Non-Western Course

Requirement

At least one course in a student's program must be designated as being especially attentive to non-Western culture(s) or other cultural differences among people.

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Definition

The scope of human endeavor encompasses a wide range of responses to a shared set of universal challenges. The responses of Western civilization exist alongside (and in interaction with) the traditions and institutions of myriad other cultures. A liberal arts education extends beyond a working knowledge of the foundations of the Western cultural heritage to an appreciation of the repertoire of human experience and expression. Courses fulfilling this requirement will enable students to begin developing a critical understanding of the non-Western world.

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Learning Objectives

Students should meet a majority of the following objectives:

• Learn about non-Western peoples, cultures, institutions, traditions, concepts, and perspectives.
• Develop an appreciation of the range and variety of human experience both historically and globally.
• Apply methods and theories of cross-cultural and comparative research and analysis.
• Learn to question stereotypes and ethnocentrism and to understand non-Western cultures on their own terms.
• Understand that individual and group identity develops in response to the constraints and possibilities of a particular cultural context.
• Begin to understand the mutual influence and cross-fertilization among Western and non-Western societies and traditions.
• Study the ways in which global structures and processes shape life at the local level.
• Apply the critical perspective that historical and socio-economic context shape cultural, artistic, productive, technological, and intellectual endeavors.
• Critically evaluate how dynamics of power and inequality shape aspects of cross-cultural and international interaction.
• Reflect critically on the theoretical debates surrounding cross-cultural and international interaction.
• Develop a critical perspective on the impact of discrimination, prejudice, and oppression on peoples and societies.

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Criteria

1. Courses taught in fulfillment of the non-Western requirement will address as their primary topic one or more of the following:
   • A country or geographic region, whose primary cultural heritage differs substantially from the prevailing cultures of Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand;
   • The indigenous peoples in traditionally-defined western countries-this includes courses whose primary focus emphasizes the influence, attributes, and resilience of indigenous cultures under Western influences. *
   • Displaced, migrant, or transnational populations whose primary cultural heritage is substantially non-European, as long as the focus is on their cultural resiliency and on maintaining ties to their non-Western countries of origin.
   • The development of an understanding and appreciation of non-western civilizations, traditions and worldviews, from racial, religious, philosophical, artistic, literary, scientific, economic, or ethnic perspectives.

   * Courses focusing primarily on U.S. or European involvement/imperialism in non-western regions of the world do not satisfy the non-western criteria. While such courses (and others) may, as a matter of scholarly convention, be designated as non-Western within specific disciplines, such courses do not necessarily meet the college's revised curricular goal of introducing students to cultures significantly different from the western experience.

2. In addition, courses taught in fulfillment of the non-Western requirement will also meet one or more of the following criteria:
   • Include a substantial amount of material that teaches students about the historical, cultural, political, economic, religious, philosophical, literary, artistic, intellectual or scientific dimensions of a non-Western society or societies. When applicable, and when possible, indigenous sources and perspectives should be included in such material.
   • Include a substantial amount of material of a cross-cultural or comparative nature that teaches students about the historical, cultural, political, economic, religious, philosophical, literary, artistic, intellectual or scientific dimensions of both a Western and non-Western society or societies, with a primary emphasis on the latter.
   • Focuses on cross-cultural or comparative methods, theories or analysis.
   • An experiential or service-learning course that focuses on a non-Western population.
   • A travel course to a non-Western country.