This fall, HLS is offering hundreds of courses that strengthen your global knowledge and regional expertise while helping you meet degree requirements
We've highlighted a few here, but check out iGPS for our complete list of learning opportunities in International Studies, East Asian Languages & Cultures, International Law & Institutes, Central Eurasian Studies, Middle Eastern Languages & Cultures, and African, European, Latin American, Russian, and Southeast Asian studies.
African Studies
AFRI-A 100, "Where there are no Jungles"
Class #: 31618
Meeting Time: Tues/Thurs, 11:15am-12:30pm
Location: GA 1106
Instructor: Tavy Aherne
Wondering what ‘African Studies’ encompasses? Want a basic understanding of Africa in global perspective? From a variety of disciplinary approaches? Just want to learn something new? This course is for you? We will begin by critically assessing the framing of Africa in the U.S., problematizing modes of knowledge production on Africa (ex: through social media, film, news, academic writing). We’ll look at the diverse, rich heritage and contemporary reality of peoples of the African continent from the perspectives of African scholars, artists, writers, and everyday citizens.
Introduction to selected oral art forms and traditions of some Sub-Saharan African societies. Emphasis is on the esthetics and communicational mores that regulate the people's verbal behavior. Enhances understanding and appreciation of African interactional practices, especially, verbal artistry and expressive culture. "Students will also understand how Africans can sometimes say it without saying it."
Once an exporter of communist revolution and socialist assistance during the Mao era, China is now a leading global power in trade, investment, and aid. In this process of transformation, China is blurring boundaries between the state and business, challenging conventional conceptions of development, and transforming international economic institutions. Topics covered include China’s overseas aid, trade, investment, economic statecraft, state-owned enterprises, participation in international institutions like the World Bank and the World Trade Organization, and campaigns like the Belt and Road Initiative and Made in China 2025.
Exploration of Xinjiang's politics from 1900 to the present, focusing on Islam, identity politics, immigration, language battles, cultural resistance, the Production and Construction Corps, political economy, and oil.
The course will compare democratic political systems to autocratic/dictatorial ones and explore the different ways in which each political system affects the lives of individuals. The course will explore how democracies are better equipped to support economic and cultural progress and to fulfill the dreams of individual people than dictatorships founded on messianistic ideologies. The empirical basis of comparison will be the comparison of East European left and right wing dictatorial systems with democracies. The course will explore the process of democracy building and its pitfalls.
What is "East Asia"? Most people know that China, Japan and Korea are part of "East Asia," but what about Vietnam? In fact, all four of these countries and cultures have many things in common, and their commonalities define the large region we call "East Asia." At the same time, each of these states and societies have their own unique histories and cultures. This course will look at each of those states and cultures individually and how they have been connected. Our study starts just as the modern era is emerging (middle of the 18th century) and takes the story through the present. We will look at culture, politics, religion, the environment, war, and foreign relations. By the end of the semester you will have a very good grasp of the history and current conditions of China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam and how they define one of the most important regions of the globe today.
EALC-E 115, "Literatures of Love From Early Times to the Present"
Class #: 32296
Meeting Time: Tues/Thurs, 9:30am-10:45am
Location: GA 1100
Instructor: Susan Hwang
What do we talk about when we talk about love? Is it self-love, self-interest, or altruistic emotion? And what's sex got to do with love? This introductory survey course examines love in East Asian literature from earliest legends to 21st-century novels. We will explore diverse expressions of love--sexual, romantic, narcissistic, erotic, filial, nationalistic, and so on--in various forms of literary works (legends, short fiction, poems, drama), films, and songs. How was the language of love used to explore questions of gender, class, and/or national identity? Students will learn about the historical specificities as well as the culturally interconnected experiences of love in East Asia. All readings will be in English translation.
EALC-E 350, "International Political Economy of China"
Class #: 35060
Meeting Time: Tues/Thurs, 1:00pm-2:15pm
Location: GA 1106
Instructor: Wendy Leutert
This course investigates the international political economy of the People’s Republic of China. Once an exporter of communist revolution and socialist assistance during the Mao era, China is now a leading global power in trade, investment, and aid. In this process of transformation, China is blurring boundaries between the state and business, challenging conventional conceptions of development, and transforming international economic institutions. Topics covered include China’s overseas aid, trade, investment, economic statecraft, state-owned enterprises, participation in international institutions like the World Bank and the World Trade Organization, and campaigns like the Belt and Road Initiative and Made in China 2025. We will discuss the economics, politics, and ideas shaping China’s policy decisions, and critically consider their implications from the perspectives of domestic and international actors.
