Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj (ISF)
ISF 39A Freshman/Sophomore Seminar 1.5 - 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: The grading option will be decided by the instructor when the class is offered.
Hours and format: Seminar format.
Freshman and sophomore seminars offer lower division students the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member and a group of peers in a small-seminar setting. These seminars are offered in all campus departments; topics vary from department to department and from semester to semester. Enrollment limits are set by the faculty, but the suggested limit is 25.
Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
ISF 39B Freshman/Sophomore Seminar 1.5 - 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: The grading option will be decided by the instructor when the class is offered.
Hours and format: Seminar format.
Freshman and sophomore seminars offer lower division students the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member and a group of peers in a small-seminar setting. These seminars are offered in all campus departments; topics vary from department to department and from semester to semester. Enrollment limits are set by the faculty, but the suggested limit is 25.
Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
ISF 61 Moral Reasoning and Human Action: The Quest for Judgment 3 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Lecture per week for 15 weeks.
This is an interdisciplinary survey course that seeks to understand how we define justice, evil, and individual responsibility in modern society. In particular we are going to probe carefully how humans reflect on and practice the process of moral reasoning. We will focus on human behavior in extreme situations: war, life and death conflicts, genocide and mass killing, as well as competing conceptions of human freedom. The course has a distinctive dual purpose. On the one hand we want to encourage the learning of critical thinking skills. This includes the ability to systematically evaluate information and competing moral claims. Also, it is intended as an exposure to the interdisciplinary approach. That is, how can different perspectives illuminate the same issue? With this in mind the course draws on important work from philosophy and ethics, social psychology, jurisprudential analysis, historical-political accounts, and personal memoirs.
ISF 62 Representations of Self-Deception in the Modern World 3 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Lecture per week for 15 weeks.
In this course, we will utilize works in the humanities and the social sciences in order to explore a number of dimensions of self-deception in the modern world. The focus will be upon the willingness to falsify both personal life as well as one's position in the public sphere. The course will begin with an examination of the psychological dimension, emphasizing the importance of the nature of unconscious experience. In this context, we will examine how self-awareness is shaped by personal relationships, especially family arrangements. In addition, we will look at the manner in which people often engage in acts of self-deception with regard to the political realm.
ISF 98 Directed Group Study 1 - 3 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Offered for pass/not pass grade only.
Hours and format: 1 to 3 hour of Lecture per week for 15 weeks.
Seminars for the group study of selected topics not covered by regularly scheduled courses. Topics will vary from semester to semester.
Course may be repeated for credit. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes. Enrollment is restricted; see the Introduction to Courses and Curricula section of this catalog.
ISF 100A Introduction to Social Theory and Cultural Analysis 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 to 4 hours of lecture and up to 1 hour of discussion per week.
This course draws on the classical traditions of social theory as well as contemporary analysis to examine the basic conceptual underpinnings of modern societies. That is, we explore what it means to live in the modern, postmodern, hyper-modern, or global worlds. In particular we examine the nature of industrial and post-industrial social formations, cultural perceptions, and the development of ideological constructs. Changing understandings of the shapes of power and domination is a central linkage tying these various analyses together. We are particularly interested in charting the interrelationship between quickly shifting social changes on a local and global level and competing theoretical interpretations of their meaning.
ISF 100B Introduction to Social Theory and Cultural Analysis 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 to 4 hours of Lecture and Zero to 1 hour of Discussion per week for 15 weeks. 5.5 hours of Lecture per week for 8 weeks. 7.5 hours of Lecture per week for 6 weeks.
This is a course exploring how we understand the idea of the self in contemporary social worlds. The course shares the presumption that the modern self is a created endeavor. It charts traditional and contemporary understandings of individual identity, the maturation process and the notion of an inner life, the concepts of freedom and individual agency, the force of evolution and heredity, and the influence of social causation. The course stresses the complex interplay between the development of a sense of self, and the socialization pressures at work in the family, society, and global cultures.
ISF 100C Word and Image 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Lecture per week for 15 weeks. 4.5 hours of Lecture per week for 10 weeks. 5.5 hours of Lecture per week for 8 weeks. 7.5 hours of Lecture per week for 6 weeks.
This course is designed to sharpen our skills in understanding what happens when the world of images and words meet. We will investigate how word/image constellations have been examined in the context of a variety of disciplines, such as cognitive linguistics, psychology, neuroscience, or philosophy and/or we will examine how the word/image constellations operate in a variety of media, including poetry, painting, photography, and advertising.
