Course Taught By: Dr. Elizabeth Escobedo

Course ID: HIST 2630, Cross listed with GWST 2630

Meeting Times: Spring 2025 Check Schedule

Course Description: This course is a survey of U.S. women's history from the colonial period to the present. It examines the social, cultural, economic, and political developments shaping American women's public and private roles over several centuries, in addition to the ways in which women gave meaning to their everyday lives. Particular attention is paid to the variety of women's experiences, with an emphasis on the interplay of race, class, ethnicity, and sexuality.

Prerequisites: No prerequisites.

Course Taught By: Dr. Esteban Gómez

Course ID: ANTH 3030

Meeting Times: Winter 2025 Check Schedule

Course Description: Digital Anthropology introduces students to computer technology used in anthropological research. Students study and then produce a number of digital products useful in the analysis and interpretation of museum collections, for archaeological mapping and research, and for the dissemination of anthropological knowledge online. This process covers the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for spatial analysis, three-dimensional imaging programs ranging in scale from broad landscape mapping to detailed digital artifact analysis. In addition, the use of geophysical methods for imaging what is below the surface allows students to produce images of what lies below the ground in archaeological contexts.

Prerequisites: No prerequisites.

Course Taught By: Dr. Hava Gordon

Course ID: SOCI 2719

Meeting Times: Winter 2025 Check Schedule

Course Description: The study of social movements is fundamentally the study of how and why groups collectively try to make social change. This course explores the following questions:

How do movements mobilize people?

Under what historical conditions are movements likely to emerge?

What makes a movement successful? What are reasons for a movement’s decline?

What kinds of strategies do different movements use to effect social change?

How and why do movement participants construct collective identities?

What is the relationship between movements and counter-movements?

In order to explore these theoretical questions, we will examine some of the historic watersheds of social movements in the U.S. (including labor, civil rights, and feminist struggles), their more contemporary manifestations, and other important contemporary movements such as global justice movements, racial justice and LGBTQI* movements. This course is designated as a service-learning course, which means that students will be examining the links between past and present racial justice organizing in Denver through community engaged learning.

Prerequisites: SOCI 1810: Understanding Social Life.

Course Taught By: Carlos Jimenez Jr.

Course ID: MFJS 3506

Meeting Times: Winter 2025 - Tuesday & Thursday 10:00 - 11:50 AM ; Spring 2025 Check Schedule

Course Description: Audio Documentary teaches the skills of podcasting and the techniques of nonfiction storytelling used in established public radio programs like This American Life, Serial, or Radiolab,  as well as podcasts like Nice White Parents, The Daily, and Revisionist History Podcast. The style of storytelling used in the public radio style podcasts is a combination of in-depth reporting and long-form storytelling. This course will prepare students to tell complex stories using a strong character-driven narrative.

The course is organized like a newsroom and an experimental production space. It will have pitch meetings, where each participant will workshop their stories. Participants will learn to digitally record and edit audio. Storytelling will then become more complex as students learn to conduct research, interviews, and develop a script for radio.

Prerequisites: No Prerequisites

Course Taught By: Aleysia Whitmore

Course ID: MUAC 1012

Meeting Times: Winter 2025 Tuesday & Thursday 2:00 - 3:50 PM

Course Description: This course introduces students to the music of a variety of world areas. For each unit, students examine a diverse array of genres, analyzing music's relationship to religious life, aesthetics, politics, social organization, and identity. We also discuss the impact of globalization, transnationalism and immigration on the shaping and transformation of musical practice and meaning in each region. Reading materials, listening assignments, and discussion topics are supplemented by in-class performance workshops, designed to give students firsthand experience in non-Western performance traditions. The course will give attention to the music of El Movimiento (the Chicano/a/e movement) of the Rocky Mountain region. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement.

Prerequisite: No Prerequisite

Course Taught By: Runchao Liu

Course ID: MFJS 2270

Meeting Times: Spring 2025 Check Schedule

Course Description: Various media have played roles in the social and political movements of the past, with social media platforms accelerating the possibilities for intervening in social and political life. Activist media harnesses new communication technologies to resist the domination and limitations of mainstream corporate media, creating new media strategies and messages to promote social change. This class examines the spaces of activist media that have enabled citizens, protesters, journalists, PR professionals, tech developers and hacktivists to harness a diverse range of media tools and platforms for change. It also explores how these platforms have created new risks and challenges, especially for activists. Students will explore El Movimiento (the Chicano/a/e movement) as it has unfolded and contributed to the shaping of local and regional communities and policies. This course counts toward the Scientific Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement. 

