The Coursework

Fall | Spring

BSP participants in Identities, Myths and Realities taught by Heather Craigie (Fall 2008).

Globalization, Migration, & Borders (4 credits)
Taught by the BSP Resident Director, Riley Merline
This course explores historical and theoretical analyses of the international political economy and its continuing effects on communities and ecologies around the world. Critical study of migration, economic development, and border enforcement will be emphasized. Students will also engage various alternative economic and immigration models proposed by scholars and social movement leaders. Travel seminars along the border and into the interior of Mexico are key components of this course.

Critical Issues: Food & Sustainability (4 credits)
Taught by Resident Staff with Guest Lecturers
Critical Issues is a course designed to take advantage of the region and the opportunities that exist to learn from various experts in and outside of the classroom. Sustainability, with a focus on food production and water usage, will be a major focus. The Tohono O’Odham Nation, the Native Seeds farm, ranches, border wall construction areas, colonias in Nogales, migrant shelters, ejidos, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms, the Colorado River Delta, and many other locations on both sides of the border are possible site visits.

The Political Ecology of the Sonoran Bioregion (4 credits)
Taught by Professor Dereka Rushbrook, University of Arizona
This course explores the political ecology of Southern Arizona and Northern Sonora, with particular attention on the effects of political-geographical and administrative boundaries on transborder systems and processes. Students will explore how the mismatch between these boundaries and the traditional socio-cultural systems and the ecosystem influence local livelihoods and sustainability in the region.

Identity, Privilege, & Environmental Justice (2 credits)
Taught by Resident Staff
This course is designed to be a forum to help students process the successes and challenges of working at their field study sites specifically, and their experiences in the program more broadly. Students discuss substantial issues such as privilege, power, identity, ethnic/national/gender/sexuality/class difference, and what it means to work for social change and environmental justice in different local, regional, and international contexts.

Supervised Field Study (4 credits)
Supervised by BSP Resident Director & Staff
Each student will have a field study in Tucson. Utilizing the theory and methodology of participant-observations, students keep field journals throughout the semester and prepare a major paper at the end of the semester. Field study sites may include Coalición de Derechos Humanos, No More Deaths, Sierra Club, Community Food Bank Resource Center, Watershed Management Group, Tucson Community Supported Agriculture, the Menlo Park Micro Neighborhood Farming Project, and more.

---Click here to learn more about field study opportunities.

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