Center for the Study of the North American West

Courses Offered this Quarter at Stanford

Stanford offers many courses with content related to the study of the North American West across a wide range of departments and programs. The Bill Lane Center does not offer a major or minor in the study of the North American West, but its faculty can advise interested students in how to build a field of study around Western topics within and outside of their major department. Independent research opportunities may also be available for qualified students.
To download a pdf of 2007-2008 courses click here
For more information, contact Tammy Frisby

Autumn Quarter 2007

ARCHLGY 99A. Historical Archaeology in the Archive, Lab, and Underground: Methods
This course teaches methodologies for the study of cultural landscapes with an emphasis on California landscapes. We will combine readings in archaeology, history, and cultural geography with the hands-on analysis of a parcel of land owned by the Midpeninsula Open Space District (The Thornewood Preserve). This class will be of interest to students of American Studies, archaeology, anthropology, history, geography, and anybody whose interests include the management of public lands.
5 units, Aut (Williams, B)

ENGLISH 43B. Introduction to Chicana/o Literature and Culture
Introduction to the literature and culture of this nation’s second largest ethnic minority. Works by Paredes, Gonzales, Alurista, Cervantes, Rivera, Cisneros, Viramontes, Moraga, Anzaldúa, Burciaga, Rodríguez, Gómez, Valdez, Serros.
3 units, Aut (Moya, P)

ENGLISH 187G. Brokeback: Queering Western Literature
Seminar. How the West is depicted as a queer region in the 20th century. Readings include Owen Wister, Cherríe Moraga, Allen Ginsburg, Chrystos, John Rechy, Gloria Anzaldúa, Willa Cather, Dennis Cooper, Arturo Islas, David Henry Hwang, Miranda July, Adrienne Rich, Lynn Riggs, and Rebecca Brown.
5 units, Aut (Gano, G)

ENGLISH 261. California Regionalism in Ethnic American Literature
The space of literary California as represented by ethnic American writers from locations such as San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Central California, Los Angeles, Orange County, and Mexico.
5 units, Aut (Sohn, S)

GES 42N. Landscapes and Tectonics of the San Francisco Bay Area
Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to freshmen. Active faulting and erosion in the Bay Area, and its effects upon landscapes. Earth science concepts and skills through investigation of the valley, mountain, and coastal areas around Stanford. Faulting associated with the San Andreas
Fault, coastal processes along the San Mateo coast, uplift of the mountains by plate tectonic processes, and landsliding in urban and mountainous areas. Field excursions; student projects.
4 units, Aut (Hilley, G)

GES 101. Environmental and Geological Field Studies in the Rocky Mountains
Three-week, field-based program in the Greater Yellowstone/Teton and Wind River Mountains of Wyoming. Field-based exercises covering topics including: basics of structural geology and petrology; glacial geology; western cordillera geology; paleoclimatology; chemical weathering; aqueous geochemistry; and environmental issues such as acid mine drainage and changing land-use patterns.
3 units, Aut (Chamberlain, P)

HISTORY 163. A History of North American Wests
The history, peoples, and natural systems of a region that has never been contained within a single empire or nation state, but has been united by the movement of peoples, species, and things. Topics include smallpox, horses, gold, salmon, rivers, coal, and oil.
5 units, Aut (White, R)

NATIVEAM 109B. Indian Country Economic Development
The history of competing tribal and Western economic models, and the legal, political, social, and cultural implications for tribal economic development. Case studies include mineral resource extraction, gaming, and cultural tourism. 21st-century strategies for sustainable economic development and protection of political and cultural sovereignty.
5 units, Aut (Biestman, K)

Winter Quarter 2008

CHICANST 165G. American Dreams: Mexican Americans, Immigration since 1964, and the Middle Class
How does the Mexican American population stand in relation to the attainment of middle-class status? Topics include immigration, religion, political participation, the labor market, marriage, and pan-ethnic identification.
Introduction to sociological methodology.
5 units, Win (Gonzalez, M)

EARTHSYS 112. Enviromental Economics and Policy See Econ 155
3-4 units, Win (Goulder, L)

EARTHSYS 175/275. The California Coast: Science, Policy, and Law
The legal, science, and policy dimensions of managing California’s coastal resources. Coastal land use and marine resource decision making. The physics, chemistry, and biology of the coastal zone, tools for exploring data from the coastal ocean, and the institutional framework that shapes public and private decision making. Field work: how experts from different disciplines work to resolve coastal policy questions.
3-4 units, Win (Caldwell, M; Boehm, A; Sivas, D)

ECON 155. Environmental Economics and Policy
Economic sources of environmental problems and alternative policies for dealing with them (technology standards, emissions taxes, and marketable pollution permits). Evaluation of policies addressing regional air pollution, global climate change, water allocation in the western U.S., and the use of renewable resources. Connections between population growth, economic output, environmental quality, and human welfare. Prerequisite: ECON 50. (Same as EARTHSYS 112) GER: DB-NatSci
3-4 units, Win (Goulder, L)

