UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM IN GLOBAL CULTURES
168 Humanities Instructional Building; (949) 824-8119
Douglas M. Haynes, Director
Core Faculty
Sharon B. Block, Ph.D. Princeton University, Assistant Professor of History
Ana Paula Ferreira, Ph.D. New York University, Department Chair of Spanish and Portuguese and Associate Professor of Portuguese
David Theo Goldberg, Ph.D. City University of New York Graduate School and Center, Director of the UC Humanities Research Institute and Professor of African-American Studies and of Criminology, Law and Society
Douglas M. Haynes, Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, Director of Global Cultures and Associate Professor of History
Laura H. Y. Kang, Ph.D. University of California, Santa Cruz, Associate Professor of Women's Studies and Comparative Literature
Ketu H. Katrak, Ph.D. Bryn Mawr College, Department Chair and Professor of Asian American Studies and Professor of English and Comparative Literature
Marcia Klotz, Ph.D. Stanford University, Assistant Professor of German and Film Studies
Keith L. Nelson, Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, Professor of History
Jane O. Newman, Ph.D. Princeton University, Director of the Comparative Literature Program and Professor of Comparative Literature
Mark S. Poster, Ph.D. New York University, Director of the Program in Film Studies and Professor of History, Film Studies, and Information and Computer Science
Leslie Rabine, Ph.D. Stanford University, Associate Dean of Humanities Graduate Study and Professor of French
John Carlos Rowe, Ph.D. State University of New York, Buffalo, Professor of English
Brook Thomas, Ph.D. University of California, Santa Barbara, Department Chair of English and Comparative Literature and Professor of English
Armin Schwegler, Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, Professor of Spanish
Jacobo Sefamí, Ph.D. University of Texas at Austin, Associate Professor of Spanish
R. Bin Wong, Ph.D. Harvard University, Director of the Minor in Asian Studies and UCI Chancellor's Professor of History, Economics, and East Asian Languages and Literatures
The major in Global Cultures provides UCI students with an opportunity to explore the stimulating ways in which local and global processes are intertwined. In recent decades, the intensified processes of globalization have meant that cultural practices, symbolic systems, and the intersectional formations of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, and class have increasingly spanned national boundaries. But, on the other hand, this feature of the world today was shaped by and is as much a feature of the past. The aim of the Global Cultures major is to provide students with a humanistic framework for understanding the problem and processes of globalization in relationship to change across time and space, the formation and contestation of identity, and theoretical and discursive practices that shape philosophical speculation and belief. Students may choose one of the following approved emphases or may define their own emphasis in consultation with a program advisor and with the approval of the Global Cultures Committee.
Atlantic Rim: Explores the movement of people and cultures in relationship to the historical and contemporary experience of societies that are adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean, including, among others, west Africa, the Americas, the Caribbean, and western and northern Europe, as well as the British archipelago.
Hispanic, U.S. Latino/Latina, and Luso-Brazilian Cultures: Examines the historical, political, and cultural formations of regions where Spanish and Portuguese are spoken, including Spain, Portugal, Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries in the Western Hemisphere, and the Latino/Latina population in the United States.
Locating Africas (Nation, Culture, and Diaspora): Examines Africa as a diverse geographical and political expression, including its historical, political, and cultural formation locally, regionally, and globally.
Locating Asias (Nation, Culture, and Diaspora): Examines Asia as a diverse geographical and political expression, including its historical and cultural formation locally, regionally, and globally.
Locating Europes and European Colonies: Examines Europe as a diverse geographical and political expression, including its historical and cultural formation locally, regionally, and globally.
Pacific Rim: Explores the movement of people and cultures in relationship to the historical and contemporary experience of societies that are adjacent to the Pacific Ocean, including, among others, India, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, the United States, and Malayasia.
Inter-Area Studies: Includes comparative studies of the geographical regions outlined in the above six emphases, for instance, the analysis of Africans in Asia, or the cultural, historical, and political connections between the Atlantic and the Pacific Rim.
