Academics Have Multiple Cultural Perspective to Solve Global Issues

Students will present the results of their work on the Multiple Cultural Perspectives requirement, which may include coursework or independent research, in their Division II portfolio when the concentration is finished. In addition, students will discuss how those explorations affect their overall concentration in their retrospective essays or elsewhere.

Critical Issues for Multiple Cultural Perspectives Requirement

Students can choose to address one or more of the following critical issues to fulfill this requirement. However, students are encouraged to incorporate all three issues into their Division assignments:

1. Perspectives from other cultures- Our students will gain a better understanding of the cultural diversity of the interconnected world by studying non-Western peoples and cultures. A mentally vivacious commitment to non-Western viewpoints grows how one understands the world. Students must incorporate non-Western cultures and peoples into their Division studies to achieve this objective.

2. Race in the United States- Our students will be able to better comprehend the conditions that lead to power disparities that frequently fall along racial lines by studying the history, politics, and culture of race in the United States and other countries. A more critical approach to students' education is provided by the serious academic study of "race" theories and analyses. Students must incorporate the study of the roles that race and racism play in American culture and society into their Division coursework to accomplish this objective.

3. Power and knowledge- Most academic discourse ignores the impact of disparities in power and privilege because academic disciplines' canons are frequently presented as neutral and universal. Our students will be able to think more critically about the processes by which intellectual or artistic perspectives can be either privileged or marginalized by studying how relations of power and difference can shape academic knowledge. Students must include research on the connections between power and knowledge about non-Western perspectives or race in their Division coursework to accomplish this objective.