Courses

How have Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel shaped their senses of personal and collective identity since the early twentieth century? We will explore mental pictures of the land, one’s self, and others in a selection of Israeli Jewish and Palestinian short stories, novels, and films. We will also explore some of the humanistic roots of U.S. involvement in Israeli-Palestinian relations today, particularly in the realm of American initiated bi-cultural youth camps such as Seeds of Peace. Students will enrich our class focus by introducing us to perspectives on Israel/Palestine in their home countries or elsewhere. In translation.

First-year students interested in this program should enroll in this seminar. The course is recommended but not required for the minor and it will count as one of the electives. From cradle to grave, cultural assumptions shape our own sense of who we are. This course is designed to enable American and international students to compare how their own and other societies view birth, infancy, adolescence, marriage, adulthood, and old age. Using children’s books, child-rearing manuals, movies, and ethnographies, we will explore some of the assumptions in different parts of the globe about what it means to “grow up.”

This course will grapple with the issue of immigration and migration from both global and interdisciplinary perspectives. Through several different case studies (including such regions as the Americas, Africa, Europe, and more), taught by faculty from different departments, students will gain a deeper understanding of one of the burning issues of our time.

Have you just returned from Asia, Africa, Europe, or South America? This course is an excellent way to keep in touch with the culture (and, when appropriate, the language) you left behind. Relying on magazines and newspapers around the world, students will discuss common topics and themes representing a wide array of regions. You may choose to read the press in the local language, or read English-language media about your region, meeting once each week for conversational exchange. (Language of conversation is English.)

In an era when AI tools can produce a translation that is indistinguishable from the work of a professional translator, what role is left for humans? In this course students study the history and theory of translation, while gaining practical experience in literary translation. Topics include the visibility of the translator, questions of identity, authority, and power, and challenges to Eurocentric traditions of translation. Students will become familiar with available translation tools and practice using them ethically and effectively in a workshop setting. The final project will be an annotated translation into English of a literary text of the student’s choice.

How can it be that a single text means different things to different people at different times, and who or what controls those meanings? What is allowed to count as a “text” in the first place, and why? How might one understand texts differently, and can different forms of reading serve as resistance or activism within the social world? Together we will respond to these questions by developing skills in close reading and discussing diverse essays and ideas. We will also focus on advanced academic writing skills designed to prepare students for comps in their own humanities department.

Travelers write. Whether it be in the form of postcards, text messages, blogs, or articles, writing serves to anchor memory and process difference, making foreign experience understandable to us and accessible to others. While examining key examples of the genre, you will draw on your experiences off-campus for your own work. Student essays will be critiqued in a workshop setting, and all work will be revised before final submission. Some experimentation with blended media is also encouraged.

What do enculturation, tourism, culture shock, “going native,” haptics, cross-cultural adjustment, and third culture kids have in common? How do intercultural transitions shape identity? What is intercultural competence? This course explores theories about intercultural contact and tests their usefulness by applying them to the analysis of world literature, case studies, and the visual arts, and by employing students’ intercultural experiences as evidence. From individualized, self-reflective exercises to community-oriented group endeavors, our activities will promote new intercultural paradigms in the classroom and the wider community. Course designed for off-campus returnees, students who have lived abroad, or who have experienced being outsiders.

The work of Cross-Cultural Studies and European Studies traverses many disciplines, often engaging with experiences that are difficult to capture in traditional formats. In this course students will create an ePortfolio that reflects, deepens, and narrates the various forms of experiences they have had at Carleton related to their minor, drawing on coursework and off-campus study, as well as such extracurricular activities as talks, service learning, internships and fellowships. Guided by readings and prompts, students will write a reflective essay articulating the coherence of the parts, describing both the process and the results of their pathway through the minor. Considered a capstone for CCST and EUST, but for anyone looking to thread together their experiences across culture. Course is taught as a workshop.