Course Offerings

COMM 100C - Communication, Institutions, and Power (4)

This course is a critical introduction to structures of communication formed at the intersection of the state, the economy, and civil society. It includes a historical survey of communication and media industries; legal and policy-based arenas; and civic, political, and social organizations. Students will learn to assess the movement of power through these institutions and its effect in shaping society, culture, and politics. No credit for COMM 100C if taken after COMM 100CR. Prerequisites: junior or senior standing.

COMM 106F. Film Industry (4)

A study of the social organization of the film industry throughout its history. Who makes films, by what criteria, and for what audience? The changing relationships between studios, producers, directors, writers, actors, editors, censors, distributors, audience, and subject matter of the films will be explored. Prerequisites: COMM 10.

COMM 106i. Internet Industries (Fall 2026 by Lilly Irani) (4)

The political economy of the emergent internet industry, charted through analysis of its hardware, software, and services components. The course specifies leading trends and changing institutional outcomes by relating the internet industry to the adjoining media, telecommunications, and computer industries. Prerequisites: COMM 10.

COMM 106V. TV Industry (4)

This course asks how visual images contribute to our understanding of the world and ourselves. The course will apply theoretical approaches from media studies, art history, gender studies, and social theory to analyze cultures of science, art, mass media, and everyday life. No credit for COMM 106V if taken after COMM 106VR. Prerequisites: junior or senior standing. 

COMM 114E Gender,  Labor, and the Global Economy (4)

This course introduces students to different theories of globalization and of gender. Against this theoretical background, students critically examine the gendered (and racialized) nature of labor in the production of material, social, and cultural goods in the global economy. Prerequisites: COMM 10.

COMM 142. Film Authorship (Fall 2026 by Andrew De Waard)(4)

This course examines film authorship by focusing on two filmmakers and exploring the many ways that films are authored and produce meaning. Students learn how to analyze a film’s production, collaboration, representation, reception, and industrial context, in order to explore broader themes and social issues such as race, class, gender, violence, and authorial responsibility. Film authors may include Spike Lee, Kathryn Bigelow, Bong Joon-ho, or Alfonso Cuarón. Prerequisites: COMM 10 and one from COMM 100A, 100B, 100C.

COMM 159. Tourism, Power, and Place (4)

This course studies tourism as a form of imperialism. It explores the industry’s role in reproducing race, gender, labor, and ecological and geographical inequalities by looking at real case scenarios from around the world. Traveling for pleasure is a privilege. For some to be able to travel, others need to stay still, working to accommodate tourists’ desires and consumption fantasies. The course offers critical tools to help us think about the future of tourism in the face of contemporary crises. Prerequisites: COMM 10 and one from COMM 100A, 100B, 100C.

CGS 101. Gender and Globalization (Fall 2026 by Marisol Cuong) (4)

This course explores effects of globalization on transnational relations of gender and sexuality. Topics include the division of labor, politics of production and consumption, constructions of gender and sexuality within global grassroots movements, and the migration of people, capital, and culture. Prerequisites: upper-division standing or consent of instructor.

CGS 120. Gender and Capitalism (4)

(Cross-listed with ANSC 180.) Drawing insight from anticolonial and queer of color critique, this course critically examines the demands capitalism makes on us to perform gender, and how that relates to processes of exploitation and racialization. We will explore alternatives and develop strategies for navigating jobs in this system. Students may receive credit for one of the following: CGS 120, CGS 180, and ANSC 180.

CGS 127. Feminist Border Studies (4) (grads welcome)

This course investigates how borders are produced, policed, and maintained, centering gender and sexuality, embodiment, and racialization as key analytic lenses. Prerequisites: CGS 2A or 2B or at least one CGS upper-division course.

CGS 128. Transnational Feminisms (4) (grads welcome)

This course will examine key works in transnational feminist theory. Students will engage with transnational and third world feminisms to trace and ask questions of Eurocentrism, global capitalism, gendered and racialized forms of labor exploitation, and practices of antiracist feminist solidarity. Prerequisites: CGS 2A or 2B or at least one CGS upper-division course.

ETHN 1. Introduction to Ethnic Studies: Land and Labor (4)

This course examines key historical events and debates in the field that center around land and labor, including disputes about territory and natural resources, slavery and other forms of unfree labor, labor migration and recruitment, and US and transnational borders. 

ETHN 1R. Remote—Introduction to Ethnic Studies: Land and Labor (Fall 2026 by Shaista Patel)(4)

This online course examines key historical events and debates in the field that center around land and labor, including disputes about territory and natural resources, slavery and other forms of unfree labor, labor migration and recruitment, and US and transnational borders. Students may not receive credit for both ETHN 1R and ETHN 1.

ETHN 116. The United States–Mexico Border in Comparative Perspective (Fall 2026 by Marisol Cuong) (4)

This course critically explores the US-Mexico frontier and the social-cultural issues on both sides of the international demarcation. Social-historical and political-economic patterns illuminate border life, ethnic identity, social diversity, and cultural expression. Border ethnography is complemented by film and music.

