Mar 28, 2024  
College Catalog 2013-2014 
    
College Catalog 2013-2014 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Courses


 

American Studies

  
  • AMST 101 - Explorations of Race and Racism


    The main objectives of this introductory course are: to explore the historical construction of racial categories in the United States; to understand the systemic impact of racism on contemporary social processes; to consider popular views about race in the light of emerging scholarship in the field; and to develop an ability to connect personal experiences to larger, collective realities. We will engage several questions as a group: What are the historical and sociological foundations of racial categories? When does focusing on race make someone racist? What is white privilege, and why does it matter? All students will be asked to think and write about their own racial identity. This course, or its equivalent, is required for majors and minors. Every year. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 103 - The Problems of Race in US Social Thought and Policy


    This course has been developed as an entry-level exploration of the impact of race on contemporary U.S. public discourse. The course has two principle objectives: to create a forum that encourages individuals to articulate well-informed opinions and attitudes about race; and to locate those ideas in an analytic framework that promotes a shared understanding of race and racial inequality in the contemporary context. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 110 - Introduction to African American Studies


    This class will explore what it has meant to be African-American in the United States, and how this identity shaped Black community, thought, and life. This course, using a variety of disciplinary approaches, exposes students to issues and problems in the development of African-American identity, and provides students with theoretical tools and contextual sensibilities necessary for advanced courses and independent projects in African American Studies. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 112 - Intro to LGBTQ Studies

    Cross-Listed as WGSS 110 
    This course examines how sexuality, race, and nation relate in the lives of people in the United States, which we read in relation to histories of colonialism and globalization. Course material foreground scholarship, testimony, cultural work, and social movements by LGBT, two-spirit, same gender loving, and queer people of color, and by white LGBT and queer anti-racist allies. Their stories offer a template through which all students may examine how everyday life is shaped by sexuality, race, and nation–both as power relations, and as spaces for creating new identity and action. Every year. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 194 - Topics Course


    Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 200 - Critical Methods for American Studies Research


    This course will introduce students to interdisciplinary research approaches to the study of race, ethnicity, and other categories of difference. Students will learn to conceptualize and design research projects, and will obtain hands-on experience in executing different methods. The course will also consider the critiques of systems of knowledge production and research approaches that have been informed by scholars from fields such as African American history, gender studies, and critical race studies, as well as from the disciplines. The goal is to develop an understanding of the assumptions embedded in many fields of inquiry, and to learn to apply critical approaches to important research questions. Prerequisite(s): AMST 101 , AMST 103 , or AMST 110 . (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 202 - Engaging the Public: Writing and Publishing in American Studies


    Students enrolled in this course form the editorial collective for the American Studies on-line journal Tapestries published on Macalester’s Digital Commons. Course content will focus on writing, editing, and the art of preparing a journal article for publication. It will also consider how to engage various publics, including students, the College, and local communities, through digital publishing. Students are part of a collaborative model for circulating scholarship, art and criticism. The class is involved in all aspects of layout and design and peer-review, and discuss issues including verifying facts, copyright, intellectual property, author rights, and open access. May be repeated one time for credit. Prerequisite(s): at least one course in American Studies. Every fall. (2 Credits)

  
  • AMST 203 - Politics and Inequality

    Cross-Listed as POLI 203 
    Americans, at least since the Founding era, have cherished the ideal of political equality. Unlike European nations, the United States did not inherit economic class distinctions from a feudal past. But time and again, American social reformers and mass movements have highlighted inconsistencies between the value of equality and the actual practice of democracy. Through the extension of rights to citizens who were previously excluded or treated as second-class citizens, such as women and African Americans, the polity has become more inclusive. But over the last three decades American citizens have grown increasingly unequal in terms of income and wealth. The central question posed by this course is the implications of such vast economic inequality for American democracy. Do these disparities between citizens curtail, limit, and perhaps threaten the functioning of genuinely representative governance? In this course will 1) Explore what other social scientists, mostly economists and sociologists, know about contemporary inequality, particularly in terms of its causes, manifestation, and socio-economic effects; 2) Consider the concept of inequality in political theory and in American political thought, and; 3) Examine the current relationship between economic inequality and each of three major aspects of the American political system: political voice, representation, and public policy. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 222 - Imagining the American West

    Cross-Listed as  
    Fantasies about the U.S. West are central to American history, popular culture, and collective memory. From John Wayne to Zane Grey to Disneyland, ideas about the West have shaped the ways we think about settlement, conquest, race, gender, and democracy. This course examines the myths that have circulated about the West alongside what has been called new western history, in an attempt to make sense of western Americans and the societies they created. Beginning with notions of the frontier, we will consider the scholarship that challenges our thinking about a region that has defied simple constructions. Offered alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 224 - African American History: Slavery, Emancipation, and Reconstruction

    Cross-Listed as HIST 224 
    This course explores the Afro-American experience from the villages of West Africa to the cotton plantations of the antebellum South. Considers West African social structure and culture, the international slave trade, the development of racism, the development of American slavery, the transformation of Afro-American culture over more than two centuries, the struggle, the possibilities of reconstruction, and the ultimate rise of share-cropping and segregation. Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 225 - Native American History

