Minor in Cultural Studies
The minor in Cultural Studies is designed to enhance and supplement students’ studies in a number of other areas, including anthropology, education, English and mass communication. In these areas of study, the fundamental questions posed by cultural studies give students a broader, more critical look at the interactions between their fields of study and society as a whole. These courses may also provide a useful complement to any undergraduate program of study.
Requirements
Students minoring in Cultural Studies must complete 18 units, including the introductory course (3 units), the methodology course (3 units), two from required courses list, and two electives (6 units), one of which must be upper-division.
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| Introductory Course | ||
| CLST 201 | INTRODUCTION TO CULTURAL STUDIES | 3 |
| Methodology Course | ||
| CLST 300 | METHODS OF CULTURAL INQUIRY | 3 |
| Required Courses | ||
| Select two of the following: | 6 | |
| PERSPECTIVES IN GLOBAL CULTURE | ||
| IDENTITY AND CULTURE | ||
| VISUAL CULTURE | ||
| PERFORMING CULTURE | ||
| SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE | ||
| TOPICS IN CULTURAL STUDIES | ||
| Electives | ||
| Select two of the electives listed below, one of which must be upper-division. | 6 | |
| Total Units | 18 | |
Electives
A list of offered courses will be updated each term. The following learning modules are meant to indicate possible thematic trajectories as a guide for students. As such, courses may be listed under more than one heading.
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| CLST 490 | INDEPENDENT STUDY IN CULTURAL STUDIES | 3 |
Society of the Spectacle
The courses in this module are meant to theorize the intersection of traditional and contemporary media and consumer cultures. In contemplating a broad spectrum of “spectacles,” students will consider the economic, political, and social discourses of visual culture and performance.
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| ANTH 325 | MORAL PANICS | 3 |
| ANTH 341 | INFORMATION AGE CULTURES | 3 |
| ANTH 382 | VISUAL ANTHROPOLOGY | 3 |
| ARTH 328 | ART, CULTURE AND POLITICS | 3 |
| CLST 309 | PERFORMING CULTURE | 3 |
| ENGL 463 | SEMIOTICS: THE STUDY OF SIGNS | 3 |
| KNES 353 | SPORT & SOCIETY | 3 |
| MCOM 101 | INTRODUCTION TO MASS COMMUNICATION | 3 |
| MCOM 352 | MEDIA CRITICISM | 3 |
| MCOM 385 | MASS MEDIA AND SOCIETY | 3 |
| THEA 310 | THEATRE FOR SOCIAL CHANGE | 3 |
Cultural Cartographies
The courses in this module examine the cultural products that result from human landscapes, charting the ways in which we map our interaction with the environment.
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| ANTH 207 | CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY | 3 |
| ANTH 351 | DRUGS IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE | 3 |
| ANTH 364 | RELIGION, MAGIC AND WITCHCRAFT | 3 |
| ANTH 368 | GLOBALIZATION IN CROSS CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE | 3 |
| ANTH 380 | ETHNOGRAPHIC FIELD METHODS | 3 |
| ARTH 330 | EAST ASIAN ART AND ARCHITECTURE | 3 |
| ARTH 331 | ART OF CHINA | 3 |
| ARTH 333 | ART OF JAPAN | 3 |
| CLST 305 | TEXTUALITY & CULTURE | 3 |
| ENGL 471 | TOPICS IN WORLD LITERATURE | 3 |
| GEOG 357 | CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY | 3 |
| GEOG 381 | POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY | 3 |
| PHIL 204 | RACE, CLASS AND GENDER | 3 |
| SOCI 243 | SOCIOLOGY OF RACE, CLASS AND GENDER | 3 |
Critical Pedagogies
This module is ordered around one central premise: knowledge is never neutral. As such, these courses call into question the construction of knowledge; interrogate the traditional means of passing on cultural knowledge; and recognize alternative forms of knowledge and the processes by which they are disseminated.
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| ARTH 328 | ART, CULTURE AND POLITICS | 3 |
| ARTH 335 | AFRICAN-AMERICAN ART | 3 |
| ARTH 339 | LATIN AMERICAN ART: 1800 TO PRESENT | 3 |
| ARTH 341 | WOMEN IN ART | 3 |
| ENGL 462 | MODERN LITERARY THEORY | 3 |
| ENGL 463 | SEMIOTICS: THE STUDY OF SIGNS | 3 |
| KNES 251 | HISTORY OF SPORT IN AMERICA | 3 |
| MUSC 127 | ELEMENTS OF THE HISTORY OF ROCK MUSIC | 3 |
| PHIL 201 | SOCIAL & POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY | 3 |
| PHIL 204 | RACE, CLASS AND GENDER | 3 |
| PHIL 343 | AESTHETICS | 3 |
| WMST 337 | FEMINIST THEORY | 3 |
Political Economies of Empire
The courses within this module investigate the relations of corporate, political, economic and cultural forces in the context of 21st century globalization. The courses assess factors such as: wealth distribution, the disappearance of “local” culture, labor and labor exploitation, the military and globalization, environmental issues, and new notions of empire.
