International & Transcultural Studies

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The Department of International & Transcultural Studies


Our Mission

In recognition of the interconnectedness of all human beings around the globe, Teachers College has a long-standing commitment to the international arena.

New technologies have led to a rapidly increasing flow of people, information, goods, and services within and across national boundaries. As these boundaries become more permeable, modern societies are characterized by greater diversification of people and resources. Such diversification introduces complex forces that can be best understood as transcultural. As individual and institutional identities increasingly reflect diverse cultural traditions and values, a major challenge to education is to promote new ways of understanding and negotiating these identities.

The United States is a powerful example of an international and transcultural society, and the metropolitan area in which Teachers College is located is a particularly vivid expression of such a society. New York City and the United States are, in many ways, harbingers of what the 21st century will bring to cities and countries around the world.

International and transcultural forces will be increasingly present in all societies, and these forces will be crucial in understanding education in every domain of human experience—family, community, school, the workplace. Such education will take place not only in schools, colleges, and universities, but in all societal institutions—families; churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples; libraries, museums, and parks; mass media such as newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and computer networks; and the various kinds of workplaces that are emerging in our technological era.

Our department prepares professionals to provide leadership in the educative configurations emerging in the new century. To do so, we offer a range of disciplinary and professional programs and concentrations with distinct emphases within the collective mission. The programs in Anthropology, and Comparative and International Education emphasize research on the social, cultural, economic, and political aspects of global processes. The program in International Educational Development prepares professionals across the whole range of educational practice to gain a global perspective.

Students work with faculty within the department on a variety of topics including AIDS education, civic education, drugs and society, and language and literacy. Students can concentrate within the department in such areas as African education, family and community education, international humanitarian issues, international educational policy studies, language, literacy, technology, and peace education. We work with other departments at the College to provide our students additional concentrations in areas such as adult education, conflict resolution, curriculum and teaching, educational leadership, health education, and policy studies. In addition, we cooperate with the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University to develop regional areas of expertise (e.g., Latin American Studies, African Studies, Eastern European Studies, Middle East Studies, Russian Studies, East Asian Studies, South Asian Studies). Students in Comparative and International Education who select academic disciplines other than anthropology (e.g., economics, sociology, political science, history, or philosophy) also work closely with faculty outside the department. Degrees are offered by academic programs only, not in concentrations.

Programs

Faculty

  • Faculty

    • Regina Cortina Professor of Education
    • Hope Leichter Elbenwood Professor of Education
    • Nicholas Limerick Associate Professor of Anthropology and Education
    • Mary Mendenhall Associate Professor of International and Comparative Education
    • Prem Phyak Associate Professor in International and Comparative Education
    • Oren Pizmony-Levy Associate Professor of International and Comparative Education
    • Susan Garnett Russell Associate Professor of International and Comparative Education
    • Gita Steiner-Khamsi Professor of Education
    • Herve H Varenne Gardner Cowles Professor of Anthropology and Education
  • Visiting Faculty

    • Autumn Rain Adj/PTVisiting Prof/PTLecturer
    • Marlana Elizabeth Salmon-Letelier Adj/PTVisiting Prof/PTLecturer
    • Raisa Belyavina Schwanbeck Adj/PTVisiting Prof/PTLecturer
  • Emeriti

    • Charles Harrington Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, Psychology and Education
    • JoAnne Kleifgen Professor Emerita, Linguistics and Education
  • Lecturers

    • Liyun Wendy Choo Lecturer, International and Comparative Education - Citizenship, Human Rights, and Education.
    • Ellen Grey Gundaker Senior Lecturer in Anthropology
    • Erina Iwasaki Lecturer, International and Comparative Education - Languages, Communities and Schools
    • Amina UmAmir Tawasil Lecturer
  • Adjunct Faculty

    • Gillian Brooke Andrews Adjunct Assistant Professor
    • Leigh Llewellyn Graham Adjunct Assistant Professor
    • Nancy L. Green Saraisky Adjunct Associate Professor
    • Constanza Estefania Lafuente Adjunct Associate Professor
    • Serah Shani Adjunct Associate Professor
    • Carine Verschueren Adjunct Assistant Professor
    • Portia G. Williams Vice Provost for Academic Planning and Global Affairs
  • Instructors

