Global Engagement and Justice
Objectives
In an increasingly complex and interconnected world, Brandeis students are encouraged to actively explore and analyze diversity and difference including the impact of social, political, cultural, environmental, and linguistic structures in the U.S. and in the world. Through courses offered in the areas of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Studies in the U.S. (DEIS-US); Difference and Justice in the World (DJW); and World Languages and Cultures (WLC), the Global Engagement and Justice requirement emphasizes the profound connections between local and global forms of understanding and social justice, encompassing global stewardship, world relationships, environmental justice, and sustainability.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Studies in the U.S. (DEIS-US) courses will prepare students to engage with dynamics, developments, divisions, and inequalities within U.S. society, and to explore the historical and contemporary experiences, interests, and perspectives of groups and institutions that have shaped life in the United States.
In Difference and Justice in the World (DJW) courses, students will focus on the diversity of the human experience from global or transnational perspectives by engaging in the study of the histories, arts, cultures, politics, economies, environments, and/or religions of peoples outside the U.S.
Extending our students’ ability to engage globally, World Languages and Cultures (WLC) sequence of courses will provide an "intermediate" proficiency (the equivalent level of a third semester of language instruction achieved through placement, exemption, or courses) in speaking, writing and reading and comprehension in a language other than English. This requirement will enhance an understanding of the challenges of cross-cultural communication, grant access to diverse bodies of knowledge through courses in languages other than English, and provide skills needed to communicate with friends, colleagues, and strangers in work, travel, and community settings.
Learning Goals
- Demonstrate curiosity and humility in engaging with cultures, languages, peoples, and world views that are different from our own—within the U.S. and the world
- Analyze systems, structures, and institutions that establish, maintain, and seek to stratify differences in cultures, languages, peoples, and world views within the U.S. and the world.
- Reflect critically on one’s own background, history, culture, language, and world views in relation to those of others in ways that pursue a more just world within the U.S. and the world.
- Demonstrate proficiency in a language other than English.
How to Fulfill the Requirement
Students will satisfy the Global Engagement and Justice requirement through the successful completion of one course in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Studies in the United States [DEIS-US] and one course in Difference and Justice in the World [DJW]. In the event a course has both a DEIS-US and a DJW designation, the course can can double count to fulfill both components of this requirement.
To fulfill the language component of this requirement, students will successfully complete a 30-level (or higher) FL-designated course in the World Languages and Cultures sequence or an approved equivalent.