World Cultures (.5 Credit)

World Cultures is designed to help students to develop a more complex and nuanced understanding of human experience as it relates to ethnicity and culture. Early lessons guide students to build a conceptual framework for studying ethnicity and ethnic groups, based on the relationships among identity, ethnicity, race and nationality. In the beginning of the course, students will analyze how cultural assumptions and biases influence both individual identity and people’s perceptions of others. Additionally, lessons about the origins of culture in early civilizations and the ways that humans organized themselves socially as populations increased will provide background knowledge that students need to study ethnicity and culture in the United States. Throughout this course, students are encouraged to identify and appreciate aspects of their own identity as well as the cultures, strengths, achievements and values of the major ethnic groups in the U.S.  A key feature of the course is the emphasis given to the perspectives of individuals from historically marginalized groups that are rarely represented in textbooks. The goal is to add these voices to the larger historical narrative so that students can see themselves and all of their classmates as vital parts of the American story.