ISF C100C/SCANDIN C114 Word and Image 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies; Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj; Scandinavian
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Lecture per week for 15 weeks.
This course is designed to sharpen our skills in understanding what happens when the world of images and words meet. Starting with the work from the Western "classical" tradition we will proceed to investigate how word/image constellations operate in a variety of media, including sculpture and poetry, painting and prose, death masks, tableaux vivants, photography, and advertising.
Instructor: Sanders
ISF 100D Introduction to Technology, Society, and Culture 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 to 4 hours of lecture and zero to 1 hour of discussion per week.
This course surveys the technological revolutions of the 19th and 20th centuries, it then focuses on the development of the computer and the Internet. The final part examines the impact of the Internet on social movements.
ISF 100E The Globalization of Rights, Values, and Laws in the 21st Century 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 4s hours of lecture/discussion per week. 7.5 hours of lecture/discussion per week for 8 weeks. 10 hours of lecture/discussion per week for 6 weeks.
This interdisciplinary course is an introduction to the complex interplay of transnational values, international rights and legal institutions that increasingly govern social, cultural and geopolitical interactions in our contemporary world. Theoretical and methodological tools from the social sciences, jurisprudence, and philosophy will be applied im the analyses of these interplays. A study of rights and norms presupposes not only an understanding of the empirical evolution of rights traditions (including constitutional traditions) in a variety of global regions, but also an understanding of the theories of rights and laws that support such traditions as they are embedded in them (just war theories, peace theories, etc.) The study of rights and norms also requires an exploration of the transformations of crucial international norms and rights due to the formation of supranational institutions and organizations in the 20th century (UN, UNESCO, GO's, etc.). The course will provide the students with an opportunity to place emerging transnational rights institutions into a historical and geopolitical framework.
ISF 100F Theorizing Modern Capitalism: Controversies and Interpretations 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 4 hours of Lecture per week for 15 weeks. 7.5 hours of Lecture per week for 8 weeks. 10 hours of Lecture per week for 6 weeks.
The focus of this course will be on the various ways the nature and trajectory of modern capitalism has been interpreted. Our stress will be on post-Marxist works of analysis. The initial focal point will be on the work of Max Weber and Joseph Schumpeter, as well as important current debates in economic history and social theory generated by their work. Both Weber and Schumpeter display a strong fascination and elaboration with the work of Marx. The way they analyze Marx is very revealing about the way contemporary analysts seek to understand the capitalist system. We will also consider a number of current efforts that look at the systemic nature of capitalism. In particular, we are interested in how economic historians now see the development of capitalism. We also want to examine the Weberian tradition in terms of the role of culture in shaping economic behavior. Debates about the nature of globalization will also be considered as well as analysis of the changing nature of work.
Instructor: Klee
ISF 100G Introduction to Science, Society, and Ethics 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 to 4 hours of Lecture and Zero to 1 hour of Discussion per week for 15 weeks. 5.5 to 7 hours of Lecture and Zero to 2 hours of Discussion per week for 8 weeks. 7 to 9.5 hours of Lecture and Zero to 2.5 hours of Discussion per week for 6 weeks.
This interdisciplinary course will explore whether it has proven possible and desirable to understand society through value-free and positivistic scientific methods as predominantly developed in the transatlantic worlds of the 19th centuries. We shall explore questions that may be applied to the realms of public health and human biology, or to the social sciences generally, including anthropology, sociology, economics, and political science.
ISF 100H Introduction to Media and International Relations 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 to 4 hours of Lecture and Zero to 1 hour of Discussion per week for 15 weeks. 8 to 10 hours of Lecture and Zero to 2.5 hours of Discussion per week for 8 weeks.
How have international actors used media to construct public opinion about salient issues, such as war, terrorism and intervention, international trade and finance, and global warming and resource depletion? The purpose of this course is to introduce students to key concepts, methods, and theories in the analysis of media effects, particularly in the areas of public opinion formation and international relations.
ISF N100A Introduction to Social Theory and Cultural Analysis 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Lecture per week for 15 weeks. 6 hours of Lecture per week for 8 weeks. 8 hours of Lecture per week for 6 weeks.
Introduction to central theoretical investigations concerning the construction and organization of social life. Using some works from the "classical" traditions of social theory as well as some examples of contemporary analysis, this course will explore such topics as the nature of power and social/historical change, the nature of economic production and consumption, the meaning of difference--racial, sexual, class--the development of institutions, etc.
