GG, 3 credits
GenEd World Society courses explore societies and cultures outside of the United States. These courses take one of two approaches. Some concentrate on a single nation or region, examining in depth its political, social, historical, cultural, artistic, literary, geographic, and/or economic landscape. Others investigate globalization and its effects across nations and regions.
World Society courses are intended to teach students how to:
- Understand the influences (e.g political, social, historical, cultural, artistic, literary, geographic, economic) on world societies or processes (e.g. globalization) linking world societies;
- Develop observations and conclusions about selected themes in world societies and cultures;
- Construct interpretations using evidence and critical analysis;
- Communicate and defend interpretations.
OPTION: Connecting GLOBALIZATION across GenEd areas.
SELECT ONE COURSE
Border Crossings: Gendered Dimensions of Globalization
Explore the ways in which gender "works" in different cultural and national contexts, and the impact globalization has on gender relations. "Gender" indicates the ways in which our social lives are organized around categories of male and female--in relation to work, family, sexuality, culture, and nation. "Globalization" describes the transfer of economic and cultural goods between nations and peoples. Questions we will ask include: What is globalization and how do women and men experience it differently? Do women and men work the same jobs in the global labor market, and do they get paid the same wages? How does immigration affect families? Does a growing connectedness between cultures and nations change traditional gender roles? How different are experiences of women in the "Third World" from those of women in the "First World," and why? Investigate these issues together by reading critical writings as well as Internet blogs, watching films/documentaries, and analyzing popular media.
Global Cities
As globalization accelerates, the world becomes smaller, and is transformed to an extended urban network. Even though there are places and people off the global grid in both rich and poor
countries, we live in a single, interdependent urban world. This course seeks to understand this
urban world. We ask questions like: How do changes in the global economy affect the lives of
people from Cairo to Chicago? As 50 million people per year move into cities around the world how do those cities change? How will the massive rural to urban migration in China and India affect resources and the global environment? What is life like in cities for the majority of the world's poor? What types of plans and policies could improve cities in this century? Are wages in Philadelphia being influenced by what happens in Beijing and Bangalore? The answers will come from a wide range of perspectives, from geographers, urban planners, sociologists, and economists.
Global Crisis: Power, Politics and the Making of our Times
Are we living in a time of global crisis? This course will provide you with the tools you need to find out. This class focuses on world politics over the past century, up to today. In this class, we will examine a number of key global problems as they have changed over time. We will adopt an historical approach, which means we will read texts and documents about the past as a way to understand the present. Together we will explore debates like: is America an empire? What is ideology and is it a factor in world politics today? What role do diplomacy, strategy, and military power play in world affairs? How have non-western peoples and states challenged the power of the West, and with what results? What are the roots of ethnic and religious conflict? And what can we as citizens do to address truly global problems? Drawing on examples from 20th Century world history, this course introduces you to world politics and the great debates of our time.
Global Slavery
Investigate global slavery as an historic phenomenon and a current reality. How is it that after the great emancipation movements of the 19th century and the International Geneva Convention (1926) outlawing slavery there are still 27 million slaves and counting? This course argues that any critique of globalization requires an understanding of why it has taken several millennia for anti-slavery law to emerge and why such legislation continues to have limited reach and effectiveness. It argues that there is no modernity and no globalization without slavery. Explore this problem by asking a basic question: By what techniques, abstract and concrete, do masters make themselves as visible by constructing slaves as invisible? With film viewings, carefully selected readings, debates and group projects, you will be led to make your own connections to these themes, and to consider global slavery as part of the past and the present.
War & Peace
Total war, weapons of mass destruction, genocide. These were not solely inventions of the twentieth century nor are they the natural consequences of a violent human nature. Leaders,
armies, and the strategies they pursue are rooted in their social and political context. Weapons
are the products of not merely technological but also historical and cultural development. Battles
occur on a political and historical terrain. Learn how ancient ideology, medieval technology, modern propaganda, and more have changed how humans wage war and make peace.
