General Education Clusters

Clusters are general education courses in more than one Mode of Inquiry that are thematically related. Students who wish to explore the interrelationships of knowledge in various fields of study in the context or a common theme may choose to enroll in two or more courses in a cluster. Clustered courses are a general education option for all students. Four clusters are currently available:

Death Cluster (AR, IT, NW, TH, US)

The Death Cluster includes courses concerned with life, living, health, identity, longevity, suffering, dependence, interdependence, disease, dying, death, fatality, finitude, memory, mourning, mortality, and immortality. What unites these courses in their treatment of such themes is the recognition that while death is a fundamental and inescapable feature of the human condition, it does not receive the self-conscious public attention it warrants. Each of the courses, then, in its respective disciplinary ways but also crucially in cross-disciplinary ways, strives to reflect upon the meaning and significance of death and mortality. Thus, for example, death has inspired and served as the subject of musical expression and composition for centuries. Changes in the conception of death figure prominently in the history of medical purposes and practices. Death motivates the biological study of microorganisms and infectious diseases. It is imbued with intense sociological meanings and embedded in complex cultural practices such as bereavement. Finally, death also figures conspicuously in moral and political controversies pertaining to contemporary public policy. Some of these courses will also offer service-learning opportunities pertaining to mortality.

• BIOL 112 (NW) Human Heredity: Principles and Issues
• BIOL 221 (NW; W) Microbes and Infectious Diseases
• CHNSE 252 (US) Rites of Passage in Chinese Societies [Crosslisted with ANTH 252]
• HIST 240 (TH) Introduction to the History of Western Medicine
• MUSC 142 (IT) The Conception of Death in Western Classical Music
• POLI 303 (AR) Topics in Political Theory: Death in Modern America
• SOC 340 (US) Social Aspects of Dying, Death and Bereavement

Environmental Cluster (AR, CA, IT, NW, TH, US)

Students who are interested in studying the natural world and its relationship to human beings, social structures, and creative expression, who are anxious to explore the “web of life,” might wish to enroll in courses that are part of the Environmental Cluster.

• ANTH 351 (AR) Indigenous Peoples, Human Rights, and the Environment
• BIOL 210 (W; NW) Biodiversity: Discovering Life
• ENGL 242 (CA; W) The Essay: Nature Writing
• ENVR 326 (TH) Environmental History
• POLI 304 (W; AR) Politics of Environmental Ethics
• PSYC 105 (US) Ecological Psychology
• RHET 210 (W; AR; IT) Media and the Environment

Indigenous Peoples and Cultures Cluster (AR, IT, NW, TH, US)

The Indigenous Peoples and Cultures Cluster offers a range of courses that engage students in the study of some of the world's indigenous peoples. Through these courses, students will gain insight into the historical and cultural background informing the contemporary resurgence of indigenous people in both domestic and international realms.

• ANTH 231 (TH; US) Native North American Cultures
• ANTH 351 (AR) Indigenous Peoples, Human Rights, and the Environment
• BIOL 210 (W; NW) Biodiversity: Discovering Life
• LAS 350 (IT; TH) Mesoamerican Civilizations
• REL 352 (IT) Shamanism

Asia Cluster (TH, US, IT)

As the global economy, modern transportation, and the internet have drawn East and West closer together, it has become increasingly important that students have the opportunity to explore the diversity of human experience in this part of the world. The Asia cluster brings together a group of courses that focus on Asian history, art, literature, religion, society, and philosophy.

• ANTH 233 (US) Peoples and Cultures of Asia
• ARTH 212 (IT; TH) History of the Arts of Asia
• ARTH 213 (IT; TH) History of the Art of China
• ARTH 214 (IT; TH) History of the Art of Japan
• CHNSE 252 (US) Rites of Passage in Chinese Societies [Crosslisted with ANTH 252]
• HIST 117 (TH) East Asian Civilization to 1800
• HIST 118 (TH) East Asian Civilization Since 1800
• HIST/REL 233 (TH) History and Culture along the Silk Road
• HIST 265 (TH) Late Imperial China
• HIST 282 (TH) Twentieth Century China: The Search for Modernity
• HIST 381 (TH) History of Modern Japan
• JAPN 314 (IT; W; 4th Sem Lang Req) Japanese Literature in Translation
• REL/WGS 256 (IT) Goddesses and Ghosts: Images of Women in Chinese Tradition