    • Carolyn J. Benson
    • Manuel Enrique Cardoso
    • Samaya Mansour Doctoral Research Fellow
    • Paula Liliana Mantilla Blanco
    • John Park Principal Research Technologis
    • Maria Daniela Romero Amaya Bruce S. Goldberg Postdoctoral Fellow

Courses

  • ITSF 4005 - Education in Emergencies and Reconstruction
    This course provides students with a comprehensive introduction to the growing and increasingly complex field of education in emergencies, one which encompasses crises caused by natural disasters and armed conflict and which spans the relief-development spectrum. The course will provide opportunities for students to critically reflect on practice, policy, research, and advocacy efforts within the field and to develop transferable skills related to program design and policy analysis. The course will draw on a combination of readings, lectures, class discussions, simulations, student presentations, multimedia, group work, and guest speakers to deepen our understanding of the education in emergencies field.
  • ITSF 4009 - Introduction to Research Methods in International and Comparative Education
    This course is designed to serve as an introduction to the concepts, methods, and applications of empirical research in international and comparative education. The course readings, lectures, class discussion, activities, and course assignments will examine fundamental issues and processes of research design and practice from a variety of methodological perspectives —qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods.
  • ITSF 4010 - Cultural & Social Bases of Education
    This course is designed as an introduction to cultural anthropology for educators and education researchers.
  • ITSF 4011 - Contexts of education
    Review of fundamental anthropological concepts for the analysis of educational institutions and processes around the world.
  • ITSF 4012 - Cross-cultural studies of learning
    Analyses of basic anthropological concepts, with particular reference to the influence of cultures and subcultures on the learning process, to education in multicultural classrooms, and to the relevance of psychological anthropology to educational issues. Four-point enrollment requires attendance at film showings before or after class and additional discussion sessions held at hours to be arranged.
  • ITSF 4013 - Literacy and International Development
    This course problematizes common assumptions about the relationship between literacy and cognitive, social, political and economic development. A sociocultural approach to languages and literacies is taken, while critical studies of international development are examined, applying a gender lens throughout.
  • ITSF 4014 - Urban situations and education
    An introduction to the anthropological study of cities and how larger-scale urban relationships affect schooling. Emphasis is placed on understanding urban inequality.
  • ITSF 4016 - Culture and society in Africa
    A general survey of sub-Saharan Africa, using contributions from theoretical approaches to anthropological research in the area. Emphasis on socioeconomic, ideological and religious, educational, and political analysis of African communities.
  • ITSF 4018 - Anthropology and development in Africa
    This seminar considers issues and problems of development in sub-Saharan Africa. It examines specific development projects from different theoretical and empirical perspectives.
  • ITSF 4025 - Languages, Societies, and Schools
    This course examines the role that languages play in societal and educational contexts from an interdisciplinary perspective, incorporating economic, cultural, political and historical analyses. Diverse language ideologies are considered, along with how language policies are enacted by stakeholders at different levels, with a focus on non-dominant languages in multilingual contexts.
  • ITSF 4026 - Technology and culture
    An exploration of technologies, broadly defined, and the contexts of their development, use, and politics of distribution locally and globally, drawing on research in anthropology and related disciplines.
  • ITSF 4030 - ITSF 4030: Education for social change: comparative and international perspectives
    What is education for social change? What is popular education? How is it implemented internationally? Using a comparative and international perspective, this course explores theories and practices of popular education, a pedagogical-political approach based on participatory methodologies that are committed to schooling for social justice. In this course, we will examine theoretical debates on popular education. We will also compare historical and contemporary examples of popular education practices (including critical pedagogy), research methods (such as participatory action research), and techniques.
  • ITSF 4034 - Dynamics of family interaction
    This course has been developed with practitioners of anthropology, educators, health professionals and globalization in mind. This course focuses on family as an agentive space where people construct with what they have around them. This focus is organized on two anthropological positions for their applied utility. One, culture is understood as all-encompassing situated in context and history, and is also a politicized concept. Two, the course is developed from the comparative Boasian approach to understanding human phenomenon, that different causes produce like effects or like causes produce different effects. The course will begin with an overview of anthropological research on kinship and relatedness by exploring the various possibilities in the composition of a typical family, how the family is formed, and how belongingness is maintained in different parts of the world. The second portion of the course will be devoted to what impacts the family and vice versa. Finally, this course will engage categories such as biological and social bases of family, honor, sexuality, love, wealth, religion, and institutions such as schools, the humanitarian/development/human rights regimes, and the nation-state. Ethnographic examples throughout the semester will focus on the socio-historical context, concreteness of actions, and use of resources.
