What Are These Departments?! Part One
There are nearly 50 majors at Barnard College that cover a wide range of disciplines and areas of study. Coming in as a first year, it can be hard to even know what options are available, let alone what major you might want to do. So in these posts, I’m going to offer a brief summary of some of the majors you might not have heard of before, and include some brief reflections from students currently studying those majors about why they chose those majors and their favorite major classes. This is not an exhaustive list of all the majors, and for more information you should check out the department websites, which I will link at the end of this post. There you can find specific requirements for the majors, contact information for faculty, and a selection of course listings.
American Studies, one of Barnard’s newest departments, examines the United States through a wide variety of interdisciplinary lenses, allowing students to ask deep questions about the US and how it has developed. American Studies majors take classes across departments, and spend about half of their major taking classes under a specialized concentration of their choosing, allowing them to focus on an area of American Studies that interests them.
“I chose American Studies because it allowed me to study many different subjects and disciplines at the same time. I was not forced to pick a specific department, and everyone completes the major differently. American Studies allows us to see connections between different events and ideas to other concepts that other people might miss.
My favorite class has probably been “The Carceral United States” with Professor Sarah Haley, which is a class I took last fall that discussed the various was that the US relies on prisons.”
— Toby Shore ‘22.
Anthropology is the study of people and cultures in the past and present. Anthropology students study how societies are built and then apply that theory to study the contemporary world, including through fieldwork or other research. In addition to the general anthropology major, there are three additional tracks within the anthropology major: archeology, medical anthropology, and political ecology, which apply the core discipline of anthropology to the study of material culture, health, and the environment, respectively.
“I chose Anthropology because I found that it’s such a wide ranging field that can encapsulate almost anything. For example, I’m a double major with Political Science and I’ve found that the two can overlap quite a bit. I think in that way I was really drawn to the amount of learning I could accomplish within the Anthropology major — every class is so unique and new! I think my favorite Anthropology class I’ve taken would be Absent Bodies, which is a Medical Anthropology class taught by Professor Lesley Sharp. It focused on how we work to erase, make invisible, unsee certain individuals over others, and the consequences of that. I recommend that class to anyone interested in Anthropology at all!”
— Logan Blunt ‘22
Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures
The Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures (AMEC) major includes a wide selection of methods and disciplines for the study of the largest continent on the planet. AMEC majors focus on either East Asia, South Asia, or the Middle East, and do advanced study of the languages, cultures, and history of their chosen region.
I decided to choose this as a second major in addition to Computer Science because I’ve always been a very interdisciplinary learner and had a really hard time choosing a major. The AMEC major allows and encourages me to view my region of focus, contemporary China, through many different lenses. I’ve had the opportunity to take language classes, history classes, a philosophy class, a sociology class, and a linguistics class. I also chose the major because I was able to study abroad in China my freshman summer. I wasn’t planning on being an AMEC major at all before that, but that experience made me really excited to learn more about contemporary China.
I really enjoyed the required class, Colloquium on Major Texts. The first half is basically a philosophy class and you read many of the seminal Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist texts, and then the second half feels more like a literature class as you read novels, short stories, poems, and folk tales. The class provides an excellent foundation for the rest of your classes and really pushed me to think about the world in different ways. The class itself also has a really interesting history because it was the first class of it’s kind to be offered to undergraduates in English as many of the translated texts we read were translated just for the class, and is structured like an ongoing discussion columninating in a final oral exam in which you have a one on one conversation with the professor, which is a very unique structure for a college class.
— Chianna Cohen ‘22
Comparative Literature is the study of literature across cultures, languages, time, and borders. Comp Lit majors read texts from around the world and put them in conversation with one another. Half of the major is focused on reading texts in comparison, while the other is focused on advanced study of literature in its original language.
“I chose Comparative Literature after I took a Barnard first year writing course which was taught by a Comp Lit scholar. I realized that I was really interested in studying English literature, but that I also wanted to explore Hebrew literature (my second language) and literature from other cultures alongside English.
My favorite Comp Lit class was Austen and Kleist: Fictions of Judgment with Professor Emily Sun. At first glance, it doesn’t make much sense to read Jane Austen and her contemporary Heinrich von Kleist next to one another — Austen writes love stories set in rural England, while Kleist writes novellas and plays often set amidst war and tragedy across the world. Yet reading them together and seeing how they were grappling with some of the same questions and telling similar stories opened up new ways of understanding each author. It’s a great example of how reading across cultures and languages can give deeper insight into texts and their literary worlds.”
— Alyx Bernstein ‘23
The Economics and Social History major combines the study of history with the study of economics, allowing students to pursue economics within its social and historical context. Students take classes within both the Economics and History departments, allowing them to deeply study both disciplines and think critically about how economics and people are shaped by history.
“I chose this major because I was interested in studying both economics and history, and the major was a perfect blend of both. It offers the perspective of pure economics, pure history, and the combination of both - economic history. Spanning across departments, I had the opportunity to learn from amazing faculty and meet many students from both major backgrounds.
My favorite class has been Feast/Famine: Food Environmental History in China, which is a history seminar that discusses food supply chains, the history of food with China as a case study, and so much more. The professor and students in this class were truly so insightful, and their personal stories and analysis taught me so much about such an interesting topic.”
— Heli Sun ‘23
Like the Economic & Social History major, the Economics and Mathematics major is housed within the Economics department, but focuses more on the subdiscipline of mathematical economics. Students take classes in both the Economics and Mathematics departments, preparing them to engage in more advanced mathematical study within economics than the general economics major.
“I knew I liked math, but I had never taken an Economics course until I randomly decided to take one second semester freshman year. I really enjoyed the class and thought Economics might be something I would want to further study, so I decided to take Intermediate Macroeconomics & Microeconomics sophomore year. To take Intermediate Microeconomics, you have to take either Multivariable Calculus or a course called Math Methods for Economics. I decided to take Multivariable Calculus, because I wasn't yet sure if I actually wanted to major in Economics, and I figured Multivariable Calculus would have more applications should I decide I wanted to go down another path. I ended up really enjoying both Intermediate Macroeconomics & Microeconomics, so I decided to major in Economics. I also really liked Multivariable Calculus and I wanted to take more math classes, and when I learned about the Economics and Mathematics major it seemed perfect for me.”
— Sara Harrison ‘23
Environment and Sustainability
Environment and Sustainability, also housed within the Environmental Science department, focuses on understanding the environment and data about the environment so that they can develop approaches that maintain and protect the world around us. Majors study both the science and policy of sustainability, taking classes in both natural and social sciences.
“I chose Environment and Sustainability because I was really interested in the interplay between humans and the environment and I really felt like this major addressed the environmental concerns from both a hard science and a social science point of view.
My favorite class so far has been Birds, Plants, and Land Use with Terryanne Maenza-Gmelch. We learned a lot about the wildlife and ecosystems around us in New York and were encouraged to go on lots of walks throughout to see things for ourselves. Taking that class really sparked my interest in ecology specifically and set me on the path towards the research I'm working on now.”
— Emily Stone ‘23
There are more departments to explore! Tune back in next week to hear about more departments and the experience of students.