Courses and Class Schedules

Surveys different strategies of community activism including charity, volunteering, labor and community organizing, and recently emerging global activism with goal of demonstrating how certain strategies challenge existing social relations and arrangements while others typically (and often by design) reproduce them. (General Education Code(s): PE-H.)

The heart of the community studies major is the field study experience. Through this series of courses, students prepare for, complete and reflect on six months of immersive, full-time experiential learning with a community-based or social change organization. This process culminates in the production of original qualitative research that builds new knowledge about the processes and conditions that facilitate social change. In this 1-credit preparatory course, students develop and articulate their intellectual, professional, and personal goals for field study. They research and communicate with potential field study sites, and locate organizations with which they can complete it. Prerequisite(s): CMMU 10. Enrollment is restricted to sophomore, junior, and senior community studies majors and proposed majors.

From #BlackLivesMatter to #MeToo, from the Women’s March on Washington to the March for Our Lives following the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, a new generation of activists is using media to advance social justice goals. From the perspectives of sociology, psychology, and political science, course explores how contemporary activists harness a diverse range of media tools and platforms for social change and how contemporary strategies are rooted in and/or diverge from historical practices of using media to effect social and political change. Defines ”media” broadly to include social media and legacy media forms, such as radio, television, and print journalism. . (General Education Code(s): IM.)

Relates simple lessons of quantitative thinking to topical materials that are accessible and relevant to working for justice and social change. Students learn practical techniques to distinguish credible statistical evidence from misleading statistical claims. Enrollment limited to 50. (General Education Code(s): SR.)

Engages with crosscutting ideas and concepts central to the major including constructions of community in social-change efforts and the institutionalization of social movements in third-sector organizations. Deepens students’ understanding of the opportunities and obstacles embedded in various avenues of social action. Enrollment is restricted to sophomore, junior, and senior community studies majors and proposed majors.

A practicum to prepare students for field study. Course must be successfully completed prior to the six-month field study. Prerequisite(s): CMMU 10; CMMU 101; satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing and Composition requirements; submission of the signed Goals and Objectives form; and completion of the declaration of major process. Enrollment restricted to community studies majors.

A practicum in social change work in which the students works for a social change organization on a part-time basis. Concurrent enrollment in CMMU 102 is required.

Full-time independent field study in an approved off-campus setting with onsite supervision by the sponsoring organization and regular distanced supervision by campus faculty. Enrollment is restricted to community studies majors upon completion of the required preparatory coursework. Prerequisite(s): CMMU 102. (Formerly CMMU 198, Independent Field Study.) Prerequisite(s): CMMU 102. Enrollment is restricted to Community Studies majors. May be repeated for credit. (General Education Code(s): PR-S.)

Full-time independent field study in an approved off-campus setting with onsite supervision by the sponsoring organization and regular distanced supervision by campus faculty. Enrollment is restricted to community studies majors upon completion of the required preparatory coursework. Prerequisite(s): CMMU 102. (Formerly CMMU 198, Independent Field Study.) Prerequisite(s): CMMU 102. Enrollment is restricted to Community Studies majors. May be repeated for credit. (General Education Code(s): PR-S.)

Full-time independent field study in an approved off-campus setting with onsite supervision by the sponsoring organization and regular distanced supervision by campus faculty. Enrollment is restricted to community studies majors upon completion of the required preparatory coursework. Prerequisite(s): CMMU 102. (Formerly CMMU 198, Independent Field Study.) Prerequisite(s): CMMU 102. Enrollment is restricted to Community Studies majors. May be repeated for credit. (General Education Code(s): PR-S.)

A seminar for students who have completed a full-time field study. Devoted to the systematic analysis of field materials, integrating appropriate concepts and relevant literature, as well as utilizing the experience of other students. Prerequisite(s): satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing and Composition requirements, CMMU 105A, CMMU 105B, and CMMU 105C. Enrollment is restricted to community studies majors.

Community organizing brings people together in pursuit of self-determination in one or several realms of their lives. This course explores the history, philosophy, goals and accomplishments of community organizing and introduces students to practical community organizing skills. .

Examines the historical development of and contemporary conditions within U.S. cities by focusing on social and economic restructurings of cities, cultural and political transformations, and spatial reorganizations of the urban landscape. Goal is understanding the changing nature of urban experience. (General Education Code(s): ER.)

Examines key moments in the development of California to provide understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing California today. Particular focus is given to abiding tensions around wealth and poverty, opportunity and exclusion, and progressive and conservative politics.

