Global Arc

The seminar will concentrate upon themes and topics in Latin American history, politics, society, literature, and/or culture. The focus will vary from year to year.

The seminar will concentrate upon themes and topics in Latin American history, politics, society, literature, and/or culture. The focus will vary from year to year.

The seminar will concentrate upon themes and topics in Latin American history, politics, society, literature, and/or culture. The focus will vary from year to year.

The seminar will concentrate upon themes and topics in Latin American history, politics, society, literature, and/or culture. The focus will vary from year to year.

The seminar will concentrate upon themes and topics in Latin American history, politics, society, literature, and/or culture. The focus will vary from year to year.

The seminar will concentrate upon themes and topics in Latin American history, politics, society, literature, and/or culture. The focus will vary from year to year.

The seminar will draw on Anibal Quijano's work to explore three major themes: the intertwined notions of race and gender in Latin America; the understanding of gender and patriarchy in the work of contemporary decolonial feminist theory; and the oppressive intersectional inequalities introduced by the Conquest and colonization that continue to shape our world. Although Quijano's scholarship tends to be read in a disjointed and disconnected way, this course will take a more unified approach. This seminar will be taught by PLAS fellow Rita Segato, an internationally acclaimed anthropologist and feminist thinker.

This course examines the world of political regimes and regime transitions. Why are some countries democracies and others dictatorships? Why does democracy sometimes break down? Why so some dictatorships eventually democratize? We will explore these questions through a diverse range of cases. We will learn about cases from Latin America and beyond, including the world's biggest democracy (India) and the world's biggest authoritarian regime (China).

This lecture and laboratory course will acquaint non-biology majors with the theory and practice of modern molecular biology, focusing on topics of current interest to society. The course will cover basic molecular biology topics such as information storage and readout by DNA, RNA, and proteins. The course will address how recent scientific advances influence issues relevant to humanity including stem cells and CRISPR; the human microbiome and bacterial pathogens; and how the human genome can be used to understand the evolution of modern humans. Two 90-minute lectures, one three-hour laboratory.

This course will introduce students to laboratory research through a 6-week original research investigation. Although lecture and discussion will be incorporated as needed, by far the largest part of the course will consist of authentic hands-on research. Students will learn how to perform essential laboratory techniques, to design experiments, and to analyze and interpret experimental data. Students will gain experience in both written and oral presentation of scientific results. In 2016, the research focus will be "Biological GPS: Migration of Cells in Living Organisms."