LATI 140. Decolonial Thought and Practices in Latin America (4)

The purpose of this course is to survey decolonial thought and practice in Latin America throughout the twentieth century. Course content will draw extensively from the writings and experiences of previously colonized peoples in Latin America. Course texts will match primary source documents with historiography in order to situate decolonial thought in its practical historical context.

LATI 175. Participatory Action Research (4)

Explore the roots of Participatory Action Research in Latin America as a transformative tool for community-driven research and organizing. Students develop proposals and outreach materials to integrate PAR into a collaborative project working with local workers’ unions and community organizations in the San Diego-Tijuana area. No Prerequisites (lower division students can fill out Easy Request for enrollment)

LATI 180. Special Topics in Latin American Studies (Winter 2026 "Reparations Politics") (4)

Dr. Amy Kennemore has designed this course to support our partner's Scholars At Risk's program, the "Scholar In Prison" student seminar series. Students get hands-on experience in learning how to build and contribute to an ongoing human rights campaign. This course fulfills an elective for the Human Rights and Migration Minor. Prerequisites: LATI 50 or permission of instructor, upper-division standing.

FMPH 155. Qualitative Research for Global Public Health (4)

An overview of the role of qualitative research methods in public health. The course will focus on qualitative research as it relates to formative program design, community-based participatory approaches, and as a tool for amplifying voices and elucidating both complex social-ecological processes and internal individual experiences. Throughout the term, students will work in teams to design, conduct, analyze, and report a full qualitative study on a public health topic of their choosing. Must be taken for a letter grade to be applied to the public health major. Students may not receive credit for FMPH 155 and FMPH 191 subtitled “Qualitative Research for Global Public Health.” Prerequisites: FMPH 40. Restricted enrollment to sophomore, junior, and senior standing.

SOCI 111. Local Lives/Global Problems (4)

This course surveys the variety of ways that scholars across disciplines have studied local-global phenomena and developed theoretical, methodological, and empirical orientations that incorporate concern for place, space, and scale into their analytical lens. Prerequisites: upper-division standing.

SOCI 153. Urban Sociology (4)

(Same as USP 105) Introduces students to the major approaches in the sociological study of cities and to what a sociological analysis can add to our understanding of urban processes. Prerequisites: upper-division standing or consent of instructor. Will not receive credit for SOCI 153 and SOCC 153.

SOCI 183. The Geography of American Opportunity (4)

(Same as USP 183) How does where you grow up affect where you end up? This course explores “who gets what where and why” by examining spatial inequalities in life chances across regions, rural and urban communities, and divergent local economies in the U.S. We will “place” places within their economic, socio-cultural, and historical contexts. Readings and exercises will uncover spatial variation in inequalities by race/ethnicity, immigrant status, gender, class, and LGBTQIA status that national averages obscure. Prerequisites: upper-division standing. Will not receive credit for SOCI 183 and USP 183.

SOCI 189GS. Making of a Modern Colony: Puerto Rico in the Twentieth Century (4)

This course presents an overview of the US-PR colonial relationship since 1898, focusing on key elements of its political and economic history. Special attention is given to the sugar cane era, the major social transformations of the mid-twentieth century, the expansion of US military installations, the collapse of the “Operation Bootstrap” development model, and the formation of a Puerto Rican diaspora. Prerequisites: students must apply and be accepted to the Global Seminar Program.

SOCI 190GS. Contemporary Problems, Politics, and Potentialities in Puerto Rico (4)

An exploration of political governance of Puerto Rico and its history, this course introduces students to a variety of contemporary struggles to address the problems Puerto Ricans face and move Puerto Rico beyond its political status impasse. Prerequisites: students must apply and be accepted to the Global Seminar Program.

USP 6. Introduction to Global Architecture (4)

Architecture and design shape our interaction with the built environment. This course covers history of built forms, including iconic work of well-known architects, with emphasis on global movements and power. Why did some ideas and forms travel, while others didn’t?

USP 105. Urban Sociology (4)

(Same as SOCI 153.) Introduces students to the major approaches in the sociological study of cities and to what a sociological analysis can add to our understanding of urban processes. Prerequisites: upper-division standing or consent of instructor.

USP 136. Community Organizing (Fall 2026 by Satomi Rash-Zeigler) (4)

Provides an overview of community organizing and considers organizing as both a tactical and strategic approach to effective community building and leadership development. Examines how various communities have approached collaborative leadership, organizing, and community building. Prerequisites: upper-division standing or consent of instructor.

USP 141A. Life Course Scholars Research and Core Fundamentals (Fall 2026 by Leslie Lewis) (6)

This course introduces students to major concepts, demographic trends, and the diversity of the aging experience. Through site visits, community-based research, and interactions with elders, students will understand the social and structural determinants of health and well-being across the life course. Prerequisites: upper-division standing or consent of instructor and department approval. This is an application-based course.

