Past Oxford Tutorials

My tutorial was called “Food Security” and counted as a 300 level course for my Environmental Studies major. The tutorial was an introduction to the concepts, ideas, and approaches to studying food security. I learned of the principles and sustainability of food production, the stakeholders involved in food systems and their roles in mediating food access at a range of scales from individual levels, to international levels.

Selected bibliography:

Carolan, Michael S. Reclaiming Food Security. 1st ed. London: Tayler & Francis, 2013. Print.

Cribb, Julian. The Coming Famine. 1st ed. Collingwood, Vic.: CSIRO Publishing, 2012. Print.

Maxwell, D., and Fitzpatrick, M., 2012, “The 2011 Somalia famine: Context, causes, and complications”, Global Food Security, 1:1, pp. 5-12

Prabhu Pingali, Luca Alinovi and Jacky Sutton, “Food Security in Complex Emergencies: Enhancing Food System Resilience”, Disasters, Vol. 29: Special Issue: Food Security in Complex Emergencies, June 2005, pp. 5- 24.

My tutorial was an anthropological study of global issues of development, refugees, and gender. I covered a broad range of anthropological history and analyzed its ties to colonialism. I also read some of the most influential ethnographies along with very recent studies that opened up theoretical debates. It was a great continuation of GLST 385 Global Development, and also a huge supplement to my anthropology major. It counted for an upper-level GLST development and social justice concentration course.

Selected bibliography:

Cheater, A. (ed.) The anthropology of power. Empowerment and disempowerment in changing structures. 1999. 

Escobar, A. Encountering development. The making and unmaking of the third world. 1995.

Nederveen Pieterse, J. My paradigm or yours? Alternative development, post-development, reflexive development. Development and Change 29(): 343-73. 1998

Stoler, A.L 2002. Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power: Race and the Intimate in Colonial Rule. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Warren, K. B. and S. C. Bourque (1991). Women, Technology, and International Development Ideologies: Analyzing Feminist Voices. In Gender at the Crossroads of Knowledge: Feminist Anthropology in the Post-Modern Era. M. di Leonardo ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 278-311.

My Oxford Tutorial was my first foray into properly reading gender, feminist and queer theory. I was reading texts like Gender Trouble, texts I had only previously encountered as references in lecture in context of communication theory. In this course, I was able to view it from the context of English critical theory; engaging more with the philosophical and historical lens of feminist and queer perspectives than I had previously. As we read and discussed these in the course, I was also writing analyses of television episodes and entire films. This puts me into the context of communication (Media Studies). I was able to use the theory that I was learning from reading to draw my own conclusions, which, as time went on, blended my pre-existing, disciplinary understanding of communication with a newfound interest in the more philosophical critical theory I was reading.  Each week, I followed and critiqued patterns of behavior exhibited by male-identified characters in modern U.S. film; looking to see how this exhibited and reinforced normative masculinity and how that harmed both men and women.

My tutorial counted as 490-level WMGS credit.

Selected bibliography:

Judith Butler, “Critically Queer”

Luce Irigaray, “This Sex Which Is Not One”

Luna Dolezal, “The (In)visible Body: Feminism, Phenomenology, and the Case of Cosmetic Surgery”

Michel Foucault, History of Sexuality, Vol. 1

My tutorial on International Refugee Studies counted for GLST 350, an upper-division elective in my Global Studies’ Development and Social Justice concentration. This tutorial was entitled “Stepping Back and Moving Onwards: History, Refugee Studies, and Forced Migration Today”. My tutor was a PhD candidate in the Refugee Studies Centre and had a background working on the ground with refugees in Uganda. Each week, we focused on a different element of forced migration, such as International Relations Theory, the role and makeup of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), burden-sharing in the International Refugee Regime, the paradox of humanitarian action and intervention, or the contemporary refugee crises abundant around the world. Each topic had a corresponding question or set of questions to address in a 2,000 or more word essay.

Selected bibliography:

Barutciski, M. “Lessons from the Kosovo Refugee Crisis: Innovations in Protection and Burden-sharing. “Journal of Refugee Studies 14, no. 2 (2001).

Betts, Alexander and Loescher, Gil. Refugees in International Relations. WileyBlackwell, 2011.

