Courses ofInstruction
Institute for Global Studies
The Institute for Global Studies (GLS) at Hobart and William Smith Colleges brings together nine HWS departments and programs and more than 25% of the Colleges’ full-time faculty. The Institute supports faculty collaboration on teaching and research while enhancing students’ academic experience. Through its shared cohort courses, Global Studies strengthens the many points of contact among participating faculty and introduces students to a breadth of approaches to studying the global.
The Institute for Global Studies builds on the many well-established strengths of HWS, from its historic dedication to interdisciplinarity and collaboration, to its award-winning Center for Global Education. Programming promotes a broad outlook for students – lives of consequence writ large across the globe. Global Studies gives students a carefully guided academic experience, leaving them well-positioned for graduate study and professional opportunities.
Council of Directors
The heart of the Institute for Global Studies administrative structure is the Council of Directors, led by a Director and Associate Director. Each of the contributing programs have representation on the Council but remain autonomous entities within the Institute. A Fellowship Advisor and a representative from the Center for Global Education are ex officio members.
Contributing programs:
Africana Studies
Anthropology
Asian Studies
European Studies
French Francophone, and Italian Studies
German Studies
International Relations
Latin American Studies
Russian Area Studies
Curricular Structure
Global Studies currently offers two levels of cohort courses. These courses count as electives or core courses in Global Studies member departments and programs; students should check with their advisor for details.
Course Descriptions
GLS 101 Introduction to Global Studies This gateway course is designed as an introduction to ways of understanding "the global" in the 21st century. As a course designed collaboratively by faculty from across the Institute of Global Studies, students will encounter diverse tools and ways of knowing drawn from the humanities and social sciences as they learn to think across time and space about questions of concern in our shared world. These may include questions of how and why people join with others to form community, what different forms of belonging mean and do, and how these relate to institutions and systems of power. The substantive questions and themes will vary by section, but the course's focus on interdisciplinary tools and ways of knowing will prepare students to engage in more advanced coursework across the various departments and programs in the Institute of Global Studies. Offered each semester.
GLS 201 Global Cultural Literacies Global Cultural Literacies will examine cultural productions from around the world and the social/political/cultural forces that help shape world literature, such as socialism, anarchism, feminism, capitalism, migration, and various aesthetic movements. Students will develop an understanding of how cultural artifacts demonstrate and influence the production of meaning and worldviews. The course will present terms and techniques necessary for conducting literary analysis and offer insight into the fundamentals of language learning in languages other than English. This course is team taught by faculty from various Global Language departments. Prerequisite: GLS101 or completion of any global language course at HWS. Co-requisite: participation in a global language course while taking GLS 201. (offered annually)