USP 142C. Urban Challenges: Sustainable Food Systems (Fall 2026 by Amy Lerner) (4)

This course explores diverse elements of sustainable food systems planning for cities and their hinterlands. We will review the deep inequalities and impacts of food systems while uncovering a diversity of local solutions at different scales, including our own campus. Prerequisites: upper-division standing or consent of instructor and departmental approval. This is an application-based course.

USP 162. Migration and the City (4)

How do local and global power dynamics shape migration and immigrant inequality? In this course, students learn how capitalism, state and local policies, and climate change shape migration. They also discuss how urban politics, economic contexts, border enforcement, and policing drive (or mitigate) immigrant inequalities. Finally, students look at how immigrants organize and reshape the cities they are in, with a focus on Latinos in Southern California and at the US-Mexico border. Prerequisites: upper-division standing or consent of instructor.

USP 163. Community Engaged Research and Planning (4)

This course prepares students to engage in community-based research and planning with a focus on social justice. Students consider the power dynamics between scholars, planners, and vulnerable groups of people. They discuss the ethics and effectiveness of participatory approaches, as well as their tensions. They train in trauma-informed data collection. Finally, they reflect on their own roles in society, campus, and various communities for self-awareness and self-care. Prerequisites: upper-division standing or consent of instructor.

USP 183. The Geography of American Opportunity (4)

(Same as SOCI 183.) How does where you grow up affect where you end up? This course explores “who gets what where and why,” by examining spatial inequalities in life chances across regions, rural and urban communities, and divergent local economies in the U.S. We will “place” places within their economic, socio-cultural, and historical contexts. Readings and exercises will uncover spatial variation in inequalities by race/ethnicity, immigrant status, gender, class, and LGBTQIA status that national averages obscure. Students may not receive credit for SOCI 183 and USP 183. Prerequisites: upper-division standing or consent of instructor.

USP 184. Decolonizing Design: Histories and Theories (4)

How can indigenous ecological knowledges and forms of sovereignty inform decolonial design? Case studies include the architectural, urban, and environmental histories of the “Indian New Deal” in the 1930s and its legacies, and contemporary proposals for a Green New Deal. Prerequisites: upper-division standing or consent of instructor.

USP 188. Field Research in Migrant Communities—Practicum (8)

(Same as SOCI 188) Mexican Migration Field Research Program: Students work closely with faculty to conduct direct on-the-ground field research in a migrant community. Students work as teams, conducting either surveys, interviews, or ethnographic observations. Students are expected to produce an outline of a research paper based on the results from fieldwork. Conversational fluency in Spanish is recommended. Students will not receive credit for both SOCI 188 and USP 188. Prerequisites: department approval. In order to take this course, students must have applied and been admitted to participate in the Mexican Migration Field Research Program.

LTCS 130. Gender, Race/Ethnicity, Class, and Culture (Fall 2026 by Joo Ok Kim) (4)

The course will focus on the representation of gender, ethnicity, and class in cultural production in view of various contemporary theories of race, sex, and class. May be taken for credit up to three times as topics vary.

LTCS 165. Special Topics: The Politics of Food (Fall 2026 by Joo Ok Kim) (4)

This course will examine the representation and politics of food in literary and other cultural texts. Topics may include food and poverty, the fast food industry, controversies about seed, sustainable food production, myths about hunger, eating and epistemology, aesthetics, etc. May be taken for credit up to three times as topics vary.

HILA 144. Topics in Latin American History (4)

Selected topics in Latin American history. Course may be taken for credit up to three times as topics vary (the course subtitle will be different for each distinct topic). Students who repeat the same topic in HILA 144 will have the duplicate credit removed from their academic record.

HIUS 144. Topics in US History (4)

Selected topics in US history. Course may be taken for credit up to three times as topics vary. 

HIUS 181/281. Topics in Twentieth Century United States History (Fall 2026 "Justice at Work" by Veronica Martinez-Matsuda) (4)

A colloquium dealing with special topics in US history from 1900 to the present. Themes will vary from year to year. Prerequisites: department stamp or consent of instructor.

This course will examine various historical events to consider “justice at work,” meaning the interrelated struggles people have waged in the United States for expanded labor and civil rights. More specifically, we will explore different factors that have contributed to working-class and social movement organizing and how employers, government officials, and others have responded to people’s demands for greater political and socioeconomic justice. Close attention will be given to analyzing people’s experiences across rural and urban contexts, in labor unions, workers’ centers, community organizations, and their homes and neighborhoods, among other social spaces. Ultimately, the course will offer students a valuable lens through which to study the significant interrelationship between organizing, activism, policy, and society in U.S. Twentieth Century History.

As this course is a research seminar, we will spend a lot of in-class time discussing the material we read from both an analytical and methodical standpoint—i.e., interrogating the subject matter and situating the author’s work within our own research projects. In addition to leading class discussions, students will be required to share their research and writing in progress, revise each other’s drafts, and present their final research findings. All students are expected to submit an original, 12–15-page research paper at the end of the term.