  • ITSF 4038 - Monitoring and Evaluation in International Educational Development
    This course explores small- and large-scale research and evaluation methods and their potential for valid, reliable, efficient evaluation of educational outcomes as well as project outcomes. Needs assessment, capacity assessment, project evaluations (mid-term and final), performance appraisals and impact evaluations done for a range of agencies and organizations are analyzed for diverse educational programs (including formal and non-formal education) in low-income country contexts.
  • ITSF 4060 - Latinx in Urban Schools
    In this graduate seminar, we explore theories and research to shed light on the context of Latinx education in the US, including why Latinx are the least likely of all major demographic groups to be enrolled in school and, as adults, are most likely to lack a high school diploma and have limited access to postsecondary education. The course explores the racial/ethnic diversities that exist between and within recent immigrant groups, drawing especially on research that shows the diversity of cultural backgrounds within Latinx subgroups. Framing the discussion within relevant theories, the course’s topics will include immigration, educational achievement and persistence, language and schooling, the interplay of race, gender and class with educational attainment, and transnational communities.
  • ITSF 4090 - Issues and Institutions in International Educational Development
    This course explores theoretical approaches to the study of education in international development and uses these approaches to consider current topics and debates in the fields of international and comparative education. This course also introduces students to institutions involved with educational development in diverse global settings, such as the United Nations and the World Bank. This course is also offered at the doctoral level (ITSF 6581).
  • ITSF 4091 - Comparative Education
    This course introduces theories in comparative and international education, along with comparative methods and current issues in the field related to cross-national assessment, educational development indicators, educational transfer and borrowing, gender analysis and linguistic and cultural issues. This course is also listed at the doctoral level (ITSF 6580).
  • ITSF 4092 - No Title Found in Banner
    The study of qualitative methodologies appropriate to various kinds of educational programs, issues, and problems in diverse research settings.
  • ITSF 4093 - Curriculum and Pedagogy in International Contexts
    This course addresses theories, models, planning & policy, design, and implementation of curriculum, as applied across different national contexts. The course addresses key issues in working internationally, such as curriculum borrowing and use of ICTs. Students design a contextually responsive curriculum.
  • ITSF 4094 - Educational Planning in International Educational Development
    The course explores educational planning and policy analysis in developing countries. A special focus is placed on aid effectiveness, aid modalities, and the aid architecture in countries where educational reforms are sometimes funded by multilateral organizations, development banks, and non-governmental organizations. Critical issues, such as global benchmarking, target setting, and monitoring by the World Bank, OECD, and other international organizations are examined. Students learn about current debates and controversies in international educational development and reflect on the impact of externally funded projects on educational planning and reform in developing countries.
  • ITSF 4098 - Educational Development and Policies in China
    Historical and national development contexts of educational development in China. Key policy issues in education by level and across levels.
  • ITSF 4101 - Quantitative Analysis in Comparative and International Education
    This course serves as an introduction to quantitative analysis as applied to the field of Comparative International Education. The course covers fundamental concepts of quantitative analysis, inferential statistics, and introduces the assumptions and mechanics of the classical normal linear regression model.
  • ITSF 4105 - Civil Society and NGOs in IED
    This course introduces students to education-related Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Non-Governmental organizations' (NGOs) critical strategic issues. Based on teaching cases of NGOs and CSOs from multiple regions, students analyze, improve, and design organizational theories of change, advocacy, service, scaling up strategies, accountability processes, volunteering programs, and resource generating approaches.
  • ITSF 4160 - Human Rights Education in Africa: Politics, Policies, and Pedagogies
    Students examine the historical conditions that give rise to human rights violations and the efforts to protect rights through policy and education. They explore different approaches to human rights education, apply them to case studies of specific African countries, and develop human rights education curricula.
  • ITSF 4195 - Integrative Project Writing Seminar
    This course is designed to help students develop the professional knowledge and skills necessary for effective written communication through their Integrative Projects.
  • ITSF 4200 - Integrative Project Research & Writing Practicum
