Programs of Study / Immersions

The immersion in African studies enables students to gain knowledge about African societies, cultures, histories, and modern political realities, and diasporic communities in different parts of the world.

The immersion in globalization theory analyzes how linkages and interconnections across and beyond conventional borders and boundaries are forged by people, political regimes, social movements, corporate enterprise, and culture industries. The immersion's emphasis is on the causes, signs, and possibilities of globalization with view to mobile populations, permeable borders, transnational flows of capital, and the traffic of culture across space or historical time. Courses examine how global fluidities, mobilities, and connections have been forged, the various dynamic and unpredictable responses of people in diverse locations to global processes, and the implications of global processes for a shared future.

Language is a fundamental property of being human. Linguistics, the study of human language, is one of the four branches of anthropology. Linguistic anthropology explores the dynamic interrelationships among language, culture, and society, how human beings make sense of the world, and participate in social life through creative speech acts and linguistic play. Courses familiarize students with a range of theoretical and analytic approaches, including general linguistics, sociolinguistics, theories of languages, communication, semiotics, and literary studies.

This immersion introduces students to the language, customs, and cultural aspects (history, art, literature, politics, anthropology, and music) of Portugal and Portuguese-speaking countries. The immersion consists of three language courses or two language courses and one culture course. Students with previous language skills must consult the minor advisor for placement evaluation before they register.

The Renaissance studies immersion is an interdisciplinary set of courses focused on the study of cultural events (artistic, literary, philosophical, religious, scientific, among others) occurring during the Renaissance period (c. 1300-1600). The Renaissance saw the formation of new concepts and the occurrence of groundbreaking events such as the beginning of modern science and technology, the religious Reformation, the birth of the nation-state, the establishment of the banking system, the expansion of geographical horizons, the encounter with new cultures and populations, and the development of the notions of human dignity and human rights. Studying the Renaissance is also crucial to understanding contemporary debates centered on post-humanism, trans-humanism, technological humanism, and the various critiques of humanism, all of which have their conceptual basis in the Renaissance notion of homo universalis, or universal human being.

Social inequalities and collective responses to them, both locally and globally, are the focus of this immersion. Students explore the interplay between social and cultural dimensions of the rapid globalization of societies, and the concurrent inequalities of race, ethnicity, class, gender, and culture. The egalitarian strivings that emerge from these inequalities also will be examined. Courses offer the unique standpoints of two academic disciplines, sociology and anthropology, to analyze the roles of powerful social institutions and culture industries, and to identify and explain social inequalities and resulting conflicts and egalitarian hopes.