Approved Courses

The term ‘globalization’ has become popular only over the past quarter century, since about 1990. By the end of the 20th century a decade later, ‘globalization’ had become one of the dominant terms for academic analyses, in the social sciences as much as in studies of culture, literature, film, media, ecology the arts and so on.

It is also true, though, that the United States has been the world’s most globalized country in its very formation, with settlers and slaves arriving in the earliest phase, followed by migrants and refugees from all corners of the world over centuries, mostly at the expense of the original indigenous population. ‘Globalization’ can then be seen not as a phenomenon of just recent origin but as something much older that begins with the beginning of Europe’s world-wide colonial expansion several centuries ago.

The course will be structured along these two emphases: (1) the historical processes that account for long-term but very unequal social, cultural and economic integration of the world across continents; and (2) the historical changes unfolding over the past few decades which are now seen as the main features of contemporary globalization. In other words, globalization is seen not as a static contemporary condition but a dynamic process involving continuous change.


Days: TU TH  03:30-04:50 PM

Today "anti-political" sentiments are common globally: the sense that elections, legislative processes, and political candidates are inadequate, irrelevant, or even harmful to societies. In this class we'll explore the various things that these sentiments can mean in contemporary discourse, media, and literature. Anti-political stances may be part of neo-fascism and can express disdain for any aspiration to justice. They influence the rise of so-called "strong man" figures like Trump, Duterte, and Modi. They can also, separately, reflect legitimate discontents with what passes for justice and the desire for something better than just being governed. Marx was a critic of "politics." Direct action activism bypasses calling your congressman in favor of doing something ourselves. In many rural and urban areas social organization operates somewhat independently from national government; a political system is not an inevitable way of organizing community life. How should we think about aversion to politics in connection with racial, gendered, and sexual justice today, and in various parts of the world? The class will emphasize guest lectures, media, critical theory, feature films and documentaries, possibly including  Martin Scorcese's Taxi Driver, Sky Hopinka's Dislocation Blues (about Standing Rock), and Wang Bing's Three Sisters (a documentary located in Yunnan). As well as a midterm and final, requirements emphasize oral and written participation and collaboration in a friendly relaxed atmosphere.


Days: MO WE  05:00-05:50 PM

This course is a survey of modern Korean society and culture.  We will examine and interpret the meaning of Korean social and cultural institutions.  Topics of discussion include family and gender relationship, multiculturalism, religion and ritual, popular culture, colonialism, war, national division, industrialization, social movement, globalization, and culture industry.  We will also briefly explore life and society of North Korea.

Cross-listed:
same as 64640 Intl St 179, Lec G)
Days: MO WE  11:00-11:50 AM

Through an examination of various texts, including theory, historiography, ethnography, and literature, this course will explore the possibility of “Korea” as a necessarily postnational imaginary in that it transcends the very paradigm of nationalism, which as a political doctrine aspires to consolidate a people within a predefined territory and ideological matrix. Scholars have used the expression postnational to refer to forms of social belonging that counteract the ideological and geopolitical expectations of the nation-state. Yet, by invoking the notion of postnational to describe the emergence of global Koreanness, this of course is not meant to suggest that the national is no longer relevant, that it has somehow been transcended by the macro-processes of globalization, or that official criterion of state recognition, including documents ranging from passports to birth certificates, have been rendered obsolete. Indeed, the national remains so central to social belonging in many Korean communities, whether in Korea “proper” or in global Koreatowns, such as those in Los Angeles, Beijing, or New York. This course, therefore, considers the ways in which the “national” is inflected in various everyday social practices, but also the ways in which nationness can be said to emerge, in some cases, more prominently than it does in the ostensibly originary point of Korea.

Cross-listed:
(same as 23450 English 105, Lec A;   26280 GlblClt 103B, Lec A;   and 60320 Anthro 139, Lec D)
Days: TTH  12:00-12:00 AM

Literary theory from Plato on. Focus on the way that the question of "the literary"--once posed correctly--frustrates any and all attempts to theorize it. Texts by Plato, Aristotle, Longinus and their "modern" inheritors. Two exams.
Days: TU TH  12:30-01:50 PM

This course will take up the topic of work from a variety of different angles. We will read the writings of several important theorists of work, including John Locke and Karl Marx. In these readings, we will try to figure out both how Locke and Marx understand work to organize the social relations among people and also what they understand the “opposites” of work to be. We will also read some poetry about work from poets ranging from William Wordsworth to Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The heart of the course centers on our engagement with one of the strangest novels about work ever written, Frank Norris’s McTeague, which tells the story of dentist whose practice and relationship with his wife complicate the process of transforming work into money. We will conclude by viewing the 1982 musical version of Studs Turkel’s classic of literary journalism, Working.
Days: TU TH  11:00-12:20 PM

