World Development
StudiesWorld Development
StudiesProfessors—Hymans, Miller, Moss, Yansane
Associate Professors—Banerjee, Barbosa, Caulfield, Keith, King, Oņate, Shastri
Assistant Professors—Foschi, Quesada
Minor in World Development Studies
The field of world development studies looks at the comprehensive transformations that have been brought to human societies across the globe by the spread of the industrial revolution. Approximately one-third of the world's population enjoys a higher material standard of living due to industrialization, whereas two-thirds are in relative poverty. The likelihood, means, and consequences of closing this gap provide the central foci of world development studies. Since this social transformation affects all aspects of human existence, all of the social science disciplines devote important efforts to understanding it.
Issues Central to World Development Studies. How did the world distribution of income and wealth become so unequal, and will or must it stay that way?
Though the minor is not intended as a complete career preparation, it certainly serves as an introduction to a growing career field. There are tens of thousands of development professionals working for governments, the United Nations and its affiliated agencies, a multitude of non-governmental organizations, development banks, universities, and private companies around the world. The minor enables the student to discover a major field of employment as well as scholarly activity.
All choices must be approved by a faculty adviser, who should be contacted as soon as a student decides to take the minor. Courses with at least three different departmental home-based prefixes must be included in each student's program.
Online course descriptions are available.
| Historical Background | Units | |
| One course from the following | 3 | |
| BL S 302 | Black Diaspora | |
| HIST 400 | Modern European Imperialism | |
| HIST/ANTH/ RAZA/SS 501 |
Latin America: The National Period | |
| SS/IR/PLSI 520 | Modernization and Third World Countries | |
| The Global Development Era: Theory and Practice | ||
| One course from the following | 3-4 | |
| ECON 620 | Economic Development | |
| IR/SS 540 | The Rich and the Poor Nations (4) | |
| Development and the Environment | ||
| One course from the following | 3-4 | |
| ECON 550 | Economics of Energy and the Environment | |
| GEOG 402 | The Climatic Challenge | |
| GEOG 427 | Agriculture and Food Supply | |
| IR 331 | Global Environmental Crisis (4) | |
| SOC 483 | Global Sociology (4) | |
| SOC 484 | Population and Social Dynamics (4) | |
| SS/IR 560 | Energy in Global Perspective | |
| Cultural, Ethnic, and Gender Perspectives | ||
| One course from the following | 3-4 | |
| ANTH 321 | Endangered Cultures | |
| BL S 335 | Black Woman: A Cultural Analysis | |
| RAZA 410 | La Raza Women | |
| SS/IR 544 | Women in the World (4) | |
| SOC 461 | Ethnic Relations: International Comparisons (4) | |
| WOMS 531 | Women and International Development | |
| Regional Comparisons | ||
| Two courses on two different regions from the following | 6-8 | |
| ANTH 315 | Peoples and Cultures of Central America | |
| BL S 301 | Africa in Global Perspective | |
| GEOG 570 | Regional Studies: Latin America | |
| GEOG 570 | Regional Studies: Africa | |
| HIST 520 | Central America and the Caribbean | |
| HIST 611 | Modern Africa | |
| IR/PLSI 321 | Development and Foreign Policy—Africa (4) | |
| IR/PLSI 322 | Latin American Policy Analysis (4) | |
| IR 324 | Middle East: Heartland (4) | |
| PLSI 412 | South Asian Politics (4) | |
| PLSI 416 | Ethnicity and Nationalism (4) | |
| RAZA 460 | Central Americans of the United States: History and Heritage | |
| SS/HIST 550 | Social Change in Modern Latin America | |
| Electives | ||
| One course on advisement from the following, or from any of the courses in the above categories not chosen to fulfill a requirement within a student's individual curriculum | 3-4 | |
| ANTH 320 | Racism: Cross-cultural Analysis | |
| ANTH 560 | Economic Anthropology | |
| ANTH 585 | Multinational Corporations and World Cultures | |
| ART 508 | African Art History | |
| ECON 600 | International Economics | |
| GEOG 425 | Economic Geography | |
| HIST 524 | History of Mexico | |
| HIST 528 | History of Brazil | |
| HIST 571 | History of Modern China | |
| HIST 578 | History of Japan | |
| IR/PLSI 325 | Chinese Foreign Policy: Domestic and Foreign (4) | |
| IR 326 | South and Southeast Asia Foreign Relations (4) | |
| IR 334 | International Organizations: New World Order (4) | |
| IR 446 | The Multinational Corporation in World Affairs (4) | |
| PLSI 413 | Comparative Communism (4) | |
| PSY 455 | Cross-cultural Perspectives in Psychology | |
| RAZA 376 | History of La Raza in the United States | |
| SS 510 | Socio-cultural Change: An Inter-disciplinary Analysis | |
| CINE 308 | Third World Cinema | |
| HUM 520 | North and South American Cultural Expression | |
| HUM 540 | Styles of Chinese Cultural Expression | |
| IBUS 591 | Doing Business in Latin America | |
| IBUS 592 | Doing Business in China | |
| NEXA 392 | Nature, Culture, and Technology | |
| Holistic Perspective: Special Study | ||
| A one-unit special study from the student's adviser's home department (ANTH 699, ECON 699, etc.) | 1 | |
| Total for minor | 22-28 | |