GBL1355 Preparatory Seminar for Connecting through Storytelling: Oral (Hi)stories of Patagonia and the Atacama.
This course helps prepare students academically, interculturally, linguistically, and logistically for their short-term global experience. The seminar is offered on campus in the semester prior to the 4 sh global engagement experience. Completing the pre-departure preparatory seminar is required for participation in GBL 2355: Connecting through Storytelling: Oral (Hi)stories of Patagonia and the Atacama.
Course Types
Civilization
Learning Outcomes
- Course Goals: Through immersive field experiences, guest speaker sessions, and collaborative discussions, students will cultivate cross-cultural empathy and a nuanced understanding of the region’s rich tapestry of stories. Student will:
• Explore the diverse indigenous cultures, traditions, and ways of life in the Patagonian and the Atacaman regions.
• Examine how indigenous communities have maintained their cultural heritage despite colonization and globalization.
• Explore (listen to, read, and analyze) the oral storytelling traditions of the Mapuche, Tehuelche, and Selk'nam peoples of Patagonia; the Atacameño, Quechua, and Diaguita communities in the Atacama Desert.
• Examine how stories, myths, and personal accounts reflect the cultural identities, environmental relationships, and sociopolitical contexts of these diverse regions.
• Engage in creative exercises to document and share the narratives encountered during the program.
Global Education Goals and Student Learning Outcomes:
• GEC Goal #6: Understand the multiple dimensions of human experience within and across cultures and environments.
This will be a core focus, and hence a core goal, of the course as students dive into the diverse cultural narratives and lived experiences of indigenous communities in Patagonia and the Atacama Desert. By engaging with oral histories, literary works, and first-hand accounts, students will develop a multifaceted understanding of how factors like geography, history, spirituality, and sociopolitical realities shape the human experience within these distinct environments.
Through activities like Storytelling Circles (WT), Literary Story Mapping and Jigsaw (Pre-departure) and reflective discussions (Pre-departure and WT), students will explore the narratives and the cultural identities, worldviews, and environmental relationships of the indigenous peoples. This will foster a nuanced appreciation for the varied dimensions of human life and social dynamics across these regions.
Student Learning Outcome related to GEC Goal #6:
1. Students will identify and describe key aspects of indigenous cultures, traditions, and ways of life in the Patagonian and the Atacaman regions based on literary texts, films, and other cultural artifacts (assessed through Literary Jigsaw and Story Mapping).
2. Students will analyze how geography, history, spirituality, and sociopolitical factors shape the human experience in these distinct environments as represented in various media (assessed through Literary Jigsaw and Story Mapping).
• GEC Goal #8: Examine one’s responsibilities as an active global citizen informed by multiple cultural perspectives.
This goal will be addressed as students uncover the complex realities and challenges faced by the indigenous communities highlighted in the course. Through reflective discussions, writing and the final project (WT) they will be encouraged to think on their roles and responsibilities as global citizens. The narratives and personal accounts they encounter (storytelling circles, WT) will shed light on issues of social justice, environmental stewardship, and the enduring impacts of colonialism. By engaging with these diverse cultural perspectives, students will be prompted to critically examine their own assumptions, biases, and positionality within the global context (WT, final project and final reflection). This will empower them to develop a more informed, empathetic, and ethically grounded sense of global citizenship, inspired by the narratives and lived experiences they've explored.
The course activities, such as group discussions, creative projects, final written reflection, and the final project will provide structured opportunities for students to articulate their evolving understanding of their roles and responsibilities as active, engaged global citizens. Overall, these two Global Education goals will be interwoven throughout the course, guiding students toward a deeper, more nuanced comprehension of human diversity and their own place within the interconnected global community.
Student Learning Outcomes related to GEC Goal #8:
1. Students will identify and discuss challenges faced by indigenous communities, including issues of social justice, environmental stewardship, and the impacts of colonialism, as represented in literature and media (assessed through class discussions and Story Mapping)
2. Students will start to articulate an initial understanding of their potential roles and responsibilities as global citizens, informed by the diverse cultural perspectives encountered in the course materials (assessed through class discussions, Literary Jigsaw and Story Mapping)
General Student Learning Outcomes Specific to the Pre-departure Course
Throughout the fall pre-departure seminar, we will have the following main objectives:
o Develop academic understanding about the topics of the course.
o Choose, develop, and share group research topic and focus (to build upon your final project due early in the spring).
o Cultivate group cohesion.
o Handle logistics related to the study abroad portion of the course.