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Catalog of Courses for Global Studies

GCCS 3010
Global Commerce: Theories and Perspectives

Theories and cases studies concerning social, cultural and historical aspects of business, trade, finance, organizations, property systems, regulation and work. How are economic institutions and systems of exchange shaped by social and cultural contexts that they affect in turn? What alternative ways of organizing commerce are suggested by world comparative and historical study?

GCCS 3100
Studying Global Commerce

This is one of the two introductory core courses in the GCCS major. It surveys academic research on topics that are salient to contemporary global commerce: the global and the local; illicit trade; the body across borders; global labor; technology and digital infrastructures; trade and physical infrastructures; companies and climate change; global economic governance; and social goals in the international division of labor.

Course was offered:  Fall 2026 · Fall 2025
GCCS 3559
New Course in Global Studies - GCCS

New or one-time offerings at the 3000 level in Global Commerce in Culture and Society. Please see Global Studies Program website for full topic descriptions.

Course was offered:  Fall 2024
GCCS 4991
Fourth-year Seminar Offered Spring 2027

In this course, Global Commerce in Culture and Society students will complete a 25-page research paper, as the culminating work of the major. Each student will choose readings relevant to his or her project and present them to the class, leading the discussion.

GDS 2030
Global Cultural Studies

The course analyzes our global cultural condition from a dual historical perspective and follows a development stretching over the last 60 years, beginning with the period just after WW II and continuing to the present day. Of central concern will be the varieties of cultural expression across regions of the world and their relation to a rapidly changing social history, drawing upon events that occur during the semester.

Course was offered:  Fall 2014
GDS 2559
New Course in Global Development Studies

This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics in the subject of Global Development Studies.

GDS 3010
Global Development, Theories and Case Studies, Part One

Theoretical approaches to global development from anthropology, economics, environmental sciences, history, politics, and sociology, and analysis of selected case studies. Prerequisite: the student must be a GDS major in order to enroll. Instructor permission.

GDS 3020
Global Development, Theories and Case Studies, Part Two

Theoretical approaches to global development from anthropology, economics, environmental sciences, history, politics, and sociology, and analysis of selected case studies. This is the second course in a two-semester sequence. Prerequisite: GDS 3010 AND the student must be a GDS major in order to enroll. Instructor Permission.

GDS 3100
Development on the Ground

Examines the protocols of planning for and conducting development projects and the research associated with them both locally and internationally. Special attention to the ethical obligations inherent in development work and the dynamics of collaborating with local communities. Prerequisite: Instructor permission AND the student must be a GDS major in order to enroll.

GDS 3113
A Buddhist Approach to Development Offered Spring 2027

Buddhism takes an ethical and practical view of how individuals and societies can develop toward greater equity, sustainability, and satisfaction. This course will investigate, from a Buddhist perspective and practicing Vipassana meditation, the state of development in the developed and developing world, in Buddhist and Western societies, with emphasis on the role of the individual, personal choice, and personal growth.

GDS 3114
Science, Technology and Development Offered Spring 2027

This course will survey the history of scientific and technical interventions in development, as well as examine the factors that shape the outcomes of contemporary practices. We will look at science and technology in two broad areas in which UVA has considerable expertise: the built environment and public health.

GDS 3559
New Course in Global Development Studies

This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics in the subject of Global Development Studies.

GDS 4510
State, Society, & Development

This seminar offers an examination of the state, civil society, and citizens, focusing on the ways in which these actors and institutions interact to shape economic, human, and political development. The course introduces theories of the state, civil society, and citizenship, and examines the linkages between these spheres, applying these theories to substantive issues and policy arenas.

Course was offered:  Spring 2020
GDS 4559
New Course in Global Development Studies

This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics in the subject of Global Development Studies.