ISF N100D Introduction to Technology, Society, and Culture 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Lecture and 1 hour of Discussion per week for 15 weeks. 6 hours of Lecture per week for 8 weeks. 8 hours of Lecture per week for 6 weeks.
This course surveys the technological revolutions of the 19th and 20th centuries, then focuses on the development of the computer and the Internet. The final part examines the impact of the Internet on social movements.
ISF C101/GEOG C110 Economic Geography of the Industrial World 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies; Geography; Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Lecture and 1 hour of Discussion per week for 15 weeks.
Prerequisites: 20 or prior courses in economic or regional development strongly suggested.
Industrialization, urbanization, and economic growth in the global North. Locational patterns in manufacturing, retailing trade, and finance. Geographic dynamics of technical change, employment, business organization, resource use, and divisions of labor. Property, labor, and social conflict as geographic forces. Local, national, and continental rivalries in a global economy, and challenges to U.S. dominance.
Students will receive no credit for C110 after taking 110 or Interdisciplinary Studies 100A. Instructor: Walker
ISF 110 Special Topics in Interdisciplinary Studies 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 4 hours of Lecture per week for 15 weeks. 7.5 hours of Lecture per week for 8 weeks. 10 hours of Lecture per week for 6 weeks.
This course is designed primarily to allow faculty to develop courses which address specific issues, themes, or problems of interdisciplinary interest. Topics vary semester to semester. Students should consult the department's webpage for current offerings before the start of the semester.
Course may be repeated once for credit with different topic.Course may be repeated for a maximum of 8 units.
ISF 116 Technology, Culture, and Politics 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 5.5 hours of Lecture per week for 8 weeks. 7.5 hours of Lecture per week for 6 weeks.
Through case studies of important innovations such as the automobile, computers, and genetic engineering, this class will explore the interaction between technological development and social change. We will examine the major theoretical paradigms for analyzing both the process and impact of technological innovation and discuss some of the social, cultural, and political influences on, and effects of, specific technologies.
Instructor: Wren
ISF 116X Technology, Culture, and Politics 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 7.5 hours of Lecture per week for 6 weeks.
Through case studies of important innovations such as the automobile, computers, and genetic engineering, this class will explore the interaction between technological development and social change. We will examine the major theoretical paradigms for analyzing both the process and impact of technological innovation and discuss some of the social, cultural, and political influences on, and effects of, specific technologies. This course satisfies part of the core requirement for the Interdisciplinary Studies Field Major.
Instructor: Wren
ISF C117/AMERSTD C117/MASSCOM C117 American Television 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies; American Studies; Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj; Mass Communications
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 6 hours of Lecture per week for 8 weeks.
This course offers an interdisciplinary survey of various theoretical and methodological approaches to the social, cultural and political dimensions of American television. Selected readings and viewings will be used to examine the production, reception, and content of television programming. The focus for summer 1994 will be "prime time after 1980," including such shows as HILL STREET BLUES, DALLAS, THE COSBY SHOW, STAR TREK; THE NEXT GENERATION, and TWIN PEAKS. This course satisfies part of the core requirement for the Interdisciplinary Studies Field major, and may be used as an elective in both the American Studies major and the Mass Communications major.
Course may be repeated if focus is different. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
ISF 118AC/AMERSTD 118AC/MASSCOM 118AC American Popular Culture 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies; American Studies; Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj; Mass Communications
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 7.5 hours of Lecture per week for 6 weeks.
An interdisciplinary approach to American popular culture, focusing on the social, economic, commercial, political, and historical construction of popular culture and American identities.This course will satisfy part of the core requirement for the American Studies major.
Satisfies the American Cultures requirement
Course may be repeated for credit as topic varies. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
ISF C118/AMERSTD C118/MEDIAST C118 American Popular Culture 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies; American Studies; Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj; Media Studies
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 7.5 hours of Lecture per week for 6 weeks.
An interdisciplinary approach to American popular culture, focusing on the social, economic, commercial, political, and historical construction of popular culture and American identities. This course will satisfy part of the core requirement for the American Studies major.
Course may be repeated for credit as topic varies. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
ISF C120/AMERSTD C120 Immigration and American Culture 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies; American Studies; Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: Fifty-2 hours of lecture and 8 hours of field trips, to be offered during 6- or 8 week session.