This course introduces students to the post-1945 foreign relations of Japan. Over the past 150 years, Japan has repeatedly reinvented itself. After 1868, Japanese leaders responded to the threat of Western imperialism with a development trajectory that left the Western world in awe, but which ultimately proved catastrophic. After 1945, Japan transformed itself again, rising from the ashes of World War II to develop into an economic superpower whose economy became larger than that of the Soviet Union, but whose security policy trajectory was categorically opposite that of its pre-1945 self. Under Japan's current leadership, many argue that Japan today is on the verge of another radical change in its foreign policy trajectory. But is it? This course will focus on the development of Japan's foreign relations since World War II, and critically examine how Tokyo is seeking to adjust its policies in face of the complicated challenges of the 21st century from the rise of China and North Korea's nuclear program to concerns about climate change, free trade, pandemics, relative American decline, and the advent of the Trump administration. Through the prism of Japanese foreign policy, students will develop a better understanding of Japanese politics and the dynamics of international relations in East Asia, as well as of U.S. strategy towards this extremely dynamic region. With many arguing today that Japan is on the verge of another major transformation, we will end the semester with debates about the future of Japan's relations with China and the United States, as well as the future of Japan itself. Throughout the semester, we will have ample opportunity to discuss and debate various issues affecting Japanese foreign policy, as well as current events making global headlines. Enrolled students will also have special opportunities to engage leading experts on Japan visiting IU through speaker series organized by the professor.
This course examines China’s economic development model in historical and comparative perspective, from 1949 to the present. Mao Zedong led the world’s most populous country in a revolutionary attempt to transform China into a communist state. After the planned economy failed to deliver its promise of development, reforms to create “capitalism with Chinese characteristics” have yielded decades of rapid economic growth without a full transition to a market economy. How did the socialist system function and evolve in China? What has the state’s role in the Chinese economy been—and what should it be? We will discuss topics including the planned economy, economic reform, state-owned enterprises, migration and inequality, and digital capitalism. Students will gain a critical understanding of China’s economic changes and assess their consequences for domestic and international actors.
Under Japan's current leadership, many argue that Japan today is on the verge of another radical change in its foreign policy trajectory. But is it? This course will focus on the development of Japan's foreign relations since World War II, and critically examine how Tokyo is seeking to adjust its policies in face of the complicated challenges of the 21st century from the rise of China and North Korea's nuclear program to concerns about climate change, free trade, pandemics, relative American decline, and the advent of the Trump administration.
INTL-I 100, "Introduction to International Studies"
Class #: 6340
Meeting Time: Tues/Thurs, 2:30pm-3:20pm
Location: WH 101
Instructor: Nick Cullather
Explore a variety of different perspectives for studying and making sense of the world and global issues in the past and present. We will learn how these different perspectives portray the world, interpret events, and often shape human actions. Lecture material and key concepts are organized around the International Studies thematic concentrations, thereby introducing a variety of analytical approaches from the natural and social sciences and the arts and humanities. Assignments and discussion will also incorporate a geographic dimension for analysis. Case studies from different historical periods and parts of the world will illustrate these approaches and key issues.
INTL-I 100, "Introduction to International Studies"
Class #: 9293
Meeting Time: Tues/Thurs, 10:10am-11:00am
Location: GA 0001
Instructor: Gardner Bovingdon
Explore a variety of different perspectives for studying and making sense of the world and global issues in the past and present. We will learn how these different perspectives portray the world, interpret events, and often shape human actions. Lecture material and key concepts are organized around the International Studies thematic concentrations, thereby introducing a variety of analytical approaches from the natural and social sciences and the arts and humanities. Assignments and discussion will also incorporate a geographic dimension for analysis. Case studies from different historical periods and parts of the world will illustrate these approaches and key issues.
INTL-I 103, "Global Business: Politics, Policy, and Practice"
Class #: 34870
Meeting Time: Tues/Thurs, 1:00pm-2:15pm
Location: GA 1100
Instructor: Sarah Bauerle Danzman
What does it mean to be a global corporation in the 21st Century? What kinds of dilemmas do business leaders face when operating in different counties with varying political, cultural, technological, and environmental landscapes? How can communities harness the positive aspects of global business while managing the social, environmental, and security risks they generate? Should consumers and voters hold global businesses to high social and environmental standards, and if so, how? In this course, you will learn how to analyze the opportunities and challenges multinational enterprises generate using real cases from global companies including: Exxon Mobile, Nike, Patagonia, Toms Shoes, Starbucks, Apple, Facebook, and even Grindr (who knew a dating app would generate national security concerns?!). Individually and with teams, you will use political, economic, historical, and cultural knowledge to critically analyze, debate, and solve real-world problems that business, political, and community leaders face. Through studying and debating these cases, you will develop a set of valuable risk analysis, ethical reasoning skills, and cultural competencies necessary to becoming a leader in corporate, community, and political environments as well as learn the basics of writing a policy memo.
