Students are required to take three courses from the approved list that follows. These courses are designed to encourage students to think critically about social and ethical issues that are relevant to contemporary life. They are from a variety of departments and programs and will demonstrate the relevance of study in the liberal arts to gaining critical perspectives on aspects of contemporary society. Many of these courses may simultaneously be used to partially satisfy other Liberal Arts Core requirements.

Most of the courses that satisfy the Critical Reflections on Ethical and Social Issues Requirement promote the University’s core value of diversity. They help students to reflect on the diversity of peoples, social groups and cultures that surround them in contemporary life. Many other courses in the liberal arts curriculum outside those on the list of Critical Reflections courses also serve this goal.

Courses for the Critical Reflections Requirement

Transfer and other credit are not accepted for the Critical Reflections Requirement except when they are included in an Associate Degree as defined in articulation agreements.

These courses that fulfill the Critical Reflections requirement must be successfully completed by the student in the academic year in which they are listed in the Liberal Arts Core Guidebook.

African American Studies

• AAS 112 Introduction to African American Studies (crosslisted with ANT 112)
• AAS 202 Caribbean Society Since Independence 
• AAS 231 African American Literature to 1900: An Introduction 
• AAS 232 African American Literature: 20th and 21st Centuries 
• AAS 233 The Caribbean Novel 
• AAS 234 African Fiction 
• AAS 235 African American Drama 
• AAS 254 Comparative Study of American Ethnic Communities (crosslisted with SOC 254)
• AAS 303 Black Women Writers (crosslisted with WGS 303)
• AAS 305 African Orature 
• AAS 306 African American Politics (crosslisted with PSC 306)
• AAS 312 Pan Africanism 
• AAS 331 The African American Novel: Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries 
• AAS 333 African American History: After the 19th Century (crosslisted with HST 333)
• AAS 338 Creative Writing Workshop 
• AAS 341 Politics of Africa (crosslisted PSC 341)
• AAS 353 Sociology of the African American Experience (crosslisted with SOC 353)
• AAS 403 African and Caribbean Women Writers (crosslisted with WGS 403)
• AAS 410 Seminar on Social Change (crosslisted with SOC 410)
• AAS 433 Harlem Renaissance:Literature and Ideology 
• AAS 501 African American Sociological Practice:1900-45 
• AAS 512 African American Women's History (crosslisted with WGS 512)

Anthropology

• ANT 112 Introduction to African American Studies (crosslisted with AAS 112)
• ANT 185 Global Encounters:Comparing World Views & Values Cross-Culturally 
• ANT 221 Morality and Community (crosslisted with REL 221)
• ANT 325 Anthropology of American Life in Film 
• ANT 326 Africa Through the Novel (crosslisted with WGS 327)
• ANT 367 Gender in a Globalizing World (crosslisted with GEO 367 and WGS 367)
• ANT 426 Cultures and Politics of Afghanistan and Pakistan (crosslisted with SAS 426)
• ANT 431 Human Variation 
• ANT 455 Culture and AIDS (crosslisted with WGS 455)
• ANT 467 Culture and Mental Disorders
• ANT 469 Medical Anthropology in Ecological Perspective 
• ANT 477 Culture and Conflict 

Art and Music Histories

• HOA 176 The Visual Arts of the Americas
• HOA 360 Art and Identity
• HOA 377 Nineteenth-Century American Art
• HOA 378 Twentieth-Century American Art
• HOM 419 Music and Media
• HOM 453 Dance in American Culture
• HOM 473 Women, Rap and Hip-Hop Feminism (crosslisted with WGS 473)
• HOM 482 Global Popular Music
• HOM 485 Contemporary Indigenous Soundscapes
• HOM 494 Music and Gender (crosslisted with WGS 494)

Biology

• BIO 396 Stem Cells and Society (crosslisted with PHI 396)

Earth and Environmental Sciences

• EAR 106 Geohazards & Natural Disasters
• EAR 111 Climate Change Past and Present
• EAR 205 Water and Our Environment
• EAR 414 The Holocene: Climate and Environmental Change

