Requirements

Modern European Studies Minor

History
Advisor: Mark Doyle

The minor in Modern European Studies allows students to explore the histories, politics, cultures, literatures, languages, and ideas of Europe during the modern period (c.1800-present). To complete the minor, students must choose 18 hours from the following list of courses, with no more than 6 credits from a single department or program. Any applicable prerequisites must be completed before taking these courses; unless they are listed below, prerequisites will not count toward the 18 hours for the minor. In addition to the courses listed below, students may apply up to 6 credit hours in MTSU signature study abroad courses to the minor. Directed readings, special topics, and internships in any pertinent department may be pursued with prior approval of the minor advisor; no more than 6 credit hours of these may be counted towards the minor.

Interdisciplinary Minors

Interdisciplinary minors require the student to complete a minimum of 15 to 21 hours from a list of specific courses. Unless otherwise noted, a student may take no more than 6 hours of courses from a single department until he or she surpasses the required minimum number of hours necessary for completing the minor. Exceptions to this rule may be found within the discussions of several of the minors. In most cases, a student is also limited to just 3 hours of credit toward the minor in the same department or discipline in which he or she is taking a major. Students must fulfill all departmental prerequisites for any course within an interdisciplinary minor. In some cases, advisors may approve course substitutions within these program requirements.

Course Offerings by Department/Program (18 hours)

 Select 18 hours from the following. An asterisk (*) indicates a topics course that requires prior approval by the Modern European Studies director.

Art and Design

  • ART 1930 - Survey of Western Art II

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: ART 1920 with C or better. Survey of the arts of the Western tradition from the late Gothic period to the present.

  • ART 4920 - Contemporary Art  3 credit hours  

    ART 4920 - Contemporary Art

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisites: ART 1920 and ART 1930 with C or better or permission of instructor. Western visual art movements and issues in American painting and sculpture in the twentieth century.

Economics and Finance

  • ECON 4660 - History of Economic Thought

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisites:  ECON 2410, ECON 2420; junior standing; and admission into the College of Business. Background of modern economic thought; ancient economic thought; the main current of developing economic analysis through feudalism, mercantilism, and the physiocrats; Adam Smith and the classical economists; rebels and the neoclassical economists; twentieth-century contributions.

English

  • ENGL 3220 - English Literature: 1790-1850

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: Completion of 1000- and 2000-level English requirements with a grade of C- or better. A definition of English Romanticism and a study of works--mainly poems--by Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, and Keats.

  • ENGL 3230 - English Literature: The Victorian Period

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: Completion of 1000- and 2000-level English requirements with a grade of C- or better. The literature of England, 1830-1900. Emphasis on poetry and the novel.

  • ENGL 3430 - Modern European Literature

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: Completion of 1000- and 2000-level English requirements with a grade of C- or better. Survey of continental literature (in translation) from 1800 to the present, including Goethe, Flaubert, Tolstoy, Ibsen, and Mann.

  • ENGL 3725 - Nineteenth-Century Women Writers

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: Completion of 1000- and 2000-level English requirements with a grade of C- or better. Examines works by British and American writers in the context of a female literary tradition. Writers studied may include Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, Emily Brontë, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, Christina Rossetti, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and Emily Dickinson.

  • ENGL 3730 - Twentieth-Century Women Writers

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: Completion of 1000- and 2000-level English requirements with a grade of C- or better. Literature of major women writers of the period. Divided by genre and primarily includes the fiction, poetry, and drama of British and American women.

  • ENGL 3810 - British Popular Culture

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: Completion of 1000- and 2000-level English requirements with a grade of C- or better. A cultural survey of Great Britain since 1945, including history, music, film, and literature.

  • ENGL 4240 - Modern British Literature

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: Completion of 1000- and 2000-level English requirements with a grade of C- or better. Poetry, fiction, and nonfiction written in Britain from approximately 1910 to 1939. Representative works of major British writers in the context of contemporary social and literary history.

  • ENGL 4270 - Contemporary British and Commonwealth Literature

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: Completion of 1000- and 2000-level English requirements with a grade of C- or better. Contemporary British and Commonwealth novels in the context of social and literary history.

  • ENGL 4425 - Backgrounds of Modern Literature

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: Completion of 1000- and 2000-level English requirements with a grade of C- or better. Readings in the intellectual history of modern literature. Selected literary figures, major aesthetic movements, and pivotal ideas of modern Western culture, including Marx, Darwin, Nietzsche, Freud, Sartre. Course divided by themes representing disciplines or modes of thought.

  • ENGL 4780 - Topics in War and Culture  3 credit hours  
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    ENGL 4780 - Topics in War and Culture

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: Completion of 1000- and 2000-level English requirements with a grade of C- or better. An inquiry into war or related conflict through the study of literature, film, and/or popular culture. Topic will vary by term.

