Students pursuing honors in religion enroll in this course.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.
Credits: variable Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: Only Religion Majors Class Restriction: No First-year, Sophomore Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Combines an overview of Russian grammar with an intensive emphasis upon classroom communication and the development of oral skills. In addition to the textbook, students make use of an array of web-based materials ranging from interviews with contemporary Russians, to YouTube videos, to cartoons in order to provide students with a sense for life in Russia today, as well to facilitate rapid acquisition of the language. Students cover the fundamentals of Russian grammar, learn a great deal of vocabulary, and should be able to converse effectively in a variety of everyday situations in Russian.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Combines an overview of Russian grammar with an intensive emphasis upon classroom communication and the development of oral skills. In addition to the textbook, students make use of an array of web-based materials ranging from interviews with contemporary Russians, to YouTube videos, to cartoons in order to provide students with a sense for life in Russia today, as well to facilitate rapid acquisition of the language. Students cover the fundamentals of Russian grammar, learn a great deal of vocabulary, and should be able to converse effectively in a variety of everyday situations in Russian.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:REST 121 or RUSS 101 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
REST 195 - Elementary-Level Russian Language Abroad
Elementary-level language courses taken abroad with a Colgate study group, an approved program, or in a foreign institution of higher learning.
Credits: 1 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Complete the presentation of the fundamentals of the language and focus upon further vocabulary acquisition and developing more advanced conversation and writing skills, as well as real-life Russian in context. Students work through digitized segments of a beloved romantic comedy, The Irony of Fate to greater understand cultural commentary and develop transcription skills.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Students gain additional proficiency in the Russia language by developing more grammar skills and gaining increased proficiency in reading and writing. Oral communication is also emphasized.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:REST 201 or RUSS 201 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements
Examines five Russian wars fought between 1800 and the present: the Napoleonic wars, the Crimean War, World Wars One and Two, and the current conflict in Ukraine. Russia’s modern wars have been particularly (although certainly not uniquely) traumatic, with profound impacts on government and citizen alike. The course examines the ways in which the events leading up to war, wartime conditions, and eyewitness accounts were recorded and internalized by citizens and managed by an autocratic state to create collective historical understandings of events. By analyzing the changing ways in which social hierarchy, gender and exclusivity have been structured during and in the aftermath of war, the course offers an important guide to understanding the emergence of ethno-nationalism in one of the world’s largest and longestlasting multi-ethnic Empires.
Credits: 1 Crosslisted: HIST 245 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Introduces students to a wide range of science fiction literature and film from the 20th century to the present day, with a strong emphasis on works from Russia, the Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe. This region offers some of the most sophisticated works of science fiction, owing to the radical “otherness” of its philosophical and political traditions and the challenges it offers to dominant Western constructions of self, nature, and society. Focusing on philosophical, ethical, and environmental questions, students will discuss such topics as human-machine interfaces and ethics, life-extension and transhumanism, space travel and colonization, and the prospects and perils of the rationally-planned society. Course readings are in English. No prior experience in Russian studies required.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements
Written by an educated elite, eerily self-conscious because of czarist censorship and political repression, 19th-century Russian literature nevertheless confronts many of the crucial concerns of human existence. It often focuses upon characters who are at an existential breaking point because of ideological, spiritual, sexual, or economic pressures. Students read a combination of short stories and novels, concentrating upon canonical “greats” (Pushkin, Lermontov, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Chekhov) but also sampling lesser-known writers, including neglected female authors. By examining literary depictions of such social institutions as warfare, dueling and gambling, courtship and marriage, adultery and spousal abuse, work and leisure, the course emphasizes the relationship between literary text and cultural context. Particular attention is paid to the cultural construction of gender, as well as the relationship between humans and nature. A range of theoretical and critical texts informs discussions, as do film adaptations of certain works. All works are read in translation, but a FLAC section of the course may be offered for advanced Russian language students who are interested in trying to read selections in the original Russian.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
This interdisciplinary course examines and re-examines the Russian revolution(s) through a close study of histories, cultural products, historical roots, later interpretations, and re-imaginings. Beginning with the idealists, nihilists, and terrorists determined to bring the Russian monarchy to an end in the 19th century, students explore history, politics, and culture through a range of genres and media–from the 19th-century Russian realist novel, the political manifesto, the avant-garde film, revolutionary poetry, to the works of seminal historians who have shaped how we “read” the Russian revolution today. Is the revolution over, so to speak? Are we ever finished with an historical event of such monumental consequence? Course requirements include readings, film screenings, local Colgate events, and an excursion to New York City’s Museum of Modern Art.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.
Credits: variable Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: None Liberal Arts CORE: None
REST 295 - Intermediate-Level Russian Language Abroad
Intermediate-level language courses taken abroad with a Colgate study group, an approved program, or in a foreign institution of higher learning.
Credits: 1 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Focuses on developing strong reading and translating skills while also developing students’ command of written and spoken Russian. The course explores some aspects of Russian and Eurasian culture.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:REST 202 or RUSS 202 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Reading, discussion, and writing in Russian. Texts will be from contemporary online sources. Focus is on improving spoken Russian skills. Grammar review will be included as needed for readings.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:REST 202 or RUSS 202 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
The Arctic is one of the most rapidly changing regions of the world today, environmentally, culturally, and politically. Rapid biophysical change occurs here today due to climate change, but equally noteworthy are cultural, social, and political transformations experienced by people living and working in the Arctic. People are under increasing pressure to change along with transformation of their biophysical environments, particularly as new actors express interest in the Arctic as space opening up to global transportation, mineral exploration, and trade and ecotourism. Within geography, interest in Arctic phenomena includes grappling with complex issues related to social and biophysical changes in this region, which often originate beyond the region but have specific meaning for the regions. Students investigate three vibrant areas of Arctic transformation: cultural transformation occurring among indigenous and local peoples, biological and physical transformation of the environment, and political transformation within and related to the region.