Course was offered:  Spring 2019 · Fall 2014
GDS 4951
University Museums Internship

This is the first semester internship at either UVA Art Museum or Kluge Ruhe. Students will work approximately 100 hours per semester in the museum, and will participate in three training sessions and three academic seminars. Instructor Permission, by application; deadline May 1. Please see information at www.virginia.edu/art/arthistory/courses and www.artsandsciences.virginia.edu/globaldevelopment

GDS 4952
University Museums Internship Offered Spring 2027

This is the second semester internship at either UVA Art Museum or Kluge Ruhe. Students will work approximately 100 hours per semester in the museum, and will participate in three training sessions and three academic seminars. ARTH/GDS 4951 and instructor permission, by application; deadline May 1. Please see information at www.virginia.edu/art/arthistory/courses and www.artsandsciences.virginia.edu/globaldevelopment

GDS 4961
Education Abroad Advising and Administration I

Students learn about the history, demographics, current trends in student mobility, and the principles and practices in effective education abroad advising and administration. Students gain first-hand exposure to the operations of an education abroad office and acquire knowledge and develop skills needed to enter the field of education abroad advising and administration. Prerequisite: Completed a study abroad program, Instructor Permission.

Course was offered:  Fall 2015 · Fall 2014 · Fall 2013
GDS 4962
Education Abroad Advising and Administration II

Students continue their examination of student mobility and principles and practices in effective education abroad advising and administration. Students gain first-hand exposure to the operations of an education abroad office and acquire knowledge and develop skills needed to enter the field of education abroad advising and administration. Prerequisite: Completion of GSGS 4961; Instructor permission.

Course was offered:  Spring 2016 · Spring 2015 · Spring 2014
GDS 4991
Fourth-Year Seminar Offered Spring 2027

In this seminar, GDS majors complete their GDS research paper. Prerequisite: Instructor permission AND the student must be a GDS major in order to enroll.

GSGS 2000
Introduction to Global Studies Offered Spring 2027

This interdisciplinary course introduces students to critical global economic and cultural issues and examines globalization at a variety of scales of analysis (planetary, regional, national, individual). The goal is to provide understanding of the main conceptual approaches to global studies and thus enhance their ability to understand and evaluate important real-world issues and problems.

GSGS 2010
Global Commerce in Culture

A liberal arts perspective on commerce, or business, as a part of modern American (and global) culture.

GSGS 2030
Global Cultural Studies

The course analyzes our global cultural condition from a dual historical perspective and follows a development stretching over the last 60 years, beginning with the period just after WW II and continuing to the present day. Of central concern will be the varieties of cultural expression across regions of the world and their relation to a rapidly changing social history, drawing upon events that occur during the semester.

Course was offered:  Spring 2016 · Fall 2015
GSGS 2100
Introduction to Islamic Worlds

This course will introduce students to the multifaceted worlds of Islam, through an interdisciplinary survey of its diverse instantiations across more than1400 years of history, and geographies that span the globe. Drawing on the resources we have at UVA across multiple departments, students will be offered a pluralistic engagement into social, artistic, intellectual, economic and political worlds infused with Islamic sensibilities and ethics.

Course was offered:  Fall 2026 · Fall 2025
GSGS 2400
Mass Migration and Global Development

This course explores migration's relation to global development initiatives. When do migrants "count" in development projects, and when do they not? What kinds of political, social, and economic claims are migrants permitted to make on their own terms, and when are these claims mediated by development and humanitarian initiatives?

GSGS 2559
New Course in Global Studies
GSGS 2610
Global Systems of Inequality

This course covers social, economic, political, and cultural dimensions of inequality both within and between countries. We will discuss how systems like slavery, colonialism, and capitalism have entrenched unequal power relations across the globe; how structures of inequality are produced, legitimated, and reproduced at national and international scales; and how individuals experience and negotiate these structures.

Course was offered:  Fall 2026 · Fall 2025
GSGS 3030
Global Cultural Studies

The course analyzes our global cultural condition from a dual historical perspective and follows a development stretching over the last 60 years, beginning with the period just after WW II and continuing to the present day. Of central concern will be the varieties of cultural expression across regions of the world and their relation to a rapidly changing social history, drawing upon events that occur during the semester.

GSGS 3100
Critical Conceptions of the Global

This course examines leading schools of thought in Global Studies from a critical perspective. Students will engage with foundational political, social, and cultural concepts that underpin contemporary economic, cultural, and political institutions of power. The course brings together material from anthropology, political theory, and cultural studies.