Prerequisites:

No prerequisites. This course fulfills a common curriculum requirement in SI. Contact the instructor for more information.

Course Taught By: Lina Reznicek-Parrado

Course Description: This course serves as curricular, intellectual, and professional support to a 10-week Spanish internship. Students will be matched to an internship with a community partner (private or public agency, institutional office, non-profit or community organizer) whose mission aligns with students’ professional aspirations in a variety of disciplines. Through the exploration of notions in critical service-learning, students will be given the opportunity to reflect upon their own positionality and its implications for issues in social justice, equity and linguistic diversity as they participate in an internship site. Students are expected to mobilize their linguistic skills in Spanish as part of the experience, and especially as part of their role in supporting community partners explore and understand better ways to serve Spanish-speaking communities across the Denver Metro area. Students will engage with readings, workshops, reflections and a portfolio that showcases their community-engaged work while furthering an understanding of the sociolinguistic implications of Spanish as a U.S. language which is spoken and used in a variety of communities across Denver. An end-of-term showcase will be expected as part of participation in this course. Internship hours will range between 7 and 10 weekly.

Prerequisites: SPAN 2200, SPAN 2250, or SPAN 2400

Course Taught By: Dr. Lina Reznicek-Parrado

Course Description: Interdisciplinary study of Latino contemporary issues in the United States incorporating aspects of the distinct socio-historical, political, economic, and cultural dynamics that have contributed to the shaping, development and increasing prominence of Latino communities. Includes an examination of how Latino cultural forms and practices intersect with socio-historical, economic, and political forces as a framework for understanding the Mexicano/ Chicano, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican and other Latino communities embedded in the very fabric of what constitutes the United States. Final project involves a critical look at the historical context of Spanish in Colorado based on notions from the course.

Descripción del curso: Este curso es una introducción y exploración crítica al perfil sociohistórico, sociopolítico y sociolingüístico de las comunidades latinas las cuales han contribuido al desarrollo y realidad sociodemográfica de Estados Unidos en el siglo XXI. Para entender tal realidad, se presentan las características sociohistóricas, socioculturales y lingüísticas de las comunidades hispanohablantes más representativas en los Estados Unidos: los mexicoamericanos, puertorriqueños, cubanoamericanos y centroamericanos. Como parte de la exploración crítica de este mismo tema, llevaremos a cabo un proyecto de servicio y colaboración con la comunidad a través de trabajo voluntario en varias agencias y organizaciones en Denver dedicadas al bienestar de diferentes comunidades hispanohablantes en la comunidad. Esta experiencia nos dará la oportunidad de examinar lo que no se ve explícitamente en el discurso político cuando se habla de las comunidades (inmigrantes) latinas, incluyendo la exploración de temas como la inclusión/exclusión lingüística, las políticas sociales en pro—o en contra—de las comunidades diversas, la xenofobia y otras realidades generales de esta comunidad—además de proporcionar un acercamiento a las experiencias reales (es decir, humanas) de los inmigrantes hispanohablantes en EE.UU.

Exploraremos entonces, las siguientes preguntas que guiarán nuestras discusiones:

¿Quiénes son los latinos en EE. UU.? ¿De qué manera el contexto sociohistórico, sociopolítico y sociolingüístico de los latinos en EE. UU. tiene implicaciones para la realidad y el futuro de nuestro país?

¿Cómo el conocimiento de la sociolingüística puede ayudarnos a generar posiciones críticas ante la contribución de las comunidades latinas en EE. UU?

Al completar este curso, los estudiantes podrán:

Describir el perfil sociohistórico, sociopolítico y sociolingüístico de las principales comunidades latinas en EE. UU.;

Analizar cómo las trayectorias migratorias afectan los patrones y perfiles demográficos de las comunidades latinas en EE. UU.;

Aplicar nociones de la sociolingüística para describir un contexto en particular, en este caso, las comunidades hispanohablantes de EE. UU;

Interactuar con miembros de comunidades latinas para desarrollar un conocimiento crítico de la realidad social, lingüística y política que afecta a inmigrantes latinos en EE. UU.; y

Expresarse a través del uso de un español académico a nivel escrito y oral.

Prerequisites: SPAN 2200, SPAN 2250, or SPAN 2400