The Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences

MA EXAM GUIDELINES | MALAS

2012-01-15T16:00:00.000-08:00

Click this image for the page-link!

2012 | The Fifth Annual Joe Gillis Hollywood MALAS Internship | MALAS Goes Hollywood!

2012-01-13T11:56:00.000-08:00

click to enlarge!

MALAS 600A Sec 1 SEM: LIES, TRUTH/FICTION | K. REBIEN

2012-01-11T16:58:00.001-08:00

MALAS Defined!

2012-01-09T11:41:00.001-08:00

source

Spring 2012 MALAS GRADUATE SEMINARS: OPEN TO ALL GRADUATE STUDENTS @ SDSU

2012-01-05T19:56:00.000-08:00

We are very proud to provide course descriptions for our Spring 2012 roster of MALAS graduate seminars--two of our professors, artist Kim Stringfellow, and scholar Kristin Rebien, are new to our program; the third, Bill Nericcio, directs MALAS and is back in the saddle for another seminar, following up on the successful Technosexualities class, Fall 2011.

Hit the imagelinks below for the full course descriptions!

direct link to ART ENVIRONMENT PLACE syllabus

FALL 2012: MALAS 600D! ART, ENVIRONMENT, and PLACE with Professor/Artist KIM STRINGFELLOW

2012-01-05T19:44:00.000-08:00

online site

Space Ghost! The Origins of MALAS!

2012-01-04T22:08:00.001-08:00

click to enlarge

NEW MALAS SEMINAR/PROFESSOR!!! MALAS 600A Sec 1 SEM: LIES, TRUTH/FICTION

2012-01-03T15:57:00.000-08:00

Kristin Rebien

Assistant Professor

Department of European Studies

San Diego State University

5500 Campanile Drive

San Diego, CA 92182-7704

Office: EBA 300C

http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~krebien/Profile/Faculty_Profile.html

K. REBIEN

Jewish Film Class Open to MALASheads!

2012-01-03T12:43:00.000-08:00

click here for more info....

Teaching Opportunity for MALAS Graduate Students

2012-01-03T08:43:00.000-08:00

From: cty-summer
Subject: Summer Teaching Opportunities with the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth
Date: December 22, 2011 5:36:39 AM PST

Dear Department Chair, Program Director, and/or Coordinator:

I am writing to let you know about an excellent summer employment opportunity for individuals who are interested in teaching writing. The Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth seeks exceptional instructional staff for its summer programs. CTY provides intensive course work in the liberal arts for talented pre-collegiate students ages 8 to 18 in grades 2 to 12. We have a strong writing program that includes both critical and creative writing courses.

Details of our instructor and teaching assistant positions are below. Please forward this information to faculty, as well as graduate and undergraduate students, in your department. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us via email atctysummer@jhu.edu or by calling (410) 735-6185.

Sincerely,

Boyd White
Assistant Director, Summer Academic Programs
WRITING TEACHING OPPORTUNITIES
SUMMER 2012
Who:
Johns Hopkins University – Center for Talented Youth
We seek enthusiastic writing instructors and teaching assistants to work in our summer programs for gifted elementary, middle, and high school students. CTY offers intense, 3-week academic programs for highly talented students from across the country and around the world.

Where:
We have residential sites located in California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Washington. We have day sites for commuters located in the Baltimore, Washington DC, Los Angeles, and San Diego areas.

When:
Session 1: June 24 – July 13
Session 2: July 15 – August 3
Instructors and teaching assistants can work one or two sessions.
Note: Three of our sites in California have different dates. At our program at Maranatha High School in Pasadena, session 1 runs from June 16 – July 6, and session 2 runs from July 7 – July 27. At our programs at the University of California at Santa Cruz and Stanford University in Palo Alto, session 1 runs from July 1 – July 20, and session 2 runs from July 22 – August 10.

Why:
CTY staff work with exceptional students, make contacts and friendships with dynamic colleagues, and gain valuable teaching experience in a rigorous academic setting.

Courses:
CTY offers critical and creative writing courses ranging from Writing and Reading Workshop (3rd and 4th grades) to Crafting the Essay(7th grade and above) to The Critical Essay: Popular Culture (7th grade and above) to Fiction and Poetry (7th grade and above). For a complete list of writing courses, their course descriptions, and sample syllabi, please visitwww.cty.jhu.edu/summer/employment/writing.html.
Salary:
Instructors start at $2,100 to $3,000 per 3-week session.
Teaching assistants start at $1,100 per 3-week session.
Room and board is provided at our residential sites.
Lunch is provided at our day sites.
TO DOWNLOAD AN APPLICATION AND LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR PROGRAMS AND SITES:
Please visit www.cty.jhu.edu/summer/employment, or contact us at (410) 735-6185 or ctysummer@jhu.edu.

Johns Hopkins University is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Women and minorities are encouraged to apply.

Spring 2012 Supplementary Listings Now LIVE!

2012-01-02T20:31:00.000-08:00

click the image below for the instalink...

For Spring 2012, MALAS is Out to ROCK!!! Check out our THEATRE and ART offerings here...

2012-01-01T12:37:00.000-08:00

click images to enlarge

Congratulations to our newest MALAS Graduates!

2011-12-06T16:14:00.001-08:00

MALAS Goes Kubrick...

2011-11-25T09:15:00.000-08:00

Dave Bowman: Open the pod bay doors, HAL.
HAL: I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.
Dave Bowman: What's the problem?
HAL: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.
Dave Bowman: What are you talking about, HAL?
HAL: This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.
Dave Bowman: I don't know what you're talking about, HAL.
HAL: I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.
Dave Bowman: [feining ingorance] Where the hell did you get that idea, HAL?
HAL: Dave, although you took very thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.
Dave Bowman: Alright, HAL. I'll go in through the emergency airlock.
HAL: Without your space helmet, Dave? You're going to find that rather difficult.
Dave Bowman: HAL, I won't argue with you anymore! Open the doors!
HAL: Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.

Calling All MALAS Graduate Students! Easy MONEY!!

2011-11-22T14:48:00.001-08:00

I hope all of our MALAS graduate students will consider sharing their work at this upcoming SDSU SRS conference! More info here:

http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~gra/grad/research/researchopps.html

...or hit this image to make it grow...

MALAS/SDSU HONORS LECTURE ON ITALIAN AMERICAN SUBJECTIVITY AND JOHN FANTE

2011-11-13T12:19:00.001-08:00

CLICK TO ENLARGE

New Spring 2012 MALAS Seminar | Voyeurism and Surveillance: American Panopticons

2011-11-03T15:43:00.000-07:00

updated syllabus link

Voyeurism & Surveillance:

American Panopticons

alternate title: American Panopticons: Voyeurism, Surveillance, and Televisual Subjectity in Literature, Film, Photography, and Art of the Americas

Spring 2012 | English 725 SEMINAR | Dr. William A. Nericcio, Professor, English & Comp Lit/Director, MALAS

In Spring 2011, my esteemed colleague, Professor Quentin Bailey, taught a memorable seminar for the English and Comparative Literature graduate program entitled "Police and Panopticons." It is in that vein, but with a decidedly different line-up of texts, that I now propose to teach a seminar on Voyeurism and Surveillance entitled "American Panopticons." Please don't tell Dr. Bailey that I stole his idea; he may set those aforementioned police on my tail. Seriously, when it comes to the dizzying mirror of the panopticon, invented by Brit polymath Jeremy Bentham in 1791, there is plenty of good material on both sides of the Atlantic, and so it is that in my first American Literature graduate seminar in ages, I turn my eye to Uncle Sam's mirror and to the cultural space of the United States with a course focused on seeing, subjectivity, television, film, art, and more.