Credits: 1.00 Crosslisted:GEOG 323 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements
A study of politics and society in the Russian lands from Kiev to Alexander I. Focuses especially on the rise of the Muscovite state, its cultural diversity, and its preoccupation with trade, treason, and winning wars; the Petrine reforms and Russia’s emergence as a European power; the palace coups; and Catherine II and the Enlightenment.
Credits: 1.00 Crosslisted:HIST 343 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
REST 344 - Imperial Russia and the Soviet Revolution
Russian history from Napoleon’s defeat to the collapse of the Soviet Empire since 1989. Topics studied include the autocracy of Nicholas I, the Great Reforms, the emergence of revolutionary movements, industrialization and a changing society, the revolutions and the Bolshevik 1920s, the rise of Stalinism, and World War II and the Cold War. It concludes with the disintegration of the U.S.S.R. into its component parts.
Credits: 1.00 Crosslisted:HIST 344 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Examines life under tyranny – Soviet and Nazi – as distilled through the fiction of Russian/East European and Jewish writers who experienced it firsthand. An intertwining of political and private life from the inception of a new regime, with many people exuberantly hopeful, through the various stages of acquiescence, resistance, escape, and sometimes death. Readings include Timothy Snyder’s essay On Tyranny, stories, novels, and poems by Chekhov, Mayakovsky, Babel, Vasily Grossman, Kundera, and Nabokov.
Credits: 1.00 Crosslisted:JWST 354 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements
REST 359 - Power in Russia from Grobachev to Putin
Examines the domestic and international politics of the world’s largest country. Students track the weakness and disorder of the chaotic 1990s under Boris Yeltsin, and the birth of a new system on the ashes of Communism. Students examine the rise of Russian power and prestige under Vladimir Putin and his centralizing innovations to strengthen political and economic institutions. The course also considers dissent and protest movements, the national conflicts with internal minorities, as in Chechnya, and projection of power over the post-Soviet “Near Abroad” and the construction of a corporatist-style system that presents new challenges to the global dominance of ideas about democracy and capitalism.
Credits: 1.00 Crosslisted:POSC 359 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.
Credits: variable Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: None Liberal Arts CORE: None
Advanced-level language courses taken abroad with a Colgate study group, an approved program, or in a foreign institution of higher learning.
Credits: 1 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
In this seminar students explore the theoretical, methodological, and linguistic challenges that underlie serious research in Russian and Eurasian studies. In addition to common readings and assignments, each student pursues an individual research topic, updating other seminar participants periodically via presentations and selected readings. By semester’s end each student has produced a substantial research paper that utilizes Russian primary sources appropriately. Students who wish to pursue a thesis topic in the spring will be required to obtain permission from the faculty supervisor and the department to enroll in an independent study in the spring semester following the senior seminar.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: Only Russian, Russian & Eurasian Studies Majors and Minors Class Restriction: Only Senior Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Students pursuing honors in Russian and Eurasian Studies enroll in this course.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.
Credits: variable Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: None Liberal Arts CORE: None
Centered on service learning, where students prepare tax returns for low-income households in Madison and Chenango counties. Includes approximately 10 hours of class meetings and 15-20 hours of community service in the two-county area during the semester. Students work directly with various non-profit organizations. After successful completion of this course, students may participate again but can only receive credit twice.
Credits: 0.25 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: None Liberal Arts CORE: None
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.
Credits: variable Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.
Credits: variable Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
SOSC 405 - Upstate Law Project: Poverty, Law, and Public Policy
Introduces students to the Social Security system, discusses the barriers that low-income and disabled families face in accessing social services and medical care, and introduces students to the following legal topics: legal analysis, legal ethics, Social Security disability law, and legal writing. Students engage in a practicum experience, which involves assisting the instructor, an attorney, with pro bono work helping low-income children (many of whom suffer from psychiatric illnesses) in securing benefits through the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program of the US Social Security Administration. The course practicum takes place at the Utica office of The Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Restrictions: Only students who have completed their Social Relations, Institutions, and Agents area of inquiry requirement can apply. Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.
