Survey of economic arrangements found in various types of cultural systems with emphasis on application of anthtropological theory and method for understanding particular systems.
ANTH 577 - Peasant Communities (5 credit hours)
Focuses upon folk component of state societies.
ANTH 585 - Cultures of Southeast Asia (5 credit hours)
This survey of the lifeways of the peoples of Southeast Asia attempts to provide some sense of the bewildering variety of language, culture, social organization, and religion found in this region. It will explore both broad regional patterns and uniquely local features of societies situated in diverse geographical and ecological settings.
Southeast Asia was for centuries a crossroad between India and China, and then between Europe and the Orient. Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity have all gained large followings, and the region's patchwork of cultures reflects an evolving blend of these diverse historical and religious influences and the indigenous ideas and institutions which they encountered. Students will gain a sense of the geography and history of the region while exploring some ethnological problems.
One such problem is the idea of hierarchy and power and their range of expressions across Southeast Asia. The questions we will be asking in our exploration of prehistory, history, and ethnography include: How is power locally understood? How do ideas of power inform relations between people both within and between societies? What are the spatial and temporal dimensions of power? What characterizes Southeast Asian states and how do they compare with those of the West?
ANTH 586 - Problems in Southeast Asia Anthropology
This course explores selected topics of current concern in the study of the cultures and societies of Southeast Asia. One such concern centers on cultural survival, human rights, and the denial of these for many of the marginalized peoples of the region. Examples include the Orang Asli and Penan of Malaysia, the Karen and Mon of Burma, the East Timorese and Papuan peoples of Indonesia, as well as refugees from the wars in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Through individual case studies, we will explore both the problem of marginalized and oppressed peoples of the region and the theoretical, legal, and ethical questions surrounding their study by social scientists.
ANTH 594A - Seminar: The Anthropology of Witchcraft
ANTH 594C - Seminar: Archeological Anthropology
This seminar examines contemporary archeology in which goals, theory, and method are directed toward reconstruction of extinct sociocultural systems rather than towards time-space distribution of archeological materials.
ANTH 594D - Seminar: Human Ecology
This seminar examines the mutual and reciprocal relations between sociocultural systems and other systems in their environment; ecosystems and biotic communities in which human populations are included.
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
BA 585 - International Business (4 credit hours)
Emergence of U.S. and non-U.S. multinational corporations, scope of their operations, and impact on U.S. economy and consumers.
BUSINESS LAW
BUSL 570 - Environmental Law (4 credit hours)
Legal aspects of individual and societal environmental rights and duties with respect to U.S. Constitution, private property, nuisance, negligence, statutes, regulatory agencies, and court decisions.
BUSL 585 - International Business Law (4 credit hours)
ECONOMICS
ECON 503 - Microeconomics (5 credit hours)
Analysis of prices, markets, production, wages, interest, rent, and profit.
ECON 504 - Macroeconomics (5 credit hours)
Factors determining level of nation;s economic activity and growth and stability in nation's economy. Accelerated workshop course for M.B.A. students.
ECON 512 - Economics of Poverty(5 credit hours)
Incidence, causes, and consequences of poverty in affluent society. Economic theory, history, and statistics applied to analysis of poverty reduction measures.
Analysis of prices, markets, production, wages, interest, rent, and profit.
ECON 540 - International Trade Theory (5 credit hours)
ECON 550 - Economic Development (5 credit hours)
Nature of, obstacles to and future possibilities for economic growth of nations; problems of underdeveloped countries; studies of selected countries.
ECON 573 - Economics of Southeast Asia (5 credit hours)
This course focuses on evaluating government economic policy during the post WW II period. In addition to surveying the general economic situation in SE Asian countries, and considering the various government approaches to foster economic development, the course will discuss how to analyze macroeconomic policy issues, particularly those pertaining to the 'open' economy- that is the many linkages between the domestic and international economy- in the context of SE Asia. Countries of focus are Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.
EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION
EDAD 703 - Administration of Education in Other Countries (4 credit hours)
Programs, organizational structure, and control of education in other counties. U.S. assistance programs for educational administration in developing nations.
CULTURAL STUDIES IN EDUCATION
EDCS 504 - Social Structure and Change in Education (4 credit hours)
Studies in interaction of social structure and education reform. Concepts of class, status, bureaucracy, technocracy, and cultural pluralism assessed in their relationship to sociology of knowledge and educational alternatives.
EDCS 505 - Comparative Cultures and Education (4 credit hours)
Studies in learning as a social process with emphasis on the non-Western experience. Introduction to techniques of comparative analysis and ethnographic examination of learning systems.
EDCS 508 - Poverty, Education and International Development (4 credit hours)
Interdisciplinary course focusing on poverty in African, Asian, and Latin American societies and the uses of education, including nonformal education, adult education, and literacy programs, to promote rural development. Problems in planning and implementation. Social impact of intervention.
EDCS 601- Education and Cultural Diversity (3 credit hours)
Tropical rainforests cover only about 7% of the earth's land area and yet contain 50% of all species. The biological diversity and ecological characteristics of this unique habitat will be studied from soils to tree, from climate to animal/plant interactions.
Analysis of the relationship between film and culture, with emphasis on how cultural meanings influence film aesthetics and critical assessment of the medium. Examination of the work of such nations as Brazil, China, India, Sweden, and the United States. Weekly screenings.
FINANCE
FIN 555 - International Finance (4 credit hours)
Developing skills to deal with variables influencing financial decision making for multinational firm and international business. Foreign exchange rate determination, measurement of exposure , and exchange risk management. Study of strategies of entry in foregin markets and investment analysis of foreign projects. Study of working capital management. Study of institutions, practices, and problems related to financing foreign trade.
GEOGRAPHY
GEOG 529 - World Economic Geography (5 credit hours)
Survey of the world capitalist economy, the rise of core economies, (under)development in the periphery and global economic restructuring.
GEOG 538 - Geography of Southeast Asia (5 credit hours)
An examination of the natural resource base upon which the newly industrializing countries of Southeast Asia base their economic development and upon which the history of Southeast Asia evolved. By means of lectures, videos and slides, the course discusses the regional concept in SE Asia and the formation of the cultural landscape beginning in colonial times as well as climate and weather patterns, forest ecosystems and their exploitation, traditional food productiontechniques, plantation agriculture, mineral exploitation, population movements, and environmental pollution.
GEOG 539 - Geographic Patterns in Developing Countries (5 credit hours)
Comparative examination of selected spatial patterns of countries from the developing world.
Themes in American environmental history, resource conservation and management, and contemporary environmentalism.
GEOG 679 - Seminar: Human Geography (5 credit hours)
GEOG 680 - Seminar: Third World Development & Environment (5 credit hours)
This seminar examines Third World environmental problems as related to economic, urban, and rural development projects with special reference to Southeast Asia. It involves literature reviews and discussions as well as research papers and oral presentations by the students.