Economics

• ECN 304 The Economics of Social Issues

English

• ENG 145 Reading Popular Culture
• ENG 171 World Cinema, Beginnings to Present
• ENG 172 The Literature of War and Peace
• ENG 181 Class and Literary Texts
• ENG 182 Race and Literary Texts
• ENG 184 Ethnicity and Literary Texts
• ENG 192 Gender and Literary Texts (crosslisted with WGS 192)
• ENG 193 Introduction to Asian American Literature
• ENG 194 Introduction to Latina/o/x Literature
• ENG 195 Arab American Literature and Culture

French

• FRE 407 French Libertine Fictions
• FRE 409 French Culture and Revolution
• FRE 412 French Women Writers
• FRE 417 "Impressions d'Afrique":Caribbean Gazes

Geography and the Environment

• GEO 171 Human Geographies
• GEO 272 World Cultures
• GEO 273 Geography of Capitalism: The Political Economy of Global Inequality
• GEO 314 Hazardous Geographic Environments
• GEO 353 Geographies of Environmental Justice
• GEO 363 Cities of North America
• GEO 367 Gender in a Globalizing World (crosslisted with ANT 367 and WGS 367)
• GEO 372 Political Geography
• GEO 374 Environment and Development in the Global South
• GEO 422 Water: Environment, Society and Politics
• GEO 440 Race and Space
• GEO 563 The Urban Condition

History

• HST 121 Global History to 1750
• HST 122 Global History 1750 to Present 
• HST 208 Middle East Since the Rise of Islam (crosslisted with MES 208)
• HST 222 History of American Sexuality 
• HST 317 The Arab Revolutions 
• HST 328 Ancient and Medieval India (crosslisted with SAS 328)
• HST 333 African American History: After the 19th Century (crosslisted with AAS 333)
• HST 341 The Modern American Presidency (crosslisted with PSC 329)
• HST 342 Modern American Political Thought (crosslisted with PSC 327)
• HST 347 Modern American Politics Through Film 
• HST 348 Queering the Middle Ages? (crosslisted with QSX 348)
• HST 349 Women in America: Civil War to Present (crosslisted with WGS 349)
• HST 362 Nazi Germany and the Holocaust (crosslisted with JSP 362)
• HST 372 Caste and Inequality in Modern India (crosslisted with SAS 372)
• HST 373 The Crusades 
• HST 379 Gender, Race, and Colonialism (crosslisted with WGS 379)
• HST 383 Foundations of American Political Thought (crosslisted with PSC 326)
• HST 389 LGBT History (crosslisted with QSX 389 and WGS 389)
• HST 407 Iraq: Modern Nation to US Occupation 

Human Development and Family Science

• HFS 395 Risk, Resilience, and Intervention
• HFS 467 Child and Family in Cross-Cultural Perspectives
• HFS 479 Power, Conflict, Violence, and the Family (crosslisted with WGS 479)
• HFS 482 Development in Immigrant & Refugee Families
• HFS 487 Critical Incidents in Family Development

Humanities

• HUM 145 Introduction to Health Humanities

Italian

• ITA 434 Africa in Italian Literature

Jewish Studies

• JSP 337 Shoah: Responding to the Holocaust (crosslisted with REL 337)
• JSP 362 Nazi Germany and the Holocaust (crosslisted with HST 362)

Latino-Latin American Studies

• LAS 335 Mexico and the United States (crosslisted with PSC 334)
• LAS 343 Latina Feminist Theories (crosslisted with LIT 343 and WGS 343)
• LAS 463 Contemporary Latin American Theater (crosslisted with SPA 463)
• LAS 465 Literature and Popular Culture (crosslisted with SPA 465)
• LAS 475 Women, Myth and Nation in Latin American Literature (crosslisted with SPA 475 and WGS 475)
• LAS 481 The Literature of Latinos in the United States (crosslisted with SPA 481)

