The two-part transdisciplinary overlay aims to infuse the Weinberg College curriculum with active discussions about how to navigate the local-global continuum amidst the complex and highly dynamic social and political movements of today and in the past. In particular, these overlays ask students to reflect on their own perspective as necessarily the product of interconnected webs of people, ideas, and events.

U.S. Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity

This perspective addresses the impact of histories, institutions, and/or social structures on groups and on individuals primarily in the United States, focusing on the interconnected issues of racism/antiracism, equality/inequality, and justice/injustice.

Learning Objectives for U.S. Perspectives

In courses satisfying this perspective students will:

• Engage with scholarship describing the historical and contemporary structures, processes, human-environment relationships, and practices that shape racism and anti-racism; power and resistance; justice and injustice; equality and inequality; agency and subjection; belonging and subjection, with a primary, but not exclusive, focus on the United States
• Explore the social, political, environmental, and cultural bases of these relationships, structures, processes, and practices, and examine how they constitute individuals' groups
• Reflect on one's position within these structures, processes, and practices
• Acquire the knowledge and develop the skills necessary to work with key analytical concepts that often define individuals and groups, including but not limited to ability, age, education, environmentality, ethnicity, gender, indigeneity, language, nationality, race, religion, politics, sexuality, and social status
• Analyze how these and other terms intersect and overlap, with attention to the dynamism and variety of experiences and expressions

U.S. Perspectives Courses

Courses approved for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Global Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity

This perspective addresses the geographic and environmental conditions, historical and present social and political structures, linguistic and cultural formations of groups and individuals primarily outside the United States, focusing on the interaction among cultures.

Learning Objectives for Global Perspectives

In courses satisfying this perspective students will:

• Engage with scholarship describing the historical and contemporary structures, processes, human-environment relationships, and practices that shape global intercultural relations among groups, cultural traditions, and/or nations, focusing primarily on those outside the United States
• Explore the social, political, environmental, and cultural bases of these groups, traditions, and/or nations, and how they constitute themselves and are constituted by others
• Generate the knowledge and develop the skills necessary to grapple with key issues. The following list of possible issues is not intended to be exhaustive but illustrative: appropriation, art, borders, colonialism, diaspora, diplomacy, education, empire, the environment, ethnicity, exploration, health, indigeneity, immigration, migration, nationality, refugees, cultural reception, sustainability, statelessness, travel, and war
• Analyze how these and other terms intersect and overlap, with attention to the dynamism and variety of experiences and expressions

Global Perspectives Courses

Courses approved for the 2024-2025 academic year.