SCCS Course Offerings

Course Description:
Introduction to theories of culture, race, and gender and the relations among them. Open to ACS, ETHN, POPC, and WS majors and minors or by permission of instructor.

Course Description:
Introduces students to modes of qualitative research commonly used in the fields of American culture studies, ethnic studies, popular culture, and women's studies. Focus on data gathering processes as well as data analysis. Open to ACS, ETHN, POPC, and WS majors and minors or by permission of instructor. Junior status required.

Course Description:
Regional, ethnic and economic aspects of American national experience as reflected in verbal, visual and material artifacts. Culture theory and models used to examine selected topics and problems. Required of all American culture studies majors.

Course Description:
Interdisciplinary exploration of race, ethnicity, class, gender and sexual orientation in the United States, emphasizing imaginative expressive forms, such as fiction, poetry, film and the visual arts.

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Three centuries of changing American attitudes and actions toward the natural environment, the rise of the conservation movement, and the development of an ecological perspective.

Combined with HIST 3385/1001/12862

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This gateway course to the field of Ethnic Studies introduces students to interdisciplinary analyses of race and ethnicity in the U.S. It explores the social construction and ideologies of race in colonial conquest, slavery, and immigration, and the intersections of race with other hierarchies such as class, gender, and sexuality. Approved for Distance Education. Students cannot take ETHN 1010 and ETHN 1920 or 1930 on the topic "Introduction to Ethnic Studies."

Course Description:
Latina/o experience in the United States: cultures, life experiences, and the limited political, education, socio-economic opportunities of this minority. Students cannot take ETHN 1100 and ETHN 1920 or 1930 on the topic "Introduction to Latina/o Studies."

Course Description:
An introduction to the history of black studies, tracing it from its origins in the social, cultural, and political struggles for human and civil rights to the various intellectual currents which have defined the field as a discipline. It places special emphasis on the United States but also considers key authors, historical figures, and social movements from the black Diaspora. Students cannot take ETHN 1200 and ETHN 1920 or 1930 on the topic "Introduction to African American Studies."

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An interdisciplinary examination of the Native American Diaspora in the context of European discovery and conquest. A general overview and comparative analysis of the diverse native people and cultures of North America, effects of colonialism and U.S. policy on Native American communities, federal Indian law and policy, and cultural negotiation. Students cannot take ETHN 1600 and ETHN 1920 or 1930 on the topic "Introduction to Native American Studies."

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Combined with HIST 2910/1001/17115

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This class offers a broad introduction to creative and critical writings by writers from Africa and the African Diaspora. The readings were either written in English or translated into English. Topics under study include the Harlem Renaissance, the Negritude and Pan-Africanist movements, cultural hybridization, elements of narrative in African and African Diaspora literature including history, culture, race, class, and gender. This course fulfills the BGP requirements for the Humanities and the Arts as well as the International Perspectives.

Combined with ROCS 2200/101W/15885

Course Description:
Native American Folklore - Folk traditions reflect cultural identity, as well as mythic and historical experiences. This class explores Native American beliefs, oral stories, games, dances, celebrations, and traditional art forms, drawn from different tribes and regions to better understand Indigenous ideology, cultural practices, and ethnic diversity.

Combined with POPC 3250/1001/15863

Course Description:
This course offers a focused examination of racial, ethnic, and gendered representations as they have appeared within the context of popular culture and mainstream media in the United States. It critically investigates the history of a wide range of stereotypes within the context of theatre, film, music, television, and radio, analyzing the social and ideological processes and practices that have given them such widespread currency since the nation's founding.

Course Description:
This course explores how race, gender, class, sexuality, and religion intersect and converge in shaping the lives of women of color in the United States. It emphasizes the diversity of experience of women of color as they resist and contest the material and cultural constraints that limit them. The course also focuses on women of color as agents of social and political change, and provides perspectives on the ways in which women of color shape and define American institutions and society.

Combined with WS 3050/1002/15508

Course Description:
The course examines the transborder culture of Mexico and U.S/Mexico Borderlands (La Frontera) in the 20th century, emphasizing community, identity, migration, politics, and other facets of the culture. The course will utilize interdisciplinary methodologies to contextualize the transborder culture of La Frontera.

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Course Description:
Through sociological, anthropological, fictional, and theoretical writings on and by African women, we examine some historical, cultural, national, and global forces and how they operate to impact women's contemporary experiences in various African countries/societies. We also study the ways African women have influenced and influence various forces in their societies and elsewhere. We conclude by looking at gender as an effective tool for analysis of socio-economic processes and matters in national and global contexts.

Combined with WS 3440/101W/16486

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Combined with HIST 4037/101W/16967

Course Description:
Basic theories and approaches to the scholarly study of popular culture, including various media, folklore, and everyday life.

Course Description:
Some of the ways in which mass media (TV, film, recording industry, print, radio) have affected modern American culture. Media relationships and interactions.

