Denison University International Studies Program

oes “bad” get defined over time and by gender? Why is there even a need by any society to have such a label used for women and not men? When men are “bad,” are the standards different? How does the notion of the “bad” Japanese woman compare with such a notion in other cultures? By examining a variety of sources of Japan's “bad” women both past and present, we will try to discern if there are any universals about the definition of “bad” and how this label reflects broader ideas about gender in Japanese culture as well as in other societies. Note: Cross-listed with WGST 251-02, EAST 264-01. Course fulfills the "I" and "WP" (pending) GE requirements, the Humanities distribution requirement for WGST majors, and the Transnational Feminism distribution requirement for WGST majors/minors. Migrations within and beyond Asia
Credits: 4 Prerequisite: none, although INTL 100 and/or ANTH 101 recommended
INTL ­250-06 TR 3:00-4:20 Suzuki, Taku
The course will explore the past and present of migration flows within (largely East) Asia, drawing on ethnographic monographs and nonfiction and fictional films. Using ethnographic “cases” through which we examine a holistic picture of a diverse groups of migrations: the migrants’ motivations, legal and economic mechanisms that created the migratory flows, itineraries of migrations, and settlement patterns, and how these migrants, and the receiving society’s public, adapt to each other in their encounters. Some of the ethnographic cases include South Asian (Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Nepali) labor migrants in the Persian Gulf states, Indonesian and Filipina domestic workers in Singapore and Taiwan, North Korean laborers in Northeast China, Vietnamese trainees and Turkish Kurd asylum seekers in Japan. Through these case studies, the students will learn anthropological and sociological concepts that pertain to transnational migration, such as regimes of migration control, assimilation pathways (or lack thereof), gender and migration, citizenship and rights of foreigners. The students are expected to conduct research on a specific Asian migrant group that results in the form of a data visualization project that incorporates visual images, video footage, and oral histories from digital archives. Note: Cross-listed with ANTH 281-01 and EAST 281-01. Europe Divided and United: Comparing Policies Across the Continent
Credits: 4 Prerequisite: none
INTL ­250-07 TR 10:00-11:20 Och, Malliga
This class introduces students to the essential knowledge of the European Union's unique institutional structure, decision-making processes, and historical development. Students will first explore what makes the EU a distinctive organization, sharing characteristics of both a state and an international organization, and examine its evolution within historical context. The course then focuses on comparative analysis of how different European countries approach current policy challenges such as migration and asylum policy, national defense, or minority rights. Students will develop comparative policy analytical skills by examining commonalities and differences in national policy approaches across both EU member and non-member European countries, while also exploring the role the EU plays in shaping or coordinating policies within each area. This comparative approach allows students to understand both the diversity of European government structures and the impact of EU membership on domestic policy choices. Note: Cross-listed with PPA 339-01. Political Economy of the Middle East
Credits: 4 Prerequisite: ECON 301 or consult instructor
INTL ­251-01 TR 10:00-11:20 Kaboub. Fadhel
A study of the general features of the economic development experience of the Middle East and North Africa. We will study the structural transformation of these economies and the dynamics of their colonial and post-colonial structures. This course examines the different stages of economic development starting with the early post-colonial period, followed by the period of import substitution industrialization of the 1960s, export-led growth of the 1970s, the debt crisis of the 1980s, the structural adjustment programs of the 1990s, and the Arab uprisings of 2011. We will examine the political economy of the region as it relates to unemployment, poverty, inequality, migration, food insecurity, water stress, climate change, class conflict, gender dynamics, cultural norms, as well as regional and global geopolitical power struggles over the control of key markets such as oil and natural gas. Note: Cross-listed with ECON 415-01 and MENA 415-01. Orientalisms
Credits: 4 Prerequisite: none
INTL ­250-03 TR 10:00-11:20 Un, Knesia
This course examines the enduring legacies of Orientalism in modern and contemporary art, culture, and discourse. Through visits to collections, museums, and sites, students will practice articulating a nuanced approach to cultures impacted by orientalist outlooks. Class content highlights cultural and intellectual production that responds to European Orientalizing discourse: from photographs and films by Shirin Neshat, to the feminist discourse inspired by Malek Alloula’s The Colonial Harem, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2025 exhibition Monstrous Beauty: A Feminist Revision of Chinoiserie. As such, class activities will seek to decenter how Western representations of the “East”—including the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and East Asia—have shaped artistic production, visual culture, and museum practices from the 19th century to the present. Note: Cross-listed with AHVC 240-01, SES 263-01, EAST 263-01. Aesthetics of Global Communisms
Credits: 4 Prerequisite: none
INTL ­250-02 TR 3:00-4:20 Un, Knesia
