Global Studies < University of California, Berkeley

This is an archived copy of the 2017-18 guide. To access the most recent version of the guide, please visit http://guide.berkeley.edu.

About the Program

The MA degree in Global Studies (GS) is a one-year Masters program. It is an interdisciplinary program designed to provide the fundamentals of contemporary international issues as well as detailed knowledge on particular world regions or countries. The MA degree in Global Studies provides wide flexibility in crafting an individual interdisciplinary program. Students tailor the content of their programs within a defined framework to suit their interests. Specific course work is chosen in consultation with a faculty adviser.

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Master's Degree Requirements

Students must take six courses, each at four units, to complete their 24-unit degree. (Some programs offer three-unit courses that are otherwise acceptable. If a student wishes to take a three-unit course, that student must do an additional unit’s worth of work, either by completing an additional paper, or attending additional meetings, either with the instructor of the course or with the student’s Global Studies Faculty Advisor.) At least twelve of the 24 units must be graduate-level course work (course numbered 200-299). No more than a third of the units (8 maximum) may be taken on an S/U or P/NP grading basis. The six courses are broken down as follows: (1) A proseminar that all students are required to take, (2) two social science courses, (3) two area studies classes, and (4) a class in EITHER Social Science OR Area Studies, depending on the student’s interest.
Capstone: All students must undergo a comprehensive examination, with both written and oral components. A committee consisting of three Academic Senate faculty members will direct the examination for all of the students in any given cohort, which will require synthesis of material from student coursework.
Advancement to Candidacy: Approval of all course work and approval of the faculty committee must be granted by the GS MA Faculty Adviser prior to advancement to candidacy. The candidacy petition must be submitted no later than the fifth week of the semester in which the student intends to complete the degree. Final approval of candidacy petitions is granted by the Dean of the Graduate Division.

Related Courses

Global Studies Courses

GLOBAL 210 MA Seminar for Global Studies 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Fall 2017
This reading seminar, required of all MA students in Global Studies, will approach a particular topic in global studies each year. Covering a variety of themes, students will engage with the literature of the field, and begin to study the ways in which particular problems have been approached from a variety of disciplinary perspectives in the social sciences.
MA Seminar for Global Studies: Read More [+]

Hours & Format

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2 hours of seminar per week

Additional Details

Subject/Course Level: Global Studies/Graduate

Grading: Letter grade.

MA Seminar for Global Studies: Read Less [-]

GLOBAL 375 Professional Training: Teaching in Global Studies 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Fall 2017
This course is intended to prepare Global Studies MA students to be instructors in interdisciplinary/multi-departmental courses. It will serve as a forum to discuss problems and create innovative solutions to these problems. Focusing on course construction and operation, specialists from various disciplines will discuss strategies for moving outside of their areas of specialization and into broader areas of Global Studies. Graduate students will be provided training in building their own interdisciplinary courses from the ground up. Organizing syllabi, preparing lectures, devising written assignments, leading discussion sections, constructing evaluative mechanisms and grading them, will all be covered over the course of the semester.
Professional Training: Teaching in Global Studies: Read More [+]

Rules & Requirements

Prerequisites: Appointment as a graduate student instructor for one of the Global Studies or Political Economy undergraduate courses

Credit Restrictions: Required for graduate student instructors teaching in the Global Studies or Political Economy programs for the first time.

Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit up to a total of 8 units.Course may be repeated for a maximum of 8 units.

Hours & Format

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2 hours of lecture per week

Additional Details

Subject/Course Level: Global Studies/Professional course for teachers or prospective teachers

Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.

Professional Training: Teaching in Global Studies: Read Less [-]

Faculty and Instructors

+ Indicates this faculty member is the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award.