    Cross-Listed as  
    Historian Daniel Richter once wrote, “for better or worse, native history belongs to all of us.” What could Richter have meant by this statement? What is native history and why would it belong to “all of us?” The history of America covers a much longer span than that usually covered in U.S. history courses. The coasts, plains and mountains of the North American continent may have been a “new world” to European traders and explorers, but to the two million people who already inhabited these lands, America was as much the “old world” as was Europe. In this course we will examine the history of North America from the age of contact to the end of the 19th century. Instead of approaching American Indian history from the perspective of Europeans, we will attempt to reconstruct the history of 16th-19th century North Americans from an indigenous perspective. In our class meetings, Mondays and Wednesday will be devoted to chronologically-oriented, broad issues in American Indian history prior to 1900. Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 230 - Women and Work in US History


    An historical overview of women’s changing experiences with work-both paid and unpaid-from the mercantilist economy of colonial times to the post-industrial era of the late twentieth century. Working women come from every racial and ethnic group, and work in every sector of the economy. How did we reach this point? How does this compare to the experience of women in the early years of U.S. history? And where might working women be headed? This course is designed primarily for students who have no previous college-level background in U.S. history. Offered occasionally. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 232 - Immigration and Ethnicity in US History

    Cross-Listed as HIST 232 
    An overview of U.S. history as seen through the experiences of newly arriving and adjusting immigrant groups. This course is designed primarily for students who have no previous college-level background in U.S. history. Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 233 - Introduction to the History of the US Working Class

    Cross-Listed as HIST 233 
    This course traces the development of the U.S. working class men and women, native-born and immigrants, black and white-from the artisan era to the post-industrial age. This course is designed primarily for students who have no previous college-level background in U.S. history. Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 237 - Environmental Justice

    Cross-Listed as ENVI 237  and HIST 237 
    Poor and minority populations have historically borne the brunt of environmental inequalities in the United States, suffering disproportionately from the effects of pollution, resource depletion, dangerous jobs, limited access to common resources, and exposure to environmental hazards. Paying particular attention to the ways that race, ethnicity, class, and gender have shaped the political and economic dimensions of environmental injustices, this course draws on the work of scholars and activists to examine the long history of environmental inequities in the United States, along with more recent political movements-national and local-that seek to rectify environmental injustices. Every year. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 240 - Race, Culture, and Ethnicity in Education

    Cross-Listed as EDUC 240 
    This survey course will explore history, policy, and pedagogy as they relate to race, ethnicity, and culture as education. K-12 public education will be the primary focus with topics including desegregation, standardized testing, multi-cultural and ethnocentric pedagogy, the teacher’s role and experience, and significant historical events in education. The course will culminate by analyzing current trends and future expectations in education. Spring semester. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 244 - Urban Latino Power

    Cross-Listed as   and  
    Comparative study of Latino and Latina political struggles in the United States. We will explore the themes of subordination and empowerment through issues such as anti-immigrant ballot initiatives in California, the election of Latino mayors in Denver and San Antonio, Cuban dominance in Miami politics, multiracial violence in Los Angeles, and battles over labor conditions, affirmative action, bi-lingual education, and racial profiling. Student projects will involve field research among the Latino communities and organizations of the Twin Cities. Cross-listed with political science. Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 248 - Jim Crow

    Cross-Listed as  
    This course examines the political, cultural, economic, and social ramifications of segregation in the United States from approximately 1865 to the present. While much of the course will focus on the South, we will also consider how racial boundaries were drawn in the West and North. The course will pay special attention to the ways racial boundaries became -fixed,- and how black men and women defied Jim Crow in the streets, courts, and in their homes. Additionally, this class examines how segregation has been forgotten and how and when it is remembered. Offered alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 249 - African Americans and the Transformation of the City: 1890-1945

    Cross-Listed as HIST 249 
    This course investigates two mutually influencing transformations of the first half of the twentieth century: 1) the urbanization of the Afro-American people; and 2) the emergence of the modern American metropolis as the site of congregation and segregation of distinct racial and ethnic groups. Principal points of focus for this course include the causes and patterns of black migration from the rural South to the urban North; the formation of ghettoes in major northern cities; the internal life of those ghettoes, including changing gender roles and the development of new cultural forms; and the rise of new political and social ideas within these communities. Offered occasionally. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 250 - Race, Place and Space

    Cross-Listed as GEOG 250 
    In this discussion-based course we focus on the racialized places of U.S. cities, rural towns and suburbs in an effort to understand how social, historic, and spatial forces have colluded to bring about complex and enduring racial formations. We will look for race and related social categories in places around St. Paul and Minneapolis. By engaging theories about visuality and representation, urban development and suburban sprawl, and social movements for racial justice, we will develop a specialized vocabulary for explaining how race, place, and space are connected. Prerequisite(s): Prior exposure to American Studies, human geography, sociology or race/ethnicity or urban studies. Offered occasionally. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 254 - Peoples and Cultures of Native America

    Cross-Listed as ANTH 254 
    A survey of the traditional cultural areas of the Americas and of selected topics related to American Indians. The course introduces the peoples, languages, subsistence patterns, and social organizations in America at the time of European contact, and traces selected patterns of change that have come to these areas. Prerequisite(s): ANTH 111  Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 256 - Transatlantic Slave Trade

