Perspectives 1: U.S. Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity
NOTE: Students who started taking classes at Northwestern in Spring 2023 or earlier are not required to complete the US and Global Perspectives (see the the prior degree requirements). The information below pertains to students who start at Northwestern after Spring 2023.
This perspective addresses the impact of histories, institutions, and/or social structures on groups and on individuals primarily in the United States, focusing on the interconnected issues of racism/antiracism, equality/inequality and justice/injustice.
learning objectives
In courses satisfying this perspective students will:
- Engage with scholarship describing the historical and contemporary structures, processes, human-environment relationships, and practices that shape racism and anti-racism; power and resistance; justice and injustice; equality and inequality; agency and subjection; belonging and subjection, with a primary, but not exclusive, focus on the United States.
- Explore the social, political, environmental, and cultural bases of these relationships, structures, processes, and practices, and examine how they constitute individuals' groups.
- Reflect on one's position within these structures, processes, and practices.
- Acquire the knowledge and develop the skills necessary to work with key analytical concepts that often define individuals and groups, including but not limited to ability, age, education, environmentality, ethnicity, gender, indigeneity, language, nationality, race, religion, politics, sexuality, and social status.
- Analyze how these and other terms intersect and overlap, with attention to the dynamism and variety of experiences and expressions.
choosing courses
Note that a perspective course may simultaneously count for any other requirement in which it is approved (such as foundational discipline, major, or the advanced expression requirement).
Approved Courses
| Subject | Number | Title |
| ANTHRO | 221-0 | Social and Health Inequalities1 |
| ANTHRO | 235-0 | Language in Asian America (with ASIAN_AM 235-0)1 |
| ANTHRO | 382-0 | Political Ecology (with ENVR_POL 384-0)1 |
| ASIAN_AM | 235-0 | Language in Asian America (with ANTHRO 235-0)1 |
| ASIAN_AM | 247-0 | Asian Americans and Popular Culture4 |
| ASIAN_AM | 275-0 | Introduction to Asian American Literature (with ENGLISH 275-0)4 |
| ASIAN_AM | 276-0 | Topics in Asian American Literature (with ENGLISH 276-0)4 |
| BLK_ST | 210-0 | Survey of African American Literature4 |
| BLK_ST | 212-2 | Introduction to African American History: Emancipation to Civil Rights Movement (with HISTORY 212-2)2 |
| BLK_ST | 214-0 | Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies1 |
| BLK_ST | 215-0 | Introduction to Black Social & Political Life1 |
| BLK_ST | 220-0 | Civil Rights and Black Liberation2 |
| BLK_ST | 236-0 | Introduction to African-American Studies1,4 |
| BLK_ST | 320-0 | Social Meaning of Race1 |
| BLK_ST | 334-0 | Gender and Black Masculinity1 |
| BLK_ST | 350-0 | Theorizing Blackness4 |
| BLK_ST | 360-0 | Major Authors4 |
| BLK_ST | 365-0 | Black Chicago1 |
| ENGLISH | 266-0 | Introduction to African American Literature4 |
| ENGLISH | 267-0 | Topics in African American Literature4 |
| ENGLISH | 274-0 | Introduction to Native American and Indigenous Literatures4 |
| ENGLISH | 275-0 | Introduction to Asian American Literature (with ASIAN_AM 275-0)4 |
| ENGLISH | 276-0 | Topics in Asian American Literature (with ASIAN_AM 276-0)4 |
| ENGLISH | 277-0 | Intro to Latinx Literature (with LATINO 277-0 and SPANISH 277-0)4 |
| ENGLISH | 366-0 | Studies in African American Literature4 |
| ENGLISH | 374-0 | Studies in Native American and Indigenous Literatures4 |
| ENGLISH | 375-0 | Studies in Asian American Literature4 |
| ENGLISH | 377-0 | Studies in Latina and Latino Literature4 |
| ENVR_POL | 212-0 | Environment and Society (with SOCIOL 212-0)1 |