Global Studies and Human Geography

  • GEOG 3430 - Geographical Approach to Contemporary Europe

    3 credit hours

    Explores the past and present physical and cultural processes that influence Europe (including Russia) by examining ideas and concepts about economics, politics, culture identity, environment, and territory from a geographical perspective. (Fall even-numbered years)

  • GS 2010 - Introduction to Cross-Cultural Experiences

    3 credit hours

    Required of all Global Studies majors or minors and Human Geography majors. Establishes a broad-based foundation for understanding varying perspectives and values in a culture other than one's own. Differing global and international views on cultural and environmental issues past, present, and future. The student's cultural background will be used for comparative purposes. (Fall, Spring, Summer)

    TBC: Human Society and Social Relationships (Discovery)

History

  • HIST 3090 - Topics in European History  1 to 3 credit hours  
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    HIST 3090 - Topics in European History

    1 to 3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: Three hours of HIST 1010, HIST 1020, HIST 1110, or HIST 1120. A detailed examination of a topic pertinent to European history. May be taken more than once for credit with different topic.

  • HIST 3125 - First World War  3 credit hours  

    HIST 3125 - First World War

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: Three hours of HIST 1010, HIST 1020, HIST 1110, or HIST 1120. Explores the causes of the war; the conflict's vast geographic extent; the dramatic changes in combat brought by such weapons as improved field artillery, poison gas, airplanes, and submarines; the war's reworking of the values and structures of western civilization; the war's long-lasting ripple effects in the Middle East, the former Russian Empire, Africa, the Pacific, and the newly powerful United States.

  • HIST 4185 - Twentieth Century Europe

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisites: Six hours of HIST 1010, HIST 1020, HIST 1110, or HIST 1120. Explores the conflicts of twentieth century Europe that impacted and shaped the world. Themes include European Colonialism, Russian Revolution, World War I and World War II, Cold War, economic unity, postwar social changes, collapse of the Soviet Bloc, and emergence of post-communist nations. 

  • HIST 4340 - The Soviet Experiment

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: Three hours of HIST 1010, HIST 1020, HIST 1110, or HIST 1120. A continuation of 4330 emphasizing the Revolution and the Soviet era.

  • HIST 4360 - Britain in the Nineteenth Century

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: Three hours of HIST 1010, HIST 1020, HIST 1110, or HIST 1120. Political, economic, diplomatic, military, and cultural developments from the end of the Napoleonic era to Gladstone's retirement in 1894.

  • HIST 4370 - Britain in the Twentieth Century

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: Three hours of HIST 1010, HIST 1020, HIST 1110, or HIST 1120. Political, military, imperial, economic, and social history of a changing Britain in its century of total war, imperial decline, and economic readjustment.

  • HIST 4380 - History of Ireland

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: 3 hours from HIST 1010, HIST 1020, HIST 1110, or HIST 1120. Examines the major social, cultural, economic, and political developments in Irish history, focusing especially on the complex relationship between Ireland and England from the seventeenth century to the present.

  • HIST 4790 - Women and Gender in Modern Europe

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: HIST 1010, HIST 1020, HIST 1110, or HIST 1120. Explores the ideas, politics, work, and everyday lives of European women from the late Enlightenment to the present. Shows how women of diverse backgrounds shaped and were shaped by societal constructions of gender and sexuality.

Jewish and Holocaust Studies

  • JHS 3020 - The Holocaust  3 credit hours  

    JHS 3020 - The Holocaust

    3 credit hours

    An interdisciplinary survey of the origins, development, course, and consequences of the Nazi genocide.

Music

NOTE: Students taking these courses must be able to read music.

  • MUHL 3020 - History of Western Art Music II

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisites: MUHL 1610 with grade of C- or better. Third required music history course for music majors. A survey of Western art music of the eighteenth through twenty-first century, including Classical, Romantic, Modern, and Postmodern periods.

  • MUHL 4640 - Nineteenth-Century Music

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: Permission of instructor. A survey of Western classical music during the Romantic period; emphasis on topics selected by instructor.

  • MUHL 4650 - Twentieth-Century Music

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: Permission of instructor. A survey of twentieth century Western art music; emphasis on topics selected by instructor. Examines the major developments of music during the late Romantic, Modern, and Postmodern eras.

Philosophy and Religious Studies

  • PHIL 4050 - Nineteenth-Century Philosophy

    3 credit hours

    Emphasis on movements such as German idealism, the rise of the philosophy of the social sciences, historical materialism, utilitarianism, and early critiques of modernism.

  • PHIL 4200 - Existentialism  3 credit hours  

    PHIL 4200 - Existentialism

    3 credit hours

    The nature, significance, and application of the teachings of several outstanding existential thinkers.

