Colleen Wood

I have learned general concepts of pop-culture and politics and how these two concepts are intermingled.

i learnt how politics can be compared to different pop culture topics and how by writing comparative essays could improve my debating skills.

This course brought to light many new ways of thinking for me. I loved the application of culture and qualitative data to explore more serious political science phenomena. It was a highly engaging and thought provoking

This course breaks new ground as an International Relations seminar. No other course takes a pop culture approach to International Politics in such a thorough and engaging way. From the politics of cookbooks to the political economy of music streaming, what can be a dry and state-centered discipline is democratized and innovated upon. The readings are manageable and always relevant, the choice of what format to submit assignments in is bold and freeing, and the theoretical frameworks are useful for broader political science application. Take this course.

You basically explore international politics in realtion to pop culture artifacts (moveis, TV shows, books, social media, food, etc) and it really braodens your perspective on how the most minute things can impact hwo you see things.

A lot actually. Especially about how we can use pop culture as a source of data(top down or bottom up), and interesting facts e.g. sugarcane production, we discussed thrifting in Ghana, migration of latinx immigrants to NYC, asians in Jamaica and much more.

As I have already recommended this professor and class to many people, I would have to say that the alternative take it provided to International Politics provided me with a new found appreciation for pop culture, media, and alternative applications of social science theories.

The readings are almost always interesting (there are some dense theory-based readings, but the professor will clarify any confusion during in-class disucssion) and the actual assignemtns are felixible and can be fun and creative. 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Fall 2022 Course: POLSUN3961_008_2022_3-INTERNATIONALPOLITICSSEMINAR : POLSUN3961_008_2022_3 - INTERNATIONAL POLITICS SEMINAR Instructor: Colleen Wood