Cultures & Contexts: Topics

Catalog description

Cultures and Contexts prepares students for life in a globalized world by introducing them to the ways in which humans come to understand themselves as members of social, religious, national, and regional collectives and by fostering their appreciation of the dynamics of cultural interaction and influence. Individual sections focus on specific social or cultural groups different from the dominant traditions of contemporary North America. They share a common concern to examine the ways cultures have interacted, for example, through trade, colonization, immigration, religious dispersion, and media representation; how such groups define themselves against internal and external difference; and how the dominant perspective of Western modernity affects comprehension of the ways in which people outside that position understand, experience, and imagine their lives. Offerings include emergent traditions, diaspora formations, and societies understood as nationally, geographically, or culturally distinct from the dominant traditions of contemporary North America. Courses focusing on ancient civilizations are also included, as are courses that address contemporary challenges to traditional European conceptions of national identity. Consult the Core Curriculum website for descriptions of each term’s offerings.