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The Program in
Culture, Advocacy, and Leadership

Areas of Focus

With CORE Part I and CORE Part II of the CAL major, your course of study is structured and directed. With the Area Focus, you have the opportunity to individualize your studies according to your interests, commitments, and career goals.

The Area Focus consists of four classes inside or outside of CAL beyond those required in CORE Part I and CORE Part II. These four classes are chosen in conjunction with your CAL faculty mentor based on various factors, including where you want to pursue research, develop a practicum project, or undertake an internship, and what you hope to do after graduation.

You are free to work with your mentor to choose whichever classes and engagement experiences are best for you.

However, sometimes it’s helpful to look at example pathways through the CAL major. Below are a handful of pathways you can pursue or simply use to generate your own ideas about tailoring the CAL major to your interests.

Example Pathways

LAW & JUSTICE

Possible Area Focus Courses:

  • Culture, Advocacy, and Leadership 3200: Democracy, Deliberation, and Lived Experience
  • Philosophy 3623: Modern Philosophies of Law
  • Political Science 2208: Law, Politics, and Justice
  • Sociology 3613: Law and Society

Possible Engagement Work:

SPORTS & CULTURE

Possible Area Focus Courses:

  • Culture, Advocacy, and Leadership 2100: Sports, Culture, and Society
  • Economics 2180: Sports Economics
  • Psychology 3560: Sports Psychology
  • Musicology/Ethnomusicology 1340:Music, Sports, and Society

Possible Engagement Work:

  • Complete an internship with Girls on the Run – Middle Tennessee and collect life stories from women reflecting on participating in sports throughout their childhood.
  • Conduct ethnographic research with student-athletes to examine the relationship between music and athletic performance.
  • Volunteer for East Nashville Little League and make a podcast about coaching strategies and philosophies.

GLOBAL CULTURES & HUMAN RIGHTS

Possible Area Focus Courses:

  • African American and Diaspora Studies 1906: Curating Black Lives: Imagination, Art, and Global Social Change
  • Anthropology 3134: Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples
  • Gender and Sexuality Studies 3265: Human Rights in Activism
  • Political Science 3270: Human Rights

Possible Engagement Work:

  • Complete an internship with Nashville’s Metro Human Relations Internship Program and compare how ideas about human rights vary between the US and other countries around the world.
  • Visit a foreign country, research their human rights archives, and interview public servants to document the historical and contemporary challenges of peace and reconciliation.
  • Join Vanderbilt Amnesty International and explore the challenges of getting students in the US to care for international human rights.

CONFLICT & PEACE

Possible Area Focus Courses:

  • African American and Diaspora Studies 3208: Blacks in the Military
  • Economics 2340: Plunder and Pillage: The Economics of Warfare and Conflict
  • Medicine, Health, and Society 2250: War and the Body
  • Political Science 2273: Conflict Management

Possible Engagement Work:

  • Volunteer with Operation Stand Down and trace the way veterans have moved from military service to living and working in Middle Tennessee.
  • Work as a tour guide at Fort Negley and research the way race and community intersect with the unique history of the site.
  • Document places in Middle Tennessee that were once the site of a military battle but are now integrated into the local tourism economy; draft a white paper on better ways of remembering war and peace.

MIGRATIONS & DIASPORA

Possible Area Focus Courses:

  • Culture, Advocacy, and Leadership 3890: Special Topics—The Politics of Asylum
  • African American and Diaspora Studies 2168: Black Migrations in the African Diaspora
  • History 2740: Immigration, the United States, and the World
  • Asian Studies 2214: Food of Southeast Asia and the Diaspora

Possible Engagement Work:

  • Interview immigration lawyers around Nashville to document the challenges of providing legal services to asylum-seekers.
  • Volunteer with Conexión Américas to assist with childcare during adult ESL classes and other workshops and make a documentary about parents adjusting to life in Nashville.
  • Conduct research in Vanderbilt’s Television News Archive on the history of news coverage of the US-Mexico border.

ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADERSHIP & ECONOMIC JUSTICE

Possible Area Focus Courses:

  • Anthropology 3135: Development, Social Enterprise, Social Justice
  • Business 2300: Entrepreneurship: The Business Planning Process
  • Economics 2150: Economic History of the United States
  • Human & Organization Development 3262: Social Entrepreneurship: Principles and Application

Possible Engagement Work:

  • Intern with Thistle Farms and explore the challenges of putting social entrepreneurship into practice in a booming city like Nashville.
  • Interview people participating in the Tennessee Reconnect program as they return to school to gain new skills and to advance their careers.
  • Volunteer at several Black-owned businesses and trace the strategies business leaders employ to succeed in Nashville.

POPULAR CULTURE & AMERICAN VALUES

Possible Area Focus Courses:

  • Culture, Advocacy, and Leadership 2150: Hip-Hop Culture in America
  • Gender & Sexuality Studies 2225: Women in Popular Culture
  • History 2750: American Intellectual History since 1865
  • Sociology 3207: Popular Culture Dynamics

Possible Engagement Work:

  • Volunteer at the Jefferson Street Sound Museum and explore how music, history, and identity intersect on Jefferson Street.
  • Conduct ethnographic research on the Southern Baptist Convention by interviewing people about the intersection of religion and politics in their church experiences.
  • Intern at Redpepper and investigate how advertisers and marketers work to capture gender dynamics on behalf of clients and for consumers.

ENVIRONMENTAL LEGACIES & GLOBAL SOLUTIONS

Possible Area Focus Courses:

  • Earth and Environmental Sciences 2110: Introduction to Climate Change
  • English 2330: Introduction to Environmental Humanities
  • Sociology 3314: Environmental Inequality and Justice
  • Anthropology 4154: Environmental Anthropology

Possible Engagement Work:

  • Conduct ethnographic research with a local environmental justice NGO back home over the summer.
  • Survey Nashville area artists who work to raise awareness about climate change and curate a small digital exhibit at Vanderbilt.
  • Volunteer with the Tennessee Wildlife Federation in a conservation/cleanup effort and put together a digital photographic essay of your experiences.