    The Integrative Project (IP) Research & Writing Practicum will provide an opportunity for students to spend time developing and conducting their integrative project plans. For the IP requirement in the IED and CIE majors, students typically take one of four approaches for completing their IPs: 1) empirical research paper or proposal; 2) theoretical exploration; 3) policy study; or 4) curriculum design and development. Other types of writing projects may also be accepted pending consultation and approval from the student’s faculty advisor. The Practicum represents 36 weekly hours of work to reflect the time spent designing projects, collecting data, reviewing literature, analyzing data, and writing up project findings, among other related tasks. Students will have the option of taking the course for 0-3 credits and will consult with their academic advisors to ensure the best approach for their overall program plan.
  • ITSF 4580 - International Comparative Education & Development Studies, Part I
    Yearlong course, meets in Fall.
  • ITSF 4581 - International Comparative Education & Development Studies, Part II
    Yearlong course, meets in Spring.
  • ITSF 4603 - Human and Social Dimensions of Peace
    This course focuses on issues of human rights, global ethics, and various aspects of structural and cultural violence. Students explore notions of identity, diversity and reflexive narrative in relation to the concepts of (positive and negative) peace and human dignity. Students are then introduced to examples of nonviolent social movements and reflect on the process of peaceful transformation.
  • ITSF 4613 - International Perspectives on Citizenship and Human Rights Education
    This course provides a grounding in the theory, pedagogy, and practice of peace and human rights education. It draws from the international literature of the field as it has been developed over the past three decades, and reviews teaching practices relevant to various cultures and learning settings.
  • ITSF 4614 - International Organizations, Civil Society and Peace Education
    Peace Education is concerned with the prevention of violence, but this theoretical framework also draws on diverse practices, or co-disciplines, including Global Citizenship Education, Human Rights Education and Education for Sustainable Development. This course explores key inter-governmental and non-governmental actors, processes, curriculum and issues in these peace education areas.
  • ITSF 4900 - Internship, Research, Independent Study in Anthropology & Education
    Advanced masters students may register for internships, research projects related to the IP, or intensive individual study of some aspect of their concentration. Registration is only by permission of the instructor under whose guidance the work will be undertaken. Times for individual conferences will be arranged. Enrollment may be for 1 or more points each term, and registration is not limited to one or two terms. Advisor Approval Required.
  • ITSF 4902 - Research Independent Study:International Transcultural
    Research Independent Study:International Transcultural
  • ITSF 5000 - Introductory methods of ethnography and participant observation
    This course provides training in knowledge-production through ethnographic research using participant-observation. Students will be able to gain an understanding of ethnography as a way of knowing how people do what they do. Part one of the course will be devoted to research design, which includes developing different types of research questions, selecting sites and anthropological methods suitable for answering these questions, and examining anthropological approaches for applied purposes. Part two of the semester consists of looking at the difficulties of conducting research driven by established categories like culture, as well as the challenges inherent in ethnography such as objectivity, representation, and ethical dilemmas. This half of the semester will be dedicated to helping students produce a research study proposal that they will present to their cohort. Throughout the course, students will be reading examples of ethnographic research relevant to policy-making in order to understand how approaches to ethnography have developed. The peer-review process will be heavily implemented in this course, where students are given the opportunity to evaluate and comment on each other’s work. Students will be expected to study and read the assigned readings, and be able to participate in class discussions on the course readings. This course is foundational for students who are doing ethnographic fieldwork for their master’s IP or doctoral dissertation. There are no prerequisites.
  • ITSF 5001 - Ethnography and Participant-Observation
    In an age in which big data is purported to solve contemporary human problems, Ethnography and Participant-observation have much to contribute. One contribution is that these make it possible to call into question the solutions put forth by way of representing human beings and their interactions with numbers. This course asks students to reflect more deeply upon what ethnographic research is and its role in scholarly and practical knowledge production. In the first of this series of courses (ITSF 5000: Introductory Methods of Ethnography and Participant-Observation), the emphasis is on operationalizing and designing a research project and writing a proposal that tightly integrates the general problem to be addressed and the method to be used. In this second course in the series, the emphasis is on the actual hands-on process of conducting fieldwork, recording of observations (field notes, mechanical recording and transcription), analysis, and on the writing of the final report. Readings and hands-on activities will be assigned. The semester will be divided into three modules; participant-observation, participant-observation with audiovisual, and virtual ethnography. Each module will involve data analysis and a write-up. This course will take place every Tuesday for 1 hour and 40 minutes. However, there will be a component that requires students and the instructor meet outside for 2-3 Saturdays for 1 hour and 40 minutes for participant-observation work in place of the Tuesday meetings. This is the more advanced of the two courses on ethnography offered in the department. Beginners in participant-observation research should enroll in ITSF 5000. It is possible to enroll in both simultaneously.
