The International Core / 2006-07 PLU Catalog

253.535.7630

www.plu.edu/~intlcore

The International Core: Integrated Studies of the Contemporary World is designed as an alternative way to satisfy core curriculum requirements. Consisting of interdisciplinary and some 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, Mathematics,Philosophy, Political Science, Religion, and Sociology.

International Core Committee: R. Brown, Chair; Alexander, Byrnes, Grigson, Grosvenor, Halvorson, Sklar, Torvend.

International Core I Requirements: - Seven courses, 28 hours distributed as follows:

International Core 111-112: Origins of the Contemporary World (eight semester hours)
Normally taken sequentially in the first year. Explores from a global perspective the historical roots of contemporary values and traditions.
Four 200-level International Core courses (16 semester hours)

3. One 300-level course (four semester hours) to be taken after or with the last 200-level course. One of the following are offered each semester:

INTC 326: The Quest for Global Justice: Systems and Reality
INTC 329: Personal Commitments: Global Issues

Policies and Guidelines for Core II:

To acquire a common background, International Core/Core II students take the required INTC 111-112 sequence in their first year, before taking 200-level courses. Exceptions can be made for transfer students or for students who shift from Core I.
With prior approval, an appropriate semester-long course abroad may take the place of one of the 200-level International Core course. (See INTC Study Abroad Policy at http://www.plu.edu/~idp/core-ii/home.html
All International Core courses are open to Core I students as space is available. (Core II students have priority in enrollment.)

Course Offerings - International Core (INTC)

INTC 111: Authority and Discovery – I1

Considers 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. (4)

INTC 112: Liberty and Power – I1

Examines 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. (4)

INTC 211: Twentieth Century Origins of the Contemporary World - I2

Investigates how life on earth and -- through scientific/technological innovations -- the earth itself witnessed fundamental change during the 20th century. Major events will serve as touchstones for explaining processes leading from nationalism to postmodern globalization, as expressed through political, economic, biological, artistic, and other lenses. (4)

INTC 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)

INTC 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. (4)

INTC 231: Gender, Sexuality, and Culture – A, I2

Uses 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)

INTC 232: Topics in Gender – I2

Current topics in gender studies with selected comparative examples from international contexts. (4)

INTC 233: Imaging the Self – I2

A series of exercises in the visual and literary arts drawn from different world cultures that reveal how the self is discovered and constructed through images, dreams, and other forms of expression. (4)

INTC 234: Imaging the World – I2

An exploration of how humans in different parts of the world perceive, interpret, and shape their own worlds. (4)

INTC 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)

INTC 242: Population, Hunger, and Poverty – I2

Examines population growth, food supply, and poverty as they relate to global environmental problems. (4)

INTC 243: Conservation and Sustainable Development - I2, SM

An examination of the relationships among people, natural resources, conservation and sustainable development in a global society. Comparative studies about how historical, political, societal, economic, biological, and political factors affect contemporary resource management and policy. Laboratories, set within the context of conservation biology, include computer simulations and field studies. (4)

INTC 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)

INTC 245: History and Perspectives on Development – C, I2

Traces the origins, models, perspectives, and contexts for interpreting the phenomenon of development in selected areas of the world. (4)

INTC 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 that is generally taught abroad. (4)

INTC 247: The Cultures of Racism – A, I2

Examines different forms of racism and their manifestations in countries with troubled histories such as the United States of America, the Republic of South Africa and elsewhere. (4)

INTC 248: Twentieth Century Mass Movements - I2

Uses a comparative approach to study the histories of ideological and religious movements occurring during and after World War II. Potential examples for investigation include the Nazi persecution and extermination of European Jews and related Christian resistance, the American civil rights movement, and recent popular movements in Africa. (4)

INTC 249: Human Rights - I2

Examines human rights practices and instruments, both western and non-western, from historical, philosophical, contemporary, political, and pragmatic perspectives. Challenges students to think shrewdly about particular international human rights strategies that can gain real political legitimacy and achieve actual protection. (4)

INTC 251: Cultural Globalization - I2

An exploration of the flow of cultural expression and shifting personal and ethic identities and values created by today's accelerated global interdependence. Case studies and background readings will reveal the complexities and tensions inherent in the exchange of language, music, imagery, and other cultural expressions, and its impact upon the way people throughout the world experience their everyday lives. (4)

INTC 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)

INTC 329: Personal Commitments, Global Issues - I3

Examines the place of religious and philosophical commitments and traditions as resources in social action and movements designed to transform suffering. Analyses particular global problems in depth from multiple ethical and disciplinary frameworks. Asks students to identify and articulate their own assumptions about what constitutes effective ethical action. (4)

2006-07 PLU Catalog