Intercultural Knowledge

HU professors were asked to describe assignments or experiences where students develop intercultural knowledge. Their responses are provided with course title or catalog number for reference.

Examples may include:

  • Knowledge of different cultures
  • Knowledge of institutional oppression or privilege
  • Knowledge of multiple self-identities
  • Knowledge of internalized oppression or privilege

The English and Social Work Departments sponsor an annual October trip to the Luther Luckett Correctional Complex, a medium-security prison in Kentucky, to visit Shakespeare Behind Bars (SBB). SBB takes participating inmates through the reading, rehearsal, and performance of one Shakespeare play per year. Students taking the trip commit to reading the year’s play and viewing the documentary movie Shakespeare Behind Bars before the trip. In the prison, the students participate in the inmates’ rehearsal exercises, observe a rehearsal, engage with the inmates in a Q&A time, and often engage in a discussion of the play. Participating inmates come from the range of the inmate population. Participating students have frequently attested to their changed views about the nation’s prison populations.

CO111 Intro to Communication - Students attend a religious service that is cross-cultural for them--for some it is an African American church, a Jewish temple, a mosque, a Spanish church, or a Dunkard church. They then write reflection papers on the visit using cultural concepts to make sense of their observations.

TE 233 Foundations of TESOL / ENL - 

  • Students participate in a role-play / culture simulation. Each student is assigned one of four colors and must display his/her color. Each student receives an identity card describing his/her color's beliefs about people from other color groups; specific linguistic idiosyncrasies; specific cultural norms; individual personality quirks. All students pretend they are on a sinking ship and must agree upon 5 items to take with them to a deserted island. During the role-play students must employ all the information provided on their card, including how they treat others, how they talk, what body language they use, and what their personal opinions are. Then, students must work together to name the island and write three laws to govern it. The overall purposes of this simulation include: understand how easy it is to stereotype based on assumptions or limited experience; identify cultural beliefs and practices of other groups; understanding the difficulty in judging the difference between culture and individual personality (when based on limited interaction); owning positive and negative emotions associated with diverse social interaciton and group problem solving.
  • Students view a slide show of pictures of classrooms from various countries around the world. Some of the pictures depict a wide variety of realities present within one country. Students are challenged to let go of the assumption that all countries outside of the U.S. are "less priviledged."
  • Students identify cognitive and affective challenges faced by ELLs in the U.S. Students discuss how an ENL teacher (or mainstream teacher of ELLs) can address these challenges in the classroom.
  • Students define Guiora's "language ego" theory and apply it to second language acquisition in children and adults. (When people learn a second language they develop an ego separate from identity in the first language. The second language ego is typically more fragile, as a person struggles to express his/her own ideas in the target language, worries about making social and linguistic mistakes, and doubts his/her ability to master fluency and accuracy.)
  • Students are asked to discuss how the English language can be associated with imperialism and other forms of oppression. How can Christian English teachers overcome these negative associations and be agents of reconciliation?

AC341 Intermediate Accounting - International Reporting Case assignment where students identify at least 3 differences in balance sheet reporting between British and U.S firms, as shown in Tomkin's balance sheet. Then a review of Tomkin's balance sheet is given to identify how the format of this financial statement provides significant information.

NU 315 Health Assessment - Students choose one culture to discuss one of the cultural assessment models that are available for nursing. Students will describe how they might adjust the nursing care and when taking care of a person of this particular culture

EN121 English - Students read selections of Haitian-American writer Edwidge Danticat's short stories which we discuss in depth. Then students determine a research essay topic related directly to Haiti which they then research and develop in a 2000 word essay.

HS 261 The British Empire - This course surveys the history of the British Empire from the mid-19th century to the retreat from empire following the Suez Crisis (1956). It seeks to explain the Empire’s growth and the early stages of its contraction in Africa, the Middle East and South and Southeast Asia.

HS 337 Seminar on Britain and the End of Empire - This course examines the various processes involved in the contraction of Empire in the quarter century after the Second World War. Case studies are drawn mainly from Malaya, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Palestine, the Gold Coast, Kenya, the Central African Confederation, Rhodesia, South Africa and Nigeria.

HS 346 Cambodia Revolution and Genocide - This course introduces students to the political, economic and social history of Cambodia. It explores Cambodia’s struggle for independence, involvement in the Vietnam War, revolution, genocide, rehabilitation and reconciliation, and environmental history since 1945.

HS 351 Diplomacy: Napoleon to Stalin - This course examines Great Power relations from the Napoleonic era until the end of the Vietnam War. Key areas for discussion include the Vienna System, the Crimean War, the Scramble for Africa, World Wars One and Two, and the Cold War. 

HS 361 American Religious History - This course examines the religious history of the American people from the colonial period to the present, with reference to the theology, liturgy and polity of different religious traditions. Special emphasis is given to the history of the Christian churches and to the nature of the evangelical strain of Protestantism.

HS 456 America and Vietnam - The course examines the key factors concerning United States involvement in the Vietnam War. It investigates American involvement in relation to European decolonization, Cold War politics, congress and public opinion. The unit considers the impact of the Vietnam War on American foreign policy since 1975 and - using film, literature and oral histories - the way in which it continues to affect the United States today. 

SOJ141 Why We Can’t Wait - This course will take an in depth look at the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.; the theology and practice of non-violence; the key figures, conflicts and results of the modern Civil Rights movement (1954 - 1968). Time will be spent in class and on a trip visiting historic Civil Rights sites in the Southern states.

SS202 Conversations About Race - This course is designed to provide readings, discussions, and personal experiences to help you explore the topic of race, your own racial identity, and what race means for relationships on and off campus. And to do so in a safe environment where questions or dissent will be respected and welcomed and learned from. We will also study racism—both personal and institutional—and how it affects individuals and groups in our society. Special consideration will be given to the connections (positive and negative) that exist between Christian faith and race in American society.

SOJ181 The Church's Response to Modern Day Poverty - A study of the major issues confronting the modern American city from sociological, economic, and theological perspectives. Students will live, learn, and serve in a Philadelphia neighborhood for 2 ½ weeks. Students will serve at a local community service site each day, attend local congregations, and learn about intentional community living as well as see a variety of responses by the Church to the issue of poverty and justice in Philadelphia. Students will also be challenged to take the many lessons they have learned during their time in Philadelphia back to Huntington and to live accordingly.