    Cross-Listed as HIST 256 
    This class examines the Atlantic commerce in African slaves that took place roughly between 1500 and 1800. We will explore, among other topics, transatlantic commerce, the process of turning captives into commodities, the gendered dimensions of the slave trade, resistance to the trade, the world the slaves made, and the abolitionist movement on both sides of the Atlantic. Students will read a range of primary and secondary sources in order to gain a more complex understanding of the slave trade and how it changed over time. Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 260 - Race, Cultural Politics and Social Movements


    Since the nineteenth century, the struggles for racial equality and ethnic identity formation in the United States have been situated within formal and informal social movements. This course examines the central role of culture - including music, art, performance, literature, and media - in race-based activism. We will consider various aspects of the African American freedom struggle, Asian American and Latino/a activism, and the indigenous rights movement, paying particular attention to how culture functions as a tool for organizing, group cohesion, and outreach. The course will also consider how popular culture reflects and shapes social movements. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 262 - Asian American Psychology

    Cross-Listed as PSYC 262 
    This course explores the psychological experiences of Asian Americans through readings from disciplines such as psychology, sociology, Asian American Studies, as well as the popular media. The central question organizing this course is how academic research can inform the daily lived experiences of Asian Americans. Topics include racialization and racialized imagery, how behavior is shaped by prevalent stereotypes of Asian Americans, negotiating bicultural/biracial identities, transracial adoption, immigration, acculturation, and mental health, among others. Counts as a UP3 course. Prerequisite(s): PSYC 100 - Introduction to Psychology  (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 265 - The Schools-to-Prison Pipeline


    This course offers an introductory exploration of the “school-to-prison pipeline,” a trend that funnels youth out of U.S. public schools and into the juvenile corrections system. We will study how this pipeline is the result of a confluence of historical, political, and cultural factors; first and foremost, how the pipeline acts as a manifestation of structural racism. We will look to frameworks of human rights, legal rights, and social justice organizing as models of articulating and resisting the pipeline. Prerequisite(s): AMST 101 AMST 103 , AMST 110  or AMST 112  Alternate spring semesters. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 270 - Black Public Intellectuals


    This course will address the tradition of public intellectuals in numerous Black communities. We will expand the definition of “politics” to include theater, literature, and film. We will interrogate the concept of who chooses the scholarly leaders for Black communities. We will examine numerous topics such as Communism, The American Dream, Incarceration, Feminism, and Ebony Voices in the Ivory Tower. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 275 - African American Literature to 1900

    Cross-Listed as ENGL 275 
    This course will trace the development of an African American literary tradition from the end of the eighteenth century to the turn of the twentieth century, from authors such as Phillis Wheatley and Olaudah Equiano to Frances Harper and Charles Chesnutt. The course will investigate the longstanding project of writing an African American self as both a literary and a political subject, and it will consider texts from multiple genres, such as lyric poetry, protest poetry, slave narratives, spirituals, folktales, personal correspondence, essays, short stories, autobiographies, novels, transcribed oral addresses, and literary criticism and theory. Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 280 - Re-envisioning Education and Democracy

    Cross-Listed as EDUC 280  and POLI 211 
    This course explores the design, implementation, and evaluation of public education policy as a primary means for engaging more active, inclusive and effective approaches to social inquiry and civic participation. Drawing from classic and contemporary theories of education and democracy, complemented by recent developments and controversies in public policy studies, students work to design innovative, principled, educationally sound and politically feasible responses to significant civic concerns. Fall semester. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 285 - Asian American Community and Identity

    Cross-Listed as SOCI 285 
    This course introduces the basic issues and problems that shape the Asian American experience. The main learning objectives are: to identify and dismantle stereotypes about Asian Americans; to create a common vocabulary for describing the Asian American experience; to explore the historical and sociological foundations of Asian American community and identity; and to cultivate an appreciation of various theoretical approaches to race and ethnicity. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 288 - Race and Ethnicity in Japan

    Cross-Listed as INTL 288  and JAPA 288 
    One of the founding myths of the modern Japanese nation-state has been the illusion of racial and ethnic homogeneity. This course aims not only to challenge this myth but also to historicize and contextualize it by investigating various racial and ethnic minorities in Japan: Ainu, Burakumin (outcasts), Okinawans, Koreans, African Americans, Nikkeijin (South Americans of Japanese descent), and Caucasians. These groups pose fundamental questions about the boundaries of “Japan” and about the meanings of “race” and “ethnicity” as categories of identification and difference. The purpose of this course is two-fold: 1) to familiarize students with the history of minority discourse in Japan, and 2) to encourage students to think critically and comparatively about race and ethnicity in general. All readings are in English or English translation. Offered every year. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 292 - Topics Course


    Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing. (2 Credits)

  
  • AMST 294 - Topics Course


    Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 300 - Jr Civic Engagement Seminar


    This innovative course will comprise a junior civic-engagement experience in the Twin Cities organized around a central theme (such as “Schools and Prisons”). The course provides a real-world urban context for students who are deeply engaged in theorizing racism and other forms of structural inequalities in the U.S. and around the globe. It is based largely outside the classroom, draws on the College’s relationships with the Twin Cities, and provides extensive opportunities for students to interact with community mentors. The course is designed primarily for juniors majoring in American Studies as a prior rigorous study of issues related to race and racism in U.S. history and contemporary social policy and social thought are needed to set the stage for the course. It is required of all American Studies majors, however, other students with equivalent preparation are welcome with permission from the instructor. Prerequisite(s): American Studies Major or permission of instructor. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 305 - Race, Sex and Work in the Global Economy