(same as 29932 Lit Jrn 103, Lec B)

This course aims to be a survey of nonfiction writing about race in the United States of America, from the 19th century to the present. We will examine how writers have tackled issues of racial inequality and discrimination, and constructed narratives centered on the lives of people of color in various nonfiction genres: journalism, investigative reporting, essays, criticism and memoirs. Readings will include works by W.E.B Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, Octavio Paz, Carey McWilliams, Luis Alberto Urrea, Ta-Nehisi Coates and others. As a final requirement, students will produce their own work of cultural criticism or reportage.
Days:   12:00-12:00 AM

Through an examination of various texts, including theory, historiography, ethnography, and literature, this course will explore the possibility of “Korea” as a necessarily postnational imaginary in that it transcends the very paradigm of nationalism, which as a political doctrine aspires to consolidate a people within a predefined territory and ideological matrix. Scholars have used the expression postnational to refer to forms of social belonging that counteract the ideological and geopolitical expectations of the nation-state. Yet, by invoking the notion of postnational to describe the emergence of global Koreanness, this of course is not meant to suggest that the national is no longer relevant, that it has somehow been transcended by the macro-processes of globalization, or that official criterion of state recognition, including documents ranging from passports to birth certificates, have been rendered obsolete. Indeed, the national remains so central to social belonging in many Korean communities, whether in Korea “proper” or in global Koreatowns, such as those in Los Angeles, Beijing, or New York. This course, therefore, considers the ways in which the “national” is inflected in various everyday social practices, but also the ways in which nationness can be said to emerge, in some cases, more prominently than it does in the ostensibly originary point of Korea.
Days: TU TH  02:00-03:20 PM

When the French destroyed their monarchy in the Revolution of 1789, they created a republic based on ideas of nationhood and citizenship specifically tied to France, its language and its people -- but with universal inspirations. Students will learn about the tumultuous century, from the reign of Napoleon to the eve of World War I, during which the French forged a nation based on republican principles. Fought over at home and imposed abroad in the French empire, these principles also inspired revolutionaries around the globe. We will study the dynamism of French culture and society that gave France an importance in world history disproportionate to its size. We will end the class by considering the ways in which contemporary developments (particularly the rise of Islam in Europe) have challenged the French republican model elaborated in the nineteenth century.

Topics include: nation building, empire, French universalism, secularism vs. religion in public life, class structures and class relations, the central role of Paris in political and cultural life, relations within the family and between genders, the birth of cinema.
Days: TU TH  02:00-03:20 PM

This course will provide students with a history of work in 20th and 21st century United States, with particular attention to the role of race, gender, and citizenship status in structuring one's position within the working class. The course will focus on three separate but interrelated topics: the rise and decline of labor unions in the United States; workers' activism to prohibit discrimination at work; and the growing role of undocumented workers in the U.S. economy since the 1960s.
Days: TU TH  03:30-04:50 PM

This course aims to be a survey of nonfiction writing about race in the United States of America, from the 19th century to the present. We will examine how writers have tackled issues of racial inequality and discrimination, and constructed narratives centered on the lives of people of color in various nonfiction genres: journalism, investigative reporting, essays, criticism and memoirs. Readings will include works by W.E.B Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, Octavio Paz, Carey McWilliams, Luis Alberto Urrea, Ta-Nehisi Coates and others. As a final requirement, students will produce their own work of cultural criticism or reportage.
Days: MO WE  02:00-03:20 PM

Visit the Logic and Philosophy of Science website for more information.
Days: MO WE  10:00-10:50 AM

This course focuses on influential approaches to the study of religion: not only the “classic” approaches dominant in the 19th and 20th centuries but also post-modern critiques of them from the late 20th century to the present. Theories and methods go hand in hand, since someone’s answer to the theoretical question “What is religion?” will do much to determine the most appropriate method of studying religion. Some theories, adopting the standpoint of an observer, go about explaining religious experience from the perspective of history, economics, sociology, psychology, or some other familiar discipline. Other theories, adopting the standpoint of a participant, regard religion as an irreducible phenomenon, such as an experience of the sacred, although this quest manifests itself differently in different cultures and historical periods.  In general, post-modern critiques aim at exposing the various forms of racial, gender, ethnic, and cultural oppression thought to be implicit in, and perpetuated by, earlier theories of religion.

The course meets a requirement for the major in Religious Studies and satisfies the upper-division writing requirement.
Days: FR  09:00-11:50 AM