Course Description
The main theoretical assumptions, methods, and practices of this new, cross disciplinary field of inquiry. Emphasis will be placed on the new approaches and skills needed to navigate the global economy and the cultural super-diversity of our globalized world.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Research paper (5000 words)
Oral presentations in class.
Athena Title
Intercultural Studies
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
The objectives of this course are: (1) to help develop our students’ multicultural interpretive and communicative skills; (2) to help develop their ability to feel at home in cultural environments other than their own; (3) to effectively engage in intercultural dialog and mutually beneficial cooperation; (4) to help develop their know-how, creativity, and flexibility in meeting the challenges of the new global economy and the super-diversity of our global society.
Topical Outline
This course will describe the general field of intercultural studies, outlining its main theoretical assumptions, objectives, and methodologies. We shall consider various definitions of culture as they have traditionally been employed in various societies and academic disciplines; and the history and meaning of key terms such as cultural identity and difference, intercultural and crosscultural knowledge, global competence, and global intelligence. We shall then examine various theories and practices of globalization in their historical and local contexts, as well as the claims and agendas of the anti- globalization movements. Finally, we shall address the essential question: What are some of the basic principles and practices that should guide students of intercultural studies throughout their research, career, and life choices? Readings: Appadurai, Arjun (1996). Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Chicago: Chicago University Press Bauman, Zygmunt (1998). Globalization: The Human Consequences. Cambridge: Polity Press. Reprinted edition, 2000. New York: Columbia University Press Clifford, James and Marcus, George E. (1986). Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. Berkeley: University of California Press Eagleton, Terry (2000). The Idea of Culture. Oxford: Blackwell Geertz, Clifford (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books Huntington, Samuel P. (1996). The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. New York: Simon and Schuster Krupat, Arnold (1992). Ethnocriticism. Ethnography, History, Literature. Berkeley: University of California Press Marcus, George E. and Fischer, Michael M. J. (1999). Anthropology as Cultural Critique: An Experimental Moment in the Human Sciences. Revised 2nd edition Said, Edward (1979). Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books Spariosu, Mihai (2004). Global Intelligence and Human Development. Toward an Ecology of Global Learning. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press Spariosu, Mihai, (2006). Remapping Knowledge. Intercultural Studies for a Global Age. Oxford and New York, Berghahn Press Spellmeyer, Kurt (2003). Arts of Living. Reinventing the Humanities for the Twenty-First Century. Albany, NY: SUNY Press Turner, Frederick J. (1991). Rebirth of Value. Albany, NY: SUNY Press