Global Cultural Awareness & Literacy

Catalog description

This course is designed for students who are willing to critically analyze the concept of global citizenship in an increasingly connected world full of social, political, and environmental challenges. We will draw on recent research on this topic and examine the importance of certain skills for global cultural awareness, literacy and education, and subsequently focus on cross-cultural communication skills as part of being a globally oriented citizen of the 21st century. This course will help students appreciate the complexity and dynamics involved in globalization and the legacies of Western imperialism, enhance students’ self-reflection of their own culture in relation to other cultures, and develop a cross-cultural understanding of other societies. Additionally, the multidisciplinary nature of this course provides opportunity for multilevel discussions and interventions. Students are encouraged to be reflexive and self-interrogative, and they are challenged to relate to their own national, cultural, and personal context. Particular ideas and specific wishes from the students are, of course, largely respected.