GSGS 3111
Global Studies Epistemology, Methodology & Methods

Epistemologies, methodologies and methods currently used in Global research as well as emerging alternatives. We will examine: pressures for knowledge production that is co-authored with non-academic actors; historical and contemporary uses of research methods by global actors; the differing audiences for research that our students speak to across global spaces; and interest in knowledge that contributes more directly to social action.

GSGS 3112
Global Perspectives on Corruption

This course takes an ethnographically informed approach to the question of how to understand corruption by examining practices of and perspectives on corruption from across the globe - including the so-called Global North. It aims to encourage students to 1) critically assess assumptions at the heart of international anti-corruption discourses; 2) examine tensions between global discourses of corruption and local practices; 3) compare and contrast corruption between different localities.

GSGS 3117
Dynamics of Great Power: View from the South

How do developing countries in the global South navigate the emergence of renewed great power competition? This class will explore the impact of European & non-Euro imperialism on large parts of the developing World. We will seek to answer this question by looking at the engagement of countries & actors in the global South with established and emerging powers in an increasingly multi-polar World.

Course was offered:  Fall 2026 · Fall 2025 · Fall 2024
GSGS 3118
Space, Place and Global Development

Geography matters! We'll explore theories & cases to better understand issues as the struggle over the ocean/other public commons, the role of sacred spaces in Indigenous communities, how migrants make a place for themselves in their new homes, economic resilience and how capital, goods and people circulate in the economy, and more. This is a good introduction to themes raised in Global Studies.

Course was offered:  Fall 2026 · Fall 2025 · Fall 2024
GSGS 3330
Ecological Economics: Economics as if People and Thermodynamics Mattered Offered Spring 2027

Ecological Economics augments standard economics by stressing the coevolution of natural systems with human institutions, including markets, and elevating sustainability and justice (not merely efficiency) as essential societal goals. In this course, students examine ecological-economic relationships, outcomes, challenges, and solutions, in the context of local and global agricultural, resource, environmental, and development issues.

GSGS 3350
Dot Orgs: Getting Results in the Real World

Non-governmental organizations are essential in the work of building a sustainable, just, and aesthetically pleasant world. In this course, we examine the history and role of NGOs, explore the legal and institutional frameworks that govern them, and exercise skills in planning, budgeting, fundraising, and communications. Students study existing NGOs as examples and propose and plan for the launch of a new NGO to address unmet societal needs.

Course was offered:  Fall 2026 · Fall 2025 · Fall 2024
GSGS 3550
Topics in Global Studies Offered Spring 2027

Various topics offered in Global Studies. See department website for full course descriptions. 

GSGS 4100
Global Activism for Social Justice

Each student or small group will develop a project, be matched with a Global Studies faculty mentor, identify relevant community groups, and spend the semester working on that project. Students will discuss ideas, formulate plans, identify tactics, and engage with important social justice literatures. Importantly, the course will engage with the project of activism itself, which has the potential to replicate systems of inequality.

GSGS 4150
State, Society, & Development Offered Spring 2027

This seminar offers an examination of the state, civil society, and citizens, focusing on the ways in which these actors and institutions interact to shape economic, human, and political development. The course introduces theories of the state, civil society, and citizenship, and examines the linkages between these spheres, applying these theories to substantive issues and policy arenas.

GSGS 4200
Applied Research in Global Studies Offered Spring 2027

In this course, students gain experience applying global perspectives, as well as research methods and techniques, to one of several real-world issues. Team-taught, the course allows students to choose a path that includes a methodological foundation, a deep dive into a particular method, a chance to practice a useful skills related to Global Studies professions, and culminating in the applied research project.

GSGS 4410
The Body Migrant: Medical Anthropology

In this course, we explore what actually makes a body¿biology, flesh and bone, technology, maybe even immigration documents? We¿ll think about how medicine sees the body¿what makes us ¿healthy¿ or ¿sick¿¿as well as when concepts like race, gender, and sexuality help us understand bodies¿ and when they don¿t. 

Course was offered:  Fall 2025
GSGS 4510
eGlobal: Sustainable Engagement in Rwanda

This two-part program will pair students in Rwanda studying at the University of Global Health Equity with UVA students to investigate global health topics relevant to both countries. In groups of four, students work over the course of the year on a research topic of their choice.  eGlobal provides a faculty-supported platform for UVA students to engage in meaningful long-term engagement with international peers.

