Course Catalog

CVA2431 AFRICAN DIASPORA STUDIES (HIS) 3 credit (Intermediate Liberal Arts) Using a template borrowed from Jewish studies, this course covers the historic spread, flow, and mixture of people of African descent in Africa, the Caribbean, Central and South America, and Europe. Food, which is an indicator of one’s social status and group identity, is the primary lens used to study African Diasporas in the course. Class discussions are based on secondary and primary sources including assigned chapters, novels, travel accounts, oral histories, archival materials, documentary films on YouTube, and blog posts. Questions covered in the assigned material for the class discussion include among others: what events, forces, and movements have shaped the development of African diasporas?; what has been the African contribution to global food systems?; what have been the cultural commonalities and differences between African diaspora societies? Prerequisites: RHT and Foundation A&H and H&S

AHS1000 AHS Foundation 4 credits THIS COURSE IS FOR STUDENTS WHO STARTED AT BABSON IN FALL 2013 OR LATER.

HSS2411 American Politics (Intermediate Liberal Arts) This course provides an introduction to American politics and the American political system. In this course, we will critically analyze the principles, practices, and institutions of American politics, with a view to such concerns as the relationship between liberty and obligation, politics and culture, and democracy and governance. The course begin with a focus on the fundamentals needed to grasp American Politics; beginning with the concept and role of ideology, then looking to the role of founding principles, critical political institutions, and political practices. At all times, the course we will place American politics into historical context, offering what is referred to as an “American political development” approach. Building upon this foundation, in the last half of the course will examine the presidency of Barack Obama, the role of contemporary political movements such as the Tea Party, the Occupy Movement, and the fight for LGBTQ liberty, and we also examine the politics of class, race, gender, ethnicity, immigration, and foreign policy in the U.S. context. Prerequisites: RHT and Foundation H&S and A&H This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Spring or Fall

HSS2413 China Today: The Dragon Rises 3 credit intermediate liberal arts This intermediate history course will introduce you to China’s dynamic present within the context of the complex legacy of the Chinese past. We will examine the historical, cultural, political, and economic development of post 1949 China, with brief introductions to relevant aspects of the imperial past. You will gain a nuanced appreciation for the incredible economic growth of China from 1990 to the present, and the concomitant problems of state-society relations, human rights, minority relations, the environment, and the gaps between the rich and the poor and the urban and rural citizens. We will take advantage of Boston’s resources through site visits to view Chinese art, undertake a scavenger hunt in Chinatown, and enjoy Chinese food. We will explore China through the use of scholarship, fiction, maps, memoir, art, film, and music. Prerequisites: RHT & Foundation A&H and H&S

HSS24333 Comparative Politics (Intermediate Liberal Arts) This course will use comparative methods to explore a variety of issues at the heart of modern politics. Through investigating the politics, economics, and societies in a wide variety of countries, including Britain, Russia, China, Iran, and Brazil, the course will examine the impacts of different political institutional structures, the relationship between capitalism and democracy, causes of revolutions, the role of ideas in politics, and how strong communal identity can strengthen or weaken states as well as other related topics. Prerequisites: RHT and Foundation H&S and A&H This course is typically offered in the following semester: Fall

POL3610 Ethno-Political Conflict (Advanced Liberal Arts) Students who have taken HSS2432 cannot take this course. After beginning with theories of communal identity, this class will explore the origins, dynamics, and settlement of ethno-political conflict. Cases such as Northern Ireland, former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and Islamic communities in Europe will be used to examine the role of socio-economic factors and political institutions, conceptions of justice, and actions by international actors in determining when and why ethnic violence occurs. The course will conclude with a focus on current developments in Iraq. Prerequisites: 3 Intermediate Liberal Arts courses (LVA, CVA, HSS) This course is typically offered in the following semester: Fall

HIS3601 Culture and Identity in the Age of the Renaissance and the Reformation 4 credit advanced liberal arts According to many, it was during the Renaissance that Europeans created the "modern self." We will use literature, art, autobiography and memoirs, love letters and court cases to help explore this "self," whose identity was problematically constructed in regard to issues of class, gender and sexual transgression. Prerequisites: 3 Liberal Arts Intermediate Courses (CVA LVA HSS)