World Regions and Cultures: Diversity & Interconnections
How does the process of globalization impact people in different culture regions? Explore this central question through readings, discussions, mapping exercises, field trips to Philadelphia sites and special events that celebrate the international flavor of the city. Focusing on four regions, we will learn how people cope with environmental problems like desertification, population growth, rapid migration to cities, and ethnic and religious clashes. We will investigate why some areas are mired in poverty and violence while others experience a growing economy and peaceful politics. For each region we will read case studies illustrating both cultural continuity and change.
Society in Literature & Film
Learn about a particular national culture--Russian, Indian, French, Japanese, Italian, for example, each focused upon in separate sections of this course--by taking a guided tour of its literature and film. You don't need to speak Russian, Hindu, French or Japanese to take one of these exciting courses, and you will gain the fresh, subtle understanding that comes from integrating across different forms of human expression. Some of the issues that will be illuminated by looking at culture through the lens of literature and film: Family structures and how they are changing, national self-perceptions, pivotal moments in history, economic issues, social change and diversity.
Religion in the World
Learn about the major religious traditions found worldwide today: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and several indigenous traditions. Examine the beliefs, practices, and values of these groups in order to understand the worldviews and ways of life of the people who practice them. Our interdisciplinary analysis and interpretation of specific examples of religious experience will help shed light on the overall meaning of religion and human existence. We will carefully consider examples while also focusing on particular thematic issues, like
cosmology and ritual. Develop appreciation for the religious vibrancy and diversity that exist in human cultures while you actively engage in the learning process through class presentation, class participation, paper-writing, and a self-selected field trip.
World Affairs
We live in a global age when events beyond our borders significantly affect our lives. Sharpen
your understanding of international developments, including wars, economic globalization,
wealth and poverty, the spread of democracy, environmental degradation, and global pandemics. This course offers an introduction to the study of world affairs that gives you the conceptual tools to deepen your understanding of how major historical and current trends in the world affect your life and that of others around the globe. Readings include historical documents, classic texts in the study of international relations, and current perspectives on the state of the world from multiple disciplinary perspectives.
Development and Globalization
Use historical and case study methods to study the differences between rich and poor nations and the varied strategies available for development in a globalizing world. Examine the challenges facing developing countries in historical and contemporary context and analyze the main social, cultural, and political factors that interact with the dynamic forces of the world economy. These include imperialism/colonialism, state formation, labor migration, demographic trends, gender issues in development, religious movements and nationalism, the challenges to national sovereignty, waves of democratization, culture and mass media, struggles for human rights, environmental sustainability, the advantages and disadvantages of globalization, and movements of resistance.
War in Hazelton
The United States border with Mexico is 2,000 miles long, stretching from San Diego, CA to Brownsville, TX. Every year between 200,000 and 400,000 immigrants attempt to cross this border illegally. An estimated 12 million undocumented aliens live in the United States already. Does this influx of Mexicans, Central Americans and South Americans amount to a serious threat? Though close study of how one small, quiet Pennsylvania town reacted to a sudden influx of 10,000 Spanish-speaking laborers, and with the aid of film, field-trips, guest speakers, fiction and poetry, we will explore global immigration issues.
Gender in World Societies
Learn about the history of feminine and masculine gender roles from comparative and international perspectives. Using case studies from Ancient Greece, Medieval Europe, West Africa, Victorian Britain, Modern Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, and/or Latin America, we will explore certain a themes--The State, The Sacred, Work, The Family, The Body and Sexuality, Modern Revolutionary Movements--to investigate how gender and gender roles have changed over time, and their significance today. Readings include primary sources written both by men and by women, secondary sources, novels, and films.
Advertising and Globalization
Explore the current global scope and reach of advertising in our connected, digital age. Study major interdisciplinary themes related to the spread of consumerism, self and social identity, global consciousness, and cross-cultural effects as a result of the worldwide spread of advertising as part of the free market system. Particular attention is given to cross-cultural issues related to cultural imperialism, legal and societal constraints, ethical questions, universal values and green marketing. Course work includes comprehensive survey of print and broadcast advertising found in other countries.