Law in the Liberal Arts

• LLA 201 Elements of Law

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Studies

• QSX 101 Queer Lives 
• QSX 111 Queer Histories, Communities, and Politics 
• QSX 112 Sexualities, Genders, Bodies 
• QSX 340 Queer Theories 
• QSX 348 Queering the Middle Ages? (crosslisted with HST 348)
• QSX 357 Queerly Religious  (crosslisted with REL 357)
• QSX 389 LGBT History (crosslisted with HST 389 and WGS 389)
• QSX 456 LGBT Studies in Sociology (crosslisted with SOC 456 and WGS 456)

Linguistics

• LIN 201 The Nature and Study of Language

Literature in Translation

• LIT 256 Blood: A Cultural History 
• LIT 331 Russian Culture Through Fiction and Film (crosslisted with RUS 331)
• LIT 343 Latina Feminist Theories (crosslisted with LAS 343 and WGS 343)

Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs

• MAX 123 Critical Issues for the United States
• MAX 132 Global Community

Middle Eastern Studies

• MES 208 Middle East Since the Rise of Islam  (crosslisted with HST 208)

Native American and Indigenous Studies

• NAT 105 Introduction to Native American Studies 
• NAT 142 Native American Religion (crosslisted with REL 142)
• NAT 347 Religion and the Conquest of America (crosslisted with REL 347)
• NAT 348 Religion and American Consumerism (crosslisted with REL 348)

Philosophy

• PHI 171 Critical Thinking 
• PHI 191 The Meaning of Life 
• PHI 192 Introduction to Moral Theory 
• PHI 209 Introduction to Moral Philosophy (Honors) 
• PHI 245 Philosophy of Sport 
• PHI 297 Philosophy of Feminism (crosslisted with WGS 297)
• PHI 363 Ethics and International Relations (crosslisted with PSC 363)
• PHI 394 Environmental Ethics 
• PHI 396 Stem Cells and Society (crosslisted with BIO 396)
• PHI 406 Citizenship from Modernity to Globalization (crosslisted with PSC 406)
• PHI 411 Philosophies of Race and Identity 
• PHI 493 Contemporary Ethical Issues 
• PHI 593 Ethics and the Health professions (crosslisted with REL 551)

Political Science

• PSC 306 African American Politics (crosslisted with AAS 306)
• PSC 310 Refugees in International Politics 
• PSC 314 Public Opinion and Electoral Behavior 
• PSC 319 Gender and Politics (crosslisted with WGS 319)
• PSC 324 Constitutional Law I 
• PSC 325 Constitutional Law II 
• PSC 326 Foundations of American Political Thought (crosslisted with HST 383)
• PSC 327 Modern American Political Thought (crosslisted with HST 342)
• PSC 329 The Modern American Presidency (crosslisted with HST 341)
• PSC 334 Mexico and the United States (crosslisted with LAS 335)
• PSC 339 Transitions to Democracy 
• PSC 341 Politics of Africa (crosslisted with AAS 341)
• PSC 345 Capitalism, For and Against 
• PSC 352 International Law 
• PSC 354 Human Rights and Global Affairs 
• PSC 363 Ethics and International Relations (crosslisted with PHI 363)
• PSC 371 Democratic Theory and Politics 
• PSC 374 Law and Society  
• PSC 386 Gender, Militarism, and War (crosslisted with SOC 354 and WGS 354)
• PSC 387 Ethnic Conflict 
• PSC 406 Citizenship from Modernity to Globalization (crosslisted with PHI 406)
• PSC 413 Identity and Difference (offered only in Florence)

Psychology

• PSY 329 Biopsychological Perspectives on Women's Health (crosslisted with WGS 329)
• PSY 376 Why Good People Do Terrible Things 
• PSY 379 The Social Psychology of Stigma 
• PSY 447 Autism 

Public Affairs

• PST 101 An Introduction to the Analysis of Public Policy 

Public Health

• PHP 415 Public Health Ethics

Religion

• REL 108 Religion and Its Critics 
• REL 125 Religion and Sexuality 
• REL 142 Native American Religion (crosslisted with NAT 142)
• REL 221 Morality and Community (crosslisted with ANT 221)
• REL 252 Ethical Decision Making 
• REL 283 India's Religious Worlds (crosslisted with SAS 283)
• REL 324 Religions and Storytelling 
• REL 337 Shoah: Responding to the Holocaust (crosslisted with JSP 337)
• REL 347 Religion and the Conquest of America (crosslisted with NAT 347)
• REL 348 Religion and American Consumerism (crosslisted with NAT 348)
• REL 357 Queerly Religious (crosslisted with QSX 357)
• REL 384 Goddesses, Women and Power in Hinduism (crosslisted SAS 384 and WGS 384
• REL 395 Religions and the Natural Environment 
• REL 551 Ethics and the Health professions (crosslisted with PHI 593)

