Communication in a Diverse World

Catalog description

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. COURSE OVERVIEW. Explores key concepts and theories for understanding how communication both reflects and shapes diversity in today’s world. Students study the mutual constitution of culture and communication, or the idea that communication practices both shape culture and are shaped by it. Examines one or more dimensions of identity, including gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, social class, ability, nationality and religion, and how these dimensions affect communication across personal, organizational, public and/or other contexts. Includes practice in analyzing communication through critical and cultural perspectives. RELEVANCE AND APPLICATION. Equips students with tools to navigate communication in diverse personal, professional and civic settings. Concepts and perspectives studied here apply directly to working in multicultural teams, exercising inclusive leadership and adapting to varied audiences in workplace and public contexts. Beyond career preparation, the course fosters critical awareness of how communication practices shape social realities, offering frameworks for lifelong learning, responsible citizenship and public/community engagement. DEEPENING UNDERSTANDINGS. Highlights how terms such as culture, identity and diversity are defined within communication research and scholarly traditions, which may differ from everyday usage. Demonstrates how these concepts shape interaction, expectations and interpretation, revealing contexts in which cultural difference functions as a central dimension of communicative practice. TOPICS AND THEMES. May include exploration of how communication reflects and shapes cultural difference; study of identity across dimensions such as gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, social class, ability, nationality and/or religion; analysis of how communication practices can reinforce or challenge inequity; consideration of communication across interpersonal, organizational and/or public contexts; introduction to critical and cultural perspectives on communication and diversity. Course may include content that is controversial or contested, as relevant to examining the ways differences in belief, perspective and lived experience shape communication practices. Prerequisite: Junior or senior classification or approval of instructor.