Cross-Cultural Studies Concentration (CCST)

Coordinator: Professor James Fisher

Associate Coordinator: Professor Kathryn Sparling

Lecturer: Petra Crosby

Committee Members: Clifford Clark, Petra Crosby, Michael Hemesath, Roger Jackson, Margit Johnson, Cherif Keïta, Beverly Nagel, Kathryn Sparling, Qiguang Zhao

This concentration has been created to bring together American and international students who have cross-cultural experience in team-taught, interdisciplinary seminars to address and explore global issues and problems in a comparative, collaborative framework.

It is designed to help students who are studying a particular area of the world (e.g., majors in area studies, languages, history, economics, political science, literature, anthropology, religion, etc.) to place that area in a broader, comparative, cross-cultural context by seeing how it participates in and is influenced by transnational, sometimes global, dynamics and problems.

The objectives of this concentration are:

To make comparisons explicit and therefore enable students to come to a sharper understanding not only of their own but also of different societies.

To increase students' intercultural competencies and produce graduates who are able to participate in a global society and work in an increasingly multicultural and global workforce.

To provide a forum for studying problems and issues that cut across traditional national or cultural boundaries, such as citizenship, ethnicity, linguistic grouping, etc., that tend to be excluded in traditional disciplines or area studies.

To create an arena for faculty whose work focuses on different parts of the world to address common issues and problems in a comparative, collaborative framework.

Requirements for the Concentration:

Each concentrator will be required to look at his/her area from three different perspectives: in focused comparison with another culture; in regional perspective, broadening the focus beyond national or conventional borders; in relation to global issues or problems.

Language is fundamental to understanding other societies and therefore to the concentration. Each concentrator will have, at a minimum, completed the Carleton language requirement (or the equivalent) in the language of his or her focus area. Upper level language study is also encouraged.

Concentrators will normally take:

First Year Seminar, Growing Up Cross-Culturally (CCST 100)

Required courses: Sophomore Methods course, Theory and Practice of Cross-Cultural Study (CCST 200), plus a course exploring theories and models of intercultural competence and intercultural transition, entitled I'm a Stranger Here Myself (CCST 175).

Senior capstone seminar: (CCST 395) students will use their own expertise and knowledge of the country or culture they have studied.

Four courses from three groupings: (regional courses which transcend national boundaries, comparative courses, and global issues courses) are an additional requirement. They may be selected from the list of pertinent courses, described in the catalog, or students may identify other courses, which may be approved by the director. Students who participated in the First Year Seminar Growing Up Cross-Culturally will only have to take three additional courses.

American students will also participate in an approved international program (one term or full year), normally in an area where the language studied at Carleton by the student is spoken. (International students are exempt from this requirement since they are already participating in a foreign culture, they are however encouraged to go off campus).

Cross-Cultural Studies Courses

CCST 100. Growing Up Cross-Culturally First-year students interested in this program should enroll in this seminar: the course is recommended but not required for the concentration. It will however count toward the concentration. 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." 6 credits cr., S/CR/NC, RAD,ND, Fall—J. Fisher, M. Flynn, J. Lindblom, M. Hemesath, É. Pósfay

CCST 175. I Am A Stranger Here Myself Designed for students who are returning from off-campus studies or who have lived abroad, and for anyone who has had the experience of being an outsider, this course will explore theories and models of intercultural competence and intercultural transition. Using the actual experience of the students in class as its evidence, it will first develop theories about the nature of intercultural contact and then test their usefulness by applying them to the analysis of specific historical and literary evidence. 6 credits cr., RAD,ND, Winter—P. Crosby, É. Pósfay

CCST 200. Theory and Practice of Cross-Cultural Study Cross-listed with AFAM 200. This course introduces students to theoretical, epistemological, and methodological issues in cross-cultural study. Emphasis will be on cultural translation, cultural encounters between groups, and the concomitant cultural appropriations, cross-fertilizations, and resistance. How do we define and understand "communities" and "cultures"? What are the dynamics of power involved in cultural encounters? What are the theoretical debates surrounding colonialism and post-colonialism, globalization, and transnationalism? How do we juxtapose regional cultural identities vis-à-vis globalization and transnationalism? The course will examine approaches drawn from the humanities and social sciences, and apply them to case studies from different parts of the world. 6 credits cr., ND, Winter— B. Nagel, K. Sparling

CCST 395. Public Musical Culture This course will examine the construction of public musical life in a number of cultures, including Iran, Japan, the U.S. India, Ghana, and Indonesia. We will explicitly compare the conceptions and values underlying the musical and social choices in these countries, in addition to examining how the actual musical outcomes differ. Prerequisite: previous coursework in Cross-Cultural Studies or permission of instructor. 6 credits cr., AL, Spring—M. Russell

Pertinent Courses: This list serves as a sample of courses, it is not complete. Students interested in the Concentration should contact the director if they have questions.

