History 131B examines the transformation of American social history since the Civil War, ​a deeply complex story highlighted by the changing fabric of our nation’s society and culture via immigration, the interactions of social groups as they migrate, and the cultural expressions they create to make meaning of their experiences in the United States. Two themes will frame our critical thinking about the past: Inclusion/Exclusion and Social Movements. ​The lectures and readings give special attention to urban culture; the construction of racial identities; gender and sexuality; consumer culture; inequality and mobility under industrial capitalism and globalization; and grassroots social movements for reform such as the Black freedom struggle; feminism; and environmentalism. We will pay particular attention to the intersectionality of identities as they have evolved over the past 150 years. In examining the ways that various groups have defined, pursued and defended rights, we also explore the structural, systemic, and social factors that limited or challenged those pursuits. Lectures and readings will highlight the multicultural history particular to the United States as central to the making of modern America. Instructor bio: Sandra Weathers Smith is a faculty member of the History Department at The Spence School and a Lecturer in U.S. History at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research and teaching interests include cultural history, urban history, immigration, civil rights, and political culture. Sandra earned her doctorate in American History from U.C. Berkeley, where she also served as a U.C. Faculty (postdoctoral) Fellow. She worked as Senior Researcher for theater artist, Anna Deavere Smith, and the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue.

This class seeks to provide a rigorous understanding of 20th century development and thus 21st century poverty alleviation. Students will take a look at popular ideas of poverty alleviation, the institutional framework of poverty ideas and practices, and the social and political mobilizations that seek to transform the structures of poverty.

This course focuses on benchmarks of the history of various nations and civilizations. It begins with the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Chinese, but emphasizes world developments since the 15th century. The purpose of the course is to gain a better understanding of the rise and decline of states, empires, and international trading systems. Therefore, political and economic structures and developments as well as military factors will be presented along with the more traditional historical perspectives.

This course focuses on benchmarks of the history of various nations and civilizations. It begins with the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Chinese, but emphasizes world developments since the 15th century. The purpose of the course is to gain a better understanding of the rise and decline of states, empires, and international trading systems. Therefore, political and economic structures and developments as well as military factors will be presented along with the more traditional historical perspectives.

Global Studies 10B serves as an introduction to the Global Studies curriculum. Global Studies 10B introduces students to global issues through the lens of the humanities, such as art, literature, film, and culture. The topic of Global Studies 10B will vary from year to year, depending on the instructor. Students in each iteration of this course will learn about salient global interactions from a variety of cultural perspectives.

This course is designed as an introduction to Global Studies. Using a social science approach, the course prepares students to think critically about issues of international development, conflict, and peace in a variety of societies around the world. As such it provides students with a basic theoretical introduction to the impact of global interaction as well as an opportunity to explore such interaction in a variety of case studies.

Migrant labor has supported economic growth and political transformations for hundreds of years. But why and when does migrant labor become a “crisis”? Why do working migrants continue to dominate political party agendas and play an outsized role in discussions of nation, economy, and security? Despite arguments that the US was “built by immigrants,” migrant work continues to be questioned, opposed, and defended. This course will investigate the debates at the intersection of migration and labor, with special attention paid to gender, sexuality, and race. This is a writing intensive class that will emphasize revisions, originality, and critical thinking. Students will engage in close readings and interpretations of texts in thoughtful written work that builds over the course of the semester. We will develop and practice the appropriate analytical and compositional strategies for engaging with a variety of genres and types of media, including critical essays, novels, short stories, blog posts, op-eds, poetry, film, television, video games, and webpages. In order to situate our discussions within a specific historical and geographic context, we will focus on works by authors and filmmakers from Germany, the Netherlands, and the US. At the same time, students will be encouraged to read and think outside of this context. Readings will be drawn from Fatma Aydemir, Fatih Akin, R.W. Fassbinder, Hella Haasse, Franz Kafka, Marx, Yoko Tawada, and Hito Steyerl.

Maybe they’re born with it. Maybe they’ve worked for it. Western history is rife with stories of geniuses: authors, artists, scientists and, most recently, entrepreneurs who have been given that sometimes-dubious title. But what’s in a genius? Can one become a genius? Why do stories of so-called geniuses—their successes and their failures—continue to captivate us? In this course, we will answer these questions with the help of German literary examples in English translation. In the late 18 th and early 19 th centuries, the “genius” was lauded by German thinkers and poets as an independent artist with inherent talent, one who defies cultural norms and follows his intuition in the creation of great works of art. On the flip side of the genius are the strivers and the fakes, those who aspire to greatness but do not (or cannot) reach it. Our goal in this class will not be to learn to recognize or name genius, but rather to critically question the narrative behind it. We will uncover the long history of this term and its afterlives in our contemporary moment. Our course readings will take us to early modern Germany, but also to Renaissance Italy and modern-day Hollywood. As a Reading & Composition course, we will place extended attention on developing critical reading and writing skills. Students will complete several analytical writing assignments throughout the session, culminating in a research paper. In addition, students will complete regular bCourses discussion posts and will participate in writing workshops and peer review sessions. This course satisfies the second half of the university’s Reading and Composition requirement.

This course examines the distinct but ill-defined San Francisco Bay Area. Our approach will be neither to simply learn about the individual places that compose the Bay Area nor to study a succession of detached periods of development. Instead, we will think critically about the creations, contestations, and transformations of Bay Area spaces—landscapes, communities, neighborhoods, cities, suburbs, and the metropolitan region. Topics include indigenous geographies, colonialism, industrialization and economic geography, cities and suburbs, gentrification and displacement, regional racial formation and place-based identities, and resistance and rebellion.

California had been called "the great exception" and "America, only more so." Yet few of us pay attention to its distinctive traits and to its effects beyond our borders. California may be "a state of mind," but it is also the most dynamic place in the most powerful country in the world, and would be the 8th largest economy if it were a country. Its wealth has been built on mining, agriculture, industry, trade, and finance. Natural abundance and geographic advantage have played their parts, but the state's greatest resource has been its wealth and diversity of people, who have made it a center of technological and cultural innovation from Hollywood to Silicon Valley. Yet California has a dark side of exploitation and racialization.