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2003-2004 Course Catalog

The International Core

Integrated Studies of the Contemporary World

253.535.8648
www.plu.edu/~spac/intcore

The International Core: Integrated Studies of the Contemporary World is designed as an alternative way to satisfy core curriculum requirements. Consisting of interdisciplinary and frequently team-taught courses, the program explores contemporary issues and their historical foundations using an integrated approach. The program stresses critical thinking and writing.

Faculty: Selected from disciplines including Anthropology, Art, Biology, Earth Sciences, Education, English, History, Languages, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Religion, and Sociology.

International Core Committee: R. Brown, Chair; Albrecht, Alexander, Grosvenor, Higginson, Torvend.

International Core Course Requirements: (7 courses, 28 hours)

  1. International Core 111-112: Origins of the Contemporary World (8 semester hours)
    Normally taken in the first year. Explores from a global perspective the roots of contemporary values and traditions, with an emphasis on Europe.

  2. Four 200-level International Core courses (16 semester hours)
    Normally taken in the second and third years. May include one 301 modern language course (Chinese, French, German, Norwegian, Spanish) and/or one study abroad course, subject to the chair's approval. The Trinidad Program's Carribean Culture and Society course carries prior approval as the equivalent of a 200-level course.

    7-8 of the following courses, or similar new courses, are offered each year:
        221 The Experience of War
        222 Prospects for War and Peace
        231 Gender, Sexuality, and Culture
        232 Topics in Gender
        233 Imaging the Self
        234 Imaging the World
        241 Energy, Resources, and Pollution
        242 Population, Hunger, and Poverty
        245 History and Perspectives on Development
        246 Cases in Development (to be taught J-Term in Cuba)
        247 Cultures of Racism

  3. One 300-level course (4 semester hours) normally taken after or with the last 200-level course.
    326 The Quest for Global Justice: Systems and Reality

Policies and Guidelines for Core II:

  1. To acquire a common background, International Core/Core II students usually take the required 111-112 sequence in their first year, before taking 200-level courses. Exceptions can be made for students with heavy first-year loads, for transfer students, or for students who shift from Core I.
  2. Students in the International Core are strongly encouraged to study abroad. With prior approval, an appropriate combination of courses abroad supplemented in some cases with an integrative project may take the place of one of the 200-level International Core courses.
  3. All International Core courses are open to Core I students as space is available. (Core II students have priority in enrollment.)

Course Offerings

111 Authority and Discovery - I1
Considers new social and political ideas, the renewal of the arts, religious reform, and the emergence of modern science up to and during the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment. I (4)

112 Liberty and Power - I1
Developments in literature, science, politics, and industrialization are explored through the Enlightenment, the American and French Revolutions, the Industrial Revolution, Romanticism, Darwinism, Socialism, and Imperialism. II (4)

221 The Experience of War - I2
An international survey of 20th-century warfare, drawing on poetry, novels, war memoirs, art, music, and film, and stressing the experiences and decisions of people who have participated in war as combatants or civilians. (4)

222 Prospects for War and Peace - I2
A study of the international institutions and situations (political, economic, religious, psychological, historical) that keep the modern world on the brink of war and make a stable, just peace so elusive. II (4)

231 Gender, Sexuality, and Culture - A, I2
Use of interdisciplinary, multicultural, international, and feminist perspectives to examine issues such as socialization and stereotypes, relationships and sexuality, interpersonal and institutional violence, revolution and social change. A strong focus on U.S. contexts complemented by selected comparative examples from international contexts. (4)

232 Topics in Gender - I2
Current topics in feminist studies of gender centering on U.S. contexts with selected comparative examples from international contexts. (4)

233 Imaging the Self - I2
A series of exercises in the visual and literary arts drawn from different cultures that reveal how the self is discovered and constructed through images, dreams, costumes, and songs. (4)

234 Imaging the World - I2
An exploration of how humans in different parts of the world perceive, interpret, and shape their own worlds. II (4)

241 Energy, Resources, and Pollution - I2
Considers worldwide usage of energy and natural resources, and the degradation caused by pollution using scientific, social scientific, and ethical approaches. (4)

242 Population, Hunger, and Poverty - I2
Examines population growth, food supply, and poverty as they relate to global environmental problems. (4)

244 Post-Colonial Issues - I2
Explores post-colonial issues such as political instability, relationships to land, media and publications procedures and access, development of racial stereotypes, and formation of national identity in selected regions of the world. (4)

245 History and Perspectives on Development - C, I2
Traces the origins, models, perspectives, and contexts in interpreting this phenomenon. (4)

246 Cases in Development - C, I2
How people in the Developing World think and act to bring about social change, and the value. they give it is the focus in this course. (4)

247 The Cultures of Racism - A, I2
Examines different forms of racism and their manifestations in two countries with troubled histories: the United States of America and the Republic of South Africa. (4)

326 The Quest for Global Justice: Systems and Reality - I3
Uses systems (holistic) models to comprehend the search for justice by humankind in the past, in the present, and for the future. (4)