Credits: variable Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
An introduction to sociology, with special emphasis on American society, using a historical and comparative focus. Introduces students to some of the basic concepts and methods used by sociologists. Students consider a selection of topics: racial inequality, class reproduction, gender roles, work and society, social movements, bureaucracy, and crime and deviance.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No Junior, Senior Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None Formerly: SOAN 101
Examines some of the chief methodological and theoretical approaches used in the social sciences, primarily focusing on Marx, Durkheim, and Weber. In addition to original texts, works of anthropology and sociology are used to integrate the classics with a contemporary focus.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:SOCI 101 (with a grade of C or better) Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None Formerly: SOAN 204
Familiarize students with theoretical and historical perspectives of racial inequality and other ethnic and minority group relationships. The course primarily examines the relationship between racism and the socio-economic and political development of the United States. Course readings, lectures, and discussions are intended to aid students in gaining a clear understanding of the role race and ethnicity have played in shaping contemporary US society as well as the larger social world we live in and to therefore contribute to each student’s self-understanding and to a better understanding of others whose racial-cultural backgrounds are different.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No Junior, Senior Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None Formerly: SOAN 212
Critically investigates how power, privilege, and oppression influence the coming of age experiences of young people from diverse backgrounds. Using sociological theories and intergroup dialogue (IGD) techniques, students grapple with the causes and consequences of inequality in early life. IGD blends theory and experiential learning to promote understanding, communication, and alliance building across differences. Culminates with a portfolio assignment that asks students to develop and co-facilitate an IGD workshop with community members.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
In the modern world, war has usually been thought of as a clash between rival states. But, especially since WWII, much armed conflict has taken place between states and other kinds of entities — national liberation movements, criminal syndicates, warlords, terrorist groups. In an extreme case such as Somalia, states have totally disintegrated. This course asks what the consequences of this change are for our sociological understanding of the nature of warfare. It examines case studies of armed conflict in the present and recent past — Afghanistan, Kashmir, warlordism in West Africa, Northern Ireland, armed leftist movements in Western Europe during the 1970s; and in late colonial period and its aftermath, the Mau-Mau Rebellion, the Algerian war of independence, the Rhodesian War. A particular focus is on treating war as a cultural phenomenon, and to ask questions about the self-understandings of formal and informal military organizations and their consequences.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No Senior Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None Formerly: SOAN 216
This interdisciplinary course explores gender and sexuality as primary markers of social inequality in our society and among the most salient organizing agents of our everyday lives. Course readings span several disciplines, including literature, history, philosophy, sociology, and psychology. Students analyze gender and sexuality using comparative historical and sociological perspectives. Subthemes of the course include culture, socialization, body and performance, intersectionality, essentialism, privilege, resistance, and social change.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No Senior Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None Formerly: SOAN 220
Introduction to concepts, theories, and issues related to mass media and society. Over the last 200 years tremendous changes have revolutionized the nature of mass communication in modern societies. Designed to provide a basic understanding of the nature of mass media and its social significance. It addresses the impact of different types of communication from information exchange, to news, to entertainment, to advertising. Students are introduced to a wide range of media including print, telegraphy, film, recorded sound, radio, television, and digital. This course is about analyzing how media texts are produced; why some messages enter mass media channels and others do not; how these messages affect audiences and how audiences receive them; and the general impact of mass media on contemporary society, culture, and politics.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No Junior, Senior Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None Formerly: SOAN 222
An introduction to international migration, with a focus on post-World War II migration. Geographically, students focus on immigration to the United States from Latin America, where the bulk of post-1965 immigrants come from. Begins by introducing students to basic concepts and approaches related to migration studies. Students further examine different stages in the migration process, including the processes of migration, the adaption/incorporation of immigrants in U.S. society, and the future “assimilation” of their children.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No Junior, Senior Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None Formerly: SOAN 228
SOCI 240 - Fascism and Right-Wing Extremism: A Historical Sociology
The rise of right-wing extremist movements and of their influence within ‘mainstream’ political parties and governments has been a major feature of world politics in recent years. This course deals with these trends in a number of major countries (including the US, UK, Germany and India), examining the various sociological approaches that attempt to explain these movements through analyses of economic change, cultural change, and racial/ethnic ideologies. Centrally, students are asked whether or not there are parallels or continuities between these movements and the historical Fascism of the 1919-1945 period. Students will consider the major theoretical approaches to the study of Fascism and Populism in the sociological literature and survey some key examples of historical Fascist regimes and movements. Students will also study movements, both in the present and the past, which have attempted to oppose right wing extremism, asking whether they comprise a coherent political tradition.
Credits: 1 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No Junior, Senior Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
The words “nature” and “the environment” conjure up visions of wild animals and open landscapes, but are people part of nature, too? This course shows how nature and human culture are intertwined, both in terms of how we shape our environment as well as how it shapes us. Through a series of case studies, students explore this relationship, focusing especially on the way that nature and culture are “political”: inequalities, social problems and movements, and power relations all flow from the way that we interact with our environment. The course takes a global, comparative, and historical view of this process, and includes the following special topics: the rise of environmental awareness and environmental social movements; globalization and environmental values; consumption and the environment; environmental inequalities and justice; risk, technology, and environmental politics; and public policy and the environment.
Credits: 1.00 Crosslisted:ANTH 245 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None Formerly: SOAN 245
SOCI 250 - Sociological Research Design and Methods
Introduces students to both the dominant areas of inquiry in sociology and the methods that have been devised to investigate them. Emphasis in this course is on investigation. Familiarizes students with the methods, techniques, and language of social science research. Focusing on field and survey research, students examine the ways social scientists formulate questions, collect and analyze data, and present their findings. Also concerned with the epistemological underpinnings of “doing sociology.” How do sociologists define “fact” and “truth”? What are the historical and contemporary debates over these concepts? To provide students with a hands-on understanding of concepts and issues, students are expected to collect and analyze original data. Students also do computer statistical analysis of pre-existing databases.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:SOCI 101 or SOAN 101 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year, Senior Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None Formerly: SOAN 210
Mass media is a key set of institutions in modernity that shape our perceptions of the world, with important impacts on what we take to be reality. The media “frames” that structure how media is produced, conveyed, and consumed form the discourses that we use to understand mass politics and culture in our daily lives. This course provides students with the methodological tools to empirically study media frames through content analysis. Content analysis takes the stuff of media, such as music lyrics, news stories, or advertisements, and systematically analyzes the content for the explicit and implicit frames that represent the issues and perspectives conveyed through media. The course provides students hands-on training in content analysis through a series of workshops on content sampling, collection, coding, and analysis that culminate in a final research project. This course meets for the first 7 weeks of the term and may be used to satisfy the 0.50-credit methods requirement for the sociology major.