  • PHIL 4450 - Marx and Marxism  3 credit hours  

    PHIL 4450 - Marx and Marxism

    3 credit hours

    An examination of the development of Marxist philosophy up to and including the present.

Political Science and International Relations

  • PS 1015 - Introduction to Political Theory

    3 credit hours

    Study and analysis of significant political thinkers and political ideas. Covers the three historical periods of political thought: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. Representative thinkers and ideas from each period used to illustrate important insights differentiated in a variety of historical circumstances. Among the major theorists covered are Plato, Aristotle, Buddha, Cicero, Augustine, Aquinas, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Rousseau, Burke, Mill, Marx, Voegelin, and Rawls.

    TBC: Creativity and Cultural Expression (Explorations)

  • PS 3450 - The Politics of Social Welfare Policy

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: PS 1010 or permission of instructor. Overview of the structure and functions of welfare states in the rich, industrialized democracies (primarily European); covers key arguments and debates about the emergence and contemporary fate of these welfare states. Emphasizes drawing ideas from the experiences of other countries to inform policy solutions to problems we confront in the US.

  • PS 4300 - Policymaking in the European Union

    3 credit hours

    Adopts a public policy perspective on the process of planning and implementation of the EU policies and focuses on how EU policies work in practice on the ground, mechanisms of policy-making and implementation, and effects on national public policymaking systems, public administrations and bureaucracies, and on citizens.

  • PS 4770 - Russian Politics  3 credit hours  

    PS 4770 - Russian Politics

    3 credit hours

    The formation and evolution of the Russian state from the pre-Communist to the Soviet (Communist) and post-Soviet stages of its development. Special attention given to the historical origins and the role of authoritarianism in the Russian political culture and to the ideological foundations, formation, evolution, and the reasons for decline of the Communist system.

  • PS 4920 - Modern Political Theory

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: PS 1010, PS 1005, or PHIL 1030 or permission of instructor. Western political theory from the Renaissance to the twentieth century. Includes Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, J.S. Mill, Marx and Engels, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, fascism, existentialism, Strauss, Arendt, and contemporary thought.

Sociology and Anthropology

  • ANTH 3516 - Peoples and Cultures of Europe

    3 credit hours

    The diverse peoples and cultures of Europe. Histories, sociocultural systems, and contemporary issues and impacts resulting from globalization from an anthropological perspective.

Women's and Gender Studies

  • WGST 4206 - Symposium in Women's Studies: Women and the Holocaust

    3 credit hours

    Additional prerequisites may apply to individual courses within the series. A variable-content course highlighting contributions of women to various fields and disciplines and exploring special problems which may be encountered by women.

World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures

NOTE: Most of the upper-division courses below are taught in their respective languages. Please see course descriptions for prerequisites.

  • FREN 1010 - Elementary French I

    3 credit hours

    Foundation course in reading, writing, speaking, and aural comprehension.

    TBC: Non-Written Communication

  • FREN 1020 - Elementary French II

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: FREN 1010 or advanced placement. Continuation of FREN 1010.

    TBC: Non-Written Communication

  • FREN 2010 - Intermediate French I

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: FREN 1020 or advanced placement.

    TBC: Non-Written Communication

  • FREN 2020 - Intermediate French II

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: FREN 2010 or advanced placement. Continuation of FREN 2010.

    TBC: Non-Written Communication

  • FREN 3070 - Topics in French and Francophone Film

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: FREN 2020 or permission of instructor. History, aesthetics, and analysis of French and francophone film. Course conducted in French.

  • FREN 3080 - Topics in French Studies  3 credit hours  
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    FREN 3080 - Topics in French Studies

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: FREN 2020 or permission of instructor. Study of a selected topic in French culture, cinema, or literature. Content varies to reflect expertise of instructor. May be repeated once.

  • FREN 3110 - French and Francophone Culture

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: FREN 2020 or equivalent. History of French/Francophone culture from the beginning to present. Topics will vary depending on expertise of instructor. May be repeated once.

  • FREN 4020 - Topics in French Film

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: Three hours of French at the 3000 level or permission of instructor.

  • FREN 4110 - French Press and Politics

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisites: Three hours of French at the 3000 level or permission of instructor. Focuses on contemporary France and current events, emphasizing the role of media as well as relevant political and social issues. Stresses cultural knowledge and competency in oral and written expression.

  • FREN 4120 - La Cuisine francaise: le gout et la gourmandise

    3 credit hours

     Prerequisite: Three hours of French at the 3000 level or permission of instructor. Focuses on the culinary history of France and its role in the social, economic, and political identity of France.

  • FREN 4150 - Money, Murder, and Madness

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisites: Three hours of French at the 3000-level or permission of instructor. Examines social and cultural issues addressed in French-language literature, film, and other media and focuses specifically on the confrontation of immorality and criminal behavior.

