Global Cultures Concentration

cultural celebration

Global Cultures

The concentration in Global Cultures includes arts, folklore, religious practice, and literature from cultures around the world, with an emphasis on the sharing of cultures across regions through migration, colonialism, and diasporas.  The concentration draws heavily on anthropology and literary analysis to provide a vocabulary for the study of culture.  It also examines how identities are created, maintained, or changed in a global world.

Language Requirement:

Students with a primary concentration in Global Cultures must demonstrate competency in a language appropriate to the region of their secondary area of concentration.  Competency means the equivalent of six courses in the same language.

LSU Courses in the Global Cultures Concentration:

  • AAAS 2000 – Introduction to African & African American Studies (3) This is a General Education course. Dimensions of African & African American thought and practice in contemporary and historical perspective.
  • AAAS 2410 – Black Popular Culture (3) Explores participation by black peoples in the creation and critique of popular culture through media such as film, music and television and terms of topics such as representation and sexuality.
  • AAAS 3024 – African Diaspora Intellectual Thought (3) Survey of critical ideas and theories by select diaspora scholars and writers. Emphasizes the intellectual tensions and deliberations that undergird attempts to theorize and resolve issues involving the status of black people in the world.
  • AAAS 4124/REL 4124 – Studies in African Diaspora Religions (3) May be taken for a maximum of 6 hours of credit when topics vary.Analysis of religious beliefs, rituals and practices and their roles in the lives of African Diaspora peoples.
  • ANTH 2050 – World Archaeology (3) This is a General Education course. Survey of human culture history from the stone age to the present; spread of humanity around the globe; major cultural developments including hunting and gathering, origins of agriculture, discovery and spread of metalworking, rise of ancient civilizations, and development of the modern world.
  • ANTH 3060/LING 3060 – Introduction to Anthropological Linguistics (3) Cultural variation in language and its uses; problems of language classification and areal linguistics; practice in phonemic and morphemic analysis of nonwestern languages.
  • ANTH 4031/REL 4031 – Comparative Religions (3) Religious systems in different levels of sociocultural evolution.
  • ANTH 4470 – Folklore of the African Diaspora (3) African, Caribbean and African-American cultures from the viewpoint of the diaspora.
  • ARTH 4466 – Survey of Contemporary Art (3) Major movements in art from World War II through the 1980s; the wane of modernism and the rise of postmodernism; focus on America and Europe but Latin American and non-Western art also considered.
  • CPLT 2202/ENGL 2202 – Introduction to Modern World Literature (3) This is a General Education course. Overview of the literature of the world from 1650 to the present day; introduction of the concept and theory of world literature.
  • ENGL 2673 – Literature and Ethnicity (3) This is a General Education course. Literature of America’s ethnic cultures.
  • ENGL 3080 – Post-colonial Literature (3) Survey of literature from former British colonies in South Asia, Africa and the Caribbean; colonialism; nationalism; independence; diaspora; transnationalism; hybridity; women’s rights; building a new nation, etc.
  • ENGL 4680 – Studies in Post-colonial Literature & Culture (3) May be taken for a maximum of 6 semester hours of credit when topics vary.Topics may include “Imagining India,” “Black British Cultures,” “Islam and Literature,” “Politics and Post-colonial Literature,” “Atlantic Studies,” etc.
  • FREN 3076 – Introduction to Francophone Cultures (3) Prerequisite:FREN 3060 or equivalent. An overview of the manifestations of Francophone cultures in Africa, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and Canada.
  • FREN 3090 – Francophone Text and Contexts (3) May be taken for a maximum of 6 semester hours of credit when subject matter varies.Taught in French and English. Focus on specific aspects of Francophone literature, culture, history and thought.
  • FREN 4070 – Literature of Africa and the Caribbean (3) Prerequisite:FREN 3071 and FREN 3072 or equivalents or permission of instructor. Major aspects of francophone African and Caribbean literature.
  • GEOG 4079/REL 4079 – Geography of Religion (3) Theory and methods of analyzing the culture and movement of religious rituals and traditions over space and time.
  • HIST 4049 – The British Empire and Commonwealth (3) British Empire and development of the British Commonwealth of Nations.
  • INTL 4100 – Migration, Diasporas, and Identity (3) An interdisciplinary survey of global migration in the modern era and the resultant subnational and transnational forms of community, identity, and subjectivity: colonists, exiles, immigrants, refugees and transients.
  • REL 2029 – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (3) This is a General Education course.Credit will not be given for this course and REL 2030. Survey of the history, beliefs and practices of these three related religions.
  • REL 3092/INTL 3092 – Fundamentalisms and Religious Nationalism (3) Investigates how the phenomenon of fundamentalism manifests itself in combinations of religion and politics in various countries around the world as a response to “modernity.”
  • SOCL 4551 – Global Society (3) Prerequisite:SOCL 2001 or equivalent. Presents central concepts and major perspectives on international development, globalization and world poverty and income inequality.
  • SPAN 4100 – Women Writers in the Hispanic World (3) May be taken for a maximum of 6 semester hours of credit when topics vary.Examination of selected periods, themes and genres.
  • THTR 3122 – Theatre History and Literature III: 1875 to the Present (3) Survey of theatre history and literature from the late nineteenth century to present.
  • THTR 4220/ENGL 4220 – Drama of Africa and African Diaspora (3) Study of the form and characteristic features as expressed in the works of dramatists in Africa and African Diaspora.
  • WGS 2900 – Gender, Race, and Nation (3) This is a General Education course. The constructs of gender and sexuality across diverse racial, ethnic, cultural and class boundaries.

Note: Course offerings will vary from semester to semester, and there are invariably new courses or special topics classes which are applicable to this concentration but do not appear on the list below.  A scheduling guide listing course offerings will be circulated before scheduling begins for each semester.  Also students who study abroad can ask to count courses taken abroad toward their concentration.  Generally any course focusing on migration, diaspora populations, cultural analysis, post-colonialism, or issues of identity related to globalization can be applied to the concentration.

Study Abroad Options:

Study Abroad options for this concentration are numerous.  Students are encouraged to use the "Advanced Search" function on the Academic Programs Abroad website to look for programs with courses on comparative literature, literature, anthropology, art history, film and media arts, human geography, linguistics, music, religious studies and theater.  Remember that English language programs are often available in countries you may not have considered.  Please visit the Academic Programs Abroad website for more information.