Requirements: International Studies

Interdisciplinary

The international studies curriculum enables students to analyze an increasingly global society using the foundations of the liberal arts. International studies majors concentrate in one of three thematic tracks — development, environment or politics and society — taking a focused set of courses from several disciplines to develop their understanding of that topic. Majors apply that knowledge to the sustained study of a particular region of the world, where they spend at least a semester abroad studying, living in and experiencing a foreign culture.

International studies majors must have an adventurous spirit and a high level of personal motivation. They must learn foreign languages, study in distant countries and think rigorously across disciplinary boundaries. The program especially encourages students to study the problems and challenges of areas other than Western Europe and North America.

The Kenyon College faculty voted to change from Kenyon units to semester hours. This change will go into effect for all students who start at the College in the fall of 2024. Both systems will be used throughout the course catalog with the Kenyon units being listed first.

Beginning Studies

International studies majors select an area of geographic concentration and follow a series of courses in one of the three thematic tracks. We strongly recommend that first-year students take courses in a language appropriate for the geographic area in which they plan to concentrate (Spanish for Latin America, Chinese for East Asia and so forth). This suggestion is by far the most important one we can make, for success in off-campus study in the area concentration depends heavily on language skills. Second, prospective majors should look carefully at the introductory courses listed for each of the three thematic tracks. Consider taking one or more of the courses that can serve in more than one thematic track — e.g., ANTH 113, ECON 101, PSCI 260, SOCY 105 or HIST 100. Students should consult the chair of the program for additional advice.

The Curriculum

Regardless of which track a student follows, there are seven elements in the international studies curriculum:

1. Sophomore course

INST 201 (The Expansion of International Society) explores the historical origins, causes and implications of today's globalized world.

2. Core track courses

Each of the three thematic tracks has its own assortment of introductory, upper-level and research methods courses, which are listed along with the description of each track below.

3. Area concentration

Students must take at least four courses on a geographic region outside the United States such as sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East and North Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, East Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, Eastern Europe or Western Europe, or a more culturally defined region such as the Islamic world, the Atlantic world or a diaspora community. At least two of the area courses must be historical in scope, including a course on the modern history of the region, and at least two of the area courses must be taken at Kenyon.

Although one region serves as the primary focus, students are encouraged to include at least one course that explores that region’s historical and cultural connections with other regions. Some examples of trans-regional courses are AMES 201, FREN 340, HIST 166, HIST 242, HIST 258, HIST 261, HIST 345, HIST 373, HIST 454, RLST 135, RLST 140, SPAN 330 and SPAN 365.

A required major areas form(pdf) must be completed and submitted to the Registrar's Office, indicating the courses for your area concentration.

4. Foreign language

Majors must complete at least two years of college-level instruction in one foreign language or demonstrate such proficiency through a placement exam. If studying abroad in a place where the local language is not offered at Kenyon, the student is allowed to fulfill the second year of the requirement by studying that language while studying off campus. All students are required to study a local language during their off-campus study experience.

5. Off-campus study

All international studies majors must study abroad for at least a semester and are encouraged to do so for an entire year. Students are required to study abroad in their junior year in a program relevant to their thematic track, area concentration and foreign language training, and in an area where the majority of the people speak a language different from the student’s own primary language. A maximum of two courses from each semester of off-campus study can be used to fulfill requirements in the international studies major. Students should keep in mind that off-campus study at Kenyon is competitive and writing a strong application is critical. In order to study off campus, a student must receive approval from the College and have achieved a GPA of at least 2.5.

6. Senior Seminar

INST 401 (Contemporary Global Issues) is a comparative course that brings all international studies majors together during the fall of their senior year to look at significant global problems from the various perspectives they bring based on their specializations.

7. Senior Capstone

The Senior Capstone provides an opportunity for majors to undertake a substantial, independent research project that combines and reflects their thematic training and regional knowledge. It usually builds on their experience and research abroad and then examines it from a broadly intellectual and comparative perspective. Seniors are encouraged to consult with any faculty whose expertise has bearing on their investigations. Projects take the form of a research paper of about 20 to 30 pages. They are due in mid-February. Additional information about the Senior Capstone is available through the department website.

Students can keep track of their progress with a checklist for majors.

Honors

The International Studies Honors Program offers qualified students the opportunity to work intensively on a research project during their entire senior year under the close guidance of one or two faculty members. Students who think they might want to pursue this option should consult early with the chair of the department, preferably before going off campus in their junior year, as the study abroad experience will usually shape or inform the honors project. Honors students produce a written work of an appropriate length in their thematic track (minimum of 80 pages and often more), and an outside examiner reads and assesses each student’s work at the end of the spring semester.

Kenyon requires a minimum GPA of 3.33 to be eligible for honors, and honors candidates enroll in INST 497Y and INST 498Y each semester.