The book, art, and film list is tentative, but should probably include Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon, Robert Storr et al's Gary Panter, Ira Levin's The Stepford Wives, Oliver Mayer's The Hurt Business, yours truly's Tex[t]-Mex, Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49, Gilbert Hernandez's Human Diastrophism, David Lynch's Blue Velvet, Nathanael West's Day of the Locust, Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, Chris Ware's Acme Novely Library, Walker Percy's The Moviegoer, Hal Hartley's Flirt, John Kennedy Toole's Confederacy of Dunces, Klaus Honnef's Andy Warhol and Sophia Coppola's Somewhere. Photography by Diane Arbus, essays by Susan Sontag, Frantz Fanon, and Michel Foucault, and more will supplement our main readings/screenings/sightings.

Through all of these masterworks lurks a deep and abiding curiosity about screens, representations, subjectivity, simulacra, celebrity, and mimesis. The goal of our seminar will be to give ourselves over to a kind of intellectual scopophilia, a libidinally-laced "satisfaction derived principally from looking."

update

the working logo for the class syllabus...

The MALAS Self-Study Document is Now LIVE

2011-10-25T19:10:00.000-07:00

Faculty, Graduate Students, and Friends,

I am happy to announce that the self-study report for MALAS, the Master of Art in Liberal Arts and Sciences is now part of the public record. Feel free to peruse it at your leisure by clicking the image opposite, but do beware: you are linking to a 74megabyte file!

MALAS and the San Diego LATINO FILM FESTIVAL | DEL AMOR Y OTROS DEMONIOS

2011-10-08T11:52:00.000-07:00

more info...

Steve Jobs, redux, via WALT MOSSBERG

2011-10-06T11:15:00.000-07:00

"He lived at the intersection
of technology and liberal arts."

Walt Mossberg on Steve Jobs

MALAS--the MA in Curiosity for the "Crazy Ones" | The Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences Pays Tribute to Apple's STEVE JOBS

2011-10-06T05:22:00.000-07:00

MFAC: The MALAS Faculty Advisory Cohort Formed!

2011-10-05T15:46:00.000-07:00

Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2011 16:46:04 -0700
To: Paul Wong & Linda Holler, DEANS, CAL
From: Bill Nericcio
Subject: MALAS Faculty Advisory Cohort

Deans Wong and Holler,

With the MALAS self-study in the can and preparations
fully in the works for the visit of the external review team,
I thought it prudent to form a MALAS Faculty Advisory
Cohort (MFACS) to assist the me as we move forward
with the program--this was actually a suggestion made in
the 2003 MALAS self-study that had never been implemented,
so it seemed the perfect timing to put this team of interdisciplinary
and cross-disciplinary afficionados together.

The exercise of authoring the self-study has convinced me of the
value of MALAS to the College of Arts and Letters and I am
very much looking forward to the findings of Professors
Djlal Kadir (Penn State) and Maribel Alvarez (Arizona),
in addition to those of Lei Guang (Director, Asian Studies),
who is also on the review team, when they visit Thursday
and Friday, October 20th and 21st.

The members of the MALAS Faculty Advisory Cohort
include the following members of the CAL faculty:

Huma Ahmed-Ghosh
Professor and Chair, Women's Studies

Stuart C. Aitken
Professor and Chair, Geography

James Gerber
Professor and Director, International Business

Seth Mallios
Professor and Chair, Anthropology

Harry Polkinhorn
Professor, English and Comparative Literature
Director, SDSU Press

David Kamper
Associate Professor and Chair, American Indian Studies

Ghada Osman
Associate Professor and Chair, Linguistics

Dr. Joseph Andrew Smith
Associate Professor, Classics and Humanities

Edward J. Blum
Associate Professor, History

Peter Atterton
Associate Professor, Philosophy

Roberto D. Hernández
Assistant Professor, Chicana/o Studies

Yetta Howard
Assistant Professor, English & Comparative Literature

Recent developments in the humanities, best evidenced
in the work of the American Studies Association, the
American Comparative Literature Association, the Modern
Language Association, and the Cultural Studies Association,
convince me that interdisciplinary studies and cultural
studies are dynamic, contemporary fields and that
MALAS should continue to evolve as part of this trend.

Yours,

Dr. William A. Nericcio
Director, MALAS

Music and the Sciences! MALASheads! Spread the Word! "Sync or Swarm - The Complex Dynamics of Improvisation and Influence" The Bronowski Art & Science Forum

2011-09-30T10:36:00.000-07:00

MALAS IS SPREADING THE WORD ABOUT COOL UCSD LIT DOINGS: Raúl Zurita | Friday, September 30, 2011 5:00 p.m.

2011-09-27T14:37:00.000-07:00

MALAS! Co-sponsor of a cutting-edge mini-conference focused on Latina/o Cultural Studies | September 8, 2011 | Gustavo Arellano, Bill Nericcio, Josh Kun, and Los Hollywood

2011-09-06T19:20:00.000-07:00

Colleagues, Friends, Former and Future Students!

I hope your new semester is off to a bang!
I am writing to invite you and to invite you to....

CHICANOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
a latina/o cultural studies event at the
CENTRO CULTURAL DE LA RAZA, Balboa Park
this coming Thursday night...

...the details in plaintext appear below,
links for the cyberdigirati are here and here...

CHICANOHOLICS
ANONYMOUS
featuring Gustavo Arellano,
Josh Kun, Los Hollywood
y mucho mas MORE!

Thursday, September 8, 2011 @ 8pm
This party/gala/fiesta celebrates
"Mextasy: Seductive Hallucinations of Latina/o Mannequins
Prowling the American Unconscious" showing at the Centro
Cultural de la Raza, Balboa Park, September 1st through the 10nth.

There will be readings, performances, book-signings,
live-music, and more, more, more:

GUSTAVO ARELLANO, of ASK A MEXICAN fame!

JOSH KUN, author of AUDIOTOPIA and Communications profe from USC

BILL NERICCIO, author of Tex[t]-Mex and infamous
San Diego Chicanoholic 12-step Mextasy addict

& providing live music... LOS HOLLYWOOD!!!!

more info:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=102723999824760

https://bitly.com/chicanoholics_anonymous

Chicanoholics Anonymous is an part of
the MALAS Program's Arts Outreach Initiative--
tying together SDSU with the great San Diego
community. It is hosted by the one and only
Centro Cultural de la Raza and co-sponsored
by San Diego State University Press, pacificREVIEW:
a West Coast Arts Review Annual; Hyperbole Books;
the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS@ SDSU),
and the Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences, "The
MA in Curiosity @ SDSU"

map:

View Larger Map

Fall 2011 MALAS COURSE DESCRIPTIONS!

2011-07-26T14:22:00.000-07:00

Fall 2011 MALAS COURSE DESCRIPTIONS!

MALAS 600B "Technosexualities" with Professor Bill Nericcio
course description

MALAS 600C "Comparative Approaches to Cities" with Professor Kate Swanson
course description

MALAS 600D "Moral Courage: Prison Literatures" with Professor Chris Frost
course description

updated

Inspiration via IRA GLASS

2011-07-26T12:59:00.001-07:00

MALAS Invites You to a Comic-Con/Latina/o Studies Event!!! Cartoonista with LALO ALCARAZ!

