With the rest of the world, in 1995 filmmakers from the whole African continent met in Ouagadougou, to celebrate the Century of world cinema. This also gave African filmmakers an opportunity to reflect on their 30 years of film practice. Today, only a year after most former French colonies in Africa have celebrated the 50th anniversary of their independence, African cinema is also entering its fifties. This course will introduce students to a half a century of African cinema with a special attention to its history and its search for survival and self identity within world cinema.

This course surveys the major geographic regions of the world in terms of environmental features and resource distributions, economic mainstays, population characteristics, cultural processes, social relationships, and patterns of urbanization and industrial growth. In addition to these topical foci, we use various sub-fields of geography to animate different regions. This approach provides a sense of depth while we also pursue a breadth of knowledge about the world.

Cities are dynamic landscapes informed by myriad economic, political, social, environmental, and cultural processes. This course delves into the forces of urbanization and examines how cities have been investigated, built, experienced, and lived in throughout history and around the globe. By accenting a geographic perspective and drawing upon an array of theoretical ideas and empirical examples, this class grapples with the fascinating complexities of the urban context.

Provides a comprehensive introduction to maps, including their design, compilation, and computer production. Introduces students to the principles of abstracting the Earth's surface into spatial databases using GIS, remote sensing, and Global Positioning Satellites.

Systematically studies political phenomena and their geographic expression, at a variety of spatial scales - national, regional, and international. Major themes include nation-state formation, boundary, territory, and ethnic issues, regional blocs and spheres of influence, and conflicts over access to and use of resources.

In this course, the Middle East and North Africa are studied in terms of their physical, cultural, economic, and political geography. Emphasis is placed on the environmental conditions and ecological evolution, population and demographic characteristics, the resource base and major problems in the social, political, and economic transformation of the region.

The growing racial diversity of the United States is evident at all spatial scales, from the individual body, to the household, neighborhood, city, and state. This course examines this topic by first exploring the instability and power of racial categories and the spatiality of racial identities and privilege. We then focus our attention on historical and contemporary patterns of racial mixing, mixed-race partnerships, and multiraciality and think through the challenges that race poses.

This course intends to offer an interdisciplinary perspective on selected contemporary development problems in Africa south of the Sahara. Central to the course will be an examination of the social, economic, and political consequences of colonialism, the physical resource base and ecological crisis, agrarian systems and rural development, gender relations and development, urbanization and industrialization, and the problems and prospects of regional cooperation and integration.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing are essential tools for geographic analysis in both the biophysical and social sciences. This course uses a semester-long project that includes field and laboratory instruction to allow students to develop hands-on skills with spatial data and analysis software. Students will be able to present potential employers with a portfolio containing examples of their ability to develop and execute a GIS/remote sensing application project.

From earthquakes to landscapes, deserts to glaciers, landslides to limestone, this course introduces the surficial and internal processes of the earth. Learn to interpret the geology of your surroundings when traveling to new places and understand how geologic setting influences how people live. Lectures focus on exploring and explaining geological features and processes using concept sketches. Labs focus on mineral and rock identification, map reading, and local field trips.