For more detailed information about honors in international studies, see the INST Honors Guidelines.

Development Track

This track appeals to those drawn to the study of Asia, Africa and Latin America because of an interest in the prospects for socioeconomic change in those regions. Development is studied as an inherently interdisciplinary and global issue, incorporating the perspectives of economics and other social sciences while exploring the roles of trade, aid, governments and international institutions in shaping relations between wealthier and poorer countries. Students also focus on a particular geographic region in the “developing world,” studying the culture and society of the area in which they undertake off-campus study in order to better understand the development challenges faced by people in that area. Those regions include sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, East Asia, South Asia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Islamic world.

Development Track Core Courses

Introductory (three courses)

ECON 101: Principles of Microeconomics
ECON 102: Principles of Macroeconomics
Choose one course from:
- ANTH 113: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
- SOCY 101: Powers, Energies and Peoples
- SOCY 103: Society and Culture
- SOCY 105: Society in Comparative Perspective
- SOCY 107: Institutions and Inequalities
- SOCY 108: Public Life

Upper-level (four courses)

One course on international economics:

ECON 331: Economics of Development
ECON 338: International Trade
ECON 339: International Finance and Open-Economy Macroeconomics
PSCI 342: Politics of Development

Challenges of development in a broader context (two courses from two different departments:

ANTH 200: Commodities and Consumption: Anthropological Perspectives
ANTH 320: Anthropology of Food
ANTH 358: Medical Anthropology in Biocultural Perspective
ECON 335: Economics of Immigration
ECON 473: Economic Growth
ECON 474: Economics of Oil and Gas
HIST 226: The British Empire
HIST 256: Global Crisis (And The History Of How We Have Addressed It)
HIST 342: History of Public Health
PSCI 361: Globalization
PSCI 362: America and the World in the 21st Century
PSCI 363: Global Environmental Politics
PSCI 366: Global Poverty, Policy and Politics
PSCI 470: Power, States and Markets: The Making of Modern Social Order
PSCI 476: Rules for the World: International Organizations' Role in World Politics
SOCY 222: Economic Sociology
SOCY 233: Sociology of Food
SOCY 237: Borders and Border Crossings
SOCY 243: Social Justice: The Ancient and Modern Traditions
SOCY 321: Social Change, Dictatorship and Democracy

Cultural dimension of recent global interactions and social changes (one course)

AMST 331: Visions of "America" from Abroad
ANTH 253: Anthropology of Mass Media
ANTH 310D: Music, Human Rights and Cultural Rights
ANTH 312D: Music, Film and Culture: Ethnographic Perspectives
ENGL 266: Decolonization and Violence
ENGL 363: Writing the Global City
ENGL 367: The Global South Novel
RLST 140: Islam's Diverse Paths
RLST 217: Christianity in the Global South
SOCY 322: Cultural Foundations of Politics
SOCY 432: Global Cities
SOCY 466: The Politics of Identity Formation in the Global South

Research methods (one social science methods course)

ANTH 464: Methods in Cultural Anthropology
ECON 205: Introduction to Econometrics
HIST 387: Practice and Theory of History
PSCI 280: Political Analysis
SOCY 271: Methods of Social Research
SOCY 373: Qualitative Research Methods
SOCY 474: Comparative-Historical Analysis

Other courses, particularly special topic courses not offered regularly, may be acceptable substitutes for area concentration courses or, occasionally, introductory, upper-level or research methods courses. If you have questions about a particular course, contact the department chair.

Environment Track

The study of issues related to the environment, ecosystems and natural resources requires an interdisciplinary and international approach. Many environmental issues are global in scope or are best studied comparatively between different regions. Other issues central to international studies have fundamental implications for the environment. Students in this track combine scientific training with international studies in order to examine complex environmental issues. They are expected to take advantage of a growing number of off-campus study programs that deal primarily with environmental questions.

Environment Track Core Courses

Introductory (five courses, one from each group)

ENVS 112: Introduction to Environmental Studies
ECON 101: Principles of Microeconomics
BIOL 115: Energy in Living Systems
Choose one introductory chemistry course:
- CHEM 110: Environmental Chemistry
- ENVS 104: Solar Power Systems: Science, Policy and Practicum
Choose one introductory course on the global social context:
- ANTH 113: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
- PSCI 260: International Relations
- SOCY 101: Powers, Energies and Peoples
- SOCY 103: Society and Culture
- SOCY 105: Society in Comparative Perspective
- SOCY 107: Institutions and Inequalities
- SOCY 108: Public Life

