Perspectives 2: Global Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity
NOTE: Students who started taking classes at Northwestern in Spring 2023 or earlier are not required to complete the US or Global perspectives (see the prior degree requirements). The information below pertains to students who start at Northwestern after Spring 2023.
The global perspective addresses the geographic and environmental conditions, historical and present social and political structures, linguistic and cultural formations of groups and individuals primarily outside the United States, focusing on the interaction among cultures.
Learning Objectives
In courses satisfying this perspective students will:
- Engage with scholarship describing the historical and contemporary structures, processes, human-environment relationships, and practices that shape global intercultural relations among groups, cultural traditions, and/or nations, focusing primarily on those outside the United States.
- Explore the social, political, environmental, and cultural bases of these groups, traditions, and/or nations, and how they constitute themselves and are constituted by others.
- Generate the knowledge and develop the skills necessary to grapple with key issues. The following list of possible issues is not intended to be exhaustive but illustrative: appropriation, art, borders, colonialism, diaspora, diplomacy, education, empire, the environment, ethnicity, exploration, health, indigeneity, immigration, migration, nationality, refugees, cultural reception, sustainability, statelessness, travel, and war.
- Analyze how these and other terms intersect and overlap, with attention to the dynamism and variety of experiences and expressions.
choosing courses
Review the list of approved courses for the global overlay. Note that a perspective course may simultaneously count for any other requirement in which it is approved (such as foundational discipline, major, or the advanced expression requirement).
Back to top