Chimni, B.S. (2009) ‘The Birth of a ‘‘Discipline’’: From Refugee to Forced Migration Studies’. Journal of Refugee Studies 22(1): 11–29.

Gottwald, Martin. Competing in the Humanitarian Marketplace: UNHCR’s Organizational Culture and Decision-making Processes. Geneva: UNHCR, 2010.

My tutor and I worked together to create a course on Modern Physics, a required physics course for majors here at PLU (PHYS 223). Each week, the work focused on specific readings from a textbook and long problem sets to complete before the tutorial. During the tutorial, the tutor answered any questions I had, and I worked through some of the problems in front of him. Since I got to work one on one with a tutor, I was really able to focus on areas where I needed to grow in my understanding and abilities in physics. This allowed me to become a much better physics student going forward. In addition, my tutor was actively doing groundbreaking research and we would often talk about his research during the tutorial. Because of this, I learned about more than just the material required for the course. It was a truly amazing experience to study physics at Oxford University, which has the 6th best physics department in the world.

The topic of my tutorial was botany and counted as BIOL 350. We studied a wide array of botanical subjects including: plant life cycles, pollination, seed banks in conservation, plant derived cancer treatments, origin of agriculture, biological invasions, and plant adaptations.

Selected bibliography:

Finkel, E. “With Phenomics, Plant Scientists Hope to Shift Breeding Into Overdrive.” Science 325.5939 (2009): 380-81. Web.

Heywood, V. H. Flowering Plant Families of the World. Richmond, Surrey: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2007. Print.

Mable, Barbara K., and Sarah P. Otto. “The evolution of life cycles with haploid and diploid phases.” BioEssays 20.6 (1998): 453-62. Web.

Rout, M. E., and R. M. Callaway. “An Invasive Plant Paradox.” Science 324.5928 (2009): 734-35. Web.

My tutorial was called “Immunology and Virology” and counted for a cellular and molecular biology credit. I studied the components of the human immune system, with emphasis on the interplay between pathogens and immune cells, the recognition of self versus non-self cells, and the methodology we use to study the immune system. My readings consisted of textbook chapters and journal articles.

My tutorial was titled “Impacts and Adaptations to Climate Change” and counted as GEOS 107. My studies were split into two primary sections. For the first part, I worked with a tutor from the Oxford ecology department, where I focused on climate change indicators, attributions, and spent a good amount of time on biodiversity impacts and conservation policy. I culminated these weeks with a research project on Pacific Northwest salmon conservation laws and policy history. For the second section, I had the opportunity to work with a member of UKCIP, an organization that develops adaptation frameworks for businesses and communities, as well as serves as a sort of “middle man” between scientists and policymakers or the public.

My reading list consisted of about 15 scientific articles or in the later weeks, adaptation frameworks, which I would use to develop a 1000 word essay to bring to my tutorial meetings and guide discussion each week.

My tutorial was entitled, “Sociology of the Law and Legal Institutions” and counted as a 400-level elective required for my major. The tutorial itself was a basic introduction to the main themes of legal sociology, exploring the nature and role of law in different societies by looking not only at the work of lawyers, but also at sociological and anthropological approaches to law. The first half of the course was focused on learning theory, whereas the second half of the course was designed to apply the theories I had learned to actual cases.

Selected bibliography:

Dennis Galligan, Law in Modern Society

Brian Tamanaha, A General Jurisprudence of Law and Society

Fernanda Pirie, The Anthropology of Law

H.L.A. Hart, The Concept of Law

Niklas Luhmann, Law as a Social System

My tutorial was at Nuffield college with Dr. Javier Garcia-Manglano. The tutorial was split into two halves: the first covered the historical progression toward the welfare state in the UK, and the second looked at family demographics of poor families and single mothers in the US. Most other tutorials write one essay per week; in my tutorial, I wrote about the same amount (roughly 2000 words per week) but created two larger essays over the course of the term. It covered my SOCW 190/101 credit as a SOCW 491 class, which was required for my Social Work minor.

Selected bibliography:

Himmelfarb, Gertrude. The Idea of Poverty, Faber and Faber, 1984.

McLanahan, S. (2009). “Fragile families and the reproduction of poverty”. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 621(1), 111-131.