Women in Modern Bengali Film (Honors)
We will discuss the work of contemporary Bengali film directors, as also that of a few non-Bengali directors of parallel and diasporic cinema, with a particular focus on culturally constructed roles for women in the Indian social context. The several films that we view in class, to analyze women's movements out of such prescribed spaces into more liberating ones, will focus on assault; incest as taboo; the predicaments of the subaltern, the prostitute, and the widow; and the more recent issue of immigration. How do questions we raise in our course intersect with current international discussions of the treatment of women and class in film? Is the work done by women's activist groups changing entrenched perceptions of gender worldwide and, thus, representations of women in film? What is the impact of significant events in Indian colonial and postcolonial history on women? How do key concepts addressed by major Western thinkers such as Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud affect depictions of women in cinema? You will look up websites on cinema and do group oral presentations to engage directly with these questions.
World Performances
Dance, puppetry, theater, opera; these are performance forms that are part of the cultures of the world. From the earliest religious rituals to modern interpretations of ancient traditions, performances are as varied and diverse as the cultures from which they arise. You are probably familiar with performances arising from western cultures, but the Noh Drama of Japan, the Water Puppetry of Viet Nam, the Koothu Patari folk performances of India, the Bejing Opera in China, the Caoperia Martial Arts performances of Brazil--these might be new to you. Explore world performances through live class presentations, lectures, video and attendance at international performances in Philadelphia. You might also have the chance to perform yourself!
State and Society
Examine the changing relations between governments and the people they govern during times of conflict. Starting with the rise of absolutism and the tradition of paternalism in early modern Europe, we will then look at the changes that occurred during the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. Following that, we will look at nineteenth-century developments in both Europe and the United States, with particular interest in the tradition of rural radicalism. We will end by looking at two relatively recent issues: the anti-war movement and the government response during the Vietnam War; and the changes in the role of the state which have followed the events of September 11. Throughout, we will trace two aspects of the changing relationship between the state and its citizens: on the one hand, the increasing intervention of the state in everyday life; and on the other, the increasing role of civil society and public criticism.
Latin American Media
From the music of J-Lo and Skakira to the style of the TV show Ugly Betty to Bart Simpson's bad Spanish (no problemo!), Latin American influences are increasingly evident in U.S. media and culture. The influence goes both ways: U.S. media and culture have had great impact in Latin America. This class focuses on Latin American media as key institutions within the region and also as they interact with the United States. Media systems are so intertwined with society that understanding them requires understanding where they come from, so we will look at Latin America itself first--where is it? what are its characteristics? The class will then examine Latin American media and the ways that Latin American people have reacted to U.S. influence. We will also explore the growing presence of Latino media in the U.S. and in Philadelphia.
Literature & Culture of Central Europe (Honors)
Through the study of literature, film, and the East European artistic avant-garde, explore a broad and diverse cultural history that extends from the Hapsburg empire to two World Wars, communism, and beyond. Some of the issues to be examined include: What is Central Europe? Where is it? What makes this historical/cultural landscape different from Western Europe? We will also examine the devastation of the World Wars, anti-Semitism, Stalinist-oppression, and ethnic hatred on the culture and literary traditions of this region. Films from Central Europe provide a valuable medium to convey a constructed visual narrative, and we will use them in conjunction with literary texts to gain a deeper insight into the complex reality of this region.
OPTION: Connecting GLOBALIZATION across GenEd areas.
GenEd has several connecting themes:
- Globalization
- The Philadelphia Experience
- Sustainability
- Community-Based Learning
Students will have the option of choosing courses in any of these themes, giving them a sense of how different courses are inter-related, asking similar central questions, using similar methods for problem-solving. The connecting theme system allows students to integrate their studies across the entire GenEd program.
At present, the courses outside the World Society area connecting to the theme of globalization are (by area):
ARTS
Theater & Society in Ancient Greece
The Art of Sacred Space
World Musics & Cultures
Art in Cultural Context
Transnational Cinema (Honors)
RACE AND DIVERSITY
Ethnicity & the Immigrant Experience
Politics of Identity in America
Dimensions of Diversity: What’s Brewing in the Melting Pot?
Race in the Ancient Mediterranean
Race & Poverty in the Americas
The American Dream: Hearing the Immigrant Voice
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Sustainable Design
Sustainable Environments
Powering the Future
The Environment
U.S. SOCIETY
Education in the Global City
Urban Dynamics: Global, Regional, and Local Connections
People, Places & the Environment
HUMAN BEHAVIOR
Language in Society
Asian Behavior & Thought
Human Ecology