Examines the class and race dynamics of the housing market and public policy, asking what kinds of housing get built, where it gets built, and for whom it is (or is not) built–and, crucially, why. Questions how homelessness became normalized in contemporary society. Enrollment limited to 30.

For many communities the impacts of global warming, rising sea levels and environmental degradation compound already existing systemic racial, class, and gender inequalities. How do we understand the relationships between people and the environment? How are movements for social and ecological justice (dis)connected? This class considers how and why communities, activists and organizations press for alternatives through case studies from the U.S. environmental justice movement and related local and global struggles for food sovereignty, Indigenous rights and climate justice. .

Examines how markets operate within the political economy of contemporary capitalism to generate myriad and often chronic forms of economic and social inequality in the United States. Explores different approaches to addressing inequality within the multi-faceted economic justice movement. (Formerly Political Justice in Theory and Practice.) Enrollment is restricted to community studies majors and proposed majors during First Pass enrollment.

Examines origins and growth of Wal-Mart stores as powerful guides to understanding dynamics of contemporary global political economy and, relatedly, the changing fortunes of global social classes.

Provides an overview of the history of capitalism in order to understand current crises within the global political economy. Gives particular attention to the origin, character, and consequences of neoliberalism. (Formerly Globalization and Its Discontents.)

”Solutionism” encourages college students to tackle the world ”grand challenges” in areas such energy and resources, food and agriculture, education and literacy, or global health, with ”innovative” technologies or program design. Rarely, however, are they encouraged to learn more about the problems they are trying to solve. Course examines contemporary solutionism, with a specific focus on agriculture and food, in order to recognize and understand its contexts, cultures, and consequences for social and ecological justice. . Enrollment limited to 30.

Examines key concepts in agrarian political economy; the historical development of the world food system; and a selection of contemporary issues related to food production, consumption, distribution, and regulation. (General Education Code(s): PE-E.)

Examines globalization by attending to shaping forces of sexuality, gender, and race. Foregrounds Third World feminist theories, social movements. Topics include sexual and racial dynamics of “free trade” and labor fragmentation; global sex trades; HIV/AIDS politics in the South and North; transnational LGBT/queer politics.

Critically examines contemporary debates about market and policy approaches to improve nutrition and dietary health and to address issues, such as food insecurity, obesity, and malnutrition. (General Education Code(s): PE-H.)

Introduces students to gerontology, the study of aging. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, critically examines the theories, stereotypes, and realities of worldwide demographic transition and considers the many interesting implications for organizing social and personal life.

Examination of community activism to address health issues: examples are drawn from a range of concerns, e.g., environmental racism, prison conditions, feminist health matters, the AIDS epidemic, violence, and alcoholism. Special attention is given to the social frameworks of health and to the utilization of social and political strategies for improving community well-being. Enrollment limited to 60.

Critically examines concrete aspects of health in U.S. social and political contexts, emphasizing how gendered interpretations and practices construct and affect health equity and the practices of health care.

Examines history, theory, and practice of community gardening, emphasizing contemporary garden projects using the transformative power of direct contact with nature to effect social change. Aims include understanding the nonprofit sector’s response to social problems with novel programs and practices.

Examines system and non-system that is American health care with special attention to inequalities in access, financing, and quality of care. Covers concepts such as equality, fairness, and need as well as community organizing and community building for health.

Explores three case studies to address critical themes of healthcare inequalities in the context of conflict: the legal battle of Ecuadorians against Texaco/Chevron; the struggle of “comfort women” during World War II; and chemical saturation in Iraq.

Practical, skill-building course that starts from the premise that while all communities value health, different communities develop distinctive understandings of what health means to them and how best to achieve it given their specific environments and economies. Course focuses on health justice from a political economy perspective, analyzing how health is shaped by the interaction of multiple societal forces, including who holds power and what steps marginalized groups have taken to achieve more just distributions of resources. By studying community health, across multiple communities in a variety of locations, students learn how to be effective agents of global health equity. . (Also offered as Global and Community Health 165. Students cannot receive credit for both courses.)

Special topics course in the field of health equity that offers focused content and/or perspectives within a field of study already central to the community studies curriculum, in this case public health and health equity. Specific course content varies with instructor. May be repeated for credit.

Examines the primary ways in which activists are attempting to resist, provide alternatives to, and/or transform aspects of the food system using social and environmental justice frameworks to evaluate such activism. Topics explored include organic farming, food charity, fair trade, relocalization, and farmworker organizing.