2011-07-21T14:21:00.001-07:00

click to make muy, muy grande!

For more info--hit the CENTRO CULTURAL website!

MALAS LOGO Courtesy of Ryan Frease's Incredible Designhaus!

2011-07-20T10:31:00.000-07:00

click to enlarge; source.

Fall 2011 Supplementary List of Authorized MALAS Classes and Seminars is now LIVE!

2011-06-28T17:10:00.000-07:00

Click for instant tele-transportation!

New Look for Old MALAS Logo...

2011-06-27T13:21:00.000-07:00

CultureLab: Arnie, damaged brains and lost selves at film festival

2011-06-26T15:03:00.000-07:00

CultureLab: Arnie, damaged brains and lost selves at film festival

Logo Test

2011-06-22T12:17:00.001-07:00

Varmints! Varmints!

2011-06-14T11:52:00.000-07:00

New Coupon! Forward to Prospective MALASheads!

2011-06-13T16:50:00.001-07:00

Mark Your Calendars! Fall 2012 Marks the 25th Anniversary of the Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences at SDSU!

2011-06-03T13:26:00.000-07:00

Fall 1987 ~ Fall 2012

25 Years of Interdisciplinary Brilliance @ SDSU

Lecture on Neurobiology and Art History: A Sciences/Arts Fusion Hosted by the Systems Neurobiology Lab, Salk Institute, and UCSD | Thursday Night, June 2, 2011 @ 7pm

2011-05-30T08:59:00.000-07:00

Though MALAS loves its beautiful roost on Montezuma Mesa @ SDSU, we are not so limited in our curiosity that we eschew other local area research institutions like the Salk Institute and UCSD; so it is that I invite you to consider attending a lecture next Thursday, June 2, 2011 on Art History and Neurobiology--find out more and get free tickets for the event here.

Technosexualities, Fall 2011 MALAS Seminar

2011-05-27T13:11:00.000-07:00

Imagine a class the blends late-breaking theoretical and artistic developments from women's studies, ethnic studies, art history, gaming, literature, philosophy, cinema and you get 'technosexualities'.... more on this new seminar breaking this August.... click the image for more...

CDR! A New Illustrator Added to the MALAS Visual Collage

2011-05-26T11:17:00.000-07:00

illustration by CDR

Test Logos For Fall 2011 | MALAS/M.A.L.A.S | The Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences @ SDSU

2011-05-25T07:41:00.000-07:00

Indigenous people prepare to celebrate the 50 years of Indigenous Park of the Xingu

2011-05-17T13:54:00.000-07:00

One of our cool incoming new MALAS students is up to great good in South America.... check out the press release!

Indigenous people prepare to celebrate the 50 years of Indigenous Park of the Xingu

The Festival of Cultures will gather all the 16 ethnic groups of the Indigenous Park of the Xingu, between 10 and 12 June, in the village Ipavu, of Kamaiurá people, in the upper Xingu

Fernanda Bellei, ISA

Dances, traditional games, like Huka Huka, tug of war and archery, film screenings and debates about politics for indigenous peoples as well as reflections on the history of the Indigenous Park of the Xingu will mark the 1° Festival of Cultures of Xingu, in celebration 50 years of creation of the park. The event is hosted by the Xingu Indigenous Land Association (ATIX), in partnership with other indigenous associations of Xingu, and has the support of the Instituto de Pesquisa Etno Ambiental do Xingu (IPEAX) Xingu-regional coordination of Fundação Nacional do Índio (Funai) and Instituto Socioambiental (ISA).

Kumaré Ikpeng, one of the organizers, of the Ikpeng people, says that this will be an important moment for the Xingu people. "During the festival, we will make a political reflection on the 50-year existence of the Indigenous Park of the Xingu and its future prospects. This celebration will be a milestone because it recovers our history since the time of contact until the present day and reflects the changes we have been through here".

The event also has the support of the companies Ecoar Comunicação, O2 Filmes, Funai, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and local business. For details of the event and the organization, visit our blog: www.xingu50anos.org.br.

Indigenous Park of the Xingu
The Indigenous Park of the Xingu was created in April 1961, as a result of several years of work and political struggle. The park is recognized by UNESCO as an important set of cultural and linguistic diversity and was the first major indigenous land demarcation in Brazil. Its creation involved the Villas Boas brothers and important personalities such as Marechal Rondon, Darcy Ribeiro, Noel Nutels and Café Filho, among others.

"Child plays at the Mawaiaka lagoon during Kuarup celebrations,
at Kamaiurá village. Photo: Marcello Casal Jr."

Today, more than six thousand indians live in the park. The south area of the park, known as the “upper Xingu”, due to the geographical point, is home for the following peoples: Aweti, Kalapalo Kamaiurá, Kuikuro, Matipu, Mehinako, Nahukuá, Naruvotu, Wuaja and Yawalapiti. In the “middle Xingu”, live the Trumai, Ikpeng, Kaiabi and Kamaiurá peoples and at lower Xingu live the Ikpeng, Kaiabi and Yudjá. The east is home for the Kisêdjê (also know as Suya) and Tapayuna peoples.

The celebration of 50 years of Indigenous Park of the Xingu has different meanings for these peoples, who faced conflicts and changes of land and then settle. To Ianukulá Kaiabi Suya, coordination assistant of Funai, in Canarana - a city in the state of Mato Grosso, close to the park - the event is an opportunity to rethink the relation between the Xingu and the world of non-Indians. "We must think about the years to come, because the changes come at a very fast pace, which makes us wonder whether we are prepared to face the pressure that we are suffering. We feel the obligation of following the speed of things that are happening in Brazil and worldwide. Reconciling this speed in the world of non-Indians and keep our traditions is a challenge for us all".

Ianukulá also talks about the park's boundaries and territorial loss of the ethnic groups. "The park is a large territory, but it is too small if we compare it to the traditional area, which previously had no borders and our natural wealth had no limits. Xingu is a symbol of conservation, at least inside of it, culturally and environmentally".

"Dance in honor of the dead during Kuarup celebrations, at Kamaiurá village.
Photo: Marcello Casal Jr."

Winti Kisêdjê, president of Indian Association Kisêdjê (AIK), says that it is an especial opportunity to gather all the ethinic groups to think about the future of Xingu. "The 50 years festival is important to us, because it is a chance to analyse the political problems within the Xingu and outside of it as well. I hope this will help us build a single policy and unite the Xingu peoples".

Andre Villas-Boas, coordinator of the Xingu Program, from ISA, explains that the creation of the park was a 'social engineering'. "The creation of Indigenous Park of the Xingu resulted in the concentration of groups of different ethinc origin within one single area and the release of the remaining land for the occupation on the regional context. It was a social engineering. Its boundaries were not discussed with indigenous peoples, and it was not the result of an anthropological report. There were no studies of the traditional forms of occupation to set the limits. At that time, it was merely an interpretation".