    Cross-Listed as WGSS 305 
    This seminar presents feminist and queer studies of global capitalism, which examine power relations under contemporary globalization in terms of the racial and sexual dynamics of labor, citizenship, and migration. Course material considers the local and transnational dynamics of free trade, labor fragmentation, and structural adjustment, as these shape industrial and informal labor, and community organizing around gender, sexuality, and HIV/AIDS. The material foregrounds ethnographic analyses of the everyday conditions of people situated in struggles with the effects of global capitalism. Prerequisite(s): Junior standing or permission of instructor, and at least one intermediate-level Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies core course. Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 308 - Introduction to U.S. Latino Studies

    Cross-Listed as   and  
    Provides an interdisciplinary discussion of the Latina/o experience in the United States with a focus on Mexican, Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Cuban Americans. Using fiction, poetry, films and critical essays, we will examine issues of race and ethnicity, language, identity, gender and sexuality, politics, and immigration. Students will further engage with the Latino population of the Twin Cities by working with a local community organization. Prerequisite(s): HISP 305  or consent of the instructor. Every semester. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 310 - Comparative Freedom Movements: The US and South Africa

    Cross-Listed as HIST 235 
    This advanced course explores two of the most important movements to challenge institutional racism in the second half of the 20th century - the U.S. civil rights movement and the South African anti-apartheid movement. The course places both of these movements within their specific historical contexts and, therefore, opens with an examination of the historical role(s) of racism in each of these societies. It then explores dimensions of these movements in a comparative fashion: the leadership produced by both movements; the functioning of both movements and the roles played by particular cohorts (women, young people, workers, allies); the internal tensions within each movement, particularly around ideologies, strategies, and tactics; the uses of culture (music, theater, poetry, visual art) within each movement. We also explore the methodologies of comparative history, particularly the critique that insists that the movements’ influences on each other need to be considered. Finally, we assess the impact of each movement on its respective society. Every other year. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 315 - Topics in Transnational Studies


    The field of American Studies has changed in the last quarter century from an emphasis on American exceptionalism to a consideration of the relationships between the United States and the World. We will be particularly concerned with how American conceptions of race and ethnicity are influenced by global phenomena, and how global processes shape America’s enduring social, political and cultural structures. This course will up varying topics on this theme, including, but not limited to, immigration, U.S. imperialism, the construction and dissolution of borders, diasporic identities, and transnational cultures. Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 330 - Mellon Seminar


    The Mellon Seminar is for students who are the recipients of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship. The course is interdisciplinary, in order to meet the needs of students across the Mellon-designated fields. They will develop their academic interests to the fullest, with the intent to enter Ph.D. programs, and careers in higher education. We will cover topics such as “contemporary issues in higher education,” “the politics of knowledge production,” and “preparing to apply to graduate school.” This course is designed to train students who will purse PhDs and subsequent careers in academia in selected core fields in the Arts and Sciences. Our objective is to prepare for the Professoriate. May be repeated for credit when the topic differs. (2 Credits)

  
  • AMST 331 - Racial Formation, Culture and US History

    Cross-Listed as HIST 331  and MCST 331 
    This interdisciplinary course will employ the methodologies of cultural and media studies within an historical framework to ask: What roles did “race” (the presence of diverse races; the relationships among those groups of people; the construction and representation of racial identities; the linking of material privileges and power to racial locations) play in the development of the United States? How have relationships of class, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality been linked to “race”? How has “race” been a site of struggle between groups? How is the present a product of historical experiences? Our coursework will rely on reading historical studies, theory, cultural analysis, and memoirs, and on viewing and analyzing cultural performances and films. This course is designed for students with experience in history, cultural studies, African American Studies and/or American Studies. Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 334 - Cultural Studies and the Media

    Cross-Listed as MCST 334 
    An overview of contemporary approaches to media as culture, a determining as well as determined sphere in which people make sense of the world, particularly in terms of ethnicity, gender, identity, and social inequality. Students develop tools for analyzing media texts and accounts of audience responses derived from the international field of cultural studies and from the social theory on which it draws. Analysis emphasizes specificity of media texts, including advertisements, films, news reports, and television shows. Experience in cooperative discussion, research, and publication. Every year. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 340 - Living on the Edge: The Asian American Experience


    The Asian American experience will be used to examine the role of cultural heritage in how one views oneself, one’s own ethnic group and the dominant culture. This interdisciplinary course consists of experiencing the art, reading the literature and history, and discussing the current issues of several Asian American communities. Topics include the role of women, stereotype, racism and assimilation. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 341 - Urban Social Geography: City Life and Landscapes

    Cross-Listed as GEOG 341 
    Urban social geography is the study of social and spatial dimensions of city life. In this course, we will explore some of the ways in which urban society is organized geographically. We will also consider how the spatial patterns of urban life influence public policy issues in the American context. Topics covered in this course include causes of racial segregation, debates about gentrification, sustainable suburban development, the transition from government to governance in cities, and the delivery of urban services that affect the education, health and economic welfare of urban populations. Students will learn current research, engage debates about critical urban issues, and learn techniques useful for analyzing spatial patterns in the urban landscape. Prerequisite(s): GEOG 112 , GEOG 242 , GEOG 262  or instructor permission. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 350 - American Pop, Rockabilly, and Soul, 1954-64

