Area Studies

View all Majors and Minors »
« Viewing all majors and minors

  • Alexander Monahov ’10 researched corruption in 35 European countries. Anna Weissman ’10 examined issues of poverty and the education of young girls in Sub-Saharan Africa. Antti Isoaho ’11 compared indigenous populations in Peru and Bolivia. We may not have programs on all parts of the world, but that doesn’t mean you can’t study them.

The Area Studies major offers the opportunity for close study of a region or country outside the United States—for example, Africa, Central Europe, the Middle East, Russia and Ukraine, or other regions not formally covered in the curriculum. The interdisciplinary approach allows students to achieve a rich understanding of a society by studying its history, politics, economy, and culture. Students are attracted to the major by intellectual curiosity about other nations and cultures and by careers in the foreign service, overseas business, international organizations, teaching, and governmental or paragovernmental agencies concerned with ecology, health, population, or foreign trade.