ABOUT THE PROGRAM

The Global & Cultural Studies (GCS) major introduces students to the world of the 21st century by encouraging them to explore contemporary problems and issues from a number of different perspectives and points of view. The Global & Cultural Studies major offers students an opportunity to concentrate on a specific area of interest within a broad interdisciplinary framework. Selecting one of the four areas of concentration—national/ transnational institutions, culture, geographical area, and issues—then structures the sutdent's pathway through the major.

  • National/Transnational Institutions examines the role and function of political, economic or other institutions in the global context. It could include a focus of any of the following: nation states, corporations, NGOs, international organizations, or other non-state actors.
  • Culture enables student to explore the changing face of cultural and social institutions in the 21st century. It could include a focus on gender, kinship, marriage, demographics, or other cultural patterning.
  • Geographical Area allows the student to explore the impact of multiple forces of globalization within a specific geographical region, i.e., Latin America, Asia, or Europe.
  • Issues allows for in-depth exploration of a particular social or environmental issue. Examples include human rights, terrorism, AIDS/ health, environment, population, refugees, sustainability, intellectual property, etc.

Students begin with an introductory course on globalization that explores the concept from multiple points of view (historic, political, economic, sociological) and interrogates its impact on particular countries and cultures. Students should select their concentration in the sophomore year as this decision will guide all other curricular decisions, including the selection of the methods course, electives, cultural immersion units and the paper in the major. In the junior year students in the major will participate in a cultural immersion experience, preferably a semester-long study abroad, in order to get first-hand knowledge of their area of concentration. A senior capstone seminar enables students to integrate study abroad/cultural immersion experience with their culminating research project.