My friend Leah of the University of British Columbia, Canada, is looking for collaborators to work on a GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP course she is developing. Details below.
Please contact her directly if you want to collaborate with her on this project (Canadian$1000 honorarium offered).
Terima Qasih.
Azlan Adnan
Hal Elwal Antarabangsa
ProWaris
From:
"Leah Macfadyen" leah.macfadyen@ubc.ca
Subject:
urgently seeking curriculum developers ("Global Citizenship")
Dear UWC Folks near and far,
Almost a year ago, your comments and input helped me draft a proposal
for an online undergraduate course called "Introduction to Global
Citizenship" - a wide-ranging course that surveys a range of questions
and topics that will be familiar to all of you from your UWC time, and
that will hopefully challenge students to listen to each other and
consider their roles and responsibilities in the world. The course is
planned to be made available to students at a number of universities
internationally, and from across the disciplines.
The slow wheels of university bureaucracy have finally turned, the
outline has been approved, and I now have the go-ahead (and some
funding) to develop the course.
This means that I am now actively and urgently seeking individuals
(specialists) who are interested in collaborating in this project by
drafting curriculum content for individual modules (one module is one
week of coursework) for a number of topic areas for which I have
sketched a rough outline.
The modules for which I am still seeking content developers are listed
below, and I can offer a $1000 (Canadian) honorarium to contributors.
Ideally, materials are needed by mid-late June, 2005.
Are you interested in participating? Can you recommend others who
might be?
If so, please get in touch as soon as possible - I will happily tell
you more about the project, design, and vision and about the scope and
style of what is needed.
This is an ambitious undertaking, but with your help, I'm confident
that it can be a truly exciting course.
cheers, Leah PC89
------------------
Content developers needed for the following weekly modules:
What is a Citizen?
What is ‘citizenship’ and why does it matter? What does it mean to be a
citizen? This module will introduce different theoretical, national,
political, legal and historical and cultural perspectives on
‘citizenship’ and its associated rights and responsibilities. It will
ask students to investigate and consider which groups are
‘non-citizens’ in their home country, and to reflect on their own
responsibilities as citizens – both to their own state and to
non-citizen populations.
What does it mean, to be a “global citizen�?
This module will explore whether a real possibilities for “globalness�
exists, and will examine the potential for development of a ‘global
ethics’. Is it possible, given human diversity, to identify the
interests that unify us, that bind our common fate? The benefits of
citizenship are rarely conferred on the collective or the group; rights
are expressed in terms of what one individual can derive from or do
with his or her status as citizen. Does this imply that global
citizenship confers an identifiable set of ‘universal’ rights on
individuals? What is the need for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
The Challenge of Global Divisions: Race, Ethnicity, Nation, State
Until the end of the 20th century ethnic and national identity were
supposed to diminish in importance, a consequence of globalization,
transnational forces (e.g., labor migration, refugees), the development
of supra-state institutions (the U.N., the European Union), and the
spread of modernity throughout the world. Clearly this prediction was wrong!
What constitutes a "nation" in the sense of a "people"? How has this
concept evolved over time? This module will examine the concepts of
ethnic and national identity. This modules will continue the
exploration of global diversity by
Challenging Old Conceptions of Citizenship: Diversity and Multiculturalism
Many modern nation states are grappling with the increasingly
multicultural nature of their populace (or are finally recognizing
their multicultural reality). Political pundits laud pluralism as an
end-in-itself or highlight the wealth or skills that immigrants bring
to their new country of residence. Dissenters claim that immigrants
weaken local or national culture and values, or consume resources that
belong ‘by right’ to the ‘indigenous’ population. This module will ask
students to consider: What value multiculturalism? What, if anything,
can hold a multi-religious, multicultural society together? Why should
the citizens of such a society want to hold together?
Human Impact on the Environment
This module will focus student attention on human impact on the natural
environment, and, in particular, their individual contribution to this
phenomenon. Potential topics of global concern that may be explored
via course notes, readings and discussion could include:
• An evaluation of the individual’s impact (ecological footprint)
• The problem of carbon dioxide emissions (direct and indirect), and an exploration on how to minimize them
• The phenomena of environmental conflict (for example, “water wars� Middle East)
• Air quality, water quality, genetic diversity, and their interconnectedness with human health and society.
• Cultural perspectives on human relationships with and responsibility for the environment and natural world.
Sustainability
This module will examine alternative theories and definitions of the
notions of “sustainability" and “sustainable development." In
particular, it will highlight the sustainability problems of industrial
countries (i.e., aging of populations, sustainable consumption,
institutional adjustments, etc.); and of developing states and
economies in transition (i.e., managing growth, sustainability of
production patterns, pressures of population change, etc.). It may also
include an examination of current and potential future energy systems,
with emphasis on meeting regional and global energy needs in the 21st
century in a more sustainable manner.
Politics, Participation and Civil Society
The goal of this final module is to ask students to consider the
possibilities for individual participation in local and international
governance and civil society, and those factors (legal, cultural,
political, personal) that may limit participation by themselves and others.
At the personal level, this module will ask students to reflect on
individual and collective responsibility for action when they encounter
social inequity or injustice, or environmental damage. An example as
simple as whether or not to give money to beggars/pan-handlers might
prompt interesting reflection on “the decision to act�. Why do some
people become activists, while others ignore the problem or stand by silently?
Leah P. Macfadyen
---------------------------
Educational Program Manager
UBC Centre for Intercultural Communication
800 Robson Street, Vancouver, BC, V6Z 3B7, Canada
Tel: (604) 822 9620 (w); (604) 732 9750 (h)
Fax: (604) 822 0388
Email: Leah.Macfadyen@ubc.ca
http://cic.cstudies.ubc.ca
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