This two-semester, 8-credit honors thesis/project course focuses on two of the most intractable structural issues confronting contemporary American society: immigration and mass incarceration. This course will place these two issues in historical context through a variety of academic, journalistic and autobiographical texts and documentaries, which will allow students to see how the contemporary phenomena of immigration and mass incarceration have common ideological underpinnings and common historical roots.

In the second part of this two-semester Honors Thesis seminar, students will learn about the psychological and historical forces that have shaped house and home in the United States. Dominant norms evolved that other nations and cultures must variously mimic, alter or resist.

Globalization will serve as the cornerstone of our study in this two-semester seminar as students undertake their honors thesis. By globalization I mean the increasingly integrated nature of our world's economy, culture and consciousness. Some of the main issues of globalization the course will explore are: strengthening borders against outsiders (refugees, immigrants); increasing borderlessness of technology, which reaches into all corners of the globe and the relationship between globalization and the distribution of income across countries.

This course is a critical, interdisciplinary study of environmental worldviews and ethics - how people think about the earth and how what they think makes them act. We will focus on recent responses to climate change and environmental crisis that seek to recognize or recover the sacredness of the earth as a strategy for survival in the Anthropocene. We will consider what ethical choices present themselves in a world where animals, plants, rivers, and mountains are full of life, intelligence, and agency compared with a world where only (some kinds of) humans really matter.

European colonialism and the establishment of empires have shaped all aspects of contemporary life?from our ecology to our economy, our culture and religion, ideas about sexuality and gender, and our architecture and material lives. In this class we will critically analyze narratives of colonialism and empire, and the ways that colonial histories/ stories are told. We will also read the work of postcolonial writers and consider how the voices of colonized people change the ways we understand colonial histories.

Students registering for this Honors Practicum must complete a contract with their honors sponsor. Appropriate forms and more information are available at the Bloom Honors Advising Center - 201 Commonwealth Honors College.

This is a stand-alone independent study designed by the student and faculty sponsor that involves frequent interaction between instructor and student. Qualitative and quantitative enrichment must be evident on the proposed contract before consent is given to undertake the study. Registration should be done during pre-registration and completed by the end of the add-drop period.

Students registering for this Honors Practicum must complete a contract with their honors sponsor. Appropriate forms and more information are available at the Bloom Honors Advising Center - 201 Commonwealth Honors College.