Credits: 0.50 Crosslisted:GEOG 251 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: Only Geography, Sociology, Environmental Geography Majors and Minors Class Restriction: None Recommended:SOCI 250 (formerly SOAN 210) Area of Inquiry: None Liberal Arts CORE: None
Introduces students to the nature of qualitative social science research using interviews. Interviews are a flexible method of in-person data collection that include a range of structures (from structured surveys to open-ended questions), with varying group sizes (from one to a large focus group), and using multiple methods of eliciting responses (verbal questions, oral history, photo-elicitation, etc.). Students develop a critical perspective on different epistemological approaches to research and analysis within the contemporary social sciences, including issues of generalizability and the validity and reliability of qualitative methods. A series of hands-on original research projects provides students with the skills of interview protocol design, sampling for interview projects, interview facilitation, data management and analysis, and professional communication of research results.
Credits: 0.50 Crosslisted:GEOG 253 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: Only Geography, Sociology, Environmental Geography Majors Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: None Liberal Arts CORE: None
Introduces students to the principles of community-based participatory research within the context of sociology to critically examine the role of power and positionality in the construction of knowledge and difference. Students learn a range of community-based participatory research approaches and reflect on how to form collaborative relationships that incorporate community perspectives and interests in the research process. Students devote time outside of class to work in partnership with local community organizations to carry out a high quality research project that meets a community need. Research projects are identified in collaboration with the Upstate Institute based on community needs and student capacity.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:SOCI 250 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.
Credits: variable Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
An introduction to current theory and research on the role of education in contemporary US society, focusing specifically on higher education. Students will learn how to use a sociological lens to critically examine education as a social institution. This is a research-intensive course that requires students to conduct original empirical research related to inequality in higher education. (RI)
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:SOCI 250 or SOAN 210 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Recommended: Prior completion of at least one research methods course. Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None Formerly: SOAN 303
Urban structures and problems are examined with an emphasis on the ways in which cities are embedded in a broader social and cultural milieu. The traditional concern of the impact of urban development on behavior is juxtaposed to an analysis of current fiscal problems and the potential for cities to grow, stagnate, or collapse.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: (SOCI 201 or SOAN 204) or (SOCI 250 or SOAN 210) Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
The family is a personal, social, and political institution. Students critically consider how a range of historical, cultural, economic, legal and social factors shape our notions of family. Students examine recent family demographic trends and changes in gender roles and ideologies, and in doing so, investigate how and why family forms and decisions are differentiated by social class, race-ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. In addition, students examine the implications of different family formation trends for individual and child-well-being. Finally, students draw on sociological research and perspectives to evaluate how social policies impact families, including same-sex families, poverty and welfare, work-family balance, marriage promotion and father involvement, and sex education and contraception.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: (SOCI 201 or SOAN 204) or (SOCI 250 or SOAN 210) Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Bodies are raced, classed, and gendered, and unequally valued depending on social context and social system. Bodies are regulated and disciplined, through invisible coercion as well as brute force. Yet bodies also resist. Students examine the different social meanings and values human bodies accrue as well as the multiple possibilities of agency and transformation.
Credits: 1 Prerequisites: SOCI 201 or SOCI 250 None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Instead of viewing identities as natural, true or inherent in individuals, students examine the ways that identities are socially produced. Students explore classical and contemporary sociological theorizing about the question of identity, power and privilege in relation to gender, race, class, and sexual identities, and the intersections between these identity categories. Students also examine the role that social institutions (families, schools, religion, media, workplaces, etc.) play in shaping individual identities. The course concludes by looking at the negotiation of, challenges to, and organizing around identities that occur in subcultures and social movements.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Analyzes social structure and social stratification, emphasizing economic class, life styles, differential prestige, and inequality. The theory of social class and its measurement is discussed, and the change and stability of social class is considered. Comparative examples of stratification are examined, although the emphasis is on the American class system.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: (SOCI 201 or SOAN 204) or (SOCI 250 or SOAN 210) Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None Formerly: SOAN 312
SOCI 313 - Environmental Problems and Environmental Activism in the People’s Republic of China
Explores China’s complex environmental issues, their historical roots, and social implications. Also examines the rise of environmental social activism in China. Using pedagogical methods from InterGroup Dialogues (IGD), students are provided with the intellectual tools to analyze issues of power, privilege, and identity and by extension, their own position in the world in relation to these environmental issues. This course is linked to an extended study to China. Students travel to the People’s Republic of China, where they will examine sites of environmental problems, but also meet activists and see their work in progress. The trip will also bring to the forefront some of the issues of power, privilege, and race issues that were discussed in the course.
Credits: 1.00 Crosslisted:ASIA 313 & ENST 313 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements
SOCI 313E - Environmental Problems and Environmental Activism in the People’s Republic of China (Extended Study)
This extended study is linked to the on-campus course SOCI 313. Students will travel to the People’s Republic of China, where they will examine sites of environmental problems, but also meet activists and see their work in progress. The trip will also bring to the forefront some of the issues of power, privilege, and race issues that were discussed in the course.