Because there are so many emphasis options within the major, students will be assigned for academic advising to a member of the Global Cultures Committee or a Core faculty member and are required to consult with their advisor on a quarterly basis.
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
Students in this major will be well prepared to do what other Humanities majors do after graduation: work in business, law, education, politics, public policy, academia, and print and television media. Global Cultures majors will be especially qualified for careers in the foreign service and international business. Students majoring in Humanities are particularly well prepared for careers in all fields in which analysis, judgment, and argument are important. The Global Cultures major will equip students with a knowledge and understanding of the complexities of the diverse world in which they live. Perhaps nowhere more than in the State of California, the contemporary workforce is constituted of people who have crossed geographic and cultural boundaries and who are embodiments of the forces of globalization that this major will help students to understand better. Global Cultures majors will thus be particularly sensitive to the challenges and opportunities presented by the multicultural society of which they are a part.
The UCI Career Center provides services to students and alumni including career counseling, information about job opportunities, a career library, and workshops on resume preparation, job search, and interview techniques. See the Career Center section for additional information.
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE BACHELOR'S DEGREE
University Requirements: See pages 54-59.
School Requirements: See pages 218-219.
Requirements for the Major
Fourteen courses are required: History 21A-B-C; Humanities 103A-B; eight upper-division courses from an approved emphasis list (see sample below), six of which must be selected from one emphasis and two from a second emphasis (three of the eight courses must focus on representation, i.e., Art History, Film, Media, Literature, History, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian); and Humanities 191. Quarterly consultation with a faculty advisor is also required.
Students are encouraged to augment their foreign language competence beyond the School minimum. Participation in the UC Education Abroad Program is strongly recommended for all Global Cultures majors.
Residence Requirement for the Major: At least five five upper-division courses required for the major must be completed successfully at UCI.
Requirements for the Minor
History 21A-B-C, Humanities 103A-B, four courses selected from one emphasis; and one course selected from a second emphasis.
Residence Requirement for the Minor: A minimum of four upper-division courses required for the minor must be completed successfully at UCI. Two of the four may be taken through the UC Education Abroad Program, providing course content is approved in advance by the appropriate department chair.
Emphases and Approved Courses: The following list includes a few examples of courses that have been approved for each emphasis. The complete list is extensive and varies from quarter to quarter, depending upon course scheduling. For complete up-to-date information about approved courses, students should consult the School of Humanities Web site at http://www.humanities.uci.edu/.
Atlantic Rim: The Black Protest Tradition (African-American Studies 141), American Art: 1800-1900 (Art History 165), Black Britain (History 190).
Hispanic, U.S. Latino/Latina, and Luso-Brazilian Cultures: Women, Race, and Social Movements in Latin America (Anthropology 121E), Chicana/Chicano History: Twentieth Century (History 151B), Introduction to Portuguese and Brazilian Literature (Portuguese 120B).
Locating Africas (Nation, Culture, and Diaspora): Race and Medicine in the United States: 1870-1990 (African-American Studies 110), African-American Art: Twentieth Century (Art History 175), The African-American Civil Rights Movement (History 142B).
Locating Asias (Nation, Culture, and Diaspora): Japanese Art: 1868-1945 (Art History 162B), Asian Americans and Education in a Multicultural Society (Asian American Studies 150), Asian American Writers: Ethnicity and the Politics of Location (Comparative Literature 105).
Locating Europes and European Colonies: European Art: 1851-1907 (Art History 134C), Classics and History: The Ancient World (Classics 140), The Holocaust (History 190).
Pacific Rim: Asian American Labor (Asian American Studies 111), Japan as Spectacle at the End of the Century (East Asian Languages and Literatures 155), America and the Third World (History 158C).
Inter-Area Studies: Nationalism and Ethnicity in the Contemporary World (Anthropology 136A), Film Theory (Film Studies 110), Cross-Cultural Studies of Gender (Women's Studies 180).