Xingu numbers

16 ethnic groups: Kuikuro, Kalapalo, Matipu, Nahukuá, Mehinako, Waurá (Waujá), Aweti, Kamaiurá, Trumai, Yawalapiti, Kisêdjê (Suya), Kawaiwetê (Kaiabi), Ikpeng (Txicão), Yudja (Juruna), Naruvotu and Tapayuna.
14 languages: Kamaiurá and Kaiabi (Tupi-Guarani family); Juruna (Juruna family); Aweti (Aweti family); Mehinako, Wauja and Yawalapiti (Aruák family); Kalapalo, Ikpeng, Kuikuro, Matipu, Nahukwá and Naruvotu (Karíb family); Suyá e Tapayuna (Jê family); Trumai (isolated language).
Population: 6.152 people (Funasa, 2009)
Area: 2,6 million hectares

Links:
ISA: http://www.socioambiental.org/e/
Xingu: http://pib.socioambiental.org/en/povo/xingu/1539

MALAS Helps Sponsor Suzan-Lori Parks @ SDSU | May 4, 2011

2011-05-10T10:12:00.000-07:00

5/3/11

more info

5/10/11

Update! The Reviews of the SUSAN LORI PARKS gig are in!

-- From Director of the TTF Randy Reinholz, emailed as the event was in progress: "What a great night we are having with SLP."

-- From Professor Margaret Larlham: "What a triumph for all!"

-- From Professor Peter Cirino: "Many of my students attended and were completely impressed with her. They couldn't stop talking about her."

-- From San Diego theatre critic Pat Launer: "What an inspiring speech! It was better than a commencement speech."

-- From Grad Student Alex Matsuo: "Today was a GREAT day. Suzan-Lori Parks was so amazing and inspiring!"

-- From Undergrad Courtney Howard: "my new response to those asking if I am nervous about graduating and moving to Los Angeles... 'it hasn't occurred to me to be afraid yet.' (quote from Suzan-Lori Parks, my new girl crush)"

-- From alumni Patrick Kelly: "Suzan-Lori Parks was so inspiring last night, I am now planning on spending some of my weekend trip to Joshua Tree meditating on my art :-)"

-- From a lower-division student in my 100-level class: "Wow. What can i say except what an inspirational human being. I didn't know anything about this woman before going to the Don Powell theatre, and leaving I knew a lot about her, and even more about myself."

-- And a facebook status from alumni Derek Smith: "Suzan-Lori Parks was the best."

MALAS is proud to have co-sponsored this remarkable campus event!

MALAS Thesis/Project Guide

2011-05-08T18:28:00.000-07:00

Fall 2011 MALAS Seminar: On Moral Courage: With Notes from a Prison Cell | Professor Chris Frost

2011-05-05T13:59:00.001-07:00

click to enlarge

Myriam Gurba @ SDSU | sponsored by MALAS and Robotic, Erotic, Electric {engl 220}

2011-04-26T13:47:00.000-07:00

sponsored by MALAS and Robotic, Erotic, Electric

MALAS is Helping to Cross-Promote the Annual SDSU Burnett Lecture | Helen Morales on Scandal and the Artist's Model

2011-04-25T09:46:00.000-07:00

click to enlarge

From: Rebecca Moore
Subject: Burnett Lecture this Friday at 1:30 p.m.
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2011 08:33:14 -0700
To: calfolk

Dear Colleagues,

You are all invited to attend the 42nd Annual Gail A. Burnett Lecture in Classics on April 29, at 1:30 p.m. in Hardy Tower 140.
Dr. Helen Morales of U.C. Santa Barbara will discuss “Celebrity, Scandal, and the Artist’s Model: Ancient Answers to Modern Dilemmas.”

The lecture examines the stories and anecdotes told about Phryne, a celebrity prostitute said to have lived in the 4th century BCE and to have been the model for the notorious statue, Aphrodite of Cnidos. Dr. Morales argues that Phryne’s exploits allow for reflection upon questions that were important in the ancient world and are still urgent today: In what ways are images powerful? How should God be represented? What is the model’s role in the creative process?

Dr. Morales has authored Classical Mythology: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford 2007), has edited Petronius Satyricon (Penguin forthcoming), and is the author of Pilgrimage to Dollywood (Chicago, forthcoming).

The event is sponsored by the Department of Classics and Humanities at San Diego State University. It is free and open to the public. Refreshments follow the lecture.

Rebecca Moore
Chair, Department of Religious Studies
Interim Chair, Department of Classics
and Humanities
San Diego State University

MALAS Approved Summer Graduate Courses

2011-04-15T18:25:00.000-07:00

click to enlarge or go here for the SDSU Summer 2011 schedule...

Be aware that all of these classes have prerequisites--write the individual professors, identify yourself as a graduate student in the MALAS program, and get clearance to take these seminars! Cheers, your fearless leader,

Bill Nericcio
Director, MALAS

ps: Thanks to new, incoming Fall 2011 MALAShead, Francisco Miramontes, for spelunking the meager SDSU summer course listings--let me know if you run across a killer summer SDSU course, 500-level and above, that should be added to this list. Who belongs on the list? Top-shelf professors teaching cutting edge topics regardless of field... That's the MALAS credo, "always curious, always learning"...

the OBSCENE machine: Lyle the Robot

2011-04-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

the OBSCENE machine: Lyle the Robot

a short film by MALAS coordinator McHANK!

MALAS is Remodeling for the Spring!

2011-03-23T08:09:00.000-07:00

out with the old cellular motif...

in with the new neuron-driven look...

MALAS Helping Bring SAM QUINONES to SDSU...

2011-03-22T16:19:00.001-07:00

click to enlarge

MALAS touts FULBRIGHTS! Apply Today!

2011-03-22T16:05:00.001-07:00

click to enlarge

Great Lecture on Tijuana Wednesday @ USD! Paul Vanderwood and "Satan's Playground"

2011-03-16T13:36:00.001-07:00

More info!

Click to enlarge!

MALAS Professor YALE STROM: In Concert

2011-03-03T12:27:00.001-08:00

MALAS Co-Sponsors Arts Event in San Ysidro, California

2011-02-28T10:08:00.001-08:00

Calling All MALAS Geniuses! Can you say TRAVEL?! Stardom!? (well, at least, ACADEMIC stardom!)...

2011-02-15T10:38:00.001-08:00

INFO on REGISTRATION, ETC here:

http://www.sfu.ca/gls/symposium/

Dear MALASgrad STARS,

The MALAS program may be able to cover

$200 or so of your travel expenses if you submit

a proposal and are invited to this conference!

GO FOR IT....

A tip--especially for those of you using MALAS

SDSU as a gateway to a PhD program: giving talks

at international conferences makes a BIG difference

when folks review your CV/curriculum vita!

Cheers,

Bill Nericcio

Guru/Ringleader, MALAS

ps: click the image for details below!

Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2011 22:20:34 -0800 (PST)

From: jeroen pinckaers <jeroenpinckaers AT yahoo DOT com>

Subject: Fw: Erratum & questions arising

To: memo@sdsu.edu

hi Bill

I got another email from the organizers of the conference.

Jeroen

--- On Mon, 2/14/11, Michael Kenny <kenny@sfu.ca> wrote:

From: Michael Kenny <kenny AT sfu DOT ca>

Subject: Erratum & questions arising

Date: Monday, February 14, 2011, 9:26 PM

hello again:

please replace the last 'call-for-papers.pdf' with the current one, which includes Reed among the participating institutions.

A couple of questions have come up in response to the previous post:

a) are GLS alumni welcome to submit paper proposals: Yes indeed!

b) is there a central theme for the symposium: No; experience suggests that

submissions will fall into logical groups of their own accord, and that a

thematic approach might prove too restrictive.

