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Director, Associate Professor Paul Josephson
Advisory Committee: Professors Priscilla Doel (Spanish), Patrice Franko (Economics), Jane Moss (French), and Kenneth Rodman (Government); Associate Professors Ariel Armony (Government), Kimberly Besio (East Asian Studies), Catherine Besteman (Anthropology), Josephson (History), Mary Beth Mills (Anthropology), David Nugent (Anthropology), Ursula Reidel-Schrewe (German), Raffael Scheck (History), James Webb (History), and Jennifer Yoder (Government and International Studies); Assistant Professors Ben Fallaw (History and Latin American Studies), Kashif Mansori (Economics), and Jonathan White (Sociology)

Up to 14 courses, including the five courses that constitute the core curriculum; three courses in area studies; three courses from policy studies; and one senior seminar or appropriate independent study (International Studies 494). At least one seminar or senior project must be completed during the senior year as the capstone experience. Majors must complete a concentration within the major unless they have a double major or minor in African studies, anthropology, economics, government, history, French studies, Spanish, Latin American studies, environmental studies, Russian, East Asian studies, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, or German. Majors also must complete the equivalent of two courses beyond the introductory (usually through 131) level in a modern foreign language. Students are encouraged to develop language skills relevant to their regional specialization. At least one semester of foreign study is required, although under exceptional circumstances students with extensive overseas experience can petition the director and the advisory committee to be exempted. A student must receive a grade of C- or better for a course to count toward the major. No courses listed for the major may be taken satisfactory/unsatisfactory. Note: Students must have at least a 2.70 grade point average by the end of the sophomore year to be eligible for foreign study. Students who do not meet this minimum requirement will not be able to retain their international studies major. Note to junior transfer students: The College requires that all students spend at least four semesters in residence at Colby. Therefore, to satisfy the semester abroad requirement for the major, junior transfer students must either stay for a fifth semester or enroll in a summer study abroad program for at least nine credits (unless the study abroad requirement has been met in some other way).

Anthropology 112, Economics 133 and 134, Government 131, and History 276.

An honors program is available in which the student can pursue a year-long independent research project that also fulfills the seminar requirement; successful completion of this project may entitle the student to graduate “With Honors in International Studies.” To be eligible, a student must have a grade point average of 3.40 or better in the major and should petition the program for permission to pursue honors by May 1 of the junior year.

Majors are required to complete either a regional or policy concentration unless they have a double major or minor in anthropology, Chinese, East Asian studies, economics, environmental studies, French studies, German, government, history, Italian, Japanese, Latin American studies, Russian, or Spanish. Students may propose an independent concentration. Concentrations should be declared by the spring of the sophomore year.

Regional Concentrations
A regional concentration requires completion of the following:

• four courses dealing with a specific region. Courses appropriate to each region are listed above under the area studies component. At least two of those courses should be taken at Colby. At least one of the four courses must be drawn from the social sciences and at least one other from the humanities.
• a coordination of area specialization with study abroad. For European concentrators, study abroad would normally take place in a non-English-speaking country.
• a coordination of the language requirement with foreign study where Colby offers an appropriate program.
• a seminar project or independent study in the senior year that addresses issues in the chosen area.

Policy or Functional Concentrations
Five tracks have been established for policy concentrations:

• International Relations/Foreign Policy
• International Economic Policy
• Development Studies
• Global Environmental Studies
• Power and Inequality

Each track requires at least four courses designated as relevant to the respective field plus a seminar or an independent senior project relevant to the chosen specialization. Note that some of the courses appropriate for these concentrations are not designated as international studies courses. While they are relevant to their respective specialization, they do not count toward the requirements for the major or the grade point average in the major. These courses are designated by an asterisk (*).

International Relations/Foreign Policy
Students must take a relevant senior seminar (or senior paper) in addition to four of the courses listed below, two of which should be from the Government Department and one from the Economics Department. Introduction to American Government is strongly encouraged as an additional course.