HSF1300 Crises in Community and Citizenship (Fall Semester) (Foundation Liberal Arts) THIS COURSE IS FOR STUDENTS WHO STARTED AT BABSON BEFORE SEPT. 2013. In this History and Society foundation course, students will explore the challenges that individuals face as they struggle to exercise personal agency in the face of social, cultural, political, economic, and historical structures. Focusing on the tensions between and within communities, as well as those that are internal to the individual, this course asks a series of related questions: How is identity socially constructed? How do individuals negotiate belonging in communities defined by nation, region, race, religious affiliation, class, ethnicity, gender or sexuality? How do these identities affect one's ability to be recognized as a citizen of these communities? What strategies do individuals apply to reconcile the self with social expectations? What impact do these struggles have on the way community boundaries are redrawn over time? How do we resolve the multiple vectors of identity and the multiple sites of citizenship? To answer these questions, we will draw on the work of historians, documentarians, graphic artists, environmentalists, philosophers, journalists, cultural critics, and memoirists. Prerequisites: NONE HSF1300 HUMAN AGENCY AND COMMUNITY IN A GLOBALIZING WORLD (Spring Semester) (Foundation Liberal Arts) THIS COURSE IS FOR STUDENTS WHO STARTED AT BABSON BEFORE SEPT. 2013. Over the past century human societies have changed at an unprecedented rate and with an unprecedented scope. These changes have been often traumatic, sometimes revolutionary and nearly always unpredictable. This course examines the impact of a number of different kinds of upheavals and transformations on individuals, communities and nations, as well as transnational formations. The course will focus on periods of dramatic change in different parts of the world. As we move from one historical and geographic context to another, we will address the following set of related questions. What are the different ways that individuals can "belong" to a society? How is social identity constructed and deconstructed? How do individuals exercise human agency in the face of institutional oppression? What are the possibilities for individual and communal healing from historical trauma? What is the relationship of memory to history? What does citizenship mean in a globalizing world? Prerequisite: NONE

This course will begin on September 4th and end on October 16th ANT 3602 ~ Hinduism and Buddhism 2 credit advanced liberal arts Hinduism and Buddhism as living religious world views and ways of life are the focus of this 2 credit advanced liberal arts elective. Hinduism and Buddhism respectively are the world’s third and fourth largest religious traditions. Both of South Asian origin and sharing many historical roots, they grew in dramatically different directions. The course will introduce the origins and trajectories of these religious movements in historical context. We will also pursue an empathetic understanding of the key beliefs and practices of both traditions in their own terms, while understanding that each tradition has within it a multitude of variations. An important component of this course will be fieldtrips to local Hindu and Buddhist temples. Among the other resources we will use to explore religious expression within these traditions are sacred texts, artifacts, music, visual arts and architecture. Prerequisites: 3 Intermediate Liberal Arts (LVA, CVA, HSS)

HIS3670 The History of Capitalism (Advanced Liberal Arts) This course deals with the history of capitalism from early modern times to the present. It is concerned not just with the story of capitalist enterprise but with the cultural values and social institutions accompanying capitalism. It addresses the tension as well as the affinity between capitalism on the one hand and, on the other, contextual cultural values and social institutions. It especially focuses on the way that capitalist power subverts as well as supports the free market economy and democratic political processes with which it is often identified. Prerequisites: 3 Intermediate Liberal Arts Courses (CVA, LVA, HSS) This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Spring

AHS1000 AHS Foundation (Honors) 4 credits THIS COURSE IS FOR STUDENTS WHO STARTED AT BABSON IN FALL 2013 OR LATER.

CVA2426 Immigrants, Race and the American Promise (Intermediate Liberal Arts) This intermediate course will consider the nature of American culture and identity through the experiences of the nation's immigrants and its ethnic citizens. What sacrifices have immigrants and ethnic Americans made in order to become members of the national community? How have they contributed to the development of modern America? How have they re-shaped the culture, politics, and economy of the U.S.? How have immigrants and citizens of color adapted the mythology of the American Dream to achieve success? What does the larger narrative of immigration, race, and ethnicity tell us about our nation's values and our own identity as citizens? Throughout the semester, students will use historical texts, novels, and selected works of film and music to consider these questions. Selected themes for the course include the "Melting Pot" and multiculturalism, race and ethnicity, anti-immigrant agitation and legislation, the nature of the American Dream, and the development of ethnic communities and businesses. The class will cover the time period from the late nineteenth century to the present. Prerequisites: RHT and Foundation H&S and A&H

HSS2403 Latin American History (Intermediate Liberal Arts) This course will be an introduction to the main themes, actors, and ideas in Latin American history. The central focus will be on Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, with an attempt to develop a comparative understanding of the Latin America's diversity, as well as common patterns, from pre-Columbian times to the present. In other words, this course is not an exhaustive history of Latin America; rather, it intends to develop familiarity with key concepts, developments, and issues in the region's history. Prerequisites: RHT and Foundation H&S and A&H This course is typically offered in the following semester: Fall

HSS2434 Modern European History: Wars, Nationalities, Identities and Human Rights (HIS) 3 credit (Intermediate Liberal Arts) This course features The French Revolution, The Russian Revolution, World War I, World War II and contemporary ethnic conflicts to examine the processes and consequences of modernization and nationalism in Europe and Russia. At the end of the 18th Century, the individual and the nation state were constructed as sources of meaning and identity and were legitimated naturally and politically. At the beginning of the 21st Century, these legitimations are still uncertain and under construction. We will focus on the concepts of human, civic, political and natural rights to study this problematic history. Prerequisites: RHT and Foundation A&H and H&S