Course was offered:  Fall 2026 · Spring 2026 · Fall 2025
GSGS 4520
Global Partnership Essentials: Theoretical and Practical Global Engagement Offered Spring 2027

This two semester course aims to prepare students for effective and culturally appropriate engagement in Global Health activities by providing a background in Global Health theory, key issues, and culturally appropriate practice. Discussion 1-2 landmark articles and case studies focused on Global Health, using the Partners in Health Engage Curriculum supplemented with other relevant articles authored by global partners and UVA faculty.

GSGS 4550
Topics in Global Studies Offered Spring 2027

Various topics offered in Global Studies. See department website for full course description and offerings.

Course was offered:  Spring 2027 · Fall 2026 · Spring 2026
GSGS 4559
New Course in Global Studies
GSGS 4610
Thinking in (Global) Systems: Modeling Complexity for Understanding

Life, including ecosystems, social interactions, and policy interventions are complex, and while some simplification of reality to try to make sense of it all is necessary, simplistic thinking and modeling can lead to market, policy, and other actions doomed to fail. This course dives into the complexity inherent in global systems and uses software tools to build models that help us build understanding and more effective solutions.

Course was offered:  Spring 2026
GSGS 4620
GIS for Global Studies

Understanding how location, proximity, and connectivity define global challenges like environmental protection, managing migration, and fostering sustainable economic development is essential for the design of effective solutions. In this course, students will build that understanding through spatial analysis using geographic information systems (GIS) technology and gain the ability to map (literally) pathways to future improvement. 

Course was offered:  Fall 2026
GSGS 4993
Independent Study Offered Spring 2027

GSMS 3010
The Global in Situ: Perspectives from the Middle East and South Asia

The Middle East and South Asia as locations within the "Global South." This class will de-center Euro-American spaces and intellectual histories, and work toward a grounded re-centering of attention on place-particular histories and intellectual contributions. We will also examine what globalization, as concept and as a set of semi-coherent processes, has meant in particular local and regional spaces in the Middle East and South Asia.

GSMS 3559
New Course: GSMS

New course in the subject of Global Studies - Middle East and South Asia.

Course was offered:  Spring 2023 · Fall 2021
GSMS 4991
Fourth-year Seminar

In this seminar, GSMS majors complete their GSMS research paper.

GSMS 4993
Independent Study

Independent study to be arranged by student in consultation with professor. Requires instructor permission.

GSSJ 3010
Global Issues of Security and Justice

This is the foundation course for students admitted to the Global Studies-Security and Justice track of Global Studies. This course is restricted to Global Security and Justice majors.

GSSJ 3420
Migration and Social Movements in the Americas

This course will provide a political and economic history of how migration flows have affected societies and social movements in both North and South America.

Course was offered:  Fall 2024
GSSJ 3559
New Course in Global Security and Justice

This lecture course provides the opportunity to offer new topics in Global Security and Justice.

GSSJ 3579
New Practicum in Global Security and Justice

This practicum course provides the opportunity to offer new topics in Global Security and Justice.

GSSJ 4559
New Seminar in Global Security and Justice

This seminar course provides the opportunity to offer new topics in Global Security and Justice.

GSSJ 4991
Capstone Seminar Offered Spring 2027

This is the capstone seminar for students in the Security and Justice track of Global Studies.

GSSJ 4993
Independent Study

This course is designed to allow Global Studies-Security and Justice majors to pursue independent study of relevant topics that go beyond the program's core, track and/or elective curricula.

GSVS 1559
New course in Global Environments and Sustainability

New course in Global Environments and Sustainability

Course was offered:  Spring 2019 · Spring 2016
GSVS 2050
Sustainable Energy Systems Offered Spring 2027

This course investigates a major source of human impact upon the Earth - energy consumption to fuel human activity. The course a) provides a cross-disciplinary perspective on the challenge of human-centered energy use, b) explains the historical origins of today's energy systems, c) describes current energy systems, d) examines the components of sustainable energy systems, and e) considers keys to their deployment.

GSVS 2150
Global Sustainability

This integrated and interdisciplinary course provides foundational knowledge on the multifaceted aspects of both problems and solutions related to sustainability, and challenges participants to deepen their understanding of global sustainability issues through a real-world, collaborative Think Global/ Act Local project.