    Cross-Listed as MUSI 350 
    This course provides an in-depth look at one crucial period in American popular-music history, addressing in particular the roles that racial categories played in the production, dissemination, and reception of music in three dominant streams within the culture of American popular music. Topics for close study will include: Sam Philips’s practices of recording of black and white musicians for Sun Studios in Memphis during the 1950s; the early “crossover” hits of such recording arts as Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley; the doo wop repertory and theories of whiteness; issues of race, gender, and sexuality in the music of the “girl groups”; and a comparison of white-owned Stax Records and black-owned Motown in the early-mid 1960s. The course will move from a broad overview of the era at the beginning of the semester, through a discussion of conceptual, critical, and methodological issues, and into more detailed case studies of various recording artists, institutions, and repertories. The course aims to examine ways in which social and historical constructions of race operated on many levels, from the national industry (e.g., the Billboard charts), to regional and local scenes (e.g., the studio and “space/place” theory), to performative, technological, and aesthetic realms that intersect directly with issues of subjectivity and identity. This course is intended for upper-level majors and minors in Music and American Studies. It is designated as a seminar and not a lecture course; students will be responsible for leading class on a regular basis, coming prepared with handouts and sets of questions/topics for discussion. Generally offered alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 354 - Blackness in the Media

    Cross-Listed as MCST 354 
    This course examines mainstream and alternative systems of African American representation in the media from the 1820s to the 1960s, including race records, race movies, the Black press, Black video, and Black appeal radio. It also examines the way Blackness is constructed in the media today, including the role of new media (such as cable and the Internet); new corporate formations (such as FOX, UPN, and BET), and new forms of representation (such as representations that reject the Black-White binary). Prerequisite(s): One of the following: an introduction to African American Studies course, or MCST 110 - Texts and Power: Foundations of Media and Cultural Studies  or permission of instructor. Every year. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 370 - Understanding and Confronting Racism

    Cross-Listed as PSYC 370 
    An examination of the social psychological factors associated with race prejudice and racism, particularly in the United States. Focusing on the psychological theories proposed to understand racism, this course investigates the causes and consequences of racism at the individual, interpersonal, institutional and cultural levels of society. Special attention will be given to exploring interventions to reduce racism. Culture and Context course. Prerequisite(s): PSYC 100 , PSYC 201  (or MATH 155 ), and at least one intermediate course in Psychology. (4 Credits)

    Curricular Change: Course will only be offered as PSYC 370 during the 2013-2014 academic year
  
  • AMST 380 - Topics in African American Literature

    Cross-Listed as ENGL 380 
    This course will explore African American cultural production and, depending on the instructor, may focus on a particular genre (e.g. novels, short stories, drama, poetry, detective fiction, speculative fiction), or a particular theme (e.g. The Protest Tradition, Black Feminist Writings), or on a particular period (e.g. the 1820s-1860s, the Harlem Renaissance, the 1950s), or on a particular author or authors (e.g. Douglass, Du Bois, Baldwin, Wideman, Morrison, Parks). Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 384 - Langston Hughes: Global Writer

    Cross-Listed as ENGL 384  and INTL 384 
    The great African American writer Langston Hughes (1902-1967) is best known as the poet laureate of the Harlem Renaissance.  But his career was vaster still.  He was a Soviet screenwriter, Spanish Civil War journalist, African literary anthologist, humorist, playwright, translator, social critic, writer of over 10,000 letters, and much more.  This course engages Hughes’s full career, bridging race and global issues, politics and art, and makes use of little-known archival materials. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 392 - Topics Course


    Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing. (2 Credits)

  
  • AMST 394 - Topics Course


    Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 400 - Senior Seminar


    The Senior Capstone is required of all majors. Majors who meet college criteria are encouraged to conduct an honors project in conjunction with their Senior Capstone. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 444 - The Family as History: The Stories of US Latinos

    Cross-Listed as HISP 444 
    Examine and compare the stories of Latinas/os in the United States as told by themselves. Students will read authors of Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, and Mexican American origin. We will place a special emphasis on practices and values held both here and in the cultures of origin. The course will cover such subjects as family, social and economic struggles, individual aspirations and spiritual needs. The course will highlight language issues and use film to complement the readings. This course satisfies the Area 4 requirement for the Hispanic & Latin American Studies major. Prerequisite(s): HISP 307  or   or consent of the instructor. Offered occasionally. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 445 - Frontera: The U.S./Mexico Border

    Cross-Listed as HISP 445  and LATI 445 
    The border region between the United States and Mexico exists as both a physical space and an ideological construct. This seminar uses literary and filmic narratives to explore issues of identity, opportunity, and violence that arise from this contested space. How does the border shape individual and cultural identities? In what ways does the border create opportunities for both advancement and exploitation? How do these works engage conflicts and tensions of race, nationalism, gender, and power? The course will include writers and filmmakers from both countries, and we will read original texts both in Spanish and English. Offered occasionally. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 494 - Topics Course


    Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 601 - Tutorial


    Closely supervised individual or small group study with a faculty member. A student may explore, by way of readings, short writings, etc., an area of study not available through the regular catalog offerings. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Every semester. (1 Credits)

  
  • AMST 602 - Tutorial


    Closely supervised individual or small group study with a faculty member. A student may explore, by way of readings, short writings, etc., an area of study not available through the regular catalog offerings. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Every semester. (2 Credits)