Credits: 0.50 Crosslisted:ASIA 313E & ENST 313E Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: None Liberal Arts CORE: None
SOCI 313L - Environmental Problems and Environmental Activism in the People’s Republic of China Lab
Examines the rise of environmental social activism in China; the historical, political, cultural, and economic roots of China’s current environmental problems, including deforestation, air pollution, water pollution, and species loss. Students learn theories of environmental justice and explore the rise of environmental activism in the PRC. The course will utilize pedagogical methods from InterGroup Dialogue (IGD) to provide students with the intellectual tools to analyze issues of power, privilege, and identity and by extension, their own position in the world in relation to these environmental issues.
Credits: 1.00 Crosslisted:ASIA 313L & ENST 313L Corequisite:SOCI 313 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: None Liberal Arts CORE: None
SOCI 318 - International Migration, U.S. Immigration, and Immigrants
Introduces students to approaches to the study of international migration, immigrant assimilation and adjustment, ethnic social and economic stratification, and immigration policy formation and analysis. These topics are explored within the historical and contemporary context of the United States and New York. The class considers theoretical perspectives that have been applied to the study of migration as well as approaches used by sociologists and geographers in empirical analyses of US immigration, immigrant populations, and ethnic relations. These analytical issues are considered in detail for immigrant and ethnic groups within New York State and the New York metropolitan community. Finally, students consider the relationships among patterns of immigration and ethnic relations, cultural change, international relations and transnational linkages, and US immigration policy reform.
Credits: 1.00 Crosslisted:GEOG 318 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Food is fundamental — it sustains us and is essential for our survival — but food is more than just what we eat. Food is also a commodity with complex global markets and ecological impacts; it is highly regulated through our political processes and institutions; and it forms a key part of our culture and the social rhythms of everyday life. This course explores these many dimensions of food, focusing especially on key questions about where it comes from, how it is produced, and how it is embedded in our economic, political, and cultural institutions. Students participate in a service learning internship at Common Thread Community Farm in Madison, NY. The course also involves field trips to and guest speakers from local food and farming communities. (CB)
Credits: 1.00 Crosslisted:ENST 319 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: (SOCI 201 or SOAN 204) or (SOCI 250 or SOAN 210) or ENST 232 and students must have an open morning (no other enrolled courses) on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, from 8 a.m. until 12 p.m., in order to accommodate the farm internship component of the course. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements Formerly: SOAN 319
Examines the nature and consequences of deviant behavior in modern society. Students develop an understanding of the historical development of the study of deviance, the main theoretical perspectives on deviance, and some of the substantive concerns in the study of deviant behavior. This includes conceptualizations and definitions of deviance, the emergence and management of deviant identities, deviant careers, deviant subcultures, accounts of deviant behavior, and the social control of deviance. Specific types of deviance studied include substance use, sexual practices, non-violent crime, violent crime, mental illness, and youth subcultures.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:SOCI 201 or SOCI 250 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Uses a social scientific approach to examine the circumstances and dynamics characterizing black communities in the contemporary United States. Key areas of inquiry include the operation of major social institutions shaping community life, social class divisions, health and housing prospects, and the ways that the intersections of racial/ethnic identity, class, and gender shape the experiences of community members.
Credits: 1.00 Crosslisted:ALST 321 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: (SOCI 201 or SOAN 204) or (SOCI 250 or SOAN 210) or ALST 202 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None Formerly: SOAN 321
Introduces students to the uniqueness of sociological perspectives in understanding health care, and the social factors that influence health care. Students employ several levels of analysis: social history, social interaction, work roles, organizations, organizational relationships, and social policy. The framework for this course is that of social organization to show that the social organization of a society influences, to some degree, the type and distribution of disease, illness, and death found in that society. The social organization of a society also influences, to a significant degree, how the system of medical care responds. The values and assumptions underlying the medical definition of health are not necessarily the same as those underlying the sociological definition of health. A focus of the course is to examine race, class, and gender issues that influence the delivery of healthcare in this country. Attention is given to such topics as social epidemiology, the social demography of health, social stress, and illness behavior. Students also review the sick role, doctor-patient interaction, medical health professionals, hospitals and other health care agencies, and the healthcare delivery system in the United States and other countries.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: (SOCI 201 or SOAN 204) or (SOCI 250 or SOAN 210) Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Nationalism is on the rise in the United Kingdom and the United States again, as well as in China, Russia, and elsewhere. But what exactly is nationalism? Why does it arise? And what are its effects on society? Students explore nationalism through case studies, both from history and in today’s news. Students investigate the relationship between nationalism and other social constructions of identity, such as language, religion, ethnicity, and gender. The course also examines contemporary phenomenon undermining nationalism: transnationalism, multinationalism, and globalization.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: (SOCI 201 or SOAN 204) or (SOCI 250 or SOAN 210) Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements Formerly: SOAN 326
Draws on a wide range of theoretical perspectives to understand the enduring appeal of sporting practices, as well as the various processes of conflict, control, and power in and around sport institutions. Students examine major theoretical and empirical work in the sociology of sports in order to better understand the complex relationship between sport and society. Guiding questions include the following: Why do people play sports? Do all people play the same sports in the same ways? Is sport a microcosm of society? To what extent do sports matter in our daily lives? Are sports and politics separate or interrelated? Students examine various topics and issues such as gender and representation, violence and deviancy, sexuality and homophobia, commercialization and college sport, race and inequality, and sport and the media.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: (SOCI 201 or SOAN 204) or (SOCI 250 or SOAN 210) Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Designed to introduce students to the field of criminology, the concept(s) of crime, the dilemmas modern criminologists encounter in conducting research, and the major theoretical perspectives on crime and criminal behavior. Emphasis is placed on sociological determinants of criminal behavior, as well as the functioning of the US criminal justice system.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: (SOCI 201 or SOAN 204) or (SOCI 250 or SOAN 210) Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None Formerly: SOAN 328
Uses a social scientific approach to examine the relationship between race and crime in the contemporary United States, with a particular emphasis on the African American experience. Key areas of inquiry include the nature of mass incarceration, urban crime, the politics of the new law and order regime, the relationship between punitiveness and prejudice, racial profiling, the community-level impacts of mass incarceration, the legitimacy crisis facing the criminal justice system, media depictions of race and crime, and racial stereotyping.