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| ANTH 346 | WEALTH, POWER AND POLITICS IN CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE | 3 |
| ANTH 351 | DRUGS IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE | 3 |
| ANTH 368 | GLOBALIZATION IN CROSS CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE | 3 |
| ECON 201 | MICROECONOMIC PRINCIPLES | 3 |
| ECON 202 | MACROECONOMIC PRINCIPLES | 3 |
| ECON 321 | HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT | 3 |
| ECON 341 | LABOR ECONOMICS AND LABOR RELATIONS | 3 |
| ECON 374 | ECONOMIC ISSUES OF GENDER | 3 |
| ECON 375 | ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS | 3 |
| KNES 460 | CULTURAL ECONOMY OF SPORT | 3 |
| SOCI 249 | SOCIAL PROBLEMS | 3 |
| SOCI 323 | SOCIAL MOVEMENTS | 3 |
| SOCI 341 | CLASS, STATUS AND POWER | 3 |
| WMST 335 | WOMEN, WORK, AND FAMILY | 3 |
Critical Artscape
The courses in this module critically examine visual aspects of society.
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| ARTH 323 | MODERN ART I | 3 |
| ARTH 324 | MODERN ART II | 3 |
| ARTH 325 | HISTORY OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE | 3 |
| ARTH 327 | HISTORY OF MODERN DESIGN | 3 |
| ARTH 328 | ART, CULTURE AND POLITICS | 3 |
| CLST 305 | TEXTUALITY & CULTURE | 3 |
| ENGL 462 | MODERN LITERARY THEORY | 3 |
| PHIL 343 | AESTHETICS | 3 |
Posthumans in Second Nature
The courses in this module consider the ways in which advances in genetics and the reproductive sciences have raised questions about our identities and human beings and our relation to nature, blurring divisions between human and non-human, culture and nature, animal and machine.
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| ANTH 341 | INFORMATION AGE CULTURES | 3 |
| ANTH 368 | GLOBALIZATION IN CROSS CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE | 3 |
| ARTH 351 | HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY | 3 |
| PHIL 319 | SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & VALUES | 3 |
| SOCI 312 | SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER | 3 |
Postcolonial Contexts
The courses in this module foster discussions of various conditions in which western and non-western cultures collide. In the postcolonial context, the formation of identity is understood as a result of resistance to imposing and powerful cultural forces.
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| ARTH 328 | ART, CULTURE AND POLITICS | 3 |
| CLST 309 | PERFORMING CULTURE | 3 |
| ENGL 336 | POST-COLONIAL LITERATURE | 3 |
| ENGL 462 | MODERN LITERARY THEORY | 3 |
| KNES 285 | SPORT: CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE | 3 |
| PHIL 204 | RACE, CLASS AND GENDER | 3 |
Wild and Docile Bodies
This module features courses that approach the body as the point of conjunction between the individual and society and therefore as a site of control, study, discipline, punishment and emancipation. Students in these courses will examine the cultural, political and economic technologies active within, and which act upon, the corporeal aspects of everyday life.
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| ARTH 341 | WOMEN IN ART | 3 |
| ARTH 335 | AFRICAN-AMERICAN ART | 3 |
| CLST 309 | PERFORMING CULTURE | 3 |
| HLTH 220 | SEXUALITY IN A DIVERSE SOCIETY | 3 |
| KNES 353 | SPORT & SOCIETY | 3 |
| LGBT 101 | INTRODUCTION TO LGBTQ STUDIES | 3 |
| LGBT 381 | READINGS IN LGBTQ STUDIES | 1-3 |
| PHIL 204 | RACE, CLASS AND GENDER | 3 |
| SOCI 243 | SOCIOLOGY OF RACE, CLASS AND GENDER | 3 |
| SOCI 312 | SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER | 3 |
| WMST 336 | WOMEN AND MEDICINE | 3 |
| WMST 338 | WOMEN AND SEXUALITY | 3 |