ENGLISH 43A. American Indian Mythology, Legend, and Lore
3 units, Win (Fields, K)

GES 49N. Field Trip to Death Valley and Owens Valley
Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to freshmen. California’s Death Valley and Owens Valley as natural laboratories for exploring a billion years of earth history: ancient ocean sediments, mountain building, earthquake faulting, glacial landscapes, volcanic eruptions, prehistoric climate changes, and historic human impacts. Six-day field trip to these areas during Spring Break. Term paper is written as a chapter for a field trip guidebook. Oral
presentation on the outcrop at the field trip stop described in the guidebook chapter. The basics of plate tectonics and geology. Rock identification, reading topographic and geologic maps, and interpreting remote sensing imagery. Camping and moderate hiking required.
3 units, Win (Mahood, G)

GES 55Q. The California Gold Rush: Geologic Background and Environmental Impact
Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to sophomores. Topics include: geologic processes that led to the concentration of gold in the river gravels and rocks of the Mother Lode region of California; and environmental impact of the Gold Rush due to population increase, mining operations, and high concentrations of arsenic and mercury in sediments from hard rock mining and milling operations.
Recommended: introductory geology.
3 units, Win (Bird, D)

HISTORY 55S. Border Lives, Border Identities: The History of Mexican American Women in the United States
Chicana consciousness from 1900 to the present. The 70s Chicana movement. Topics include: the impact of labor, education, immigration, and sexuality; and Chicanas’ roles in feminist, civil rights, and ethnic identity struggles. Primary sources including manifestos, poetry, court cases, film, and art. Stanford archival research. Field trip to San Francisco’s Mission District.
5 units, Win (Flores, L)

HISTORY 252H. Environmental History of the San Francisco Bay Area
How changing ideas on the relationship between human beings, nature, and cities have shaped the Bay Area. Topics include: historical connection between the Bay Area and surrounding environments; grassroots organizations and environmental justice movements; responses to urbanization and the rise of urban conservation initiatives; and regional agencies and legislation influencing the creation of parks and green space, pollution control measures, public health standards, and urban food networks.
4-5 units, Win (Simon, G)

NATIVEAM 117S. History of California Indians
Demographic, political, and economic history of California Indians, 1700s-1950s. Processes and events leading to the destruction of California tribes, and their effects on the groups who survived. Geographic and cultural diversity. Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo-American periods. The mission system.
5 units, Win (Shively, J)

POLISCI 223D. Term Limits and American Democracy
Why voters place constitutional and statutory limits on the number of terms elected officials can serve in an office. Effects of term limits on elections and policy making in the U.S. Presidential, gubernatorial, and state legislative term limits, the congressional term limits movement, and the success of the movement in the American West.
5 units, Win (Frisby, T)

PUBLPOL 154. Politics and Policy in California
State politics and policy making, including the role of the legislature, legislative leadership, the governor, special interests, campaign finance, the public, ballot initiatives, the state constitution, the media, and the role of research organizations. Case studies may include pension reform, health care, term limits and other political reform measures, open primaries, infrastructure improvements, and the budget. Changes in constitutional and in state statutes that can improve policy making in California.
5 units, Win (Nation, J)

SOC 138. American Indians in Comparative Historical Perspective
Demographic, political, and economic processes and events that shaped relations between Euro-Americans and American Indians, 1600-1890. How the intersection of these processes affected the outcome of conflicts between these two groups, and how this conflict was decisive in determining the social position of American Indians in the late 19th century and the evolution of the doctrine of tribal sovereignty.
5 units, Win (Snipp, C)

SOC 165G. American Dreams: Mexican Americans, Immigration since 1964, and the Middle Class
How does the Mexican American population stand in relation to the attainment of middle-class status? Topics include immigration, religion, political participation, the labor market, marriage, and pan-ethnic identification.
Introduction to sociological methodology.
5 units, Win (Gonzalez, M)

Spring Quarter 2008

BIOSCI 125. Ecosystems of California
The diversity and functioning of California ecosystems through time and how human beings have impacted and managed them.
3 units, Spr (Mooney, H)

CHICANST 180E. Introduction to Chicana/o Studies
Historical and contemporary experiences that have defined the status of Mexican-origin people living in the U.S. Topics include the U.S./Mexico border and the borderlands; immigration and anti-immigration sentiment; literary and cultural traditions; music; labor; historical perspectives on Mexicans in the U.S. and the Chicano movement; urban realities; gender relations; political and economic changes; and inter- and intra-group interactions. Sources include social science and humanities scholarship. 5 units, Spr (Yarbro-Bejarano, Y; Palafox, J)

CHICANST 181S. U.S.-Mexico Borderlands in Comparative Perspective
The border as zone of political, social, economic, and cultural interaction, conflict, and interdependence from before the U.S.-Mexico War. Manifest destiny, the incorporation of the boundary into the capitalist world system, and contemporary boundary issues including the border industrialization program, urbanization and migration, and the function of borders in reinforcing global apartheid.
5 units, Spr (Palafox, J)