GSVS 2210
Religion, Ethics, & Global Environments

This course interprets humanity's changing ecological relationships through religious and philosophical traditions. It takes up ethical questions presented by environmental problems, introduces frameworks for making sense of them, and examines the symbols and narratives that shape imaginations of nature.

GSVS 2559
New Course in Global Environments and Sustainability

This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics in Global Environments and Sustainability, in Global Studies.

GSVS 3020
Sustainable Design Thinking II

This course is a collaborative design thinking experience that focus on sustainability. Students work in self-selected teams through the second half of the design process, prototyping and testing a sustainability-related concept and articulating a robust description of a solution ready for transfer to end-users. The course emphasizes multidisciplinary teamwork and client-stakeholder engagement.

Course was offered:  Spring 2022 · Spring 2021
GSVS 3110
Sustainable Communities

This seminar investigates the principles of sustainable community development--environmental quality, economic health, and social equity--as reflected in buildings, rural landscapes, towns, and cities. Through case studies, class activities and site visits, we will examine how communities impact and improve basic environmental-quality variables such as air and water quality, food supply, mobility, energy, and sense of place.

GSVS 3150
Sustainability Leadership from the Grounds Up Offered Spring 2027

In this experiential, workshop-based course, students will develop leadership skills in translating ideas into action, using UVA's Grounds as a living lab for sustainability - the campus as a sustainability classroom. Students will gain insight into a process in which individuals can catalyze change to solve global problems and advance strategic goals on a local level though a place-based, project-based, and human-centered approach.

GSVS 3160
The Politics of Food

How and what we eat is basic to who we are as individuals, as a culture, and as a polity. This course looks at the production and consumption of food in a political context, focusing on controversies over agricultural subsidies, labeling requirements, taxation, farming practices, food safety, advertising and education.

GSVS 3210
The Global Context of Clean Energy Materials

Clean energy (CE) systems require far more minerals than their fossil fuel-based counterparts, minerals sourced, refined, and disposed of globally. The course examines which minerals are needed for the CE transition and why. It considers social, economic, and environmental sustainability challenges from use of these materials and highlights the sociotechnical reality of sustainability, i.e., Success depends upon social and technical advance. 3rd year standing or instructor permission

Course was offered:  Spring 2023 · Spring 2022
GSVS 3310
Sustainability Policy at Home & Abroad

Students will survey the main currents of US & international sustainability policy (air & water quality, endangered species protection, public land management, private land conservation), consider their origins in conservation thought, and learn to evaluate these policies via examples and assignments from current natural resource and environmental challenges. Students will learn about the actors and processes by which policy decisions are made.

GSVS 3559
New Course in Global Environments and Sustainability

This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics in Global Environments and Sustainability, in Global Studies.

GSVS 4020
Ecosystem Services: How Nature Benefits People Offered Spring 2027

In this course, students will learn how to trace the "causal chains" from such actions/inactions to various ecosystem, social, and economic outcomes and to measure and value those outcomes. We will consider the philosophical/ethical underpinnings of the Ecosystem Services framework, use computer mapping and other software tools for evaluation, and review current applications of the framework by private and public sector entities.

Course was offered:  Spring 2027 · Spring 2025 · Spring 2024
GSVS 4100
Evidence for (Sustainability) Policy

The practicum uses problem-based learning to develop relevant facts and sound arguments surrounding local, national and global sustainability challenges. Working with live case studies in the U.S. and abroad, we will follow the steps from problem formation, through model building, data collection, and qualitative and quantitative analysis, and finally on to technical and advocacy communications grounded in our facts.

Course was offered:  Fall 2024 · Fall 2023 · Fall 2022
GSVS 4500
Topics in Global Studies Environments & Sustainability

Explore various topics in Global Studies Environments & Sustainability

GSVS 4559
New Course in Global Environments & Sustainability

This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics in Global Environments and Sustainability, in Global Studies.

GSVS 4991
Capstone Seminar in Global Sustainability Offered Spring 2027

This course is the required Capstone Seminar in the Global Sustainability track of Global Studies

GSVS 4993
Independent Study in Environments and Sustainability