McLanahan, S., & Garfinkel, I. (2012). “Fragile families: Debates, Facts, and Solutions”. In Marriage at the Crossroads: Law, Policy, and the Brave New World of Twenty-First-Century Families, 142.

Timmins, Nicholas. The Five Giants: A Biography of the Welfare State, Harper Collins 1995.

My tutorial was called “Cross-cultural Psychology.” Each week I was asked to quickly read the assigned topic in a few textbooks for a brief overview. My primary task, however, was going through 6-8 scientific experiments to answer a broad question that scholars have been trying to answer in the field. For instance, one of my papers asked the question “Does evidence for linguistic relativity support the view that language has a profound effect on cognition?” I would then read textbook chapters on language and thought, focus on how/if the experiments I was given answer the question, and then come to my own conclusion on the prescribed question. APA format was required for all of my essays. The tutorial counted for credit in my major as PSYC 335SA.

Selected bibliography:

McDermott JH, Schultz AF, Undurraga EA, Godoy RA. Indifference to dissonance in native Amazonians reveals cultural variation in music perception. Nature [Internet]. Nature Publishing Group; 2016;535(7613):547–50.

Fuhrman O, Mccormick K, Chen E, Jiang H, Shu D, Mao S, et al. How Linguistic and Cultural Forces Shape Conceptions of Time: English and MandarTime 3D. Cogn Sci. 2011;35(7):1305–28.

Hui CH, Triandis HC. Measurement in Cross-Cultural Psychology. J Cross Cult Psychol 1985;16(2):131–52.

Heine SJ, Buchtel EE, Norenzayan A. What do cross-national comparisons of personality traits tell us? The case of conscientiousness. Psychol Sci. 2008;19(4):309–14.

Kitayama S, Mesquita B, Karasawa M. Cultural affordances and emotional experience: Socially engaging and disengaging emotions in Japan and the United States. J Pers Soc Psychol [Internet]. 2006;91(5):890–903.

Fiske AP. Using individualism and collectivism to compare cultures–A critique of the validity and measurement of the constructs: Comment on Oyserman et al. (2002). Psychol Bull [Internet]. 2002;128(1):78–88.

Caldwell-Harris CL, Ayçiçegi A. When Personality and Culture Clash: The Psychological Distress of Allocentrics in an Individualist Culture and Idiocentrics in a Collectivist Culture. Transcult Psychiatry [Internet]. 2006;43(3):331–600.

My tutorial was called “Introduction to Refugee and Forced Migration Studies.” I looked at refugees and forced Migration from an introductory standpoint, analyzing multiple pertinent issues each week. Some weeks explored the legal definition of refugee status and what challenges arise when trying to compartmentalize migration streams. Other weeks looked at the human experience of migration such as how masculinity and gender roles play into the migration process. Another week focused on the pros and cons of ‘solutions’ for refugees, such as establishing refugee camps. My tutorial counted for joint GLST and POLS credit.

Selected bibliography:

“Home is Where You Make it:  Repatriation and Diaspora Culture among Iranians in Sweden” — Graham and Khosravi

“Dislocated Masculinity:  Adolescence and the Palestinian Nation-in-exile”— Hart

“Reactive Migration:  Sociological Perspectives on Refugee Movements” — Richmond

“Why we are not there yet:  The particular challenge of ‘particular social group’” — Foster

City of Thorns:  Nine Lives in the World’s Largest Refugee Camp — Rawlence

My tutorial explored the subject of the acquisition of historical artifacts in British museums and the moral, political, and cultural debates that surround this, particularly in the 18th century when many of the world’s great museums were established. It counted as HIST 350, an elective for my history major.

Selected bibliography:

Harris, Jennifer. 2008. Globalisation, Post-Colonialism and Museums. International Council of Museums-ICOFOM-Study Series. 37: pp. 125-132.

Hitchens, Christopher, and Robert Browning. The Parthenon Marbles: The Case for Reunification. [New ed. London: Verso, 2008.

Miles, Margaret Melanie. Art as Plunder: The Ancient Origins of Debate about Cultural Property. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Vickers, Michael. “The Arundel and Pomfret Marbles in Oxford.” The Arundel and Pomfret Marbles in Oxford. November 1, 2007. Accessed May 2, 2015.