Upper-level

Three courses on the challenge of human interaction with the environment

One, preferably both, of the following foundational courses:
- ECON 336: Environmental Economics
- PSCI 363: Global Environmental Politics
One of the following courses:
- ANTH 200: Commodities and Consumption: Anthropological Perspectives
- ANTH 320: Anthropology of Food
- BIOL 328: Global Ecology and Biogeography
- ECON 336: Environmental Economics
- ECON 342: Economics of Regulation
- ECON 347: Economics of the Public Sector
- ENVS 231: Earth Systems Science
- ENVS 240: Permaculture and Homestead Winter Farming
- ENVS 253: Sustainable Agriculture
- ENVS 341: The Science of Climate Change
- PSCI 361: Globalization
- PSCI 363: Global Environmental Politics
- PSCI 463: American Environmental Politics and Policy
- PSCI 480: Science and Politics
- RLST 350: Religion and Nature
- SOCY 233: Sociology of Food
- SOCY 238: Environmental Sociology
- SOCY 242: Science, Society and the Environment
- SOCY 432: Global Cities

Research methods (one course, plus lab for science courses)

ANTH 464: Methods in Cultural Anthropology
BIOL 228: Ecology and BIOL 229: Ecology Laboratory
BIOL 352: Aquatic Systems Biology and BIOL 353: Aquatic Systems Lab
CHEM 231: Organic Chemistry I and CHEM 233: Organic Chemistry Lab I
ECON 205: Introduction to Econometrics
ENVS 220: Applied Environmental Analysis
ENVS 261: Geographic Information Science
PSCI 280: Political Analysis

Senior Seminar (one course)

ENVS 461: Seminar in Environmental Studies

Politics and Society Track

This track appeals to students who are interested in the impact of recent globalization on how societies are governed in different areas of the world and how international institutions have been engaged in world affairs. Students explore ways that political science, sociology and other social sciences have described global phenomena such as human rights, migration, democracy, and terrorism, studying the efforts of states and non-state actors to manage people, forces and ideologies that transcend national borders. As with the other tracks, students focus on a particular geographic region, but their off-campus study program and area courses should include study of issues and interactions that extend beyond their primary regional focus.

Politics and Society Track Core Courses

Introductory (four courses, one each from four of the five following categories)

ANTH 113: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
ECON 101: Principles of Microeconomics
One introductory course on international relations
- PSCI 240: Modern Democracies
- PSCI 260: International Relations
One introductory course on sociology
- SOCY 101: Powers, Energies and Peoples
- SOCY 103: Society and Culture
- SOCY 105: Society in Comparative Perspective
- SOCY 107: Institutions and Inequalities
- SOCY 108: Public Life
One course on global historical and cultural relations
- HIST 100: Making of the Contemporary World
- HIST 226: The British Empire
- HIST 256: Global Crisis (And The History of How We Have Addressed It)
- HIST 275: World War II
- MLL 251: World Cinema
- RLST 101: Encountering Religion in Its Global Context: An Introduction

Upper-level (three courses on global sociopolitical issues from two departments)

ANTH 310D: Music, Human Rights and Cultural Rights
ANTH 312D: Music, Film and Culture: Ethnographic Perspectives
ANTH 460: Whiteness, Power and Race
ECON 335: Economics of Immigration
ECON 338: International Trade
ECON 339: International Finance and Open-Economy Macroeconomics
HIST 342: History of Public Health
HIST 458: Gandhi and Civil Disobedience
PSCI 351: States, Nations, Nationalism
PSCI 355: Immigration, Citizenship and National Identity
PSCI 361: Globalization
PSCI 363: Global Environmental Politics
PSCI 366: Global Poverty, Policy and Politics
PSCI 374: Civil Wars and Failed States
PSCI 444: Revolutions
PSCI 446: The Politics of the Welfare State
PSCI 447: Inequality and Democracy
PSCI 449: Democracy in Crisis
PSCI 450: Human Rights in World Politics
PSCI 465: International Terrorism
PSCI 470: Power, States and Markets: The Making of Modern Social Order
PSCI 471: Politics of Transitional Justice
PSCI 476: Rules for the World: International Organizations' Role in World Politics
RLST 335: Religious Fundamentalism in the Contemporary World
SOCY 235: Transnational Social Movements
SOCY 237: Borders and Border Crossing
SOCY 321: Social Change, Dictatorship and Democracy
SOCY 432: Global Cities
SOCY 466: The Politics of Identity Formation in the Global South
WGS 242: Transnational Feminisms

Research methods (one methods course)

ANTH 464: Methods in Cultural Anthropology
ECON 205: Introduction to Econometrics
HIST 387: Practice and Theory of History
PSCI 280: Political Analysis
RLST 390: Approaches to the Study of Religion
SOCY 271: Methods of Social Research
SOCY 373: Qualitative Research Methods
SOCY 474: Comparative-Historical Analysis