  • FREN 4160 - Social Change in the Francophone World

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisites: Three hours of French at the 3000-level or permission of instructor. Focuses on major social movements of France and the French-speaking world, addressing diverse topics such as race, gender, class, sexuality, politics, and religion.

  • FREN 4170 - The French Graphic Novel

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisites: Three hours of French at the 3000-level or permission of instructor. Focuses on the tradition of the French graphic novel. Taught in French.

  • GERM 1010 - Elementary German I

    3 credit hours

    A foundation course in reading, writing, speaking, and aural comprehension.

    TBC: Non-Written Communication

  • GERM 1020 - Elementary German II

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: GERM 1010 or advanced placement.

    TBC: Non-Written Communication

  • GERM 2010 - Intermediate German I

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: GERM 1020 or advanced placement.

    TBC: Non-Written Communication

  • GERM 2020 - Intermediate German II

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: GERM 2010 or advanced placement.

    TBC: Non-Written Communication

  • GERM 3060 - Survey of German Culture

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: GERM 2020 or permission of instructor. Deals with the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. (GERM 3050 covers the history of German culture through the eighteenth century.)

 

  • HUM 3065 - Topics in Italian Culture

    3 credit hours

    Offers both Italian language and non-language students an introduction to Italian culture and society focusing on key historical, social, and cultural topics essential to understanding modern Italy. Taught in English; no background knowledge of Italy or the Italian language required.

  • ITAL 1010 - Elementary Italian I

    3 credit hours

    An introductory course in the Italian language and culture, with special emphasis on daily expressions and forms of communication.

    TBC: Non-Written Communication

  • ITAL 1020 - Elementary Italian II

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: ITAL 1010 or advanced placement. Continuation of ITAL 1010. Increased emphasis on the acquisition of fluency in Italian.

    TBC: Non-Written Communication

  • ITAL 2010 - Intermediate Italian I

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: ITAL 1020 or permission of instructor. A review of Italian grammar with reading and oral exercises designed to improve understanding of written and spoken language.

    TBC: Non-Written Communication

  • ITAL 2020 - Intermediate Italian II

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: ITAL 2010 or permission of instructor. Continuation of ITAL 2010.

    TBC: Non-Written Communication

  • PORT 1010 - Elementary Portuguese I

    3 credit hours

    Portuguese grammar with readings and oral exercises designed to improve the student's ability to understand the written and spoken language.

    TBC: Non-Written Communication

  • PORT 1020 - Elementary Portuguese II

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: PORT 1010 or permission of instructor. Continuation of materials introduced in PORT 1010.

    TBC: Non-Written Communication

  • PORT 2010 - Intermediate Portuguese I

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: PORT 1020 or PORT 1040 or permission of instructor. A review of Portuguese grammar with readings and oral exercises designed to improve the student's skills and understanding of Brazilian culture.

    TBC: Non-Written Communication

  • PORT 2020 - Intermediate Portuguese II

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: PORT 2010 or permission of instructor. Continuation of PORT 2010.

    TBC: Non-Written Communication

  • RUSS 1010 - Elementary Russian I

    3 credit hours

    A beginning course in written and spoken Russian. Special emphasis on noun declension and verbal aspects.

    TBC: Non-Written Communication

  • RUSS 1020 - Elementary Russian II

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: RUSS 1010 or advanced placement. A continuation of RUSS 1010.

    TBC: Non-Written Communication

  • SPAN 1010 - Elementary Spanish I

    3 credit hours

    A foundation course in reading, writing, speaking Spanish with an emphasis on conversation.

    TBC: Non-Written Communication

  • SPAN 1020 - Elementary Spanish II

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: SPAN 1010 or advanced placement. A continuation of materials introduced in SPAN 1010.

    TBC: Non-Written Communication

  • SPAN 2010 - Intermediate Spanish I

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: SPAN 1020, SPAN 1040, or advanced placement. A review of Spanish grammar with reading and oral exercises designed to improve the ability to understand the written and spoken language.

    TBC: Non-Written Communication

  • SPAN 2020 - Intermediate Spanish II

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: SPAN 2010 or advanced placement. A continuation of SPAN 2010.

    TBC: Non-Written Communication

  • SPAN 3060 - Introduction to Hispanic Culture

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: SPAN 2020 or permission of instructor. Peninsular Spanish culture focusing on the geography, history, social institutions, values, and beliefs.

  • SPAN 4030 - Spanish Literature II

    3 credit hours

    Prerequisite: SPAN 3080 or permission of instructor. Spanish literature from the eighteenth century to the present.

Study Abroad

In addition to the courses listed above, students may apply up to 6 credit hours in study abroad courses in Europe to the minor. These courses must be MTSU signature programs and may be offered by any department, but they must be approved by the Modern European Studies minor director.

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