Comparative Courses

ARTH 101: Introduction to Art History I

ARTH 102: Introduction to Art History II

ECON 231: Soviet and Post-Soviet Economics (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

ECON/LTAM 240: Economics of Developing Countries

HEBR 100: Personal and National Identity in Israeli and Palestinian Literature

POSC 120: Comparative Political Regimes

POSC 238: West European Politics

POSC 233: Global Resurgence of Democracy

POSC 263: European Political Economy (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

POSC 383: Maastricht Program: Political and Economic Integration of Europe (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

POSC 387: Maastricht Program: The Europe of Regions (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

RELG 100: The Sacred Body: Religious Reflections on the Human Form

RELG 122: Introduction to Islam

RELG/LTAM 227: Liberation Theologies

RELG 251: Theravada Buddhism (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

RELG 254: Delusion and Enlightenment in Zen Buddhism

RELG 355: Buddhist Ethics (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

RELG 371: Poetics of Enlightenment

RELG 372: Medicine, Healing, and Spirituality

SOAN/LTAM 130: Population and Food in the Global System (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

SOAN/LTAM 234: Economy, Ecology, and Culture

SOAN/LTAM 259: Comparative Issues in Native North America (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

SOAN/LTAM 312: Actors and Issues in Contemporary Third World "Development"

SPAN/LTAM 260: The Artist And the City (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

Global Courses:

ECON 240: Economics of Developing Countries

ECON 271: Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment

ECON 273: Water and Western Economic Development (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

ECON 280: International Trade

ECON 281: International Finance

MUSC 140: Introduction to World Music I (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

MUSC 141: Introduction to World Music II (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

POSC 268: International Environmental Politics and Policy

RELG 235: Women and Islamic Constructions of Gender (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

RELG 262: Millennialism in Cross-Cultural Perspective

RELG 264: Muslims on the Margins: Islamic Minority Traditions

RELG/HIST 360: Muslims and Modernity

SOAN/LTAM 302: Anthropology and Indigenous Rights

Regional Courses:

ARTH 164: Buddhist Art

ECON 233: European Economic History

ECON 283: Contemporary Economies of East Asia

HIST/LTAM 170: Modern Latin America

HIST 265: Empires of the Steppe (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

HIST/LTAM 275: Twentieth-Century Cuba

POSC/LTAM 221: Latin American Politics

POSC 234: Arab-Israeli Conflict (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

POSC 320: Government and Politics of Africa (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

POSC/LTAM 322: Political Economy of Latin America (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

POSC 323: Russian Government and Foreign Policy (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

POSC 324: Chinese Government and Foreign Policy

POSC 325: Japan: Politics and Foreign Policy

POSC 326: America's China Policy (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

POSC 329: Vietnam War and American Policy

POSC 343: Turbulence in World Politics (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

RELG 111: Religions of the West (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

RELG 150: The Religions of South Asia

RELG 254: Delusion and Enlightenment in Zen Buddism

RELG 255: East Asian Buddhist Thought and Practice (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

RUSS 150: Comtemporary Russian Culture and Society

SOAN/LTAM 250: Ethnography of Latin America

SOAN/AFAM/FRST 256: Ethnography of Africa

SOAN 262: Anthroplogy of Health and Illness

SOAN 395: Idioms of Inequality: Ethnicity, Gender and Exchange in Latin America

SPAN/LTAM 207: Exploring Hispanic Culture

SPAN/LTAM 242: Introduction to Latin American Literature

SPAN/LTAM 245: Hybrid Cultures: Introduction to U.S. Latino Literature

SPAN/LTAM 248: Drama and Performance in Latin America (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

SPAN 250: Spanish Cinema (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

SPAN/LTAM 252: Telling Stories: The Short Story in Latin America (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

SPAN/LTAM/WGST 255: Women Dramatists in Latin America: Staging Conflicts

SPAN/MEDA 256: Lorca, Buñuel, and Dalí: Poetry, Film and Painting in Spain

SPAN 260: The Artist and the City (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

SPAN/LTAM 326: Writers in Exile

SPAN/LTAM 336: Geneologies of the Modern

SPAN/LTAM 338: Images of the Indian in Spanish American Literatures (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

SPAN/LTAM 348: New Trends in Latin American Poetry, 1950-2000

SPAN/LTAM/WGST 344: Women Writers in Latin America: Challenging Gender and Genre

SPAN/LTAM 350: Recent Trends in Latin American Narrative: Pop Culture and Testimony (Not offered in 2002-2003.)

SPAN 360: Difference, Identity and Representation in Latin America (Not offered in 2002-2003.)