  • ITSF 5003 - Communication and culture
    This course covers theories and ethnographies from linguistic anthropology, or the study of how communication shapes and is shaped by social life. It considers examples from different educational contexts, such as literacy, exams, and teaching, and how they intersect with major categories of inequality such as race, class, and gender. Students are encouraged to think critically about communicative norms in institutions like schools and to apply the themes of the course to their own interests and backgrounds.
  • ITSF 5006 - Comparative Policy Studies: Tools & Techniques
    The course is designed to help students to understand foundations and techniques of policy analysis underlying education sector strategies of low-income countries. Part 1 will review critical debates over the role of donors and aid recipients in development contexts and introduce students to tools and techniques for producing education sector strategies. Part 2 will provide an overview of theories of the policy process from an international comparative perspective and therefore also include theories of global education policy, "traveling reforms," and transnational policy borrowing and lending. Part 3 will discuss trends in various sub-sectors that international agencies tend to frame as "best practices" and for which they provide technical assistance and external financial support.
  • ITSF 5007 - Race, class and schooling: Ethnographic approaches
    This course asks how "race" and "class" shape and are shaped by schooling in the United States and other regions around the globe, privileging ethnography as the best way to find out how these broad concepts play out for diverse participants in diverse contexts, on the ground.
  • ITSF 5008 - Gender, Education, and International Development
    This seminar examines the field of international education development from the standpoint of feminist and gender studies. We will read and discuss relevant studies in anthropology, economics, history, political science, and sociology, as well as interdisciplinary research in the fields of development studies and gender studies. We will begin by considering the political and legal advances in women’s rights within the daily reality of people’s lives in developing countries through the multiple lenses of democratic theory, neoliberal policies, and multiculturalism.
  • ITSF 5009 - Social Network Analysis: Theory, Methods, Applications
    Through lectures and discussions of the assigned readings and materials, this course seeks to couple the theoretical and empirical development of social network analysis with methodological tools for conducting social network analysis.
  • ITSF 5012 - The anthropology of the Caribbean and postcolonial society
    Caribbean experiences have been central to the development of postcolonial theory. This course draws on this work as well as research in anthropology and related fields to investigate how peoples in one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse regions on earth make sense of the past, flourish or just get by in the present, and envision workable futures in a globalizing and media saturated world.
  • ITSF 5013 - Psychological anthropology
    The concepts, theories, and methods of psychological anthropology. Cross-cultural studies of learning processes. Emphasis on recent work in the field, problems of cross-cultural methodology, and the study of socialization.
  • ITSF 5015 - Political anthropology: Labor, race, and belief
    This course considers the theories and concepts used by anthropologists and other social scientists in the analysis of political behavior and institutions. It analyzes contemporary theories for the study of power and their use in ethnographies of education. It also considers political topics, such as social movements and the state.
  • ITSF 5016 - Anthropology and Education
    Introduction to the anthropological investigation of educative institutions (villages, neighborhoods, families, peer groups, schools, etc.) and of the policy issues anthropology addresses.
  • ITSF 5018 - Drugs and Society
    Utilizing theoretical and methodological perspectives from social and cultural anthropology, this course is designed to explore the contextual dimensions of illicit drug use as well as other drug-related issues. A comparative, cross-cultural approach will be utilized and case material drawn from traditional as well as modern settings.
  • ITSF 5020 - Practicum in anthropological field techniques
    For anthropologists and non-anthropologists contemplating independent, qualitative research, this course provides hands-on experience in basic techniques for generating, recording, and managing anthropological data in the field.
  • ITSF 5023 - The Family As Educator
    Analysis of the family as educator and its interrelations with schools and other educational institutions. Emphasis on inquiry deriving from educational practice and behavioral science theory.
  • ITSF 5026 - The Family and Television
    Permission required. An analysis of the impact of television on the family's educative functions, with special attention to the process by which the family mediates television.
  • ITSF 5029 - Education, Conflict and Peacebuilding
