International Studies Major

Major Requirements

Students plan their fourteen-course major in consultation with their international studies advisor. All majors must complete the following:

Introduction. One of INTL 110 –INTL 114 .
Language. Competency in a foreign language equivalent to six semesters of college work: examples are FREN 305 and FREN 306 , GERM 305 and GERM 306, JAPA 306 , Portuguese through Portuguese 331 (Luso-Brazilian Voices), Russian through RUSS 204 plus a semester immersion program abroad or its equivalent, or
HISP 305
and
HISP 307
. Students may complete this competency requirement while abroad. Likewise, students may meet this requirement in a language not regularly offered at the College by demonstrating equivalent ability, as confirmed by the department chair with appropriate consultation. Students for whom English is a second language have met the language requirement.

Students choosing Classics as the disciplinary focus of their International Studies major may satisfy the I.S. language requirement by passing five semesters of Greek or Latin, plus a sixth semester of advanced independent or equivalent language work. Students focusing on Hebrew or Arabic may combine work at Macalester with coursework and/or experience abroad or at neighbor institutions.
Study abroad. One semester of study abroad on a program chosen at least in part to support the individual major plan. International students at Macalester meet this requirement by completing a semester at Macalester.
Capstone. A capstone experience of either a senior seminar in international studies or, in select cases, an advanced independent project developed under appropriate supervision and with the approval of the department chair.

In addition to these four requirements, at the center of the major plan the student must complete a twelvecourse sequence with the following characteristics:
Disciplinary focus. To ensure rich knowledge of a specific mode of inquiry, five internationally focused courses drawn from a single disciplinary department including anthropology, biology, classics, economics, English, French, geography, geology, German studies, history, Japanese, philosophy, Hispanic studies, political science, religious studies, Russian, or sociology. One of these courses may be a non-introductory cultureneutral methods course.

Since literary studies is a single discipline, students may develop their five-course disciplinary focus from a blend of literature courses in several departments. For the same reason, students may also do this in film or media studies, drawing from several departments and abroad.
Intermediate courses. To ensure immersion in global and transnational issues, five international studies courses beyond the introduction. Students may take a second senior seminar as one of these five. At times international studies courses are cross-listed with other departments. Thus there can be up to a two-course overlap between the courses for E and F.
The remaining courses (usually two, unless there is an overlap between E and F) may be chosen from internationalist offerings across the campus or abroad, including the unchosen departments in E as well as from interdisciplinary programs including African studies, American studies (for non-U.S. students), Asian studies, humanities and media and cultural studies, Latin American studies, and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies; and in art, linguistics, music, psychology, and theater and dance.

Additional Notes:

Courses abroad. Courses taken during study abroad may count, when appropriate, toward the major; indeed students should tailor study abroad to contribute to the major plan.
Language courses. Courses taken to satisfy the language requirement may not be included in the fourteencourse major plan, except when the focus department under “E” is French, German, Japanese, Russian, or Hispanic studies. In these cases one advanced language course may be counted among the five disciplinary courses.
The major plan can include one internship.