  
  • AMST 603 - Tutorial


    Closely supervised individual or small group study with a faculty member. A student may explore, by way of readings, short writings, etc., an area of study not available through the regular catalog offerings. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Every semester. (3 Credits)

  
  • AMST 604 - Tutorial


    Closely supervised individual or small group study with a faculty member. A student may explore, by way of readings, short writings, etc., an area of study not available through the regular catalog offerings. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Every semester. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 611 - Independent Project


    Closely supervised independent study with a faculty member. Students may explore, through reading and writing or independent research, an area of knowledge not available through regular course offerings. Prerequisite(s): Introductory American Studies course and permission of instructor. Every semester. (1 Credits)

  
  • AMST 612 - Independent Project


    Closely supervised independent study with a faculty member. Students may explore, through reading and writing or independent research, an area of knowledge not available through regular course offerings. Prerequisite(s): Introductory American Studies course and permission of instructor. Every semester. (2 Credits)

  
  • AMST 613 - Independent Project


    Closely supervised independent study with a faculty member. Students may explore, through reading and writing or independent research, an area of knowledge not available through regular course offerings. Prerequisite(s): Introductory American Studies course and permission of instructor. Every semester. (3 Credits)

  
  • AMST 614 - Independent Project


    Closely supervised independent study with a faculty member. Students may explore, through reading and writing or independent research, an area of knowledge not available through regular course offerings. Prerequisite(s): Introductory American Studies course and permission of instructor. Every semester. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 621 - Internship


    Majors are encouraged to take an internship after the Civic Engagement seminar. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Internship Office. Every semester. (1 Credits)

  
  • AMST 622 - Internship


    Majors are encouraged to take an internship after the Civic Engagement seminar. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Internship Office. Every semester. (2 Credits)

  
  • AMST 623 - Internship


    Majors are encouraged to take an internship after the Civic Engagement seminar. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Internship Office. Every semester. (3 Credits)

  
  • AMST 624 - Internship


    Majors are encouraged to take an internship after the Civic Engagement seminar. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Internship Office. Every semester. (4 Credits)

  
  • AMST 631 - Preceptorship


    Students may arrange to precept a course with a department member. They will normally be expected to attend the course, do the reading and participate in discussion, look over student writing, and provide guidance or tutor as necessary. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Academic Programs. Every semester. (1 Credits)

  
  • AMST 632 - Preceptorship


    Students may arrange to precept a course with a department member. They will normally be expected to attend the course, do the reading and participate in discussion, look over student writing, and provide guidance or tutor as necessary. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Academic Programs. Every semester. (2 Credits)

  
  • AMST 633 - Preceptorship


    Students may arrange to precept a course with a department member. They will normally be expected to attend the course, do the reading and participate in discussion, look over student writing, and provide guidance or tutor as necessary. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Academic Programs. Every semester. (3 Credits)

  
  • AMST 634 - Preceptorship


    Students may arrange to precept a course with a department member. They will normally be expected to attend the course, do the reading and participate in discussion, look over student writing, and provide guidance or tutor as necessary. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Academic Programs. Every semester. (4 Credits)


Anthropology

  
  • ANTH 101 - General Anthropology


    This course is an introduction to the discipline of anthropology as a whole. It presents students with a theoretical grounding in the four major subfields: archaeology, biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, and linguistics. In this class the emphasis is on the holistic nature of the discipline. Students will be challenged with some of the countless links between the systems of biology and culture. They will explore key questions about human diversity in the past, present, and future. Prerequisite(s): None. Introductory course open to first year students. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 111 - Cultural Anthropology


    The cultural perspective on human behavior including case studies, often illustrated by ethnographic films and slides, of non-Western and American cultures. May include some field interviewing. Includes the cross cultural treatment of economic, legal, political, social and religious institutions and a survey of major approaches to the explanation of cultural variety and human social organization. Prerequisite(s): None. Introductory Course Open to first year students. Every semester. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 112 - Archaeology and Human Origins


    Introductory Course Open to first year students. The origin and development of prehistoric peoples and cultures. The concepts, methods, and theories of prehistoric archaeology, human paleontology, and human biology as a framework for examining the fossils and artifacts left by humans. Course includes films and the use of casts and slides to illustrate concepts. Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 115 - Biological Anthropology


    This class is a broad survey covering topics such as genetics, evolutionary mechanisms, adaptation, primate studies, the human fossil record, and human variation. All of these areas will be placed within the framework of the interaction of humans within their environment. The course is divided into three sections: human genetics, human ecology and primatology, human evolution and adaptation. Prerequisite(s): None. Introductory Course Open to first year students. Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 123 - Introduction to Archaeology

    Cross-Listed as  CLAS 123 
    This course introduces students to archaeology, the study of the material remains of human culture. Students will explore the history of the discipline and profession, its basic methods and theories, and the political and ethical dimensions of modern archaeological practice. Students learn to examine and interpret evidence using specific examples, from artifacts to sites to regions. Prerequisite(s): None. Introductory Course Open to first year students. Every year. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 194 - Topics Course


    Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 206 - Endangered and Minority Languages