Credits: 1.00 Crosslisted:ALST 330 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: (SOCI 201 or SOAN 204) or (SOCI 250 or SOAN 210) or ANTH 202 Major/Minor Restrictions: Only Sociology & Anthropology, Sociology, Africana & Latin Amer Studies Majors and Minors Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Analyzes the impact of corporations on US society in the context of changing technologies, the growing importance of service industries, and the need to remain competitive in the international economy. Students explore the effects of corporate strategies and decisions on industrial structure, employment, and social welfare.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: (SOCI 201 or SOAN 204) or (SOCI 250 or SOAN 210) Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Takes the human life span as the primary unit of analysis. Individuals live their lives within contexts supplied by an existing social framework. It is this framework that orders transitions between the various stages of life, constructs the various roles that individuals occupy over the course of their lives, and provides the set of historical conditions, ideas, and institutions by which individuals give meaning to their existence. Human lives are characterized by both continuity and change, and each human must negotiate the path of his or her life through a web of institutional networks. These pre-existing frameworks through which individuals travel are subject to the constraints of the past but are also open to possibilities created by each new generation. Understanding this complex relationship can not only broaden our notion of what it means to be human, but take our humanity to new heights as well.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: (SOCI 201 or SOAN 204) or (SOCI 250 or SOAN 210) Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
SOCI 333L - Sociology of the Life Course Field Component/Lab
This community-based learning “field” component, offered on an irregular basis, is an add-on to SOCI 333. It entails a minimum of 20 hours in the “field,” conducting interviews, attending workshops, fulfilling assignments, and constructing a final project in the form of a podcast in partnership with a community-dwelling elder.
Credits: 0.25 Corequisite:SOCI 333 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
What does “globalization” mean, and what does it mean for societies and people facing the onslaught of global corporations? This course examines the phenomenon of globalization from a variety of theoretical perspectives, ranging from neo-liberal economics to cultural anthropology. It analyzes how each of these works defines the causes of globalization and its effects on traditional cultures, community relationships, economic wealth and justice, and political institutions. To put these theoretical works in perspective, interspersed with them will be actual case studies of real people and real communities, ranging from Costa Rican farmers to Thai factory workers, interacting with the forces of globalization. These case studies will allow students to test the abstract analyses and see which theories fit reality.
Credits: 1.00 Crosslisted:ANTH 337 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: (SOCI 201 or SOAN 204) or (SOCI 250 or SOAN 210) Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements
This study of the organization of work in industrialized societies includes the following topics: technology and work; hierarchy and control in the workplace; women, minorities, and work; worker discontent; and the professionalization of work. Special attention is given to the topics of skill and technology, especially with regard to workplace democratization.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: (SOCI 201 or SOAN 204) or (SOCI 250 or SOAN 210) Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Examines the social, cultural, and political underpinnings of economic constructs such as money, the market, consumption, and finance. Students explore how a sociological perspective complements and challenges traditional economic theories. The focus is on the economics of everyday life - consumption, saving, and investing.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: (SOCI 201 or SOAN 204) or (SOCI 250 or SOAN 210) Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
SOCI 348 - Contested identities: Popular Culture in America
Popular culture is an important site for the expression of cultural identity and social conflict in America. This course views popular culture as an essential site in the cultural politics of America that involves the formation of ideas, identities, pleasures, and even desires. A central element in this cultural politics is the contested nature of American identity as well as the contested nature of social identities based on race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality, etc. Students also read theoretical texts that place popular culture and mass media in their social, economic, and political contexts. From conflicts over high art and popular art, to leisure and social class, to race and ethnicity, to film and the spectacle, to gender and the family, to sexuality and deviance, to cultural appropriation, students explore the rich, complex, and fraught history of American popular culture over the last 150 years.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: (SOCI 201 or SOAN 204) or (SOCI 250 or SOAN 210) or (FMST 200) Major/Minor Restrictions: Only Sociology & Anthropology, Sociology, Film & Media Studies Majors and Minors Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None Formerly: SOAN 348
SOCI 355 - Culture, Class, Politics: Social Theory
The course charts the development of social theory since the classical social theorists, with a particular focus on how critical social thinkers have understood inequality and forms of social power. The course gives special attention to the relationship between social thought and its historical-political context, and notably its relationship to labor and anti-colonial movements and the “new social movements.” Central themes in the course include the problems of the idea of “culture”; how much an understanding of “class” can or cannot explain; and the status of notions of ideology, discourse, and materialism in contemporary social thought. Theorists who work may be covered include Gramsci, Norbert Elias, Karl Polanyi, C. Wright Mills, De Beauvoir, Fanon, Said, Bourdieu, Habermas, Stuart Hall, Anthony Giddens, and others.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: (SOCI 201 or SOAN 204) or ANTH 350 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Examines the relationship between power, politics, and social change with a special focus on social movements. It considers questions such as: What leads to social movement? What do social movements do? What are the tools they use? The approach of this course is historical and comparative. It will consider what social movements can tell us about society, and apply key sociological concepts to considerations of collective action. The course will consider the building blocks of social movements from the perspective of a social movement participant, exercising the notion of ‘sociological competence.’ By studying social movements through the perspectives of both scholar and activist, students will gain helpful tools for collective action and social change.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: (SOCI 201 or SOAN 204) or (SOCI 250 or SOAN 210) or
