International Studies
Note: This page contains all of the regular courses taught by this department. Not all courses are offered every year. Check the searchable schedule to see which courses are being offered in the upcoming semester.
INST 121 Globalization and Migration-at Home
Credit: 0.5
This course explores the ways in which global migration and international trade influences cultural, social, and political perceptions. We will begin by studying the scholarship on globalization and migration, using, for example, Robin Cohen's Global Diasporas and James Clifford's Routes. We will also read about experiences like the ones Amitav Ghosh describes in In an Antique Land. Then we will examine some of the economic statistics and conflicting arguments about the effects of globalization and migration. Sources will include books such as Nigel Harris's Thinking the Unthinkable: The Immigration Myth Exposed, documents such as "Policy Matters Ohio: International Trade and Job Loss," and a proposal to increase trade links between northeast Ohio and India. In the last section of the course, we will carry out research projects on globalization in Ohio. Using oral histories of immigrant communities, externships with Ohio chambers of commerce, and media research, students will explore a range of issues that address the cultural, social, and economic influences of the global society at home. This course is open only to first-year students. No prerequisites.
INST 131 China in Transition
Credit: 0.5
In this first-year seminar we will explore the exploding changes in China over the last twenty years. China provides an excellent introduction to the steamroller effects of globalization, since the country came equipped with a very strong, capable government whose leaders were committed to containing even the smallest noneconomic changes related to its market transition. As those leaders have discovered, however, there is no way to "let in the breeze without the mosquitoes": the government has not been able to devise a "screen" to keep out influences that have profoundly changed China's politics, economics, and society. Economic and cultural globalization has transformed every aspect of Chinese society today. Religious, political, environmental, and economic protests shake the country every month, and the number of protests is skyrocketing. Pornography, prostitution, and divorce are on the rise, disrupting social life. New wealth is accompanied by destabilizing inequalities. New development, which has given some Chinese a lifestyle rivaling that of European royalty, has produced dislocation and devastation for others. From televisions and fax machines in the 1980s to the Internet in the new century, globalization has unequivocally ended China's isolation. Our focus will be on the specific transitions as well as on the universality of globalization. Students will be expected to actively participate in class and help shape discussion. Primary research on the Internet will constitute a large part of the requirements. Open only to first-year students.
Instructor: Mood
INST 201 The Expansion of International Society
Credit: 0.5
This course explores the evolution of modern international society from its historical roots in long-distance trade systems and empires up through recent globalization. We will examine the roles of industrialization, capitalism, nationalism, individualism, and other elements of modernity in propelling and directing the flow of wealth, people, and ideas between different regions of the world. In addition to studying general political and economic changes, we will consider various local and personal perspectives, giving life to otherwise abstract forces and complicating attempts to construct a single overarching narrative of "modernization," "Westernization," or "development." Among the issues to be examined are the causes and effects of international economic disparities, migration, cultural tensions, and stresses on the environment. In surveying major viewpoints and illustrative cases within these themes, the course is meant to serve as an introduction to international studies, utilizing a variety of academic disciplines and providing a foundation for further study of relations between different nations and peoples of the world. As part of the course, students will complete a research paper related to the geographic area where they plan to go for their off-campus experience. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or permission of the instructor. Offered every year.
INST 401 Senior Seminar: Contemporary Global Issues
Credit: 0.5
This seminar will examine some of the problems inherent in cross-cultural comparison and will explore the ways in which a variety of disciplines grapple with these difficulties by investigating contemporary themes in international affairs. These themes will include some or all of the following: (1) ethnic conflict; (2) comparative perspectives on development; (3) religion and socioeconomic development; (4) contemporary environmental problems; (5) the ethics of armed intervention; (6) the emergence of a world popular culture and its consequences for national cultures; (7) the challenges of democratization; and (8) perceptions of the United States, Americans, and U.S. foreign policy abroad. Open only to international studies majors with senior standing. Offered every year.
INST 493 Individual Study
Credit: 0.25-0.5
Individual study is available to students who want to pursue a course of reading or complete a focused research project on a topic not regularly offered in the curriculum. This option is available only in exceptional circumstances and must involve international studies, rather than subjects more suitable for a particular department. To qualify, a student must prepare a proposal in consultation with a member of the international studies faculty who has suitable expertise and is willing to work with the student over the course of a semester. The two- to three-page proposal should include: a statement of the questions to be explored, a preliminary bibliography, a schedule of assignments, a schedule of meetings with the supervising faculty member, and a description grading criteria. The student should also briefly describe prior coursework that particularly qualifies him or her to pursue the project independently. The program director must approve the proposal. The student should meet regularly with the instructor for at least the equivalent of one hour per week. The amount of graded work should approximate that required in 300- or 400-level social science or humanities courses. Students should plan to read 200 pages or more a week and to write at least thirty pages over the course of the semester. Students are urged to begin discussing their proposals with the supervising faculty member and the program director the semester before they hope to undertake the project. The program director must receive proposals by the third day of classes.
INST 497Y Senior Honors
Credit: 0.5
The Honors Program is designed to recognize and encourage exceptional scholarship and to allow able students to do more independent work than is otherwise feasible. The senior honors candidate works with members of the International Studies faculty to prepare an extended essay (thesis) on a topic of mutual interest, which is defended before an outside examiner in May. Note: students standing for honors also take the senior seminar.