Russian

• RUS 331 Russian Culture Through Fiction and Film (crosslisted with LIT 331)

Sociology

• SOC 102 Social Problems 
• SOC 230 Intergroup Dialogue (crosslisted with WGS 230)
• SOC 248 Racial and Ethnic Inequalities (crosslisted with WGS 248)
• SOC 254 Comparative Study of American Ethnic Communities (crosslisted with AAS 254)
• SOC 281 Sociology of Families (crosslisted with WGS 281)
• SOC 301 Contemporary Asian Americans 
• SOC 305 Sociology of Sex and Gender 
• SOC 353 Sociology of the African American Experience (crosslisted with AAS 353)
• SOC 354 Gender, Militarism, and War (crosslisted with WGS 354 and PSC 386)
• SOC 364 Aging and Society (crosslisted with WGS 364)
• SOC 410 Seminar on Social Change (crosslisted with AAS 410)
• SOC 433 Race, Class, and Gender (crosslisted with WGS 433)
• SOC 456 LGBT Studies in Sociology (crosslisted with QSX 456 and WGS 456)

South Asian Studies

• SAS 283 India's Religious Worlds (crosslisted with REL 283)
• SAS 328 Ancient and Medieval India (crosslisted with HST 328)
• SAS 372 Caste and Inequality in Modern India (crosslisted with HST 372)
• SAS 384 Goddesses, Women and Power in Hinduism (crosslisted with REL 384 and WGS 384)
• SAS 426 Cultures and Politics of Afghanistan and Pakistan (crosslisted with ANT 426)

Spanish

• SPA 453 Subversive Imagination in 20th and 21st Century Spain 
• SPA 457 Civil War to Contemporary Spanish Literature and Culture 
• SPA 463 Contemporary Latin American Theater (crosslisted with LAS 463)
• SPA 465 Literature and Popular Culture (crosslisted with LAS 465)
• SPA 475 Women, Myth and Nation in Latin American Literature (crosslisted with LAS 475 and WGS 475)
• SPA 481 The Literature of Latinos in the United States (crosslisted with LAS 481)

Women’s and Gender Studies

• WGS 101 Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies 
• WGS 192 Gender and Literary Texts (crosslisted with ENG 192)
• WGS 201 Global Feminisms 
• WGS 230 Intergroup Dialogue (crosslisted with SOC 230)
• WGS 248 Racial and Ethnic Inequalities (crosslisted with SOC 248)
• WGS 258 Poverty and Discrimination in America 
• WGS 281 Sociology of Families (crosslisted with SOC 281)
• WGS 297 Philosophy of Feminism (crosslisted with PHI 297)
• WGS 303 Black Women Writers (crosslisted with AAS 303)
• WGS 319 Gender and Politics (crosslisted with PSC 319)
• WGS 325 Economics and Gender 
• WGS 326 Persons in Social Context (crosslisted with SWK 326)
• WGS 327 Africa Through the Novel (crosslisted with ANT 326)
• WGS 328 Human Diversity in Social Contexts (crosslisted with SWK 328)
• WGS 329 Biopsychological Perspectives on Women's Health (crosslisted with PSY 329)
• WGS 343 Latina Feminist Theories (crosslisted with LIT 343 andLAS 343)
• WGS 349 Women in America: Civil War to Present (crosslisted with HST 349)
• WGS 354 Gender, Militarism, and War (crosslisted with SOC 354 and PSC 386)
• WGS 362 Youth, Schooling and Popular Culture (crosslisted with CFE 362)
• WGS 364 Aging and Society (crosslisted with SOC 364)
• WGS 367 Gender in a Globalizing World (crosslisted with ANT 367 and GEO 367)
• WGS 379 Gender, Race, and Colonialism (crosslisted with HST 379)
• WGS 384 Goddesses, Women and Power in Hinduism (crosslisted with REL 384 and SAS 384)
• WGS 389 LGBT History (crosslisted with HST 389 and QSX 389)
• WGS 395 Gender and Popular Culture 
• WGS 403 African and Caribbean Women Writers (crosslisted with AAS 403)
• WGS 433 Race, Class, and Gender (crosslisted with SOC 433)
• WGS 443 Intersectional Feminist Disability Studies (crosslisted with DSP 443)
• WGS 444 Schooling & Diversity (crosslisted with CFE 444)
• WGS 452 Feminism and Postcolonial Studies 
• WGS 455 Culture and AIDS (crosslisted with ANT 455)
• WGS 456 LGBT Studies in Sociology (crosslisted with QSX 456 and SOC 456)
• WGS 473 Women, Rap and Hip-Hop Feminism (crosslisted with HOM 473)
• WGS 475 Women, Myth and Nation in Latin American Literature (crosslisted with LAS 475 and SPA 475)
• WGS 494 Music and Gender (crosslisted with HOM 494)
• WGS 512 African American Women's History (crosslisted with AAS 512)