Drawing on theoretical and empirical research, as well as visual media and print news reporting, this course explores gender as a primary market of social inequality in our society and a major impetus for social change. Specifically, students analyze how gendered ideologies, practices, and contexts shape social institutions such as work, family, medicine, sport, military, religion, and the beauty industry. They examine how institutions and bodies become contested sites for gender and sexual politics. The class also pays close attention to how gendered ideologies work in tandem with race, class, and sexual expectations, constraining (and sometimes enabling) bodies and lives. The course encourages students to analyze US culture with a gendered lens.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: (SOCI 201 or SOAN 204) or (SOCI 250 or SOAN 210) or (WMST 202) Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Draws on interdisciplinary research and writings to explore the ways in which the nature, distribution, meanings, and everyday life experiences associated with health, medicine, and illness are shaped by historical, cultural, political, and economic factors. Covering both micro- and macro-sociological terrains, students utilize a gendered lens to critically analyze the construction of gendered medical problems and doctor-patient encounters throughout history, women’s experiences in a male-dominated health care system, and social movements in response to medical injustices.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:SOCI 201 or SOAN 204 or SOCI 250 or SOAN 210 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Uses a social scientific approach to examine the role that the media plays in American politics. Key areas of inquiry include the function of the media in democracy, the news-making process, campaigning through the news, political advertising, media effects, governing through the news, and infotainment/satire.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: (SOCI 201 or SOAN 204) or (SOCI 250 or SOAN 210) Major/Minor Restrictions: Only Sociology & Anthropology, Sociology Majors and Minors Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Since classical times, philosophers and historians have studied and recorded the details of everyday life with an eye to grasping the meaning of social practice. The past 50 years, however, have seen the bourgeoning of an exciting body of critical theory on the quotidian. Much of this work is concerned with profound questions about how the systems, structures, and practices of modernity shape basic human interactions with things, with places, and with other persons, and how these, in turn, reproduce social structures. This course presents sociological and anthropological texts concerned with everyday domesticity, cuisine, gesture, movement, activity, entertainment, talk, schooling, and bureaucracy, and explores the theoretical paradigms of knowledge, practice, and power to which these texts are ultimately addressed.
Credits: 1.00 Crosslisted:ANTH 378 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: (SOCI 201 or SOAN 204) or (SOCI 250 or SOAN 210) Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.
Credits: variable Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
In this capstone seminar for the sociology major, students conduct original sociological research on the topics of their choice. Research projects grounded in sociological theory, review relevant literature on the topics, and collect and analyze data to find their own results. Each student’s project results in a significant thesis paper, through which students learn the process of doing sociological research and writing a sociological article. Seminars focus on a variety of broad topical areas in sociology, depending on the instructor.
Credits: 1.00 When Offered: Fall semester only
Corequisite: None Prerequisites: (SOCI 101 or SOAN 101) and (SOCI 201 or SOAN 204) and (SOCI 250 or SOAN 210) and (SOCI 251 or SOCI 253 or SOCI 254 or ANTH 211) (SOCI 101 with a grade of C or higher) Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: Only Senior Recommended: All Sociology majors should plan to take this course in the fall of their senior year. Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.
Credits: variable Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: None Liberal Arts CORE: None
Serves as a bridge to the Honors Thesis Workshop. Students develop a proposal and collect initial data for a substantive, research-based thesis project, to be completed in
Corequisite: None Prerequisites: (SOCI 101 or SOAN 101) and (SOCI 201 or SOAN 204) and (SOCI 250 or SOAN 210) and (SOCI 251 or SOCI 253 or SOCI 254 or ANTH 211) (SOCI 101 with a grade of C or higher) Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: Only Senior Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
With the guidance of their instructor from SOCI 494 and a topical adviser from among the continuing faculty in sociology, students work to complete the projects begun in SOCI 494.
Credits: 1.00 When Offered: Spring semester only
Corequisite: None Prerequisites:SOCI 494 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: Only Senior Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to seniors who have completed SOCI 494 Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
The SPAN 121,122 sequence invites students to an introductory-level communication with the Spanish-speaking world. In SPAN 121, students become familiar with the mechanics of the spoken and written language while sharing information about themselves and their surroundings. Exercises and projects focus on learning about people, cities and music in Latin American and Spain through basic language structures. Students are strongly encouraged to continue into SPAN 122 to complete the year-long sequence. Language Placement Guidelines
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No Senior Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
SPAN 122 builds upon the skills acquired in SPAN 121 by enhancing mastery of the language through the use of short stories, video and audio exercises, and the exploration of other forms of cultural production in the Spanish-speaking world. Language Placement Guidelines
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No Senior Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
SPAN 195 - Elementary-Level Spanish Language Abroad
Elementary-level language courses taken abroad with a Colgate study group, an approved program, or in a foreign institution of higher learning.