My tutorial was called “Latin American Development: Theoretical Approaches and Empirical Challenges” and counted as POLS 491. During the term, I worked with a PhD candidate at the Department of International Development. We examined key challenges in development in Latin America. It integrated theoretical approaches to development that have been particularly influential in the Latin American context with an examination of empirical development and social justice issues, including poverty and inequality, marginalization, informality, urbanization, violence, and sustainable development.

Selected bibliography:

Love, J. (2005). The Rise and Decline of Economic Structuralism in Latin America. Latin American Research Review, 40(3)

Franko, P. (2007). The Puzzle of Latin American Economic Development. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.

Weyland, K. (2004). Assessing Latin American Neoliberalism: Introduction to a Debate. Latin American Research Review, 39(3)

Koonings, K., & D. Krujit. (2015). Violence and Resilience in Latin American Cities. London, UK: Zed Books.

Esteva, G., S. Babones, & P. Babcicky. (2013). The Future of Development: A Radical Manifesto. Bristol, UK:
Policy Press.

My tutorial on Political Communication focused on examining the effects of politics on the way information is distributed and interpreted through various media outlets. The first half of my tutorial was mainly catered to agenda-setting theory and how the influence of technology in politics alters what we see and hear about different stories or political agendas. The second half of my tutorial was focused on things that I wanted to learn more about such as gender communication in politics and religion in politics. Through this tutorial I was able to compare how governments and media in different countries choose to promote political issues and how that environment differs depending on the culture that country has created around respect for politics and politicians. My tutorial counted for PLU credit in both of my majors: COMA 304 (Intercultural Communication) and the International Relations and Comparative Government requirement for the Political Science Department.

Selected bibliography:

Iyengar, S., & McGrady, J. (2007). Media politics: A citizen’s guide. New York: WW Norton. (Chapter 8)

McCombs, M. E., & Shaw, D. L. (1972). The agenda-setting function of mass media. Public opinion quarterly, 36(2), 176-187.

Perloff, R. M. (2015). A three-decade retrospective on the hostile media effect. Mass Communication and Society, 18(6), 701-729.

My tutorial was on Victorian book history. I specifically studied authors and illustrators such as Beatrix Potter, Arthur Rackham, Charles Dickens, Gustave Dore, Pre-Raphaelites, King Arthur, and Lewis Carroll and how they contributed to and/or clashed with Victorian culture. This counted as ARTD 491 (Independent Study), a required upper division art history course for my major. For the most part, my professor did not assign a reading list but did make suggestions each week of what to find in terms of original works. For instance, I looked at illustrations that appeared in a newspaper series from Gustave Dore (late 1800’s) in Weston Library. My professor liked to go page by page through my paper and had me read it out loud for us, and then we would discuss it. He would then assign next week’s and suggest anything he wanted me to go look up. He usually assigned a theme of each paper but was pretty flexible on direction of paper.

Selected bibliography:

Anderson, Patricia. The Printed Image and the Transformation of Popular Culture, 1790-1860.  Oxford: Clarendon Press 1991.

Hack, Daniel. The Material Interests of the Victorian Novel. Charlottesville; London: University of Virginia Press 2005.

Payne, David.  The Reenchantment of Nineteenth-Century Fiction: Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot, and serialization. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 2005.

Sillars, Stuart.  Visualisation in Popular Fiction, 1860-1960: Graphic Narratives, Fictional Images. London: Routledge 1995.

Over the course of the tutorial, I read several of Shakespeare’s plays and analyzed the content focusing on power, gender, prophesy, justice, and humanity, among other things. The course counted as script analysis (THEA 330) which went toward my theatre requirements.

Selected bibliography:

Emma Smith, The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare (CUP, 2007)

Leah S. Marcus, Unediting the Renaissance: Shakespeare, Marlowe, Milton (1996)

Rebecca Bushnell, Tragedies of Tyrants: Political Thought and Theatre in the English Renaissance (1990)

Stephen Greenblatt, Shakespearean Negotiations (1988)

The name of the tutorial was Business Ethics, which counts towards a requirement for the business major. The subject matter was understanding the three primary schools of ethics (Utilitarianism, Kantianism and Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics) and how they apply to how people operate a business. For the first half of the course we went through each of these schools reading their primary texts (John Stuart Mill, Immanuel Kant, Aristotle) then in the second half we looked over case studies and applied the different schools of ethics to different business examples.