Course Description:
Basic theories of approaches to 20th century and 21st century African-American popular culture. Trace ways black popular culture has shaped and is shaped by national and global contexts. Examine relationship of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class. Provide an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the significance of black popular culture in contemporary U.S. and global societies. Approved for distance education.

Course Description:
Study and collecting of folklore; ballads, myths, tall tales, heroes, folk medicines, superstitions, proverbs and crafts.

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Course Description:
This course is an introduction to the topic of popular film. From cinema’s earliest days, movies delighted, entertained, dismayed, or sometimes shocked audiences – but always reflected something of the world in which they were made and the people who made them. Popular films are artifacts of their time and studying these films from a cultural and critical perspective offers students the opportunity to be part film critic, part cultural studies scholar, and part historian. The purpose of this course is to explore the development of film as a medium that incorporated current events, technological advances, social movements, cultural trends, and often critiques into reflections of society. This purpose will be fulfilled through lecture, discussion, the assigned materials, and film viewing. It should be noted that some of the material in this course may be adult in nature. This course is offered in both fall and spring semesters.

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Relationship between music world and listening-viewing audience; musical styles, trends in popular music, popular performers and entertainers and what they reveal about popular culture; appropriate music listening. Approved for Distance Education

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Course Description:
Native American Folklore  - Folk traditions reflect cultural identity, as well as mythic and historical experiences. This class explores Native American beliefs, oral stories, games, dances, celebrations, and traditional art forms, drawn from different tribes and regions to better understand Indigenous ideology, cultural practices, and ethnic diversity.

Combined with ETHN 3000/1002/15439

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Course Description:
In popular imagination and discourse, youth culture is both demonized and glamorized. While society makes teenagers the focus of concern, alarm, and scrutiny, it rarely takes their voices seriously. In this course, we will study the roles, images, representations, and experiences of youth in the context of contemporary America, taking historical and international perspectives into account as well.  How do media, institutions, and the general public perceive, constrain, and exploit teenagers? How do young people use, modify, and create cultural traditions—and how do they incorporate and reflect the popular media in their traditions? As youth have increasingly represented themselves through emerging technologies, how have the dynamics of power and communication changed? What ethnographic tools and strategies do researchers use to discover and better understand phenomena in youth culture?

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Interdisciplinary survey of the new scholarship on women. Emphasis on the interconnectedness of gender, class and ethnicity in women's experiences and viewpoints. Approved for distance education.

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This course explores how race, gender, class, sexuality, and religion intersect and converge in shaping the lives of women of color in the United States. It emphasizes the diversity of experience of women of color as they resist and contest the material and cultural constraints that limit them. The course also focuses on women of color as agents of social and political change, and provides perspectives on the ways in which women of color shape and define American institutions and society. Credit allowed only for one of ETHN 3050 or WS 3050.

Combined with ETHN 3050/1001/15440

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Combined with ETHN 3440/101W/16488

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How is language gendered? Raced? Classed? How are the experiences of those marginalized by the dominant culture represented within the dominant culture’s language? How do those misrepresented or under-represented in dominant cultural discourse respond from empowered spaces? This multi-genre course will investigate how language both constructs and negotiates identity. The range of novelists, graphic novelists, storytellers, poets, and performance artists may include Carmen Machado, Leslie Marmon Silko, Joshua Whitehead, Toni Morrison, Alana Troyana (aka “Carmelita Tropicana”), Kate Bornstein, Jeanette Winterson, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Natasha Trethewey, and Suheir Hammad, to name a few. We will consider critical perspectives from 1970s French feminist theorists (Cixous, Wittig, etc.) to feminist epistemologies (hooks, Collins, Anzaldúa, Minh-ha, etc.) to postmodern “disidentifications” (Muñoz).

Combined with ENG 4230

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Combined with POLS 4420/1001/15877 and 5420/5001/15880

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Through the lens of Latin@ gender and sexuality, we will address the role of NAFTA in relation to immigration, the rise of maquilas in border towns like Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez, the rampant exploitation of and violence against female laborers, as well as strategic and creative manifestations of resistance. Through critical engagement with scholarly texts and film, we will explore “fronteras alternativas” or the idea of alternative borders, in relation to narco cultura, machism@, and queer Latin@ visibilities.

Combined with ETHN 4550/1001/15441

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Combined with SOC 4600/1001/15862

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Interdisciplinary exploration of the complex cultural, ethical, and political issues surrounding human reproduction in the U.S. and globally, emphasizing the intersectionality of gender, sexuality, race, and socioeconomic status. We will be learning and discussing the social dimensions of reproductive health, including menstruation, pregnancy, miscarriage, abortion, contraception, STI/STDs, sexual pleasure and problems, menopause.  Our course will be center the experiences of marginalized populations, including women of color, immigrants, LGBTQI people, and people with disabilities.