Program of Study (CAS Bulletin)
MAJOR REQUIREMENTS (Required for all students who enrolled in CAS in Fall 2006 and after)
The new Metropolitan Studies major consists of introductory, elective, and research components, together comprising a total of eleven courses, as laid out below:
Three introductory courses, should be taken in this order:
V18.0001, Concepts in Social and Cultural Analysis—An introduction to key terms and analytical categories for interdisciplinary work in Metropolitan Studies and related fields
V18.0601, Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Metropolitan Studies (formerly Intro to Metropolitan Studies,V99.0101)
V18.0602 Cities in a Global Context (formerly V99.0103)
Four elective courses, one course from each of three following areas, plus a fourth elective as indicated below:
Area 1: Social Welfare & Public Policy: Economics,
Poverty, Health, Education, Families, Law
Area 2: Urban Culture & Identity: Culture of the City and
People of the City
Area 3: The Material City: The Built Environment,
Planning and Development
One Common Elective: Upper-division course offered by the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis which address issues pertinent to Metropolitan Studies in relation with other SCA majors.
Four research core courses:
V18.0040 Metropolitan Studies-related Internship
Fieldwork (substitutes for V99.0401)
V18.0042 Internship Seminar (formerly V99.0402)
V18.0651 Research Methods in Metropolitan Studies (substitutes for V99.0501)
V18.0090 Senior Research Seminar (formerly
V99.0502)
A note about Language/Linguistic Competency: The type of rigorous intercultural study promoted within the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis requires students to recognize the complex modes of communication at work both within and across different social groups. The department therefore strongly encourages its students to develop advanced skills in language and linguistics by any of the following means: taking elective courses in sociolinguistics; studying a language other than English beyond the minimum level required by CAS; studying languages especially germane to the department’s fields of study; pursuing community-based internship fieldwork necessitating the development and use of specific language skills; undertaking study or research abroad in contexts entailing the exercise of key language or linguistic capabilities.
MINOR
Four courses are required for the minor in Metropolitan Studies. One course must be Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Metropolitan Studies (MAP course), V55.0631. Three must be Metropolitan Studies or cross-listed courses. (Internship Seminar, V18.0402, taken with Internship Fieldwork, V18.0401, fulfills the requirements of two courses.)
HONORS
Departmental Honors in Metropolitan Studies—as in all the majors administered within SCA—requires a minimum of three courses with honors designations: An honors section of Strategies for Social and Cultural Analysis, in which students design their thesis research projects (or preliminary versions thereof) is normally taken in the sophomore or junior year. In the senior year, students take a two-semester honors sequence, consisting of a fall honors section of the Senior Research Seminar, V18.0900, and spring independent honors research (8 points total), in which they complete a substantive research project with a significant component based on original primary research. Additional honors credit may be taken in honors sections of the introductory Concepts course, in designated sections of other departmental courses, or in interdisciplinary departmental honors junior seminars, when offered.