| ENVR_POL | 309-0 | American Environmental History (with HISTORY 309-0)2 |
| ENVR_POL | 384-0 | Political Ecology (with ANTHRO 382-0)1 |
| GBL_HLTH | 318-0 | Community-based Participatory Research1 |
| GNDR_ST | 220-0 | Sexual Subjects: Introduction to Sexuality Studies |
| GNDR_ST | 230-0 | Traditions in Feminist Thought2 |
| GNDR_ST | 235-0 | Beyond the Binary: Transgender and Race |
| GNDR_ST | 324-0 | U.S. Gay and Lesbian History (with HISTORY 324-0)2 |
| GNDR_ST | 381-0 | Queer Theory |
| HISTORY | 210-1 | History of the United States, Precolonial to the Civil War2 |
| HISTORY | 210-2 | History of the United States, Reconstruction to the Present2 |
| HISTORY | 211-0 | American Wars2 |
| HISTORY | 212-2 | Introduction to African American History: Emancipation to Civil Rights Movement (with BLK_ST 212-2)2 |
| HISTORY | 305-0 | American Immigration (with LEGAL_ST 305-0)2 |
| HISTORY | 309-0 | American Environmental History (with ENVR_POL 309-0)2 |
| HISTORY | 310-1 | Early American History: Conquest and Colonization, to 16882 |
| HISTORY | 319-0 | History of US Foreign Relations2 |
| HISTORY | 324-0 | U.S. Gay and Lesbian History (with GNDR_ST 324-0)2 |
| HISTORY | 327-0 | Histories of Violence in the United States2 |
| HUM | 220-0 | Health, Biomedicine, Culture, and Society (with SOCIOL 220-0)1 |
| LATINO | 230-0 | Latine Feminist Sexualities4 |
| LATINO | 232-0 | Queer and Trans Latino Studies4 |
| LATINO | 277-0 | Intro to Latinx Literature (with ENGLISH 277-0 and SPANISH 277-0)4 |
| LEGAL_ST | 206-0 | Law and Society (with SOCIOL 206-0)1 |
| LEGAL_ST | 305-0 | American Immigration (with HISTORY 305-0)2 |
| LEGAL_ST | 308-0 | Sociology of Law (with SOCIOL 318-0)1,3 |
| LEGAL_ST | 333-0 | Constitutional Law II (with POLI_SCI 333-0)1 |
| LEGAL_ST | 347-0 | Comparative Race and Ethnicity2 |
| LEGAL_ST | 348-0 | Race, Politics, and the Law (with SOCIOL 348-0)1 |
| LEGAL_ST | 350-0 | Psychology and Law (with PSYCH 340-0)1,3 |
| LEGAL_ST | 383-0 | Gender, Sexuality and Carceral State1 |
| LING | 220-0 | Language and Society1 |
| LING | 312-0 | Experimental Sociolinguistics1 |
| LING | 320-0 | Sociolinguistics1 |
| PHIL | 224-0 | Philosophy, Race, and Racism3 |
| PHIL | 262-0 | Ethical Problems and Public Issues3 |
| POLI_SCI | 220-0 | American Government and Politics1 |
| POLI_SCI | 230-0 | Introduction to Law in the Political Arena1 |
| POLI_SCI | 307-0 | Deportation Law and Politics3 |
| POLI_SCI | 321-0 | Urban Politics1 |
| POLI_SCI | 326-0 | Race and Public Policy1 |
| POLI_SCI | 327-0 | African American Politics1 |
| POLI_SCI | 333-0 | Constitutional Law II (with LEGAL_ST 333-0)1 |
| POLI_SCI | 334-0 | Latino Politics1 |
| POLI_SCI | 336-0 | Immigration Politics and Policy1 |
| PSYCH | 340-0 | Psychology and Law (with LEGAL_ST 350-0)1,3 |
| SOCIOL | 206-0 | Law and Society (with LEGAL_ST 206-0)1 |
| SOCIOL | 210-0 | Families and Societies1 |
| SOCIOL | 212-0 | Environment and Society (with ENVR_POL 212-0)1 |
| SOCIOL | 216-0 | Gender and Society1 |
| SOCIOL | 218-0 | Education and Inequality: Focus on Chicago1 |
| SOCIOL | 220-0 | Health, Biomedicine, Culture, and Society (with HUM 220-0)1 |
| SOCIOL | 223-0 | Masculinities and Society1 |
| SOCIOL | 235-0 | Critical Thought on Race and Ethnicity1 |
| SOCIOL | 307-0 | School and Society1 |
| SOCIOL | 310-0 | Sociology of the Family1 |
| SOCIOL | 318-0 | Sociology of Law (with LEGAL_ST 308-0)1,3 |
| SOCIOL | 320-0 | Gender, Health and Medicine1 |
| SOCIOL | 327-0 | Youth and Society1 |
| SOCIOL | 348-0 | Race, Politics, and the Law (with LEGAL_ST 348-0)1 |
| SOCIOL | 356-0 | Sociology of Gender1 |
| SPANISH | 277-0 | Intro to Latinx Literature (with ENGLISH 277-0 and LATINO 277-0)4 |
1Also FD-Social and Behavioral Sciences
2Also FD-Historical Studies
3Also FD-Ethical and Evaluative Thinking
4Also FD-Literature and Arts
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