• Economics
  • 277 International Finance
  • 278 International Trade
  • 333 Evolution of the Global Economy
  • 335 Economic Development: Theory and Experience
• Government
  • 231 United States Foreign Policy: The Cold War
  • 232 United States Foreign Policy II: After the Cold War
  • 233 International Relations in East Asia
  • 237 Justice and War
  • 238 Politics of War Crime Tribunals
  • 332 International Organization
  • 334 International Environmental Law
  • 335 United States-Latin American Relations
  • 351 United States Policy Toward the Middle East
  • 354 The European Union
  • 357 Political Economy of Regionalism
  • 432 Seminar: United States Foreign Policy
  • 435 Memory and Politics
• History
  • 322 Europe and the Second World War
  • 347 America in Vietnam
  • 374 Religion and World War II
  • 447 Seminar: The Cold War
• Science, Technology, and Society
  • 393 Technology, War, and Society

  concentrations ↑

International Economic Policy
Students must take a relevant senior seminar (or senior paper) and take four of the courses listed below; one must be outside economics:

• Anthropology
  • Hunger, Poverty, and Population
  • 256 Land, Food, Culture, and Power
• Economics
  • 214 Economic Policy and Performance in Contemporary Latin America
  • 277 International Finance
  • 278 International Trade
  • 292 Economic Transition in China
  • 294 Economic Policy and Performance in East Asia
  • 333 Evolution of the Global Economy
  • 335 Economic Development: Theory and Experience
  • 373 Open-Economy Macroeconomics
• Government
• • 332 International Organization
  • 354 The European Union
  • 357 Political Economy of Regionalism
• History
  • 364 Ecological and Economic History of Africa
• Sociology
  • 333 Globalization

concentrations↑

Development Studies
Students must take a relevant senior seminar (or senior paper) and take four of the courses listed below, one of which is drawn from Anthropology 252 or 256, one from Economics 214 or 293, and one outside of anthropology and economics:

• Anthropology
  • 213 Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples
  • 252 Hunger, Poverty, and Population
  • 256 Land, Food, Culture, and Power
• Economics
  • 214 Economic Policy and Performance in Contemporary Latin America
  • 277 International Finance
  • 278 International Trade
  • 335 Economic Development: Theory and Experience
• French
  • 372 France and Africa
• Government
  • 235 Sustainable Development
  • 252 Politics of the Middle East
  • 253 Latin American Politics
  • 333 Globalization and Social Justice
  • 353 Promoting Democracy in Transitional Countries
  • 450 Seminar: Democratization in Latin America
  • 451 Seminar: Political Violence, Revolutions, and Ethnic Conflict
• History
  • 364 Ecological and Economic History of Africa
  • 394 Ecological History
• Sociology
  • 251 Population Problems in International Perspective
  • 333 Globalization
  • 336 Sociology of Food

concentrations↑

Global Environmental Studies
Four courses (plus a relevant senior seminar or independent paper), at least three of which must be drawn from the following:

• Anthropology
  • 252 Hunger, Poverty, and Population
  • 256 Land, Food, Culture, and Power
• Economics
  • 231 Environmental and Natural Resource Economics
  • 47- Economics Seminar (if topic is appropriate)
• Environmental Studies
  • 237 Environmental Law
  • 493 Environmental Policy Seminar
• Government
  • 235 Sustainable Development
  • 334 International Environmental Law
• History
  • 394 Ecological History
  • 446 Research Seminar: Historical Epidemiology
• Sociology
  • 251 Population Problems in International Perspective
  • 336 Sociology of Food
• Science, Technology, and Society
  • 281 Global Environmental History

The fourth course can be taken from the above or from one of the courses listed below:

• Economics
  • 214 Economic Policy and Performance in Contemporary Latin America
  • 293 Economic Development of the Third World
• Government
  • 332 International Organization
• History
  • 364 Ecological and Economic History of Africa
• Sociology
  • 333 Globalization

concentrations↑

Power and Inequality
Students must take a relevant senior seminar (or senior paper) and take four of the courses listed below, two of which are drawn from a core of Anthropology 252, 256, 452, Sociology 274, 333.

• Anthropology
  • 213 Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples
  • 217 Race and Ethnicity: Cross-Cultural Perspectives
  • 252 Hunger, Poverty, and Population
  • 256 Land, Food, Culture, and Power
  • 352 Anthropology of Power
• Government
  • 272* Modern Political Theory
  • 333 Globalization and Social Justice
  • 451 Seminar: Political Violence, Revolutions, and Ethnic Conflict
• Philosophy
  • 236* Social and Political Philosophy
  • 312* Philosophical Topics in Feminist Theory
• Sociology
  • 251 Population Problems in International Perspective
  • 274* Social Inequality and Power
  • 333 Globalization
  • 336 Sociology of Food
• Spanish
  • 493 Seminar: Feminine Fictions
• Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
• • 311* Topics in Feminist Theory

concentrations↑