Global Arc

In this intensive seminar, Princeton students have the opportunity to contribute to the exoneration of wrongfully convicted people. A select group of dedicated students will spend the semester as investigators, documentarians, and social justice advocates. The goal is to create a public documentary, website, and social media campaign that makes the case for the innocence of a wrongfully convicted person who is currently languishing in prison and deserves to be free.

Poverty and inequality are increasing. In this class, a comparative approach will be applied that highlights country differences with a special emphasis on the US Israel comparison. In the first few weeks of this class, basic theories of poverty and inequality will be reviewed, and how theories regarding poverty have changed over the years will be discussed. In the remaining weeks, discussion will turn to substantive topics such as gender, immigration, ethnicity/nationality, age, and health.

This course will offer an in-depth exploration of multilateralism and its role in our world at a time of global change and transition. It will provide students with an understanding of how the shifting world order, the rise of new actors and power centers, and new forms of fragmentation in politics and geoeconomics are testing international relations in an unprecedented manner. Technologies such as artificial intelligence are set to profoundly shape diplomacy, politics, and culture. We will analyze these forces of change, studying how they are affecting each other and impacting global governance.

How have racial and ethnic inequalities in housing and neighborhood development become hallmarks of many U.S. cities? This course focuses on the complex topics of race and racism from a spatial perspective, paying particular attention to the effects of interlocking systems of oppression on primarily urban African-American communities. However, we will not just examine the built environment of such communities. People shape and are shaped by the places they physically occupy. We, therefore, also delve into the narratives and everyday experiences of racialized city dwellers through the social sciences, the humanities, and media.

Urbanization is a defining characteristic of the 21st century and the Global South. Beyond demography, urbanization is a process of transformation and change as cities increasingly determine the economic, political, and environmental present and future. The "urban question" has been raised throughout history, why do cities matter? Cities were conceptualized as drivers of economic growth and are now being positioned as drivers of environmental sustainability creating a tension about how cities develop. This course asks: What role do cities play? Is perennial growth desirable? At what cost in terms of the environment and inequality?