Psychological Science Major with a Concentration in Diversity Science

What is development? How has international development been understood and what has been done about it? How do development scholars explain why some countries are rich while others are poor? How can students understand and incorporate development studies in the contexts of their own global engagements? This course addresses these questions by looking at theories, ideologies, and processes that have influenced and embodied development thinking and practice over the past five decades. We will examine the role of colonization, modernization, dependency, globalization, democratization, industrialization, and urbanization in processes of development in countries across the globe. The course encourages students to think critically about what development is, about how it is carried out and, most importantly of all, about what it can achieve. DEV 1200 provides excellent preparation for international projects and careers.

This course examines the formation and history of the African American literary tradition from slave narratives to contemporary forms in black popular culture. The course will explore some genres of African American writing and their relation to American literature and to black cultural expression. 

This course will be offered in academic years ending in odd numbers.

This course focuses on the problem of how to live in the modern world. Emphasis will be placed on the way moral issues evolve within the complications of individual lives, as depicted in fiction. Such authors as Conrad, Kesey, Camus and Ellison show characters struggling with the questions of moral responsibility raised by love, religion, death, money, conformity.

Conducted entirely in German, the course presents an overview of the development of modern Germany and its culture since the founding of the Second Empire. Background readings in German and English provide the basis for in-class discussion of selected authentic German texts of various kinds: literary works, official documents, political manifestos, letters, and diaries. At least one film will be shown. A number of recurring themes in German culture will inform the content of the course: authoritarianism versus liberalism, idealism versus practicality, private versus public life. This course satisfies the Inquiry Practicum requirement. 

This course will be offered in academic years ending in odd numbers.

This course studies images, topics, and cultural and historical issues related to modern Latin America and the Caribbean through Latin American and Caribbean films and other media sources. Within the context and influence of the New Latin American Cinema and within the context of the World Wide Web, radio, newspapers, and television, the course teaches students to recognize cinematographic or media strategies of persuasion and to understand the images and symbols utilized in the development of national/regional identity. Through film screenings, readings, discussions, and critical analyses, students will explore the unique cinematic styles, narrative techniques, and aesthetics that characterize Latin American film. Students will engage in research projects, presentations, and written critiques to enhance their understanding of the role of cinema as a tool for cultural expression and social change in Latin America. The topics to be studied are immigration, gender identity, national identity, political issues, and cultural hegemonies. This course satisfies the Inquiry Seminar to complete the HUA requirement in Spanish and would also count toward International and Global Studies and Latin American and Caribbean studies. In addition, this course would benefit students interested in WPI's Project Centers in Latin America and the Caribbean. This course is taught at an advanced level of Spanish. 

This course will be offered in academic years ending in even numbers. 

TikTok, WeChat, Tai chi, anime, K-dramas, Hello Kitty, C-pop, yin and yang, Pokémon, manga. All of these have become part of global culture, but where did they come from and what meaningdo they hold as cultural phenomena? In this class, we will explore topics in the popular cultures of East Asia to better understand the influences that have shaped the region’s contemporary societies and their cultures. Focus will be on one or a combination of the following: China, 
Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, or Korea. Students will study various media and genres of popular culture, which could include films, songs, dramas, advertisements, video games, manga, and anime, to explore the larger societal, political, and cultural issues behind them, situating popular culture within historical contexts, transnational currents, and exchanges when appropriate. Students may not receive credit for HU 2340 and INTL 2210.

This course may be repeated for different topics. 
This course will be offered in academic years ending in even numbers.

This course introduces students to selected musical cultures of the world, e.g., Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, from the ethnomusicological perspective by examining their musical styles as well as cultural and social contexts. Students will be expected to read materials in interdisciplinary areas, including musical ethnographies. No prior background in music is necessary.

Students that have earned credit for MU 3001 cannot receive credit for MU 3230.

The purpose of this course is to examine how the two institutions of religion and culture interact and mutually influence one another. To do this a variety of definitions of religion and culture will be presented as well as an analysis of how religion interacts with such cultural phenomena as economics, politics, the state, war and the basic problem of social change. The purpose of this is to obtain a variety of perspectives on both religion and culture so that one can begin to articulate more clearly the different influences that occur in the development of one’s own personal history and the culture in which one lives.

This course encourages students to explore how a sociological toolkit may be used to examine the impetus for social and historical changes and the effect such changes have on how individuals live, work, and find their place in this world. It operates from the premise that individual lives are not just personal but social— as humans we are shaped by the societies in which we live and the social forces at work within them. Major theoretical perspectives and concepts will be discussed over the course of the semester with primary emphasis on the roles that culture, dimensions of inequality and social change play in shaping individual lives. Students will also explore the influence that social institutions such as the family, religion, education, healthcare, government, economy, and environment have on how humans function within society.

An introduction to various aspects of life in Latin American countries from early times to the present. Focusing on Latin America's social and political development, the course will reveal the unity and diversity that characterize contemporary Latin American culture. Typical topics for study include the Pre-Columbian civilizations and their cultural legacy, the conquistadores and the colonial period, the independence movements, the search for and the definition of American identity, the twentieth-century dictatorships, the move toward democracy, gender and race identities, religious practices, etc. This course satisfies the Inquiry Seminar to complete the HUA requirement in Spanish and would also count toward International and Global Studies and Latin American and Caribbean studies. In addition, this course would benefit students interested in WPI's Project Centers in Latin America and the Caribbean. This course is taught at an advanced level of Spanish.

This course will be offered in academic years ending in odd numbers. 

This course aims to introduce you to Spain as a critical concept: how can we understand Spanish identity as we know it today through past cultural processes, productions, and moments? Through an interdisciplinary panoramic of Spain's most famous and contentious moments and figures, we will piece together a broad cultural history of a nation that has tended to identify itself as "Las Espanas" - in other words, a plurality of identities that reflect regional nationalism, ethnicities, religions, languages, and social structures that then feed into an ethos of what it means to be a "Spaniard." Part of our task will be to assess how Spaniards define themselves and how others define them; more broadly, these discussions will enrich how we think about nationality and culture. The students will examine diverse artifacts - literature, films, art, and the history of different moments in the development of Spanish culture and civilization, including the Convivencia, the Reconquista, the Spanish monarchy, and the so-called Conquista de last Americas, the Spanish Civil War, Franco's subsequent dictatorship, and the transition to democracy. Our readings will be in Spanish and English, but coursework will be exclusively in Spanish. This course satisfies the Inquiry Seminar to complete the HUA requirement in Spanish and would also count toward International and Global Studies. In addition, this course would benefit students interested in WPI's Project Centers in Spain. This course is taught at an advanced level of Spanish. 

This course will be offered in academic years ending in even numbers. 

This course will examine how people from differing cultural backgrounds communicate in similar and different ways among themselves, and how they endeavor to communicate across cultures. Students will develop a personal and theoretical understanding of the cultural origin of people’s values, ideologies, habits, idiosyncrasies, and how they affect communication across cultural, racial, ethnic and gender lines. Through observing, studying and experiencing incidents of intercultural communication, they will begin to examine and develop skills that are necessary for effective understanding and for successful communication among majority and minority groups. 

Students who have taken WR 3300 may not receive credit for this course.

This course will be offered in academic years ending in even numbers.