This course will investigate intersections between "identity" and "conflict." We will consider how different forms of identity--such as ethnic, religious, political, and gender--can become the basis for people to mobilize. We will analyze the processes through which certain identities are affirmed at the cost of alternative ones, paying careful attention to how and why people participate in acts of violence and discrimination against those whose identities are deemed undesirable. Rather than view conflicts as irreducibly based in identity, however, we will seek to understand how they emerge out of local conditions and historical legacies, and can be shaped by national, regional, and transnational contexts. Our approach will be interdisciplinary, drawing on readings from anthropology, cultural studies, and political theory. Students will acquire some familiarity with critical concepts such as colonialism and post-colonialism, the nation and the state, race, and ethnicity, and globalization and neoliberalism.
What makes news real or fake? Who creates fake news, why, and how does it spread? And how do answers to those questions vary over time and around the world? This course will take a global perspective to understanding truth and falsehood in the media and their effects on societies and on international relations. From the philosophy of bullshit to the history of the yellow press to analyses of online networks, we will bring together a wide range of sources and disciplines to consider fake news as a political tool, as a side-effect of the social organization of news making, as a product being sold to consumers, and as either a threat to or an inescapable aspect of democracy.
How will global security challenges shape international politics in the 21st century? This course seeks to provide a framework for thinking about the key issues of security and conflict in the modern era. In this course, we will examine issues such as civil war, counterinsurgency, terrorism, humanitarian intervention, peacekeeping, drones, and technology in warfare. We will approach these issues from empirical, theoretical, and policy perspectives to understand how such issues will influence international politics today and in the decades to come. By the end of this course, students will be able to apply this knowledge in order to assess global policies to promote international stability and human security. Students pursuing careers in human rights, security, diplomacy, intelligence, law, or international policy will find this course useful.
What makes news real or fake? Who creates fake news, why, and how does it spread? And how do answers to those questions vary over time and around the world? This course will take a global perspective to understanding truth and falsehood in the media and their effects on societies and on international relations.
NELC-N 239, "US Foreign Policy and the Muslim World"
Class #: 31778
Meeting Time: Mon/Wed, 4:00pm-5:15pm
Location: GA 1112
Instructor: Abdulkader Sinno
Introduces salient policy debates that shape contemporary American foreign policy toward the Middle East and the Muslim world. Explores foreign policy decision making and international relations theory. Addresses major policy questions, including US reactions to the crisis in Syria and the Arab Spring.
NELC-N 265, "Introduction to Islamic Civilization"
Class #: 31559
Meeting Time: Tues/Thurs, 11:15am-12:15pm
Location: AD A152
Instructor: Joshua Georgy
Survey of Islamic civilization in the classical period. Topics include the life of Muhammad, Koranic and other teachings of Islam, conquests and caliphates, early successor states, law, sects, theology, philosophy, and the relationship between state and religion.
This course will examine how ISIS emerged in these neighboring countries of the Middle East. It will help students to understand ISIS within the context of the current events in Syria, Iraq, and other involved countries. The course will also answer such question as: How did ISIS emerge? What have been the factors that led to the survival and strength of terrorism in Iraq and Syria? How does ISIS appeal to those who join it? What is the Ideology of ISIS? Additionally, students will study terrorism, its definition/s, historical development, and some theories about its psychological and ideological motivations.
How will global security challenges shape international politics in the 21st century? This course seeks to provide a framework for thinking about the key issues of security and conflict in the modern era. In this course, we will examine issues such as civil war, counterinsurgency, terrorism, humanitarian intervention, peacekeeping, drones, and technology in warfare.
The course will compare democratic political systems to autocratic/dictatorial ones and explore the different ways in which each political system affects the lives of individuals. The course will explore how democracies are better equipped to support economic and cultural progress and to fulfill the dreams of individual people than dictatorships founded on messianistic ideologies. The empirical basis of comparison will be the comparison of East European left and right wing dictatorial systems with democracies. The course will explore the process of democracy building and its pitfalls.
SGIS-S 201, "Analysis & Visualization of International Data"
Class #: 12337
Meeting Time: Tues/Thurs, 11:15am-12:30pm
Location: BH 107
Instructor: Mindy King
The course provides fundamental knowledge and skills to identify useful data sources, formulate relevant questions, develop hypotheses, and analyze, interpret, and communicate trends in quantitative data sets. Introduces the rationale for and basic principles of communicating data through graphic design.
Explores the rapid improvement of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the widespread use of AI in every sector of the economy and society, and the impact its adoption is having on global and international politics and economies. No prior knowledge of AI needed.
Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies