From: Jack Owens <owenjack@isu.edu>
During the recent discussion of PEWS and its future, it was mentioned
that an ever-smaller percentage of Sociology graduate students are
pursuing their degrees in programs emphasizing world-systems
research. Since the on-going discussion was important and
interesting, I didn't want to break in with this query, but now that
things are quieter, I want to ask: what graduate programs in
Sociology offer an emphasis in a world-systems approach?
My query has a personal motivation; my daughter, Amy E. Owens, is
interested in doing graduate work of this type in Sociology. Since
she is currently a student at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid
without an Internet connection adequate to join the list, I told her
that I would post a query on her behalf and forward the responses,
which should be made to the list for the benefit of the other
non-Sociologists on board.
Amy is an honors and deans list student at Tufts University and is
studying in Madrid as part of her junior year at Tufts. This
semester she is studying Political Sociology at the UAM and doing an
internship with Amnesty International's Madrid office. During her
sophomore year, she did coursework on Sub-Saharan Africa and will
apparently continue with that as a senior. She grew up in a family
where conversation about Latin American issues is constant: the
region is one of my teaching fields, and her mother's two most recent
grants were a Fulbright to Ecuador and an NEH for a summer institute
on 20th-century Mexican history and literature. Amy has been an
active member of the NAACP literally since she could walk. She has a
family background in organized labor: her mother is one of her
union's most widely recognized members in the state (and holder of
the national union's Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Award for human
rights), a grandfather was until retirement one of the U.S.'s leading
labor lawyers (ones who defended workers' interests), and a
great-grandfather was one of the small committee that began the
C.I.O., led the Little Steel Strike, and negotiated the first
union-operated welfare program in this country. Because of her
strong international interests, Amy was one of a dozen in-coming Tufts
undergraduates invited to be part of the orientation for foreign
students. Officially a Spanish major, she has at times in her life
been fully bilingual and has excellent language skills.
Where are there graduate programs in Sociology likely to meet the
needs of a student like Amy? She will need financial support. Her
parents are teachers in Idaho, which ranks among the bottom five
states in the country in teachers' salaries.
And no, I can't imagine why she doesn't want to go into History :-)
We will appreciate any information and direction list members
provide. Thank you in advance.
Jack
J. B. "Jack" Owens
Department of History
Idaho State University
Pocatello, ID 83209 USA
Voice: (208) 233-8589
e-mail: owenjack@isu.edu
www: http://isuux.isu.edu/~owenjack