    Cross-Listed as LING 206 
    Language loss is accelerating at alarming rates. In fact, Linguists predict that only five percent of the six thousand languages currently spoken in the world are expected to survive into the 22nd century. In this course, we will examine the historical, political, and socio-economic factors behind the endangerment and/or marginalization of languages in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America. We will also concentrate on the globalization of English (and other major languages), which plays a primary role in language endangerment and marginalization. Additional topics include: linguistic diversity, language policy, multilingualism (in both nations and individuals), global language conflict, and language revitalization. Students will have the opportunity to learn first-hand about these issues by interviewing speakers of an endangered and/or minority language. Offered every third year. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 230 - Ethnographic Interviewing


    An introduction to ethnographic field interviewing learned in the context of individually run student field projects. Focuses on the anthropologist-informant field relationship and the discovery of cultural knowledge through participant observation and ethnosemantic interviewing techniques. Prerequisite(s): ANTH 101  or ANTH 111  and permission of instructor. Every semester. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 239 - Medical Anthropology


    This course examines issues of health, illness, and healing from a variety of anthropological perspectives. From a cross-cultural perspective, we will examine the diversity of beliefs about human health and sickness, and a variety of healing practices by which people treat them. From the perspective of critical epidemiology, we will wrestle with recurrent problems of socioeconomic inequalities, ecological disruptions, and their impact upon the differential distribution, prevention, and treatment of human diseases. Previous courses in anthropology are recommended but not required. Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 240 - Human Osteology and Paleopathology


    The study of the human skeletal system is basic to the disciplines of biological anthropology, forensic science, medicine and even archaeology. This class will examine the fundamentals of osteology. It will also explore numerous pathological conditions associated with both infectious and non-infectious diseases in addition to those caused by traumatic events. Students will learn to identify and analyze human bone and pathological conditions of the skeleton to aid in the reconstruction of life histories from human remains. Prerequisite(s): ANTH 101  or   or ANTH 112  or ANTH 115  or ANTH 123  or BIOL 112  or BIOL 260  or BIOL 265  (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 241 - Anthropology of Death and Dying


    This course examines the dying process and the ways that humans beings come to terms with their mortality in different societies. We will learn how people die in major illnesses and critically analyze controversial issues regarding brain death, suicide, and euthanasia. We will survey funerary traditions from a variety of cultures and compare the social, spiritual, and psychological roles that these rituals play for both the living and the dying. We will examine cultural attitudes towards death; and how the denial and awareness of human mortality can shape social practices and institutions. Finally, we will consider issues regarding the quality of life, the opportunities and challenges of caregiving, and hospice traditions around the world. Prerequisite(s):   or   Offered alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 243 - Psychological Anthropology

    Cross-Listed as PSYC 243 
    This course explores the relationship between self, culture and society. We will examine and discuss critically the broad array of methods and theories anthropologists use to analyze personality, socialization, mental illnes and cognition in different societies. Our aim is to address questions related to the cultural patterning of personality, the self and emotions and to understand how culture might shape ideas of what a person is. We will also seek to understand how cultures define behavior as abnormal, pathological or insane, and how they make sense of trauma and suffering. Prerequisite(s):   or   Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 246 - Refugees/Humanitarian Response


    This course provides an overview of issues related to refugees and humanitarian response in U.S. and international settings. Students explore the meaning of “humanitarian” and inherent issues of power, ethics, and human rights in responses to conflict by examining the roles of those who engage in humanitarian work. Prerequisite(s):   or   Offered occasionally. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 248 - Magic, Witchcraft and Religions


    An introduction to anthropological approaches to the study of religious beliefs and practices, the idea of syncretism, witchcraft, sorcery, shamanism and the practice of magic, the role of religion in bringing about social change and the social and cultural theories that have been put forward to explain religious phenomena. Prerequisite(s):   or   Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 253 - Comparative Muslim Cultures

    Cross-Listed as  
    An introduction to the diversity of Muslim societies in the Arab world, Europe, Africa, North America, and South and South-East Asia. We trace Islam as a local and transnational lived experience, explore theoretical arguments from the humanities and social sciences, and examine multiple case studies, illuminating ritual, ethnicities, gender, education, the media, travel, migration, citizenship, politics, conflict, social change, and stereotypes about Islam and Muslim societies. Prerequisite(s):   or   (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 254 - Peoples and Cultures of Native America

    Cross-Listed as AMST 254 
    A survey of the traditional cultural areas of the Americas and of selected topics related to American Indians. The course introduces the peoples, languages, subsistence patterns, and social organizations in America at the time of European contact, and traces selected patterns of change that have come to these areas. Prerequisite(s):   or   Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 255 - Peoples and Cultures of Latin America

    Cross-Listed as LATI 255 
    This course is an introduction to the cultural diversity and complexity of Latin American societies. We will examine regional differences from an anthropological perspective and discus how social institutions and cultural practices and traditions have been shaped, and how they have dealt with continuity and change. Ethnographic case studies will allow us to explore relevant topics related to ethnicity, social stratification, gift-giving/reciprocity, kinship, rural/urban relationships, cosmology and religion, and gender. These issues will be examined within the context of particular histories, considering the legacy of colonialism, the formation of the nation-state, the emergence of social movements, post-colonial nationalism, the impart of migration and urbanization, and the effects of neo-liberalism and globalization. We will conclude with a critical examination of forms of representation of Latin America, which involve notions such as indigenismo . Prerequisite(s): ANTH 101  or ANTH 111  Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 256 - Peoples and Cultures of South Asia