Writing Studies, Rhetoric, and Composition

• WRT 115 Writing, Rhetoric, and the Environment
• WRT 116 Writing, Rhetoric, and Social Action
• WRT 255 Advanced Argumentative Writing
• WRT 301 Advanced Writing Studio: Civic Writing
• WRT 304 Indigenous Writing and Rhetoric
• WRT 413 Rhetoric and Ethics
• WRT 423 African American Rhetoric
• WRT 424 Studies in Writing, Rhetoric, Identity
• WRT 428 Studies in Composition, Rhetoric and Literacy
• WRT 440 Studies in the Politics of Language and Writing

Other Schools and Colleges

*Apply as Non-Arts & Sciences Credit

School of Education

• CFE 362 Youth, Schooling and Popular Culture (crosslisted with WGS 362)
• CFE 444 Schooling & Diversity (crosslisted with WGS 444)
• DSP 443 Intersectional Feminist Disability Studies (crosslisted with WGS 443)
• EDU 310 The American School  
• SWK 314 Social Welfare Policy and Services I *
• SWK 315 Social Welfare Policy and Services II *
• SWK 326 Persons in Social Context (crosslisted with WGS 326)
• SWK 328 Human Diversity in Social Contexts (crosslisted with WGS 328)

School of Information Studies

• IST 443 - Critique of the Information Age *
• IST 456 Information Policies and Decision Making

Martin J. Whitman School of Management

• LPP 467 Management and Ethics 

Only Available for Students in the Renee Crown Honors Program

(only when offered as the following topics)

• HNR 260 Topics in the Social Sciences Honors - Interrogation: Engine of Justice?
• HNR 260 Topics in the Social Sciences Honors - History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement
• HNR 340 Topics in the Humanities Honors/HNR 360 Topics in the Social Sciences Honors - Topics in the Humanities Honors Folk Arts, Festival, and Public Display
• HNR 340 Topics in the Humanities Honors/HNR 360 Topics in the Social Sciences Honors  - Folk Art and Oral Traditions of India
• HNR 340 Topics in the Humanities Honors - Good Film, Bad People
• HNR 340 Topics in the Humanities Honors/HNR 360 Topics in the Social Sciences Honors - Migrating Memories/Migrating Arts
• HNR 340 Topics in the Humanities Honors - American Parsifal
• HNR 350 Topics in the Natural Sciences and Mathematics Honors Linked Lenses: Science, Philosophy, and the Pursuit of Knowledge
• HNR 360 Topics in the Social Sciences Honors Welcome to Your Future
• HST 347 Modern American Politics Through Film - Modern American Politics Through Fiction
• HNR 360 Topics in the Social Sciences Honors - Women’s Rights: A Native American Tradition

Additional Information

Transfer and other credit are not accepted for the Critical Reflections Requirement except when defined in articulation agreements.