This course will begin on September 9th and end on October 21st. HIS3610 Moral Leadership in Countries and Companies Advanced Liberal Arts 2 credits In politics and business, leadership is a fundamental key to success. This course uses cases from business, history, and politics - from Abraham Lincoln to Barack Obama, from Mahatma Gandhi to Martin Luther King, and business leaders from around the globe to explore the relation between ethics and leadership. Does history offer a way of critiquing our contemporary ideas about leadership, identifying good ideas while spotting mistaken notions of leadership and protecting ourselves against them? Can leaders on the national and global scale, whether in government or business, learn anything about leadership from "ordinary" people who serve as leaders in "ordinary" life, and vice versa? Above all, what is the role of values in leadership? Does honesty pay? Or was Machiavelli right that successful leaders must be deceivers? Or does the truth lie somewhere between and if so, how can Babson students, as future leaders, aim to achieve effective leadership while preserving their personal integrity? Prerequisites: 3 Intermediate Liberal Arts (HSS, LVA, CVA) This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Spring or Fall

CVA2455 Peoples and Cultures of the Americas (formerly HIS3671) (Intermediate Liberal Arts) This course examines U.S. relations with Latin America since U.S. Independence. We will investigate this broad issue from the parameters of diplomatic, political, and economic history, and we especially will focus on an array of accompanying cultural questions. Diplomatically, United States policy toward Latin America has gone through distinct phases, from neglect in some periods, to alliance and cooperation in others, to military conflict and intervention in still other eras. The Latin American response to the numerous U.S. activities in the region also has varied. Overt and covert political goals (often based on domestic developments), powerful economic agendas, and deeply rooted cultural perceptions and stereotypes, all have contributed significantly to intra-hemispheric policies and conduct. Scholars have posited various interpretations over the years, each emphasizing one set of motivations as being paramount. The role of the United States in Latin America has not always been clear nor is there unanimous agreement on its impact. Yet, there are a number of common themes that characterize the relationship between the "colossus to the north" and its neighbors to the south. This course seeks to identify these common themes and to provide a basis for understanding contemporary and future cultural, political, and economic relations in the Americas. Prerequisites: RHT and Foundation A&H and H&S

CVA2408 Cultural Anthropology (Intermediate Liberal Arts) Introduction to Cultural Anthropology is a three-credit intermediate History and Society course. The central focus of this course is the phenomenon of culture, that remarkable accomplishment that makes humans unique among all other species. We will use the concept of culture to investigate the question of what it means to be human. A major area of focus will be upon the ways cultural meanings are generated, shared, symbolized, ritualized, contested and altered in the face of different types of challenges. We will also study the relationship of cultural meaning to different economic, kinship and political systems. Throughout the course, as we study a variety of unfamiliar societies, we will continually refer back to our own societies with the goal of looking at our own ways of doing things with a new frame of mind. This frame of mind, or anthropological perspective, searches for the internal logics and constellations of values and beliefs that underpin all societies and subcultures. Central to this course is a succession of small fieldwork projects. This course will particularly strengthen your multicultural and rhetorical competencies Prerequisites: RHT and Foundation H&S and A&H This course is typically offered in the following semesters: Fall

HIS3612 Drugs and Intoxicants in World History 4 credit advanced liberal arts Course Description: This course will examine the role of drugs and intoxicants in World History; their use as spiritual and medicinal tools, as key devices in economic capitalist expansion, and eventually their role as a divisive political and economic issue in contemporary politics. The course begins by examining the importance of stimulants such as tea, sugar, coffee and opium to the expansion of free trade and global capitalism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The course analyzes the shifts to prohibition, particularly the suppression of the global drug trade as justification for the expansion of American empire, and the US-led “War on Drugs” and its relationship with the expansion of the global drug trade. We will also address contemporary issues regarding the war on drugs in Mexico and narco-terrorism in Afghanistan. We will use a variety of books, articles, documents, and films to understand this rich, complex, and often misunderstood history. Prerequisites: Three intermediate liberal Arts (HSS LVA CVA)

POL3630 Critical Race Studies 4 credit advanced liberal arts This course surveys classic and contemporary works in the multi-disciplinary field of critical race studies. The course readings bring together work political theory and American politics, and examine how race is defined and reproduced through politics, history, and the law. The primary focus will be on the United States, but comparative perspectives will also be welcome. The course will examine the politics and theory of racial oppression, resistance, and democracy in the United States, and attend to the intersections among race, class, gender, and sexuality. Prerequisites: CVA, LVA, HSS