    This course examines the politics of armed conflict and peace building and the role of education in promoting peace or exacerbating violence in conflict-affected and post-conflict contexts. We will investigate several of the most pressing challenges facing the various stakeholders (external actors such as international organizations, bilateral donors, and NGOs; local actors, such as governments, civil societies, and nationalist/ideological state factions) and the influence of those stakeholders on education systems in times of war and emerging peace and on educational practices, policies, and curricula in conflict and post-conflict situations.
  • ITSF 5031 - Education and Sustainable Development: Comparative and International Perspectives
    This course critically examines the role of education in sustainable development, specifically the global movement of Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE). The course focuses on ESE-related policies and practices within a variety of levels, contexts, and perspectives. Beginning with an overview of the foundations of ESE, we will explore key issues in the field: (a) the development of ESE policy in different levels (e.g., supranational, national, and subnational); (b) the links between ESE and other curricular movements (e.g., standards and accountability; human rights and peace education); (c) drivers and barriers that shape ESE policy/practice (e.g., NGOs and characteristics of modern education systems); and, (d) ESE "best practices" and their impact on teaching and learning.
  • ITSF 5034 - Climate Change, Society, & Education
    This course introduces students to the links between climate change, society, and education. Through assigned readings and materials, lectures, games, and field trips, we will examine different perspectives on climate change (climate science, social science, indigenous knowledge systems), the international architecture behind climate change education (CCE), best practices and their impact on teaching and learning in k-12 schools, the spread of climate information, misinformation and disinformation, and the recent emergence of the global youth movement advocating for climate justice. Our discussion will be based on a variety of literatures including theoretical texts, empirical research, and policy documents.
  • ITSF 5035 - Social Analysis of International Large-Scale Assessments
    The course introduces students to the growing field of international large-scale assessments of student achievement (such as TIMSS, PIRLS, and PISA). The first section of the course is dedicated to the history of international assessments and to conditions that facilitated their emergence and diffusion. The second section is focused on the methodology behind global and regional projects that produce indicators, standardization, benchmarking, and comparison in education policy and governance. The third section is focused on the politics of these assessments, through critical analysis of the ways in which scholars, media, and policy makers use data from international assessments.
  • ITSF 5037 - Global Literacies
    This course draws upon the anthropology of literacy, sociology of language, sociolinguistics, and critical, interdisciplinary studies of reading and writing to address basic questions about the nature of writing, reading, and graphic/material communication; the politics and processes of access to various systems; and the significance of various literacies around the world.
  • ITSF 5040 - Mixed Methods in International Comparative Education
    The course is designed to develop students' ability to critically consume and produce research in their specialized field within International and Comparative Education or other programs in the department, college and university. Students will be oriented to the epistemological and other assumptions and methodological practices of quantitative and qualitative methods including experimental, survey research, ethnographic, and historical approaches to disciplined inquiry. Students will be exposed to positivist, interpretive, and critical/feminist traditions or paradigms associated with these approaches as well as ethical dilemmas encountered in planning, conducting, reporting, and consuming research.
  • ITSF 5043 - Decolonial Theories in Comparative Education
    In this graduate seminar, we will explore the application of Decolonial Theories to advance new perspectives and knowledge in comparative education. We will read the work of Walter Mignolo, Arturo Escobar, Catherine Walsh and Boaventura de Sousa Santos, among others.. We will frame the discussion within relevant theories and contexts , such as Internal Colonialism and Indigenous ways of knowing. Among the issues to be discussed are the rights of Indigenous peoples to education and the preservation of cultural and linguistic diversity of people across the world. Topics include the right to education, the nature of citizenship, intercultural and bilingual education, transnational networks in support of Indigenous movements, Indigenous resistance, and decolonizing methodologies. An overarching theme is national policies to improve access, teacher training, and intercultural understanding at all levels of education.
  • ITSF 5045 - Globalization, Mobility & Education
    Drawing on the anthropology of globalization and sociology of immigration, the course reviews major theories of immigrant incorporation and exclusion processes, examines case studies of im/migrants, refugees, and displaced persons and their adaptation processes inherent in the process of migration, and considers educational practices and policies that develop in order to address mobility in diverse contexts. The course asks how cultural, social, political, and economic factors influence im/migrant incorporation, and how educators can facilitate im/migrant students’ opportunities for learning through changes in policies, pedagogies, and curricula.
  • ITSF 5050 - Language, Cultural Politics, and Education
