The following courses are listed by academic area. Students are required to take one course from each of THREE different areas. (Level three courses may be substituted provided pre-requisites have been satisfied.)
HST 235 (3 CREDITS)
When Worlds Collide: Race and Empire in America 1776-1914
Underlines the expansionist nature of American society from independence to the First World War and the effect which this has had not only on peoples both sides of the colonial frontier but also upon the development of modern American history. Particular emphasis will be placed on the origins of this early empire (economic, racist, and religious) as well as the relationship between Anglo-Americans and American-Indians, Chicanos, Blacks, Hawaiians, Cubans, Filipinos and early European immigrant groups within the United States.
HST 236 (3 CREDITS)
From Versailles to Vietnam: The United States and the World
Provides an understanding of some of the major issues and themes which underlie the development of the United States from WWI to the end of the Cold War. Particular attention is paid to the emergence of the United States as a global superpower, the consequences of such a rise to dominance, including the means by which America has projected its newly acquired power globally: financially, diplomatically and militarily.
HST 277 (3 CREDITS)
The Birth of the Modern World: The Enlightenment
An introduction to the themes and debates that have constituted modern thought and consciousness: nature, religion, science, progress, education, gender, and the public sphere. These themes are explored through critical reading of key texts by Locke, Rousseau, Diderot, Voltaire, Kant, and through contemporary visual representations and modern visual media. Students debate the role of reason in science and religion; the centrality of knowledge and education to the development of the enlightened individual; and the importance of sociability, politeness, and conversation in the formation of the secular system of values which shaped modern society. The course is designed to be interactive, with lectures, seminars, class presentations, and class visits to relevant exhibitions.
LIT 200 (3 CREDITS)
Ways of Reading
Tackles questions such as: How do modern methods of literary and cultural analysis help international readers develop their capacity for pleasure and independent judgement? Why study literature at all? What is involved in the ways we read different kinds of writing? Students are involved in classroom activities and problem solving exercises. The texts range widely across cultures.
Prerequisite: ENG 215.
LIT 210 (3 CREDITS)
Voices of Exile in Film and Literature
This course will introduce students to a wide variety of visual and textual fictions that explore the concepts of exile, migration and displacement. Works will be studied within their historical, political and cultural contexts and ideas relating to language, memory and home will be considered.
Prerequisite: ENG 115. Pre- or Co-requisite: ENG 215
LIT 280 (3 CREDITS)
Literary Studies
Introduces a variety of ways of thinking with and about literature. It studies six texts from different periods and cultures. They are chosen to “speak to each other” in a variety of ways, to encourage a variety of critical approaches and to promote awareness of the many overlapping contexts in which they can be situated. The course aims to increase the student’s capacity for pleasure and independent judgement and to prepare literature majors for Upper Division work.
Prerequisite: ENG 215.
MSC 252 (3 CREDITS)
Worlds of Music
This course aims to introduce students to the study of contemporary non-western popular music. This music, often derived from traditional ‘folk’ forms and originating in cities such as Kingston, Havana, Sao Paulo or Kinshasa, is just as likely to be heard today on the streets and in the clubs of ‘global cities’ such as London and New York. This course investigates these urban, culturally hybridized forms of popular music as representative manifestations of 21st century cultural globalization.
PHL 203 (3 CREDITS)
Introduction to Philosophy
An introduction to major concepts in the study of philosophy. Students are introduced to traditional philosophical debates such as the mind/body problem and the issue of free will. In the process of introducing students to the processes of philosophical analysis, the course covers the basic ideas of several of the main figures in the history of Western philosophy including Aristotle, Descartes, and Locke.
Although languages are not taught on the Richmond campuses in London, transfer credit of university-level language study will be considered on a case-by-case basis for fulfillment of the Level II core curriculum requirement in Languages. The course must be the equivalent of the second stage of an intermediate university-level language course.
INR 203 (3 CREDITS)
Introduction to International Relations
Examines the fundamental history and concepts that aid understanding of international relations. The course surveys the emergence of the modern states system and studies main features of the international system since 1945. It covers relations between rich and poor countries, factors that influence foreign policy making and the impact of non-state actors on world politics. Theories about international relations and the increasing globalization of world affairs are explored.
INR 210 (3 CREDITS)
The Evolution of International Systems
This course is designed to be a study of the evolution, and gradual development, of the European ‘states’ system. It will provide a comparative cultural, economic, historical, and political analysis of how international systems have evolved and functioned, illustrating the ways in which ‘states’ interact with one another within systems. It will begin with the fall of the Roman Empire in Western Europe, move through to the early European systems of the medieval period, on to the wars of religion of the sixteenth century, the defeat of Napoleon in 1813, and end with the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. This course will analyse the development of European international systems, the methods via which they were spread, and examine the elaborate rules and practices that regulate them.
Prerequisite: HST 101 or HST 102.
PLT 202 (3 CREDITS)
Comparative Political Systems
Examines the political experience, institutions, behavior and processes of the major political systems. It discovers uniformities and differences, by examining first the history of relevant countries, then their political institutions and lastly contemporary politics in these countries.
PLT/SCL 206 (3 CREDITS)
Rich World, Poor World
Provides students with an introduction to development studies, seeking to explain both the existence of and persistence of a Poor World from a political, sociological, historical and economic perspective. The course addresses numerous issues as they affect the Poor World, and studies relations both within and between Poor World and Rich World. Topics include colonialism and postcolonialism, processes of industrialization, food security, inequality, nationalism, aid, democratization, and conflict, as well as an introduction to theories of development.
PLT 222 (3 CREDITS)
Major Political Thinkers
This course provides students with an introduction to political thought and political philosophy, as it has developed in the Western World since the time of the ancient Greeks until the end of the 19th Century. The origins of modern political thought – totalitarian, liberal, realist, feminist, socialist, conservative, democratic and post-modern – are discovered through the study of a range of major political thinkers, including Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Burke, Wollstonecraft, Marx, Mill, and Nietzsche..
PSY 202 (3 CREDITS)
Introduction to Psychology and Culture
Looks at the relationship between psychology and culture by investigating the philosophy and methodology of cultural comparisons. The course focuses on what we can learn from relating the study of culture to psychology; topics covered include: moral development, patterns of parenting, perception and memory, values, prejudice and stereotypes.
PSY 205 (3 CREDITS)
Social Psychology
Focuses on the experiences and behavior of the individual in the social world of relationships, media influences, group pressures and prejudices and cultural and gender stereotypes. Students are introduced to major research findings in each area and are encouraged to discuss a range of explanations for social issues of personal and topical interest.
SCL 202 (3 CREDITS)
Religion, Magic and Witchcraft
Examines how religion influences the way in which we view the world, why many peoples of the world practice magic, and the phenomenon of ‘witchcraft’. The course investigates religion as a cultural system that generates symbolic meanings and creates ways of understanding how the world works. We will examine religion as a human cultural universal by exploring the ways in which it is practiced in many different parts of the world, including an exploration of magic and witchcraft as part of religious practice.
SCL 210 (3 CREDITS)
Gender and Culture
An introductory course that investigates how male and female differences can be interpreted across a range of cultural variables. The rich resources of international literature and film will be used to illuminate how individual voices reflect these differences on both a local and a global level.
