Available courses

IAC711_2026-2 Advanced Seminar

To realize a better future for humanity, we must have a vision of that future. This intensive seminar aims to cultivate that collective vision.
There will be three components to this class. The first component, comprising the rigorous theoretical core of the class, will be an exploration of domination and authoritarianism rooted in the Frankfurt School. This will provide insights into how social institutions can be designed to account for the domination of humans and nature by other humans. The second component will be a student-led exploration of alternative approaches to development, employing Pluriverse as a springboard. This will expand our toolkit of social organization. The third component will be the design of utopias by student groups. This will work toward crystallizing our visions and exploring how social institutions are mutually constitutive.

DISS362_2026-2 Economic Geography of Developing Countries

This course examines the economic geography of developing countries through a Marxist theoretical lens, exploring how capitalism creates and maintains global and local inequalities through spatial processes. Students will engage with foundational concepts including primitive accumulation, uneven development, world-systems theory, and the new international division of labor to understand how wealth extraction, labor exploitation, and environmental degradation operate across geographic scales. The course traces the historical development of core-periphery relations from colonialism through contemporary neoliberal globalization, analyzing specific processes such as export processing zones, land grabbing, structural adjustment programs, and resource extraction in the Global South. Through critical examination of topics including urbanization and slums, gendered labor relations, social reproduction, and environmental crisis, students will develop analytical tools, including mapping, to understand how capitalism necessarily produces geographic inequality while also exploring forms of resistance, social movements, and alternative development strategies emerging from the Global South. Using learning circles and collaborative pedagogical approaches that embody democratic and egalitarian principles, the course connects theoretical analysis with contemporary struggles for social and environmental justice, preparing students to critically analyze and engage with questions of global development, spatial inequality, and transformative social change.

IRC070_2026-1 Introduction to International Development and Cooperation

DISS281_2026-1 Introduction to Development

DISS362_2025-2 Economic Geography of Developing Countries

This course examines the economic geography of developing countries through a Marxist theoretical lens, exploring how capitalism creates and maintains global and local inequalities through spatial processes. Students will engage with foundational concepts including primitive accumulation, uneven development, world-systems theory, and the new international division of labor to understand how wealth extraction, labor exploitation, and environmental degradation operate across geographic scales. The course traces the historical development of core-periphery relations from colonialism through contemporary neoliberal globalization, analyzing specific processes such as export processing zones, land grabbing, structural adjustment programs, and resource extraction in the Global South. Through critical examination of topics including urbanization and slums, gendered labor relations, social reproduction, and environmental crisis, students will develop analytical tools, including mapping, to understand how capitalism necessarily produces geographic inequality while also exploring forms of resistance, social movements, and alternative development strategies emerging from the Global South. Using learning circles and collaborative pedagogical approaches that embody democratic and egalitarian principles, the course connects theoretical analysis with contemporary struggles for social and environmental justice, preparing students to critically analyze and engage with questions of global development, spatial inequality, and transformative social change.

GKSS212_2026-1 Urbanization and Industrialization in East Asia

Urbanization is an fundamental aspect of the social and economic transformations that take place in the process of development. On the one hand, it is necessary for industrial and economic growth. On the other hand, the
shift to urban living alters the ways we interact with each other. Using literature from sociology, urban planning, and geography, this course will explore how cities have been employed to foster economic development and how
they have reshaped social relations. Though the role of cities in development will be explored primarily through an examination of Korea’s development history, examples will also be drawn from throughout Asia and in some cases from the West.