Faculty

Miguel A. Altieri, Professor. Agriculture, environmental science, pest management.
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+ Maximilian Auffhammer, Professor. Climate change, econometrics, air pollution, environmental economics, energy economics.
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Margaret Chowning, Professor. Mexico, history, gender, women, Latin America.
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Alain De Janvry, Professor. Agriculture and resource management, economics, labor management and policy.
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J. Bradford Delong, Professor. Economics, globalization, economic growth, convergence, economics of post WWII Europe.
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+ Munis D. Faruqui, Associate Professor. Economics, price theory models of anticompetitive exclusive dealing, switching costs, network effects, formal standardization.
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Emily Gottreich, Associate Adjunct Professor. Middle Eastern Studies, Islamic Urban Studies, Jewish history, Morocco, North Africa, Sephardic Studies.
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Abhishek Kaicker, Assistant Professor. South Asia, Mughal, early modern, cities, history, Persian.
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Alan Karras, Associate Director, Senior Lecturer. International and Area Studies, Political Economy.

Erin Murphy-Graham, Associate Adjunct Professor. Educational equity, cultural studies, gender equity, diversity, international education, alternative schooling, democratic education, ethnic issues.
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Alison Post, Assistant Professor. Regulation, infrastructure, water and sanitation.
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Elisabeth Sadoulet, Professor. Economics, agriculture, labor management & policy.
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Nathan F. Sayre, Associate Professor. Climate change, endangered species, rangelands, political ecology, pastoralism, ranching, environmental history, suburbanization, human-environment interactions, environmental geography, range science and management, Southwestern US, scale, community-based conservation.
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Khatharya Um, Associate Professor. Education, memory, Southeast Asian Studies, Asian American histories and communities, Southeast Asian diaspora, refugees, international migration, transnational and diaspora studies, genocide studies.
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Steven Vogel, Professor. Political science, political economy or comparative political economy, the Japanese model of capitalism, Japanese politics.
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Lecturer

Stephanie Ballenger, Lecturer. International and Area Studies, political economy, Latin American studies.

Peter Bartu, Lecturer. International and Area Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, Middle Eastern Studies.

David Beecher, Lecturer. International and Area Studies, Political Economy.

Karenjot Bhangoo Randhawa, Lecturer. International and Area Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies.

Crystal Chang, Lecturer. International and area studies, Asian Studies, Political science.

Jack Davey, Lecturer. International and area studies, Asian Studies.

Fatmir Haskaj, Lecturer. Political economy, development, critical theory and urban studies.

+ Khalid Kadir, Lecturer. Global Poverty & Practice Minor, International & Area Studies, Political Economy.

Cecilia Cissell Lucas, Lecturer. International and area studies.

Mario Muzzi, Lecturer. International and Area Studies.

Laura Nathan, Lecturer. International and Area Studies.

Bruce Newsome, Lecturer. International and Area Studies.

Clara I. Nicholls, Lecturer. International and Area Studies, Latin American Studies.

Tiffany L. Page, Lecturer. International and Area Studies, Latin American Studies.

Lanchih Po, Associate Adjunct Professor. International and Area Studies, East Asian Languages and Cultures.

Clare Talwalker, Lecturer. Qualitative methods, global poverty action, human rights, South Asia and economic anthropology.

Manuela Travaglianti, Lecturer. International and Area Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies.

Keiko Yamanaka, Lecturer. Ethnic studies, Asian studies.

Darren C. Zook, Lecturer. International and Area Studies, Political Science.

Daniel Zoughbie, Lecturer. International and Area Studies.

Emeritus Faculty

Beverly Kay Crawford, Professor Emeritus. International and Area Studies, Political Economy Group Major.

Gillian Hart, Professor Emeritus. Geography. Political economy, social theory, critical development, studies, gender, agrarian and regional studies, labor, Southern Africa, Southeast Asia.

+ Michael J. Watts, Professor Emeritus. Islam, development, Africa, social movements, political economy, political ecology, geography, South Asia, peasant societies, social and and cultural theory, US agriculture, Marxian political economy.
Research Profile