Course Catalog

Surveys different strategies of community activism including charity, volunteering, labor and community organizing, and recently emerging global activism with goal of demonstrating how certain strategies challenge existing social relations and arrangements while others typically (and often by design) reproduce them. (General Education Code(s): IS.)

Examines the primary ways in which activists are attempting to resist, provide alternatives to, and/or transform aspects of the food system using social and environmental justice frameworks to evaluate such activism. Topics explored include organic farming, food charity, fair trade, relocalization, and farmworker organizing. Interview only: admission determined at first class meeting. Enrollment limited to sophomores and juniors. Enrollment limited to 25.

Engages with crosscutting ideas and concepts central to the major including constructions of community in social-change efforts and the institutionalization of social movements in third-sector organizations. Deepens students' understanding of the opportunities and obstacles embedded in various avenues of social action. Enrollment restricted to community studies majors.

A practicum to prepare students for field study. Course must be successfully completed prior to the six-month field study. Prerequisite(s): course 10; satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing and Composition requirements; submission of signed Goals and Objectives form and completion of admissions process to the major; signed approval of full-time field study. Enrollment limited to community studies majors.

A practicum in social change work in which the students works for a social change organization on a part-time basis. Concurrent enrollment in course 102 required.

Examines the historical development of and contemporary conditions within U.S. cities by focusing on social and economic restructurings of cities, cultural and political transformations, and spatial reorganizations of the urban landscape. Goal is understanding the changing nature of urban experience. (Formerly course 163.)

Examines how markets operate within the political economy of contemporary capitalism to generate myriad and often chronic forms of economic and social inequality in the United States. Explores different approaches to addressing inequality within the multi-faceted economic justice movement. Enrollment limited to sophomores and juniors. (Formerly course 100E.) Enrollment limited to 25. (General Education Code(s): E.)

Examines origins and growth of Wal-Mart stores as powerful guides to understanding dynamics of contemporary global political economy and, relatedly, the changing fortunes of global social classes. (Formerly course 123.)

Provides an overview of the origins and existing character of major institutions, structures, and dynamics of the global political economy. Examines some social consequences of neoliberalism as well as political responses to it. (Formerly course 168.)

Examines key concepts in agrarian political economy; the historical development of the world food system; and a selection of contemporary issues related to food production, consumption, distribution, and regulation. (General Education Code(s): PE-E.)

Critically examines the construction and representation of the so-called epidemic of obesity, the major explanations for the rise in obesity and the interventions they beget, and the implications of naming obesity as a problem. (Formerly course 145.) (General Education Code(s): PE-H.)

Introduces students to gerontology, the study of aging. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, critically examines the theories, stereotypes, and realities of worldwide demographic transition and considers the many interesting implications for organizing social and personal life. (Formerly course 111.)

Examination of community activism to address health issues: examples are drawn from a range of concerns, e.g., environmental racism, prison conditions, feminist health matters, the AIDS epidemic, violence, and alcoholism. Special attention is given to the social frameworks of health and to the utilization of social and political strategies for improving community well-being. (Formerly course 110.)

Examines concrete aspects of women's health in social and political contexts, including such factors as environmental and occupational health, the role of race and nationality, diverse sexualities and health, American medical care systems, and international comparisons and organizing approaches. (Formerly course 148.)

Examines history, theory, and practice of community gardening, emphasizing contemporary garden projects using the transformative power of direct contact with nature to effect social change. Aims include understanding the nonprofit sector's response to social problems with novel programs and practices. (Formerly course 117.)

Examines system and non-system that is American health care with special attention to inequalities in access, financing, and quality of care. Covers concepts such as equality, fairness, and need as well as community organizing and community building for health. (Formerly course 100M.)

Advanced topics in gender and sexuality in Latin America and Latina/o studies. Analyzes role of power, race, coloniality, national and transnational processes in the production and analysis of genders and sexualities. Materials include memoir, fiction, ethnography, social documentary and history. (Formerly, Gender and Sexuality in Latin America.) (Also offered as Feminist Studies 175. Students cannot receive credit for both courses.) Enrollment restricted to sophomore, junior, and senior community studies majors, or by permission of instructor. (General Education Code(s): CC, E.)

A seminar for students who have completed a full-time field study. Devoted to the systematic analysis of field materials, integrating appropriate concepts and relevant literature, as well as utilizing the experience of other students. Prerequisite(s): satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing and Composition requirements, course 198. Enrollment restricted to community studies majors. (General Education Code(s): W.)

Full-time field study off-campus for which faculty supervision is not in person (e.g., supervision is by correspondence). Prerequisite(s): course 102. May be repeated for credit.