Credits: 1 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Designed to improve the student’s ability to understand, speak, read, and write Spanish. It includes a comprehensive review of grammar, regularly scheduled vocabulary study, conversational practice, short compositions, and laboratory exercises. Language Placement Guidelines
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: Two or three years of high school Spanish or SPAN 121, SPAN 122 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Recommended: Students with more than 3 years of high school Spanish should not register for this course Students with a grade of D+ or below in SPAN 122 are urged to repeat the course before taking SPAN 201. Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
SPAN 202 - Intermediate Spanish: Language and Literature
Continues to improve the student’s ability to understand, speak, read, and write Spanish and emphasizes development of reading comprehension. It includes a review of the more difficult points of intermediate grammar and focuses on the acquisition of skills necessary for the study of literature. Vocabulary study, conversational practice, and short compositions based on readings are included. Instructors will determine eligibility of students with more than 3 or 4 years of secondary school Spanish following review of language background. Language Placement Guidelines
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: Three to four years of high school Spanish or SPAN 201 or equivalent Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Restrictions: Not open to students who receive credit for SPAN 202 by scoring 4 on the AP language exam or 4 on the AP literature exam. Students with more than four years of secondary school Spanish may not register for this course and should select a 300-level course instead. Recommended: Recommended for students who have a good background in grammar but need further training in reading before taking courses at the 350 level. Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements
SPAN 225 - Modern Latin American Literature in Translation
A close study of major modern and contemporary Latin American authors. The literary works are studied in their socio-cultural contexts. Taught in English.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
This course is a close study of the literature written by women in modern-contemporary Latin America. Representative authors are studied within the general framework of their socio-literary contexts. Taught in English.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.
Credits: variable Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
SPAN 295 - Intermediate-Level Spanish Language Abroad
Intermediate-level language courses taken abroad with a Colgate study group, an approved program, or in a foreign institution of higher learning.
Credits: 1 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
SPAN 351 - Spanish Literature: Knights and Troubadours in Medieval Spain
Offers an introduction to Spanish literature from its medieval origins through the 15th century, with emphasis on the relations among literature, culture, and civilization. Works from different genres are studied, including epic poetry, Hispano-Arabic poetry, folk ballads, early theater, historical works, and short stories. Students explore issues of authorship, as well as the cultural, religious, and historical contexts that produced each work. Language Placement Guidelines
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: At least four years of high school Spanish or SPAN 202 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Restrictions: Students who complete a 400-level course may not register for this course. Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
SPAN 352 - Spanish Literature: Love and Honor in the Golden Age
This survey examines the interrelated notions of love, sex, and honor as they appear in the prose, theater, and poetry of Spain. Emphasis is placed on the Renaissance and the Baroque, the so-called Golden Age of Spanish literature (16th and 17th centuries). Language Placement Guidelines
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: At least four years of high school Spanish or SPAN 202 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Restrictions: Students who complete a 400-level course may not register for this course. Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
SPAN 353 - Spanish Literature: Modern Spain in Crisis
Beginning with the loss of the empire in the 19th century and moving through a series of political upheavals, including civil war and fascism, the history of modern Spain has been one of turmoil and continual conflict. The numerous political crises resulted in larger crises of a social, spiritual, and moral nature. Questions of national identity, generational gaps, and gender, as they appear in Spanish literature from the late 19th century to the present day, are the focus of this course. Readings include works of prose, theater, and poetry drawn from a range of literary movements, and emphasis is placed on the socio-historical context and its relationship with literary innovation. Language Placement Guidelines
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: At least four years of high school Spanish or SPAN 202 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Restrictions: Students who complete a 400-level course may not register for this course. Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements
SPAN 354 - Latin American Literature: Illusion, Fantasy, Magical Realism
Through a survey of Latin American literature from its origins through the 20th century, this course examines the many forms of alternative reality that Latin American writers have created and explored. The course relates those realities to the cultural and sociological history of Latin America as well as to larger Western literary modes, such as the Baroque, Romanticism, and Surrealism. Language Placement Guidelines
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: At least four years of high school Spanish or SPAN 202 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Restrictions: Students who complete a 400-level course may not register for this course. Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
SPAN 355 - Latin American Literature: The Many Voices of Latin America
The course explores the diversity of literary voices in Latin America, from pre-Columbian texts to the contemporary writings of Castellanos, Rulfo, and García Márquez. This survey introduces students to the most important developments in Latin American literary history as it examines questions of cultural, ethnic, gender, and class identities. Language Placement Guidelines
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: At least four years of high school Spanish or SPAN 202 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Restrictions: Students who complete a 400-level course may not register for this course. Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements
Structured as an intensive composition class. Emphasis is placed on mastering the fine points of Spanish grammar in order to improve writing skills. In addition to regular class meetings, students are required to attend a series of cultural events, which may include film, theater, etc. Language Placement Guidelines
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: At least four years of high school Spanish, or SPAN 202 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Restrictions: Not open to students with a score of 5 on AP language exam, except by permission of instructor. Must be taken on campus to fulfill major or minor requirements. Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
SPAN 380 - Perfecting Language (Madrid Study Group)
Provides students with a comprehensive review of the finer points of the Spanish language, with an emphasis on fostering near-native pronunciation, correctness of grammar in speech and writing, and the idiomatic use of the language in a variety of contexts. Placement in this course is determined by the Director in consultation with the Santiago de Compostela faculty following the two-week introductory session there.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.
Credits: variable Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Advanced-level language courses taken abroad with a Colgate study group, an approved program, or in a foreign institution of higher learning.
Credits: 1 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
An advanced study of the history, art, theater, and film in Spain. Offered as part of the Madrid Study Group and counts for the Spanish major and minor.
Credits: 1 When Offered: Fall study group
Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None