Anchored in the context of the Soviet Union, the course traces the global circulation of socialist aesthetics—across Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East—through the lens of transcontinental solidarities, Cold War geopolitics, and the Non-Aligned Movement. Case studies examine topics such as Socialist Realism, North Korean children’s books, Islamic form in Central Asian architecture, and West African architecture. Special attention will be paid to cross-cultural exchanges, transnational networks, and the role of art in imagining alternative modernities beyond Western capitalist paradigms. Note: Course is cross-listed with AHVC 399-01 and MENA 399-01. The Geopolitics of AI
Credits: 4 Prerequisite: none
INTL ­250-04 TR 1:30-2:50 Kumar, Sangeet
Even as Artificial Intelligence (AI) gradually reshapes all aspects of our life, the global scramble to mold and control its future has heated up. Given its ability to fundamental upend all human activity, from the mundane such as driving our cars and making cultural recommendations, to the extraordinary such as scientific discovery and fighting our wars, nation states are bound to see AI as a powerful tool for furthering their interests in global power rivalries. These contestations are clear today in the visible tussles in the arena of generative AI, the production of high-end semiconductor chips and the control over data for training AI models. This course will analyze this emerging era of rivalries by building on the scholarship about the geopolitics of media technologies and weave through specific case studies of the digital era where such global tussles are most visible. Note: Cross-listed with COMM 18X. Gender and Globalization
Credits: 4 Prerequisite: ECON 101 & ECON 102, or consent of the instructor
INTL ­2XX-01 TR 10:00-11:20 Juraqulova, Zarrina
The rapid integration of global markets that has taken place since the 1980s is the outcome of a common set of economic policies implemented in both developed and developing countries. This course examines the contradictory impacts of these policies on gender relations and asks: what challenges do global economic trends pose for gender equality and equity in both developed and developing countries? To answer this question, we begin with an introduction to alternative approaches to economics, focusing on the differences between neoclassical and feminist economics, and the history and economic dimension of globalization. This will be followed by an exploration of the impacts of economic development policy on gender relations in the context of a globalizing world economy. Special topics will include the household as a unit of analysis; women’s unpaid labor; the gendered impacts of economic restructuring and financial crisis; the feminization of the labor force in the formal and informal sectors of the global economy; care penalty and the gendered impacts of COVID-19. The course will conclude with an evaluation of tools and strategies for achieving gender equity within the context of a sustainable, human-centered approach to economic development. This course satisfies the economics writing requirement, and the college W GE requirement, and as such the course will help to develop your writing and research skills within the economics discipline. Note: Fulfills ECON writing requirement. Cross-listed as ECON 205-01 and WGST 205-01. Spatial Imagination in East Asia
Credits: 4 Prerequisite: none
INTL ­2XX-01 TR 1:30-2:50 Stuer, Catherine
This course engages the question: ‘How are images used to imagine our place in the world?’ Students are invited to study fascinating practices of spatial image-making in East Asia from the inside out, by exploring these world-views from the perspective of their makers. You will be asked to pay special attention to how social and economic power structures inflect these representations: to envision and decode spatial imagery as a site of imagination, control and resistance. Artists and patrons in China, Japan, and Korea have for centuries produced elaborate maps and landscape imagery, photographs and film to imagine the world in a variety of ways. This course invites you to approach modern and contemporary representations of space in East Asia both in theoretically and historically informed ways. In the first part of the course, students build a frame of reference for their analysis of post-war case studies, by reading core texts in spatial theory, and exploring important visual representations of space from pre-modern East Asia. In the second part of the course, students apply these theoretical and historical approaches to select cases that exemplify more recent struggles over space and its imagination in East Asia. Note: Cross-listed as AHVC 263-01, EAST 263-01, and SES 263-01. Postcolonial Literature and Criticism
Credits: 4 Prerequisite: none
INTL ­257-01 MWF 10:30-11:20 Mafe, Diana
This course is an introduction to the exciting field of postcolonial studies. We will define the controversial term “postcolonial” before exploring the implications of this term for literature, theory, and popular culture. “Postcolonial” literally means “after colonial” and has traditionally been associated with those regions formerly colonized by European powers. In an Anglophone context, Africa, South Asia, and the Caribbean are now considered postcolonial. Yet the term has only become more ambiguous with time and its meaning and relevance continue to be hotly debated. The material for the course is grouped geographically, which will help us to explore if and how the postcolonial ultimately fits into these regions. What do Edward Said’s theory of Orientalism, the movie Black Panther, Jhumpa Lahiri’s short stories, and Bob Marley’s reggae music have in common when “read” through the lens of postcolonial criticism? What are some important ways in which these texts differ despite being implicitly postcolonial? Our individual and collective efforts to examine “postcolonial literature and criticism” are also an opportunity for honest debate and constructive critique. Note: Cross-listed with ENGL 357-01 and BLST 357-01.