    Over recent decades, discourses of multiculturalism and multilingualism have become standard in the educational initiatives of nation-states, multinational corporations, and nongovernmental organizations. In much of the world, practitioners no longer ask whether they should educate for diversity but rather how they should carry out such efforts within many existing alternatives. This course covers historical moments in which different types of multicultural and multilingual education have arisen; social theories about social inequality, language, and education that help us understand them; and examples of educational initiatives that reinforce or change inequity. Students are encouraged to consider radical possibilities for educational change.
  • ITSF 5102 - Public Opinion on Education Around the World
    This course provides a broad overview of social research on public opinion, and seeks to inspire students to engage with this work on education development. We consider ways to conceptualize and measure public opinion, sources of variation in public opinion, and recent contributions to the empirical and theoretical assessment of the impact of public opinion on policymaking. We also consider public opinion on a wide variety of topics, including trust/confidence in education systems, teaching and teachers, global educational reform movement, and equal opportunity.
  • ITSF 5107 - Comparative Policy Studies: Case Studies
    This seminar examines issues related to teacher policy and explores topics such as teacher education curriculum, work conditions, salaries, promotion, management, gender, qualification of teachers in developed as well as developing countries including fragile states. It is a course with a primarily international comparative orientation, that is, domestic US issues are not directly addressed.
  • ITSF 5120 - Education in Community Settings: Museums
    Permission required. A review and an analysis of educational issues and opportunities in various community settings.
  • ITSF 5430 - Internship
    Permission required. Supervised experiences in diverse settings designed to develop skills in research, development, planning, and evaluation.
  • ITSF 5500 - Education Across the Americas
    This graduate seminar introduces students to education and social issues in Latin America and the Caribbean. The seminar covers the time period from the consolidation of national systems of public education during the twentieth century to present day. Using theoretical perspectives drawn from comparative education, critical social theories and critical pedagogy, the course includes case studies of individual nations as well as thematic issues pertaining to the region as a whole. Topics include social and political dimensions of education, ethnicity and indigenous education, academic achievement, women’s education and social change, teacher preparation, student movements, social movements and patterns of migration. The seminar incorporates and analyzes the perspectives of different actors in education, including international organizations, civil society organizations, teachers and students. The effects of projects financed by international organizations will be evaluated in terms of improved access, teacher training and intercultural understanding within the education systems of Latin America and the Caribbean.
  • ITSF 5509 - Globalization, Society, and Education Policy
    The seminar explores current debates and controversies regarding global governance, “traveling reforms,” evidence-based policy and planning, and other current topics related to comparative policy studies. Each session starts out with a structured lecture on relevant social theories (systems theory, institutionalist theory, political economy, actor network theory, science and technology studies, etc.), followed by discussion. Reading and active participation in class discussions are required and will be graded. The course is tailored towards Advanced Masters and doctoral students. It helps them to understand, differentiate, and apply different interpretive frameworks that best suit their own research interest.
  • ITSF 5610 - First-year colloquium in applied anthropology
    Permission required. This is a year-long critical review of important works in anthropology and education and applied anthropology. During the spring semester, students present proposals for their summer fieldwork before the members of both programs. Required of, and open only to, first-year doctoral students. Meets concurrently with ITSF 5611 during the spring semester.
  • ITSF 5611 - Advanced Ethnographic Methods and Analysis: From Fieldwork to Text
    How do you analyze field notes, discourse, and social media and contribute to larger theoretical questions and practical solutions? How do you write a paper based on qualitative and ethnographic research? This course asks students to reflect upon what qualitative research is and its role in scholarly and practical knowledge production. Topics include: relationships between evidence and theory; storing, transcribing, analyzing, and portraying ethnographic evidence; writing about people while shifting away from anthropology’s colonial history; and authoring an above average draft of an article-length paper. It is required for second-year anthropology doctoral students, who will report on their completed summer fieldwork. This course is also open to doctoral students in other programs, as well as advanced anthropology master's students. Students are required to have already carried out pilot research that they will analyze during the class.
  • ITSF 6200 - Field Research Outside of the US
    Permission required. Required of doctoral students when choice of doctoral research necessitates data generation in other countries. Students will engage in 36 hours per week, for a minimum of 15 weeks, during their research outside of the United States. Students are able to take this course no more than two times during their doctoral studies. Field experiences will be conducted under faculty supervision in an approved geographical and institutional site. Students secure approval of department chair and principal advisor in advance and render periodic reports.
