GDEV 2505

Culture, Communities, and Development: From Upstate New York to Quito, Ecuador

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2023-2024.

This collaborative online international learning and community-based global learning course invites Cornell students to explore the complexities of culture and community and their impact on development, with students and faculty from Universidad San Francisco de Quito, and community partners in Upstate New York and Quito. We will apply theories of cultural change, intercultural communication, and community empowerment to the study of development in both New York and Ecuador. We will engage in readings of theoretical texts, discussion of research on cultures of development, guest lectures from relevant community partners, and collaborative projects with USFQ student partners. Ecuadorian students will come to New York during their Spring Break for collaborative work and Cornell students will be hosted by USFQ in Ecuador during our Spring break.

When Offered Spring.

Fees Course fee: $2,000 (includes flight, accommodation, and most meals during Spring Break field study at Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador).

Distribution Category (CA-AG, HA-AG)
Course Attribute (CU-CEL, CU-ITL)

• Describe differences in values, cultural norms, expectations, feelings, verbal and non-verbal modes of communication and worldviews of other cultural groups or communities.
• Correlate cultural differences, social inequality, politics, and history with diverse models of community-based development practice in multiple distinct geographic settings.
• Interpret personal intercultural experience from the perspectives of more than one worldview and demonstrate the ability to act in a supportive and sensitive manner that recognizes the feelings of another cultural group or communities.
• Examine sources and solutions to community problems and make substantive connections among community-engaged experiences and contextual factors such as knowledge, values, and emotion.

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