While on board the ship, I will be attending 2 classes each day. I will be alternating between 2 different schedules: A and B.
On both A and B days, I will have GLOBAL STUDIES:
It is focuses on the countries visited and is mandatory for all students.
Objectives:
1) To provide basic information about the physical and cultural geography; key historical events; the current social, economic and political situation of each country visited.
2) To present regional and global issues which in various ways affect the countries on our itinerary. Examples include race relations, population, poverty, ethnic/religious conflicts, technology, status of women, human rights, environment and globalization.
3) To emphasize the similarities and differences in the variety of human experiences and to assist students in developing the observational and analytical skills needed to draw cross-cultural comparisons. Method of evaluation based on four or five objective tests.
On A days I will also have INTRO TO ART & ARCHITECTURE as well as INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION:
ART & ARCHITECTURE begins with considerations of the definition of art and discussion of the various forms that the visual arts may take in our own culture and in other cultures, particularly in Africa, India, Southeast Asia, China, and Japan. Four broad themes will be used to provide a framework for observing, comparing, and contrasting the complex art of these geographic areas:
1) The human form (God/man, female, couple, mother/child)
2) The temple or sacred space
3) Mythology/storytelling and relating iconography and symbolism
4) Festival/celebrations.
Various contemporary art issues are also to be discussed, including such topics as the return of art to its place of origin, censorship, and the government's role in the arts.
INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION explores basic characteristics of the processes underlying the formation, maintenance, and termination of interpersonal relationships; theoretical and practical implications of these characteristics in various forms of interpersonal communication. Planned exercises and activities are designed to develop interpersonal communication skills.
On B days I will have ANTHROPOLOGY OF FOOD
America's fascination with food can be seen in our many best-sellers on fast food, obesity, sugar, Frankenfoods, diet, fitness and--of course--cookbooks. Indeed, food is both good to eat and good to think: it both sustains life and has ideational dimensions. The study of food offers economic, symbolic, historic, and political lenses for viewing societies, comparatively and historically. This class explores the culturally constructed category of food, defining it broadly as what human beings take into their bodies. Topics include: evolution of foods and foodways, subsistence and exchange, commensality, food taboos, food and identity, eating environments and rules, food disorders and body image, fasting and dieting, alcohol and drugs, the Columbian exchange and food migrations, the political economy of food and hunger, globalization and fast food.