  • ITSF 6510 - Education and cultural production
    Education intersects cultural production in myriad ways involving large scale planning, environmental interventions, institutions like museums and parks, heritage initiatives, media old and new, and individual and local projects. This course investigates these and other modes of cultural production through the lenses of semiotic theories, anthropology, and related fields.
  • ITSF 6520 - Seminar in Families and Communities as Educators
    A research seminar in the family and the community as educational systems.
  • ITSF 6580 - Advanced Doctoral Seminar in International and Comparative Education I
    The advanced doctoral seminar is a year-long course (ITSF 6580/fall and ITSF 6581/spring) that will enable students to critically examine the history, methods and theories in the field of international and comparative education. The course will also help students identify and engage in current debates. The aim of the course is to help students develop an understanding of the multiplicity of perspectives and practices surrounding education and of the ways that global and local forces shape schooling the world over.
  • ITSF 6581 - Advanced Doctoral Seminar in International and Comparative Education II
    The advanced doctoral seminar is a year-long course (ITSF 6580/fall and ITSF 6581/spring) that will enable students to critically examine the history, methods and theories in the field of international and comparative education. The course will also help students identify and engage in current debates. The aim of the course is to help students develop an understanding of the multiplicity of perspectives and practices surrounding education and of the ways that global and local forces shape schooling the world over.
  • ITSF 6583 - No Title Found in Banner
    The Dissertation Academic Writing practicum will provide an opportunity for doctoral students to spend time developing and writing work for their dissertation, including the specialization exam, grant proposals, and dissertation proposal. Students will have the option of taking the course for 0-3 credits for full-time status and will consult with their academic advisors to ensure the best approach for their overall program plan. The course can be taken twice.
  • ITSF 6590 - Academic Writing and Publishing
    Permission required. Presentation of research in progress and examination of professional roles. This course requires at least 18 hours per week of out-of-classroom work.
  • ITSF 6900 - Research independent study anthropology and education
    Advanced students may register for intensive individual study of some aspect of their concentration. Registration is only by permission of the instructor under whose guidance the work will be undertaken. Times for individual conferences will be arranged. Enrollment may be for 1 or more points each term, and registration is not limited to one or two terms.
  • ITSF 6902 - Studies in International and Transcultural Studies
    Advanced students may register for intensive individual study of some aspect of their concentration. Registration is only by permission of the instructor under whose guidance the work will be undertaken. Times for individual conferences will be arranged. Enrollment may be for 1 or more points each term, and registration is not limited to one or two terms.
  • ITSF 6910 - Studies in anthropology and education
    Advanced students may register for intensive individual study of some aspect of their concentration. Registration is only by permission of the instructor under whose guidance the work will be undertaken. Times for individual conferences will be arranged. Enrollment may be for 1 or more points each term, and registration is not limited to one or two terms.
  • ITSF 6911 - Workgroup in psychological anthropology
    This workgroup meets every other week to discuss current issues in psychological anthropology. It also discusses and reviews current research and proposals for research of workgroup members, including faculty, alumni, and doctoral students concentrating in psychological anthropology.
  • ITSF 6990 - Studies in International and Comparative Educational
    In each of the areas within the department, advanced students may register for intensive individual study of some aspect of their specialization. Registration is only by permission of the instructor under whose guidance the work will be undertaken. Times for individual conferences will be arranged. Enrollment may be for 1 or more points each term, and registration is not limited to one or two terms.
  • ITSF 6991 - Studies in Comparative Education
    In each of the areas within the department, advanced students may register for intensive individual study of some aspect of their specialization. Registration is only by permission of the instructor under whose guidance the work will be undertaken. Times for individual conferences will be arranged. Enrollment may be for 1 or more points each term, and registration is not limited to one or two terms.
  • ITSF 7500 - Dissertation Seminar in International and Transcultural Studies
    Permission required. Proposal writing. Required of doctoral students in the semester following successful completion of certification examinations.
  • ITSF 8900 - Dissertation Advisement in International and Transcultural Studies
    Individual advisement on doctoral dissertations. Fee to equal 3 points at current tuition rate for each term. For requirements, see section in catalog on Continuous Registration for Ed.D./Ph.D. degrees.
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