and current events, to understand better these criticisms and gain some perspective on our present discontents. No prior knowledge is required.

Instructor(s): Yiftach Ofek     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course counts as an elective course for the Democracy Studies program.
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 28612

GLST 28753. The Transnational Refugee Regime. 100 Units.

The right to flee persecution and seek international protection has been codified in international Human Rights and customary law. This course will examine the contemporary transnational refugee regime that has developed around and been informed by this particular rights discourse, particularly in the aftermath of WWII. We will examine various transnational conventions and bodies intended to protect the persecuted, proposed de jure and de facto durable solutions for refugees, and how individuals and communities experience these structures during and after displacement. We also investigate the ways that the transnational refugee regime and its partners (such as NGOs and civil society organizations) are deeply imbricated in broader global power structures and dynamics, creating protections "gaps" and potential rights violations. Specific refugee case studies from around the world will be surveyed in order to contextualize and ground these inquiries.

Instructor(s): Lindsay Gifford, Pozen Center for Human Rights, Assistant Research Professor     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): HMRT 28753

GLST 28980. There's an App for That: Religion in the Digital Age. 100 Units.

Can you sit shiva (a Jewish mourning ritual) via Facetime? Is Christian communion really communion if the wafer is made of pixels? Can religious communities experience a feeling of sacred togetherness if its members only get together online? How does online worship change the kinds of religious people we are or may become? This course explores such questions and others that arise out of the relationship between religion and digital media. We will read theories about religious ritual; religion, space, and place; and religion and embodiment to think through what happens when religion leaves the material sphere and "goes online." We will partner these theories with scholarly reflections on how one is able to study religion on the internet, attending to some of the many conceptual, logistical, and ethical issues that arise when we do. Once we have a grasp of scholarly reflections on digital religion, we will put them into conversation with data from apps, blogs, websites, digital games, streaming events, and online message boards to test their ideas and to ask and answer our own questions. In keeping with the themes of the course, our final assignment will be the creation of a collaborative digital project. There are no prerequisites for this course and no background in Religious Studies or digital technology is required.

Instructor(s): Emily D. Crews     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 28980

GLST 29091. Law and Political Economy. 100 Units.

How is the global economy governed? Through what institutions, legal mechanisms, and norms? What role do Anglo-American law, international law, and other legal regimes play in the flow of capital, goods, and people across state borders? Seeking to answer these questions, this three-week intensive course draws from history, law, economics, political science, and political philosophy in order to both understand the development of global economic governance over time and critically assess what paths it might take in the future.

Instructor(s): Jonathan Levy      Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): LLSO 29701

GLST 29301. Digital Geographies of Climate Justice. 100 Units.

Struggles for climate and environmental justice are increasingly mediated by digital technologies and geospatial data, especially in the Global South. In Amazonia, for example, the plight of indigenous groups bearing the brunt of ecological dispossession and political violence by deforestation is frequently represented through remotely-sensed data showing time-series of canopy loss; in turn, these data are often prompted, groundtruthed, and mobilized by indigenous communities and affiliated activists in legal and political campaigns. In parallel, across the world ocean, countries across the Global South- from Papua New Guinea and Ecuador to Ghana- are partnering with watch-dog organizations using satellite imagery and GPS data to track illegal fishing and human rights abuses at sea, acting as an auxilliary ecological police force to identify and provide data to prosecute offending vessels. The proliferation of these digital geographic technologies and techniques pose a number of complex questions. Drawing on contemporary cases, experimental projects in "forensic" approaches to activism, and recent work in critical geography, aesthetics, STS, and political theory, this seminar will attempt to map out these digital geographies of climate justice as they emerge. The course will also involve introduction to entry-level remote sensing + GIS workflows (no prior experience required) in a pair of intensive workshops led by guest lecturers/practitioners.

Instructor(s): Alexander Arroyo     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): Undergraduate/Graduate Course - only open to 3rd and 4th year undergraduate students. This course counts toward the 4th year ENST capstone requirement.
Equivalent Course(s): MAPH 32301, ENST 22301, CEGU 32301, CEGU 22301

GLST 29431. How (Not) to Save the World: The History of International Development. 100 Units.

The drive to deliver humanitarian aid and improved living standards to the world far beyond one's own borders is a distinctively modern phenomenon. This course introduces students to the theories, actors, and practices that have shaped international development. We will explore the colonial origins of development as an idea, its evolution during the Cold War, and the implications of today's more multipolar world. We will see how different strategies have risen and fallen from favor, from big dams to trade to private philanthropy. Alongside scholarly histories, we will read reflections by development practitioners and critics and examine concrete case studies of development projects in action around the world.

Instructor(s): L. Chatterjee     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HMRT 29432, HIST 29431

GLST 29700. Reading/Research: Global Studies. 100 Units.

This is a reading and research course for independent study not related to BA research or BA paper preparation. Note/Prerequisite: College Reading and Research Course form required, along with consent of instructor and program director.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter. Consent of instructor and program director; students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form.
Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor and program director
Note(s): Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form.

GLST 29800. BA Thesis Seminar I. 100 Units.

This weekly seminar, taught by GLST faculty is designed to aid students in their thesis research. Students are exposed to different conceptual frameworks and research strategies. Students must have approved topic proposals and faculty readers to participate in the seminar.

Instructor(s): Anindita Chatterjee     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): GLST 23101 and GLST 23102
Note(s): Required of Global Studies majors with fourth-year standing who have selected the BA thesis plan of study. Students planning to graduate autumn quarter are not permitted to enroll.

GLST 29801. BA Thesis Seminar II. 100 Units.

This weekly seminar, taught by GLST faculty, offers students continued BA research and writing support. Students present drafts of their work and critique the work of their peers.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): GLST 29800
Note(s): Required of Global Studies fourth-year majors who have selected the BA thesis plan of study. Students planning to graduate winter quarter are not permitted to enroll.

GLST 29900. BA Thesis: Global Studies. 100 Units.

This is a reading and research course for independent study related to BA research and BA thesis preparation. Note/Prerequisite: College Reading and Research Course form required, along with consent of instructor and program director.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter
Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor and program director; students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form

GLST 29998. BA/MA Thesis Workshop. 100 Units.

This course helps BA/MA students meet their undergraduate major requirements for writing a single BA/MA thesis paper.

Instructor(s): Paul Staniland     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): This course is open to CIR BA/MA students only
Equivalent Course(s): INRE 46505, INRE 26505


Contacts

Director

Program Director
Kimberly Hoang
Gates-Blake 116
773.834.7585
Email

Associate Director

Associate Director and Senior Lecturer
Callie Maidhof
Gates-Blake 122
773.834.5289
Email

Senior Lecturer

Senior Lecturer
Caterina Fugazzola
Gates-Blake 124
773.834.5288
Email

Administrative Contact

Program Administrator
Lee Price
Gates-Blake 119
773.834.7628
Email