SPRING SEMESTER 2024
SPST 285: Country Studies: Nepal and Mustang
SH: 3
Attribute: None
An examination of issues in Nepal and Mustang focused on discussion of 1) program-relevant issues and 2) preparation for being in the field. This course will first examine historical trajectories of change, patterns of emerging adaptation, and development agendas. Following an introduction to these broader narratives, the course will explore the specific nature of landscape in Mustang. This includes patterns of historical adaptation and settlement movement, agriculture and herding practices, and other topics. We will then zoom in to an in-depth examination of the specifics of climate crisis in a Himalayan village: Lubrak. The course will also prepare students for their time in Mustang through introductions to cultural norms, village life, language, program expectations, and hiking/trekking on and around the College campus. A hiking test will be included.
SUMMER BREAK 2024
ARTS 330: Studio Seminar: Drawing Complexity & Change
SH: 2 Attribute: None
A course focused on the use of representational tools to examine shifts across space and time using 2D media in the field. The central subject of inquiry examined through representation will be the complex, systematic, relational impacts of climate change on life in the villages of Mustang. Rather than production of “final” materials, this course emphasizes making open- ended, messy, in-progress work on site. Work will be drawn from student-led conversations with people on the ground, observations of landscape change, and knowledge drawn from literature.
SUS 280: Topics in Sustainability: Climate Justice
SH: 2 Attribute: None
Environmental justice is a framework for analyzing and addressing the inequalities in environmental conditions amongst communities of different race, ethnicity, national origin, culture, education level, and economic class. Environmental justice is both a mode of scholarship and a social movement. This course explores the history of environmental justice in Nepal and elsewhere, the ideas and theories of environmental justice scholarship, and the application of these concepts in Nepal and Mustang to issues of water and air quality, climate change, indigenous and low-caste community rights, and access to resources.
FALL SEMESTER 2024
SPST 281: Reentry Seminar: Nepal – Facing Climate Change
SH: 1 Attribute: None
This course, building on the group’s experience in Mustang, will challenge students to determine how to use their experience understanding and problematizing the realities of climate change across different contexts– particularly the American Midwest. A semester-long journal will provide a medium through which to reflect on how this experience translates across space and time. Students will share their experiences to the College through a community presentation.