Also, the SFU symposium web-site is not quite in its final form with regard to registration & accommodations. I will let you know when that's achieved, which should be shortly. Meanwhile, the main business at hand is assembling and evaluating paper proposals.

cheers:

m.kenny

Remember! MALAS Graduate Students Share an iPad that can be checked out!

2011-01-24T15:15:00.000-08:00

See McHank, our groovy administrative coodinator

in Nasitir Hall for all the particulars:

Location: Nasatir Hall 203

Office Hours: 8:30 am - 4:30 pm, Monday - Friday

Phone: (619) 594-4826

Fax: (619) 594-1325

Mail Code: 4423

RELIGION and MUSIC, Spring 2011 | A MALAS Seminar with Yale Strom

2011-01-03T09:22:00.000-08:00

SPRING 2011
MALAS 600D
SEM: RELIGION AND MUSIC
Sched# 21847
Seminar 4:00pm-6:40pm
MCSQ-202
YALE STROM
(more on Strom and his band here)

The Hebrew/Christian bible mentions the importance of music as early as Genesis 4:21, which tells of Jubal, the son of Lamech, who played the flute and harp. This class will explore three major religions and their musics: Judasim (Khasidism), Islam (Sufism) and Christianity (Eastern Orthodox). The founder of the Khasidic movement, Rabbi Israel Eliezer, said: “Khasidim say that this daily procession of children singing was as pleasing to the Almighty as was the singing of the Levites in the Temple.” The great Sufi mystic and poet Jalauddin Rumi said: "Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened; don't open the door to the study and begin reading, instead take down a musical instrument. Let the beauty we love be what we do." And the development of Christian music in the form of the canon by Saints John of Damascus and Kosmas of Jerusalem (both eighth century) became an essential part of the orthodox liturgy through today. In the class "Religion and Music" we will study historical texts, musical examples and screen films. Students will learn how music has been an important and vital spiritual art form of religion in the past and present times and how some of these musical genres have crossed over to popular culture throughout the world.

Course Reading Will Be From: Rock & Roll Jihad: A Muslim’s Rock Star’s Revolution, by Salman Ahmad, An Introduction to the Orthodox Christian Churches by John Binns, The Book of Klezmer by Yale Strom, and Hasidism: The Movement and its Masters” by Harry M. Rabinowicz.

Let's Bring Ben Goldacre to Give a MALAS Lecture @ SDSU! Who is in?

2010-12-24T08:42:00.000-08:00

source: boingboing.net

MALAS' Style of Cultural Anthropologist! Genevieve Bell from the pages of FORTUNE MAGAZINE | byline Michael V. Copeland

2010-12-14T13:33:00.000-08:00

Friends of MALAS, what do you think about inviting Dr. Bell to lecture here at SDSU in the Spring or Fall of 2011?! Let me know what you think on our Facebook page. Happy Holidays!

Rodchenko Inspired MALAS Logo

2010-12-14T07:00:00.000-08:00

MALAS is EVOLVING...

2010-12-10T12:10:00.001-08:00

An adaptation of a cool graphic (and a cooler t-shirt!) by Jeremy Kalgreen.

Coral McFarland Concert @ SDSU | Co-sponosored by MALAS! | November 30, 2010

2010-12-03T15:15:00.000-08:00

Here is short video from the Coral McFarland concierto on the sixth floor of Arts and Letters! MALAS is proud to have co-sponsored such a cool cultural arts event! Pictures from the concert follow below...

New Spring 2011 Supplemental MALAS Courses Listed!

2010-11-26T12:22:00.001-08:00

Click the image above to be instantly teleported to the supplemental class listings!

Candid Shots from MALAS 600A Symposium: Party Power

2010-11-17T08:43:00.000-08:00

With Classics and Humanities Professor Joseph Smith's course on Symposium: Party Power coming to an end in a couple of weeks, this is the best time to share some candid spy shots taken during a recent seminar on Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast.

¡RADICALLY CHICana/o! A New MALAS Seminar Taught by Professor Daniel Widener! Spring 2011

2010-11-15T22:13:00.000-08:00

MALAS 600A | SPRING 2011

RADICALLY CHICana/o

Next-Generation Ethnic
American Cultural Studies

MALAS 600A Section:1 | Units:3 Schedule # 21845 | Seats:25 Meetings: 4:00pm-6:40pm, Tuesdays | PSFA 113

DO YOU?

Think Mil Mascaras is a beauty product?

Think Subcommandante Ramona is an east county realtor?

Confuse Anthony Ortega and Anthony Quinn?

Confuse Dolores and Vanessa del Rio?

Do you think Santeria is a Sublime song?

Do you think Salt of the Earth is an organic food product?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, please enroll IMMEDIATELY in Radically CHICano/a—Next Gen Ethnic American Cultural Studies. The course serves as an emergency tutorial in the politics of Mexican American culture. Our course is intended for anyone with an interest in how art can lead to social change, or simply wants to learn about ideas, behaviors, and images that are likely to dominate California for generations to come. The course is open to our fantabulous MALAS graduate students but graduate students and advanced undergraduates from Chicana/o Studies, Africana Studies, Women's Studies and other departments across the College of Arts and Letters are encouraged to add this innovative course to their package of Spring 2011 delights.

From Mexican Muralism to Lucha Libre (Professional Wrestling,) with stopovers for Political Posters, Customized Cars, Hip Hop, the EZLN, Graffiti, Donald Duck comic books, and Charlton Heston films, our course will jaywalk through the intersection of revolutionary aesthetics and aesthetic revolution. Along the way, we will ask questions like A) what does expressive culture tell us about Chicano/a identity and politics? B) are ideas like cultural imperialism and cultural resistance still helpful? Were they ever? C) what is this “Mexican” in Mexican-American, and how has it incorporated African Americans, whites, Asians, and other Latinos? D) and what’s up with all those skeletons, anyhow? Course texts will include avant-garde films, scathing novels, and barrio walls, though the precise names of each remain to be determined.

{editor/MALAS Director's note: Dr. Daniel Widener has been raided from his usual intellectual hive, UCSD, for this special MALAS class; Widener "teaches African American history, cultural studies, and twentieth-century political radicalism. He began his educational career at the Echo Park-Silverlake Peoples’ Childcare Center. He studied at Berkeley and New York University. He has written on the politics of black culture in postwar Los Angeles, black-Latino and Afro-Asian issues, and the Korean War."More on this dynamic southern California thinker is here. You can check out his new book and more here.}

Spring 2011 MALAS Seminar with Peter Atterton @ SDSU | Decomposing the Human

2010-11-09T11:42:00.000-08:00

click either image to enlarge or go here for more info.

click to enlarge!

Eyegiene: The Televisual Age of Sex and Race: What Are You Up To on November 19, 2010 at 10am!? ...

2010-11-04T13:42:00.000-07:00

Eyegiene: The Televisual Age of Sex and Race: What Are You Up To on November 19, 2010 at 10am!? ...: "I am going to be delivering a piece from my new book EYEGIENE as part of a lecture series at the San Diego Museum of Art, SDMA on the morni..."

Spring 2011 MALAS Classes Now LIVE! The Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences, San Diego State University

2010-11-03T18:51:00.000-07:00

Hit the image below for details; course descriptions coming SOON!

Blasts From the Past! MALAS Courses Taught by Joseph Thomas and Joanna Brooks at SDSU

2010-10-29T09:56:00.001-07:00

Hit either image below and you'll be instantly transported to a land filled with more info on these cool past class offerings that fused literature, cultural studies, and the avant-garde!

