ANSO 37: Research Design and Proposal Writing in the Social Sciences This course is a class on the art of research design in the social sciences. Students will learn how to relate observations drawn from fieldwork (observation, interview, archives and experiment) with theory. In addition, students will learn various comparative research designs. Students are encouraged to come to class with a research idea in mind, or better, a draft of a research proposal. Throughout the class, students will write small assignments that will allow them to produce a research proposal by the end of the class. Besides, students will learn to better assess truth claims in the social sciences.
ANSO 43: Cultural and Social Theory: Advanced ClassThis course pursues two inter-related goals: to help students theoretically construct a problem of sociological and/or anthropological importance; to help students reflect upon social scientific practice by analyzing its relationship with non-academic discourses. The course is thus geared toward helping students write a literature review in which they highlight the deep theoretical issues at stake in socio-anthropological studies of development and globalization. It is also designed with the ambition to help students master the most recent attempts by post-structuralist, feminist and constructivist theorists to re-define the positionality of the researcher and of social scientific discourse within the broader social and political discursive fields. Such reflections are key to build upon social theory and critically engage with contemporary analyses of globalization. In doing so, students will be encouraged not only to discuss core concepts in the abstract, but also to explore the extent to which they can participate in theoretical debates that go beyond the mere description of empirical realities.
ANSO 36: Cultures of ExpertiseExperts are a dominant force in our societies. In the last century, they even carved a place for themselves in transnational politics, a realm traditionally left to the power struggles of nation-states and empires. In this course, we will take experts, their epistemic cultures and their influence on both transnational policies and domestic societies as our focus. We will ask the following questions: How do experts construct facts? How do they distinguish themselves from non-experts? How do experts participate in democratic decision-making? How do they influence transnational policies? We will learn about different cultures of expertise in colonial times, the Cold War and the “new globalization” era; topics will range from the role of experts in the management of colonial subjects, international security dilemmas, the creation and regulation of financial markets, health policies, etc. Rather than privileging one perspective on cultures of expertise, the course will draw on theoretical works from sociology, history, anthropology, and science and technology studies. Students will be encouraged to develop an original approach to the topic and to illustrate their approach by researching a case of interest to them
Master of International Affairs 066: Sociology of International CooperationThis course examines how global threats to human security (from pandemics and climate change to nuclear proliferation, terrorism, and financial crises) are constructed in a way that makes them amenable to become the object of efficient threat limitation and eradication policies (either domestic or transnational ones). The first goal of the course is thus to understand how legal artifacts and expert knowledge practices participate in defining the nature of such global threats; in shaping their being perceived as a threat to the very survival of states and populations; as well as buttressing the legitimacy of international efforts aimed at countering these threats. The second goal is to explain how the regimes of expert and legal knowledge, by which such threats are managed, question the established liberal principles of government as well as embody new articulations between citizens and states, supra-national commissions and courts. This is especially salient when the new powers established to administer the response to such threats claim emergency powers. The third goal of the course is to help students develop a reflection on the possible ways to constitutionalize the new world (dis-)order that emerges from these various threat eradication regimes.
SOC 476: Law and GlobalizationThis course focuses on various socio-historical approaches to law, with a specific focus on the role that law plays in contemporary modes of global governance, e.g. a new transnational set of rules associated with new sources of authority, which go beyond the forms of state authority that are traditionally called upon to interpret and enforce these rules. Topics range from the protection of the rule of law and human rights to the regulation of collapsing financial markets. Periods range from colonial times, to the Cold War and the “new globalization” era. We will survey different disciplinary approaches to the topic, from history, political science, anthropology and sociology. Students will be encouraged to develop an original approach to the topic and to illustrate their approach by researching cases of interest to them
