"Cultural Identities and Global Consciousness"
This will be the 42nd academic year of Merrill College and the 41st year of its core course. Approximately 11,900 students have begun their college careers at Merrill by studying both peoples' struggles to preserve their cultural identities and social change beyond and within the borders of the United States.
Students in the Merrill Core Course will study the great movements of nationalism, imperialism, and globalization, with their attendant cultural clashes, religious conflicts, and social inequalities, and will explore theories that seek to explain the persistent underdevelopment of many countries of the world, as well as increasing poverty in the U.S. The selected readings are engaging and diverse. Students will read a vivid memoir about growing up Iranian in America and American in Iran. One more volume, by a native Sudanese, addresses the genocide in Darfur. A third memoir recounts a Vietnamese woman's journey from war to peace. Finally, in a striking work out of the L.A. barrios, we follow the intricate details of successive gang-related traumas of a young Chicano who finds through art, writing, and community work, powerful ways to put a stop to a life of "always running."
This seminar course is designed as an introduction to university-level work, and, as such, it stresses the skills of reading, writing, and clear thinking. For Fall 2009, we will read and discuss four books: The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari; Lipstick Jihad by Azadeh Moaveni; Always Running, by Luis Rodriguez; and When Heaven and Earth Changed Places by Le Ly Hayslip. We will also read several essays on cultural identity and globalization which will be available electronically. We will assign frequent papers, and we will work throughout the quarter to improve writing skills. We will also view one or two feature films and a couple of documentaries.
For those interested in expanding the topics presented by the written texts, there is a Visual Lab offered in conjunction with the Merrill Core course. The Visual Lab will take place on Wednesdays from 7-9:30 PM on those evenings when there is not a core course lecture or a film. All students in the Core course are encouraged to attend these viewings; however, those wishing to receive credit for the additional work, are urged to enroll in Merr 80L, for an additional two units. Please contact Connie Creel, conleth@ucsc.edu, or Dr. Carole Gerster, cgerster@ucsc.edu for further information.
Core Course Assignment #1
How to Enroll in the Merrill Core Course
Reading List
Visual Lab Information
First-Year Writing Requirements at UCSC