MALAS Co-hosts JULIA ALVAREZ @ SDSU, Monday, November 15, 2010 | MALAS Lectures ROCK!

2010-10-29T09:29:00.000-07:00

MALAS is NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS from NEW, COOL, HIP, GENIUS future MALASheads! Click the Image for the Skinny!

2010-10-10T18:18:00.000-07:00

Specific MALAS program info is here: http://malas.sdsu.edu/index_home.html#admissions

MALAS Redesign!

2010-10-08T07:28:00.000-07:00

What do you think of our new Logo? :-0

Reminder! Julia Alvarez Coming To SDSU | CoSponsor? MALAS!

2010-10-07T06:14:00.001-07:00

MALAS LOGO Out and About...

2010-10-06T15:36:00.000-07:00

A Hint Regarding our Spring 2011 Roster of Classes!

2010-10-02T17:27:00.001-07:00

Official Admissions Information: MALAS | The Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences

2010-09-25T21:53:00.001-07:00

Brilliant Video! An Idea Placeholder for the MALAS mediaPOD

2010-09-24T07:34:00.000-07:00

update!

thanx to L.P.T.-Dean, below who tipped me to this update video....

Film from the MALAS Gala!

2010-09-16T17:24:00.000-07:00

Here are two films from the MALAS gala! You can also peruse snapshots of the gala here.

live shots from the MALAS gala, fall, 2010 from Tex[t] Mex on Vimeo.

think tank (matthew swanson and ian kesterson) @ the MALAS gala, Fall 2010 from Tex[t] Mex on Vimeo.

At Today's Gala, I will be excited to introduce the debut of the MALAS mediaPOD!!!! Featuring our new MALAS iPad!

2010-09-03T10:06:00.001-07:00

MALAS Co-Sponsoring JULIA ALVAREZ @ SDSU in November

2010-08-23T16:01:00.001-07:00

Fall Redecorating at malas.blogspot.com

2010-08-20T23:10:00.001-07:00

A List to Welcome New MALAS Graduate Students!

2010-08-09T11:58:00.000-07:00

thanks to SDSU Lit Alum, Professor Michael Harper for the link.

Toying with new logos....

2010-08-07T19:30:00.000-07:00

MALA/MALAS Alumnus, Dante Cosentino, on the Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences at SDSU

2010-08-04T17:20:00.000-07:00

Dante Cosentino, MALAS Alumnus, The Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences

MALAS's Kind of Thinking! Brian Greene on Science

2010-07-21T09:19:00.000-07:00

MALAS 2010! We Will Rock You!

2010-07-20T15:51:00.001-07:00

Check out our Fall courses here!

We're Changing Education One Master's Degree at a Time...

2010-07-19T12:17:00.000-07:00

Comparative Media Studies @ MIT | Cool! | What MALAS Can Be!

2010-07-11T16:28:00.001-07:00

Starts this WEDNESDAY!!!! MALAS a Co-Sponsor of Contemporary Women’s Writing: New Texts, Approaches, and Technologies, Spring 2010

2010-07-06T16:54:00.000-07:00

The Third Biennial International Conference of the Contemporary Women's Writing Network is going down July 2010 and MALAS is now one of its Sponsors! Cool! Hit this LINK for all the info!

Updated! Suggested Supplemental Classes for Fall 2010

2010-06-27T17:50:00.000-07:00

MALASheads! Great news! I have added some courses to your roster of super-special supplemental courses for Spring 2010--supplemental because it is KEY that our MALAS rank and file populate the seats of our MALAS named and numbered classes, first! However, we are reasonable at MALAS central and want your choices for courses to be eclectic, dynamic, and fun. Check it out--and if you sense there is a class that SHOULD be there and is NOT, hit me with an email!

What is MALAS @ SDSU?

2010-06-15T15:10:00.004-07:00

New Test Logo for the MALAS Program @ SDSU

2010-06-11T14:24:00.001-07:00

...oh and be sure to check out the new addition to our main website--a cool, retro, vhs-malas label image...

MALAS Students! How About a Fulbright!????

2010-06-11T13:20:00.000-07:00

Date: Fri, 11 Jun 2010 10:37:18 -0700 (PDT)
From: William Nericcio
To: "MALAS-HR":;
Subject: MALASheads! Headsup....: MALAS-HR

SDSU is sending more Fulbright Scholars abroad next year than ever before--9 SDSU Graduate Students and Undergraduates hit a big one out of the park and won these prestigious prizes for 2010-2011.

No reason MALAS gradaute students should not be winning these Fulbrights as well; the upside of going through the application process with Super Professor Pat Huckle? It is like a tutorial for HOW TO APPLY to anything for the rest of your life--she is that amazing! Read on....

Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2010 16:53:48 -0700
To: advisers, calfolk
From: Patricia Huckle
Subject: Summer Fulbright Sessions

Dear Colleagues:

To see the wonderful picture of Linda Richardson (Spain, flamenco) and story about the nine Student Fulbright grants, go here.

We have scheduled Student Fulbright Information Sessions (all from 4-530 p.m.):

Tuesday, June 22 in West Commons 201;
Thursday, July 22 in Arts and Letters 201;
Wednesday, July 28 in AL 201;
Tuesday, August 17 in AL 101;
Monday, August 23 in AL 201.

All are scheduled from 4-530 p.m. To reserve a space, go here.

Please encourage interested students to attend. Your support is crucial to the success of the Fulbright program on campus. Students may also contact me at: huckle@mail.sdsu.edu

Patricia Huckle, Prof. Emerita
SDSU Fulbright Adviser
AL 338

Yours,

Bill Nericcio, Director
MALAS

Looking for a Cultural Studies MA in Southern California or San Diego?

2010-06-09T10:22:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for an interdisciplinary, cultural studies program based out of Southern California, make it a point to research the most eclectic, dynamic, over-achieving master's degree program this side of the Mississippi: The Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences Program at San Diego State University. Click Michel Foucault's shining pate for more info or point your browser here.

Supplementary Fall 2010 MALAS Course Listings Have Just Gone Live

2010-06-04T21:45:00.000-07:00

click here for the link.

We Have Updated the MALAS Website!

2010-06-04T21:42:00.001-07:00

People are Flocking to MALAS...

2010-06-04T21:42:00.000-07:00

The graph to your left charts the rise of web-traffic for the West Coast's most eclectic Master of Arts in Liberal Arts programs--for the latest stats on our main website go here.