    Cross-Listed as ASIA 256 
    Introduces students to anthropological knowledge of the peoples and cultures of South Asia and to the ways in which Western knowledge of that region has been constructed. The course examines the historical and social processes that have shaped the culture and lifeways of the people who live on the subcontinent and that link the modern states of South Asia to the world beyond their frontiers. Prerequisite(s): ANTH 101  or   Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 258 - Peoples and Cultures of Africa


    This course will present an overview of African cultures and societies as documented in the anthropological literature. Classic and contemporary ethnographies will be used to illustrate the social transformations which are occurring in Africa. Prerequisite(s):   or   Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 259 - Indigenous Peoples of the Arctic

    Cross-Listed as  
    The Arctic represents one of the most extreme environments to which humans have adapted. These adaptations include both biological and cultural changes required to settle and flourish in this formidable setting. This course looks at some of the cultural practices that appear to be ubiquitous throughout the Arctic, as well as those specializations that have developed as a result of some of the more localized environmental pressures. It also explores the consequences of rapid global climate change as well as modernization on these unique cultures to get a sense of what the future might hold for the indigenous peoples of the Arctic. Prerequisite(s):   or   or consent of instructor Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 280 - Topics in Linguistic Anthropology

    Cross-Listed as  
    Introduces students to linguistic anthropology, one of the four major subfields of the discipline of anthropology. Students will focus on particular topics within linguistic anthropology including: gender, race, sexuality, and identity. May involve fieldwork in the Twin Cities area. Focus will be announced at registration. Prerequisite(s):   or   Offered occasionally. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 285 - Seminar in World Ethnography


    The hallmark of anthropology is the cross cultural perspective supported by first hand ethnographic accounts of hundreds of different cultures. In this course students will read, discuss, and compare ethnographies representing diverse cultures as well as a wide range of ethnographic theories and methods. Prerequisite(s):   or   Offered occasionally. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 294 - Topics Course


    Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 340 - Human Evolution


    An exploration of the interaction between ecology, morphology, and culture in human evolution. Topics include the evolutionary adaptation of non-human primates and hominins to their various ecological and social environments, taxonomic classification systems, and techniques used in the analysis of primate fossils to help determine both their geological age and phylogenetic placement. Prerequisite(s): ANTH 112 , ANTH 115   or permission of instructor. Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 358 - Anthropology of Violence


    Faced with the escalation of political and ethnic violence in the modern world, anthropologists have become increasingly aware of the need to address these realities which have forced a rethinking of the meaning of violence as a social and cultural phenomenon. This course interrogates the slippery concept of violence in the light of theoretical approaches from different disciplines. The course will begin with a discussion of how anthropologists have reexamined the concept of violence within the context of complex and large-scale societies. It will then address the preponderate weight that the concept of the state has played within the social sciences in interpretation of violence, followed by a consideration of how notions of community and cultural difference figure prominently in the ideology of conflict. Prerequisite(s):   or   Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 360 - Anthropology of Tourism


    This course examines the impact of different kinds of tourism (mass tourism, ecotourism, sand-sea-sun-sex tourism, ethnic tourism) on local peoples, environments and economies. It looks at the historical development of tourism and its links to both travel as a leisure pursuit in the colonial period and to economic developments in industrializing Europe. The course examines the tourist encounter and the models used to analyze it. Issues discussed include cultural mediation, the politics of cultural representation, and the problems of commoditization of culture. Prerequisite(s):   or   Offered occasionally. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 362 - Culture and Globalization

    Cross-Listed as  
    The world is far more interconnected today than ever before, but what does this mean in terms of culture? This course looks at the impact of globalization on cultures and at examples of global cultures such as immigrants, media and popular cultures, world cities, and transnational intellectuals, ethnicities and ideologies. It also looks at the way cultures interact at geographic borders and in the margins of society. Prerequisite(s):   or   (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 363 - Anthropology of Development


    The goal of this course is to develop an anthropological understanding and critique of development. It aims to examine both the discourse of development and its practice. The course focuses on the construction of the Third World as an “underdeveloped” area, and discusses the dominant theoretical paradigms of development and modernization. It assesses the reasons for the general failure of development programs based on these models to bring about meaningful and substantive change in societies in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and discusses possible alternatives to “development” as it is currently practiced. Prerequisite(s):   or   Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 364 - Political Anthropology

    Cross-Listed as POLI 243 
    An analysis of various political structures and activities in diverse world societies. Emphasis is placed on pre-literate cultures, but the societies examined vary from hunting and gathering bands through agricultural tribes to the industrial state. Prerequisite(s):   or   Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 365 - Environmental Anthropology

    Cross-Listed as ENVI 365 
    This course examines how the concept of culture can contribute to our understanding of environmental issues, in terms of how human beings adapt to their environment and the way in which they understand and give meaning to the world they live in. It aims to develop an anthropological understanding of the environment and to understand the way the “environmental crisis”-of resource scarcity and ecological degradation-is the outcome of particular structures of power, economic relations and consumption. Prerequisite(s):   or   Alternate years. (4 Credits)

  
  • ANTH 368 - Life Histories/Cultures/Selves


    This seminar focuses on the relationship between individuals and their culture. Students will record, edit, and analyze personal documents such as diaries, letters, interview transcriptions, and autobiographies. Analysis of life events such as childhood play activities, family meals, kinship relations, and modes of communication, will lead to the identification of cultural themes. Prerequisite(s):   or   Alternate years. (4 Credits)

 

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