In this course, we will discuss the "immigrant" as both the subject and the object of representation in U.S. literature and culture. We will discuss the works of Jewish American, Asian American, and Chicano authors, and examine the effects of such factors as country of origin, gender, race/ethnicity, social class, and religion on the construction of "American identity." This course may be used as an elective in the American studies major or may be used to fulfill the 100A or 100B requirement in the interdisciplinary studies filed major.
Satisfies the American Cultures requirement
Instructor: Camargo
ISF C125/AMERSTD C125/MEDIAST C125 American Media and Global Politics 3 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies; American Studies; Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj; Media Studies
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 5.5 hours of Lecture per week for 8 weeks. 7.5 hours of Lecture per week for 6 weeks.
Public opinion about world events is largely shaped today by the mass media. How accurate is such coverage in the light of historical analysis? To what extent do systemic sources of bias or distortion affect our understanding of history? To approach these questions, we will analyze the role of the media in several specific case studies.
ISF W187 Experiential Learning: Organizational Context, Self-Reflection, and Professional Development 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Term course may be offered: Summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Web-based lecture and 3 hours of Web-based discussion per week for 10 weeks. This is an online course.
This course facilitates students' learning and self-reflection about various types of organized contexts, structures and cultures, and development of practical strategies to promote sucessful internship experiences. A series of online lectures, practical exercises, writing assignment, projects, and online group discussions will guide the student through all stages of their internship experience. This course is web-based.
Course may be repeated for credit. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes. Formerly known as 187. Instructor: Clark
ISF 189 Introduction to Interdisciplinary Research Methods 3 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Seminar per week for 15 weeks. 4.5 hours of Seminar per week for 10 weeks. 6 hours of Seminar per week for 8 weeks. 8 hours of Seminar per week for 6 weeks.
Prerequisites: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Majors and intended ISF majors.
This class is an introduction to research methods, leading students through different units built around specific learning goals and practical exercises. The course is designed to teach a range of research skills, including the ability to formulate research questions and to engage in scholarly conversations and arguments; the identification, evaluation, mobilization, and interpretation of sources; methods and instruments of field research (interviews, questionnaires, and sampling) and statistical thinking; and the construction of viable arguments and explanation in the human sciences. At the same time, the course is designed to help students identify their own thesis topic, bibliography, and methodological orientation.
ISF 190 Senior Thesis 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 2 hours of seminar per week plus individual conferences.
Prerequisites: Senior standing; completion of ISF core courses; declared in the major.
The preparation and presentation of a senior thesis pertaining to the student's individual area of concentration within the interdisciplinary studies field major.
ISF H195 Honors Thesis 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 2 hours of seminar per week plus individual conferences. 5 hours of seminar per week plus individual conferences for 6 weeks. 3.5 hours of seminar per week plus individual conferences for 8 weeks. 3 hours of seminar per week plus individual conferences for 10 weeks.
Prerequisites: Senior in the honors program; completion of ISF core courses; declared in the major; 3.5 GPA overall and 3.6 in the major; and consent of the ISF faculty.
Entails writing a bachelor's thesis pertaining to the student's individual area of concentration within the interdisciplinary studies field major. The completed thesis will be read by the thesis adviser and one other faculty member.
ISF 197 Field Studies 1 - 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Offered for pass/not pass grade only.
Hours and format: Individual meetings. Individual meetings.
Prerequisites: Upper division standing, declared in the Interdisciplinary Studies Field Major, and consent of instructor.
Supervised experience relevant to the student's specific area of concentration in the Interdisciplinary Studies Field Major in off-campus organizations. Regular individual meetings with faculty sponsor and written reports required.
Course may be repeated for credit. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes. Instructors: Ehrlich, Holub, Klee, Wren
ISF 198 Directed Group Study for Advanced Undergraduates 1 - 3 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Offered for pass/not pass grade only.
Hours and format: Conferences.
Prerequisites: Regulations set by the College of Letters and Science.
Seminars for the group study of selected topics not covered by regularly scheduled courses. Topics will vary from semester to semester.
Course may be repeated for credit. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes. Formerly known as Social Sciences 198 and Humanities 198.
ISF 199 Supervised Independent Study and Research for Upper Division Majors 1 - 4 Units
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Field Maj
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Offered for pass/not pass grade only.
Hours and format: Individual conferences. Individual conferences.
Prerequisites: Regulations set by the College of Letters and Science.
Directed individual independent study and research of special topics by arrangement with faculty.
Course may be repeated for credit. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
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