Pathway Connections: Global and Thematic Pathways

Pathway Connections
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Pathway Connections
Introduction
Throughout the course, what stands out is that the force of globalization has reached a historical high given the increased rate of global cross-cultural interactions. Success in business, education, health, environmental conservation, food production, and economic sustainability, more than ever, depends on the harmonious interaction of global societies. Thus, cultural exploration and understanding are critical to life in the 21st century. The course content highlighted two critical cultural exploration and understanding pathways: global and thematic.
Global Pathway
Under the global pathway, the courses focused on the diversity of human cultures through design, language, sciences, literature, and the arts. For instance, PSY 101LEC (Introduction to Psychology) provided a scientific approach to understanding culture and diversity, while DMS 333LEC (World Cinema) highlighted how cinema helps us understand culture and diversity. Under the PSY 101LEC, lessons dwelled on the general survey of perception. In other words, it explored the aspects of human development and the influential factors (including culture) that shape personalities, behaviors, and opportunities. From this lens, the scientific world can debunk the long-held wrong beliefs on sensitive issues like race, gender, religion, and the environment. However, understanding this aspect as means to understanding culture and diversity would have been futile without input from DMS 333LEC. Under DMS 333LEC, the lesson focused on fundamental issues of transnationalism, globalization, and activist cinema. Cinema, in other words, is a powerful tool that not only changes culture but also spreads it.
One exciting area in which DMS 333LEC and PSY 101LEC intersected was the discussion about learning and memory. The two aspects begin as soon as a person is born, forming the basis of early development. Under PSY 101LEC, it was established that children learn from their environment: family, community, institutions, and society. This forms the basis on which cultures are formed, sustained, or changed in the first place. A person born in an Islamic society is more likely to believe in Allah the same way another born in India is more likely to believe in Buddha. Thus, PSY 101LEC, in a way, concludes that the learning and memory aspects of human development are at the core of cultural exploration and understanding. ...