San Francisco State University
Director Fall 2007: Professor Antonio Barrera
(Note: San Francisco Study Group will not run until further notice.)
Program prerequisites | Course descriptions | Living arrangements |
Extra costs | Deadlines | Further information | Helpful links
The San Francisco Study Group is sponsored by the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Asian studies program. It focuses on Asian America and the Pacific Rim and has two main objectives. The first is to enhance students’ knowledge and appreciation of the cultures, social structures, and histories of Asian American communities and the transnational/Pacific Rim dynamics to which they are keyed. The second, more general objective is to enrich students’ understanding of the history and diversity of American societies and cultures as well as the socio-cultural and other entailments of modernity and globalization in the new millennium.
Students will enroll in two courses at San Francisco State University, which has an extraordinarily diverse range of high-quality offerings bearing on Asian America, the Pacific Rim, Latinos, as well as sociology, anthropology, women's studies, and human sexuality. At least one of these courses is in the Department of Asian American Studies or Latin American Studies; the other course is typically in a department such as sociology, anthropology, women's studies, or human sexuality. In addition, students take two courses from the Director of the study group.
The seminar will be titled, "California: Made in Mexico, 1800-1900," and will focus on the Mexican History of California, the US occupation and conquest of Mexico, and its integration into the USA after 1848. It will also discuss the role of Asian communities in the making of California (with prior approval of the program director, this class can count as an elective toward a concentration in Asian Studies or ALAST). Guest lecturers from SFSU and throughout the greater San Francisco Bay region will be brought in for special topics. Several planned class-related activities and field trips will relate directly to the content of the course.
The second is an independent study that focuses on community service -- in a medical or legal clinic, a shelter for the homeless, a residential program for the elderly, a "soup kitchen" for the poor, and after-school program for youth -- or fieldwork in one or another community in San Francisco. Students' independent projects are based on "experiential learning" so that students are able to acquire direct knowledge of and experience with one or another community in the area and/or provide valuable service to this wonderfully diverse city and its inhabitants.
Since this a Colgate-run study group, students normally receive Colgate credit for all courses taken in San Francisco, including their independent studies involving community service or fieldwork.
Prerequisites
Students must have completed at least one course in Asian Studies and at least one course in the SOAN Department. Students who have a specific interest in Latin American Studies may request to replace the required Asian Studies course with a relevant course in Africana and Latin American Studies. In addition, students applying to the study group will write a 2-3 page essay describing their general interest in the SFSG, their specific reasons for wanting to participate in it, how they expect the SFSG experience to build on their previous course work and interests, and how the SFSG might contribute to their future course work and longer-term educational and professional objectives.
Students who are interested in participating in the study group but have not satisfied these prerequisites are encouraged to discuss their situations and experiences with the Director and to submit their applications by the December 4 deadline.
Classroom facilities
Students attend their two SF State classes on the campus of SF State; the seminar led by the Director of the study group meets in the Museum and Learning Center of the Chinese Historical Society of America, located in the heart of San Francisco's colorful, bustling Chinatown. Regular meetings with the Director of the study group in conjunction with community service and fieldwork projects also take place in the latter locale.
Library and research facilities
Students will have full access to the extensive libraries and research and computing facilities of SFSU. They will also have access to the archives and related resources of other relevant institutions in the area, such as the California Historical Society and the Chinese Historical Society of America.
Extracurricular activities
Extra-curricular activities include presentations by scholars, other professionals, and community activists, as well as field trips to: local Buddhist temples and other religious institutions; Angel Island ("the West Coast's Ellis Island"); and the Sacramento/Sierra foothills area (once home to vibrant communities of Chinese miners and railroad workers). Other activities include visits to the new Asian Art Museum and other institutions in San Francisco that specialize in Latino and Asian art and artifacts, and attendance at one or two plays dealing with Latino and/or Asian American/Pacific Rim themes.
Living arrangements
Students will live in furnished, 1 or 2 bedroom apartment units (with 2 or 4 students per apartment) located on the campus of San Francisco State. The apartments are rented through the university's Office of Housing and Residential Services.
Costs
Estimate Student Expenses San Francisco Study Group
Deadlines
Application deadline is Monday, December 4, 2006.
Applicants are asked to write a 2-3 page essay describing their general interest in the study group, their specific reasons for wanting to participate in the study group, the ways in which they expect the study group experience to build on their previous course work, and how it might relate to their future course work and long-term educational and professional objectives.
After reviewing these essays and the rest of the material submitted as part of the application process, the Director will interview each prospective participant. Interviews will take place during the first part of February. The Director hopes to notify applicants of the decision made on their application by mid-February.
Calendar
Basically following the Colgate calendar, the term will run from the end of August to late December 2007. Two week-long vacation breaks will be built into the calendar.
Helpful links
Sponsoring departments
General information