EARTHSYS 180B. Local Sustainable Agriculture
Field-based training in ecologically sound agricultural practices at the Stanford Community Farm; guest lectures from Bay Area farmers, agricultural educators, and food policy advocates; and a field trip to an educational farm. Weekly fieldwork led by an instructor with extensive organic farming experience. Topics include bed preparation, starting seedlings, composting, irrigation techniques, and harvesting methods
1 unit, Aut, Spr (Masley, S)

EARTHSYS 215. The Environmental Implications of the North American Free Trade Agreement
New forms of environmental governance stipulated within NAFTA policy. Topics include: theories of free trade, economic liberalization, and transnational environmental governance; green technology transfers; agricultural and industrial economies and implications for workers; transboundary conservation, water, and air quality issues in the N. American west.
4-5 units, Spr (Simon G)

ECON 17N. Energy, the Environment, and the Economy
Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to freshman. The relationship between environmental quality and production and consumption of energy. Can environmentally-friendly energy production and consumption compete with conventional sources? How to estimate and compare environmental impact costs or nonrenewable sources such as fossil fuels and nuclear power versus renewable sources such as solar and wind power. Implicit subsidies in conventional energy sources and the environmental costs of these subsidies. Regulatory and legal barriers to more environmentally-friendly energy sources.
2 units, Spr (Wolak, F)

ENGLISH 182S. Looking North: Canadian Literature
Writers include Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, Michael Ondaatje, Rohinton Mistry, Yann Martel, and Carol Shields. Themes of national identity, race, class, gender, postcolonialism, geography, bilingualism, regionalism, and landscape in Canadian writing. The culture and literary productivity of America’s northern neighbor.
5 units, Spr (Staveley, A)

ENGLISH 188G. The Modern West: Modernism, Revolution, and Indigenismo
Renewal and regeneration in the American west after WW I. Literature and arts of the interwar era, focusing on the influence of the Mexican revolution. Undefiled nature and primitive peoples versus a modern, cosmopolitan space inspiring the modern artist.
5 units, Spr (Gano, G)

GES 46N. Exploring the Critical Interface between the Land and Monterey Bay: Elkhorn Slough
Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to freshmen. Field trips to sites in the Elkhorn Slough, a small agriculturally impacted estuary that opens into Monterey Bay, a model ecosystem for understanding the complexity of estuaries, and one of California’s last remaining coastal wetlands. Readings include Jane Caffrey’s Changes in a California Estuary: A Profile of Elkhorn Slough. Basics of biogeochemistry, microbiology, oceanography, ecology, pollution, and environmental management.
3-5 units, Spr (Francis, C)

GES 56Q. Changes in the Coastal Ocean: The View From Monterey and San Francisco Bays
Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to sophomores. Recent changes in the California current, using Monterey Bay as an example. Current literature introduces principles of oceanography. Visits from researchers from MBARI, Hopkins, and UCSC. Optional field trip to MBARI and Monterey Bay.
3 units, Spr (Dunbar, R)

HISTORY 254. Popular Culture and American Nature
Despite John Muir, Aldo Leopold, and Rachel Carson, it is arguable that the Disney studios have more to do with molding popular attitudes toward the natural world than politicians, ecologists, and activists. Disney as the central figure in the 20th-century American creation of nature. How Disney, the products of his studio, and other primary and secondary texts see environmentalism, science, popular culture, and their interrelationships.
5 units, Spr (White, R)

HISTORY 260. California’s Minority-Majority Cities
Historical development and the social, cultural, and political issues that characterize large cities and suburbs where communities of color make up majority populations. Case studies include cities in Los Angeles, Santa Clara, and Monterey counties. Comparisons to minority-majority cities elsewhere in the U.S.
5 units, Spr (McKibben, C)

POLISCI 248. Mexican Politics
Why did Mexico fail to eliminate poverty and destitution despite resources channeled to that end and a rhetoric of social justice inherited from the Revolution? The durability of the political regime, the peculiar characteristics of the Mexican process of democratization, and the regime’s incentives to redress ancestral problems of inequality and destitution. Emphasis is on crafting research projects on the political economy of Mexican development, and hypothesis testing with empirical data.
5 units, Spr (Díaz-Cayeros, A)

PUBLPOL 156. Health Care Policy and Reform
Competing health care reform proposals at the state and local levels. Focus is on California including proposals for expanding coverage for children, a single payer system, employer and individual mandates. Recent proposals in other states including Massachusetts, Maine, and Vermont; their relation to national efforts. Attention to local reform efforts, including in San Francisco. Prospects for future policy.
5 units, Spr (Nation, J)

SOC 139. American Indians in Contemporary Society
The social position of American Indians in contemporary American society, 1890 to the present. The demographic resurgence of American Indians, changes in social and economic status, ethnic identification and political mobilization, and institutions such as tribal governments and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Recommended: 138 or a course in American history.
5 units, Spr (Snipp, C)

SPANLIT 180E. Introduction to Chicana/o Studies
See CHICANST 180E
5 units, Spr (Yarbro-Bejarano, Y; Palafox, J)

Courses Offered Other Quarters

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