MALAS: The Master of Liberal Arts and Sciences, SDSU | Catalogue Copy

2010-06-01T14:49:00.000-07:00

SDSU GRADUATE BULLETIN 2008-2009

Liberal Arts and Sciences
In the College of Arts and Letters
OFFICE: Nasatir Hall 203
TELEPHONE: 619-594-4826 / FAX: 619-594-1325
E-MAIL:
http://www.malas.sdsu.edu
Director: William A. Nericcio
Program Coordinator: David McHenry

Participating Faculty

Susan E. Cayleff, Ph.D., Professor of Women’s Studies
Patricia J. Geist-Martin, Ph.D., Professor of Communication
Dipak K. Gupta, Ph.D., Professor of Political Science
D. Emily Hicks, Ph.D., Professor of English and Comparative Literature
and Chicana and Chicano Studies
Linda D. Holler, Ph.D., Professor of Religious Studies and Associate
Dean of the College of Arts and Letters
Alan E. Kilpatrick, Ph.D., Professor of American Indian Studies
William A. Nericcio, Ph.D., Professor of English and Comparative
Literature
Steven L. Barbone, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Philosophy
Jung Min Choi, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Sociology
Stephen A. Colston, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History
Elizabeth A. Colwill, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Women’s Studies
Sarah S. Elkind, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History
Ellen Quandahl, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Writing
Studies
Sandra A. Wawrytko, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Philosophy
Kathy S. Williams, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biology
Sthaneshwar Timalsina, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Religious
Studies

John and Jane Adams Endowment

John R. Adams was an esteemed faculty member of San Diego
State University from 1928 until his retirement in 1968, whereupon he
accepted the position of University Archivist. Dr. Adams was a
professor of English and chair of the Division of Humanities. He and
Jane Adams were generous benefactors to SDSU throughout their
lives and they established a Charitable Living Trust to be used to
promote liberal education. Today some of those funds are used in the
MALAS program to support graduate assistantships and to help pay
for academic retreats, workshops, and lectures. In addition, MALAS
has arrangements with two sister institutions, the University of
Maastricht in The Netherlands and Simon Fraser University in Canada,
to convene an annual conference that revolves among the three sites.
Funds from the Adams Endowment are used to send students to
present papers at Maastricht and Simon Fraser.

General Information

The College of Arts and Letters offers a flexible multidisciplinary
master’s degree in the liberal arts and sciences. An alternative
approach to traditional graduate education, the program consists of
coursework that crosses disciplinary boundaries so as to better
appreciate the richness of existence and begin to apply multiple perspectives
to the complex realities that face us. From explorations of
the human condition to the social impacts of technology, the program
focuses on issues central to the meaning and quality of our lives and
the creation of sustainable, just, communities.
In existence since 1987, the Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and
Sciences is equally well suited to students who recently achieved the
bachelor’s degree, students preparing for the Ph.D., professionals for
whom the master’s degree may mean promotion or career advancement,
and life-long learners in search of personal enrichment and
intellectual community. We welcome applications from K-12 teachers,
community activists, and policy makers.

MALAS draws upon SDSU faculty who are trained in disciplines
but whose teaching and scholarship makes connections across disciplines.
Interplays among the humanities, the social sciences, the
natural sciences, and the arts are taken up in four required courses.
These seminars seek to understand contemporary life and construct
positive futures but they also push the level of discourse to foundational
questions of epistemology and perennial philosophy, such as
the existence of truth, goodness, and beauty. Particular attention is
given to understanding the psychological, economic, and environmental
consequences of globalization, and to the ways that human
values are embodied in and transformed by modes of consumption,
labor, and material culture. The four core courses act to ground and
center five elective courses, selected by each student to customize a
program that captures his or her interests.

Admission to Graduate Study

In addition to satisfying the requirements for admission to the
university with classified graduate standing as described in Part Two
of this bulletin, the student seeking admission must: (1) have a grade
point average of 3.0 or better on work completed during the last 60
units for the baccalaureate degree, (2) have an acceptable score on
the GRE General Test (combined verbal and quantitative), and (3)
complete a statement of purpose essay. A personal interview with the
director is recommended.

Students applying for admission should electronically submit the
university application available at http://www.csumentor.edu along
with the $55 application fee.

All applicants must submit admissions materials separately to
SDSU Graduate Admissions and to Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and
Sciences.

Graduate Admissions

The following materials should be submitted as a complete
package directly to:

Graduate Admissions
Enrollment Services
San Diego State University
San Diego, CA 92182-7416

(1) Official transcripts (in sealed envelopes) from all
postsecondary institutions attended;

Note:

• Students who attended SDSU need only submit transcripts
for work completed since last attendance.

• Students with international coursework must submit both
the official transcript and proof of degree. If documents
are in a language other than English, they must be
accompanied by a certified English translation.

(2) GRE scores (http://www.ets.org, SDSU institution code 4682);

(3) TOEFL score, if medium of instruction was in a language other
than English (http://www.ets.org, SDSU institution code 4682).

Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences

The following materials should be submitted by November 1
(October 1 for international students) for admission for the spring
semester and May1 for the fall semester to:

William Nericcio, Director
Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences
San Diego State University
5500 Campanile Drive
San Diego, CA 92182-8137

(1) Statement of purpose essay
(2) Writing Sample (10 to 25 pages, maximum)
(3) A paragraph wherein you define your vision of interdisciplinary studies, liberal arts, the humanities or cultural studies.

Liberal Arts and Sciences
SDSU GRADUATE BULLETIN 2008-2009

Advancement to Candidacy

All students must satisfy the general requirements for
advancement to candidacy as described in Part Two of this bulletin. In
addition, the students must (1) satisfactorily complete 12 units, with a
minimum grade point average of 3.0, including 9 units of core
seminars as stipulated (MALAS 600A, 600B, 600C, 600D) and (2)
have a thesis or project proposal which has received the approval of
the Graduate Liberal Arts and Sciences Committee and its director.

Specific Requirements for the Master of
Arts Degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences
(Major Code: 49017)

In addition to meeting the basic requirements for the Master of Arts
degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences as described in Part Two of this
bulletin, the student must complete a graduate program of 30 units, 15
units of which must be in 600- and 700-level courses. Up to 15 units of
coursework can be taken at the 500-level. The total program includes:

1. MALAS 601 (3).
2. MALAS 600A, 600B, 600C, or 600D in any combination (9
units). Each course may be repeated once with new content
and, in excess of nine units, can be used for elective credit.
3. MALAS 799A (3): Thesis or Project.
4. 15 units of electives selected with approval of the MALAS director.

All programs must be approved by the MALAS director in consultation
with the Graduate Liberal Arts and Sciences Committee.
Courses Acceptable on Master’s Degree
Program in Liberal Arts and Sciences (MALAS)

Refer to Courses and Curricula and Regulations of the Division of Graduate
Affairs sections of this bulletin for explanation of the course numbering
system, unit or credit hour, prerequisites, and related information.

GRADUATE COURSES
MALAS 600. Interdisciplinary Study in Liberal Arts and
Sciences (3-3-3-3)
Prerequisite: Graduate standing.
MALAS seminars are divided into four general areas with content
that varies semester to semester. Each course may be repeated once
with new content. See Class Schedule for specific content. Maximum
credit six units for each of the following courses: MALAS 600A, 600B,
600C, 600D.
A. Cultural Studies
B. Science and Society, Environmental Studies
C. Globalization, Technology, Future Studies
D. Media Studies, Fine Arts, Transformative Arts

MALAS 601. Seminar in Interdisciplinary Thinking (3)
Prerequisites: Graduate standing.
Nature of interdisciplinary thinking. Ways of knowing and schools
of thought in multiple disciplines. Interdisciplinary methods to analyze
social issues. See Class Schedule for specific content.

MALAS 798. Special Study (3) Cr/NC/RP
Prerequisites: Graduate standing.
Individual study on a given topic through interdisciplinary
perspectives.

MALAS 799A. Thesis or Project (3) Cr/NC/RP
Prerequisites: An officially appointed thesis committee and
advancement to candidacy.
Preparation of a project or thesis for Master of Arts degree in
Liberal Arts and Sciences.

MALAS 799B. Thesis or Project Extension (0) Cr/NC
Prerequisites: Prior registration in Thesis or Project 799A with an
assigned grade symbol of RP.

Registration required in any semester or term following assignment
of RP in MALAS 799A in which the student expects to use the facilities
and resources of the university; also student must be registered in the
course when the completed thesis or project is granted final approval.

Fall 2010 MALAS Course Descriptions | An Amazing Menu of Courses

2010-05-10T13:11:00.000-07:00

Never before has the Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences hosted such a broad array of interdisciplinary courses--despite the budget cuts, despite the gloom and doom, MALAS is attempting to emerge, like some bizarre Phoenix, from the ashes, and promises to have on tap for Fall 2010 a veritable smorgasbord of intellectual delights.

MALAS 600A
Symposium: Party Power
Dr. Joseph Smith, Associate Professor, The Department of Classics and Humanities, SDSU

A deep meditation on the cultural institution of the symposium (> Lat. symposium > Gr. symposion, drinking together, a drinking party). With regard to symposia of the classical world, we’ll concern ourselves with who drank, what they drank, what they did while they were drinking, what they did after they drank all they could drink, and what happened in the cold, grey light of the next day. And then there’s Plato’s Symposium and Socrates to consider. That’s the guy who never seemed to get drunk, despite his intoxicating effect on his fellow symposiasts, and despite his satyr-like appetites. Plato’s Symposium commemorates Socrates (years after he had drunk hemlock), and we’ll consider the hangover that work has had on Western culture ever since. We’ll look for the persisting influence of the symposium and The Symposium (and we’ll find it in various and hugely diverse cultural expressions across Western history: literature and mass media, philosophy and religion, performing arts, and our own vintages). This semester-long dialogue will necessitate some unabashedly frank and profoundly revelatory conversations about the topic on the table within The Symposium–erotic love. So there: a seminar about wine and sex. See you this fall, Tuesday evenings @ 4:00pm. Till then, party on, Garth.

MALAS 600A | Sec 1 | SEM: SYMPOSIA PARTY POWER | 3 units | Sched#21800 | Seminar 4:00pm-6:40pm Tuesdays | SH-150 | DR. J. SMITH

MALAS 600D
The Rebel
Dr. Chris Frost, Associate Dean, Undergraduate Division, SDSU

Why consider the “Rebel” as a topic or theme worthy of study? I think the answer to that question is rooted in an understanding of rebellion as a response to the human condition (in general), and a reaction to oppressive conditions (in particular). Framed in this initial manner—the Rebel as an individual who challenges the conditions of existence—we derive a theme that transcends cultures and epochs (time and space), and a theme that transcends any specific arena of protest. Thus, we can select from a wide range of sources as we seek characters that rebel against social convention, against socially constructed boundaries defined by gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation, against moral codes that move toward moral sadism, and against unyielding social hierarchies. The principle is nonetheless constant: there exists a subset of individuals (or characters, in literature and film) who perceive the dominant values of a social, cultural, political or religious system as irreconcilable with their own individual values, social roles, moral codes, and mental schemes. On a different level, we encounter the notion of rebellion writ large: a revolt against a universe that gives rise to life and consciousness, but that fails to provide meaning and fails to preserve consciousness. Perhaps the ultimate existential irony is this: it is the emergence of consciousness that allows us to be aware of our own mortality, while failing to provide us any solution to that mortality. In a very real sense, this existential condition confronts us with absurdity at every turn: we are aware of our demise, but helpless to do anything about it; the universe is imbued with no system of meaning, but meaning seems essential. For some, even the quest for meaning is something of a rebellion—a revolt against meaninglessness.

MALAS 600D | SEM: THE REBEL | 3 units | Sched#21801 | Seminar 4:00pm-6:40pm WEDNESDAYS | WAD-223 | DR. C.FROST

MALAS 601
Seminar in Interdisciplinary Thinking/Bordered Bodies: Aliens, Women, Cyborgs, and More...
Victoria Gonzalez Rivera, PhD, Assistant Professor, The Department of Chicana/o Studies, SDSU

Our symbiotically fused Chicana/o Studies/MALAS seminar (Seminar in Interdisciplinary Thinking) introduces students from all disciplines to major theories that scholars throughout the world have engaged with over the last forty years: marxism, nationalism, feminism, postmodernism, subaltern studies, cultural studies, and queer theory. The course also highlights contributions by people of color, (particularly Chicana/os) to ongoing, dynamic theoretical debates focused on gender (heteronormativity, masculinities, etc). Each Thursday afternoon class meeting will encourage students to incorporate theory and historical perspectives into their own primary research.

MALAS 601 | SEM: INTRDISCIPL THINKING | 3 units | Sched #21802 | Seminar 4:00pm-6:40pm THURSDAYS | AH-3177 | DR. V. GONZALEZ-RIVERA

nota bene: Dr. Victoria Gonzalez Rivera course appears in the SDSU Fall 2010 Catalogue in two flavors: CCS 605. Borderlands and Feminist Theories (3) Prerequisites: Graduate standing. Major theories pertaining to U.S.-Mexico borderlands and their gendered and sexual discourses: Chicana feminism, transnationalism, cultural studies, ethnography, narrative, cultural, citizenship, and multiculturalism.
MALAS 601. Seminar in Interdisciplinary Thinking (3) Prerequisites: Graduate standing. Nature of interdisciplinary thinking. Ways of knowing and schools of thought in multiple disciplines. Interdisciplinary methods to analyze social issues. See Class Schedule for specific content.

nota bene: advanced undergraduates from SDSU can also participate and receive credit for MALAS' seminars this class using this form.

NEW! Our supplementary course listings for Fall 2010 have now gone live.

MALAS Classes in Interdisciplinary Studies | Groundbreaking, Eclectic, and More

2010-04-29T21:39:00.000-07:00

Here's a video that documents major players in the history of Hip-hop AND our own MALAS 600 class, led by Professor Roy Whitaker, learning the fine art of tagging! Gracias to Jordan Selvidge for posting the clip. Here's more on Roy Whitaker:

click to enlarge...

and more on the class!

Spring 2010 MALAS Courses

MALAS 600 D Monday nights from 7 to 9:40pm
HIP HOP AESTHETICS: MUSIC, CULTURES, SPIRIT, MIND
...with the one and only ROY WHITAKER running the show...

Hip-Hop is one of the most important and misunderstood cultural expressions of the past 40 years. For instance, this movement has been widely appropriated by urban and suburban youth; however, it’s been viewed as a pseudo-art form with little relevance for academic reflection. This course examines this core problem and many other criticisms leveled against Hip-Hop – e.g. use of the N-word, homophobia, misogyny, materialism, and hedonism. To be sure, Hip-Hop is a panoply of sorted issues that concerns critical thinkers in post-modernity like democracy, empire, capitalism, feminism, hegemony, and internationalism. Topics covered in this class will include: commercialization of Hip-Hop; Hip-Hop movies; Hip-Hop and women; rap, politics, and resistance; Hip-Hop Chicano/a; global dimensions of Hip-Hop; Hip-Hop as mediated narrative; Hip-Hop and graffiti; just to name a few.The course’s title – “Hip-Hop Aesthetics” – indicates the larger concern that frames the class discourse: the nature of artistic expression in an inhumane world. “Hip-Hop Aesthetics” pushes the boundary of what is considered “great works” and what is not. Furthermore, since Hip-Hop is a global phenomenon, this class utilizes and encourages a multidisciplinary approach to this subject matter – e.g. sociology, politics, economics, communications theory, American studies, musicology, cultural studies, and film studies.