Intro to Global Citizenship

UHON 1418 Spring 2024

UHON 1418: Introduction to Globlal Citizenship and Grand Challenges (Spring 2024)

Dr. Christopher J. Keller

COURSE DESCRIPTION: "Introduction to Global Citizenship and Human Rights I" is the first of a three-course sequence for ETSU Honors College Global Citizen Scholars. Broadly speaking, this interdisciplinary course explores the complex causes and effects of diverse human movements within France, to France, and in some cases, out of France from roughly 1789 to the present (though most of the course focuses on France since the 1960s). In doing so, it introduces students to concepts, ideas, and select historical and current events related to “citizenship,” “human rights,” “migration,” “refugees,” “(internally) displaced persons,” “asylum seekers,” the “United Nations,” and “sustainable development,” among others, and it asks students to critically analyze these concepts, ideas, and events to develop creative, timely, and relevant questions about issues and problems related to human movement (in both historical and contemporary terms). This prepares students for further and deeper learning in France in Summer 2024 (UHON 2418) as well as in the Fall Semester 2024 (UHON 3418). The course, then, serves to introduce to students not only content about the course topic but also ways to think critically about the intersection of “Grand Challenges” and those course topics. In doing so, students will use software products in Adobe Creative Cloud to design and share a variety of course assignments and projects. ETSU students can access Adobe Creative Cloud for free.

  • Student Learning Outcomes

    STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES: Upon the completion of UHON 1418, students should be able to complete the following:

    1. Understand the complexity of primary course concepts such as “citizen,” “human rights,” “migration,” “refugees,” and “sustainable development” in historical and contemporary contexts.

    2. Reflect critically on the ways the primary course concepts intersect with their personal, academic, and professional identities now and in the future.

    3. Collaborate effectively and efficiently with classmates during larger discussions, smaller group work, and on team projects.

    4. Pose critical questions that challenge accepted beliefs and realities to reimagine new ways of thinking about “global citizenship.”

    5. Follow curiosities (explore ideas) in self-directed ways that assist in development ofcritical questions and ideas central to course assignments.

    6. Gain proficiency in Adobe software products (such as Express, Portfolio, and InDesign) as a means to complete and showcase course assignments and projects. 

  • Required Course Texts

    REQUIRED COURSE TEXTS: The following texts should be purchased from the ETSU bookstore or from any online vendor. Other required texts will be provided as PDFs on D2L. Please note these books will be used across both Spring (UHON 1418) and Summer 2024 (UHON 2418).

  • Course Assignments

    COURSE ASSIGNMENTS:  The following activities form the basis of your overall grade this semester. Each one will come with additional instructions and guidelines for success.

    Class Takeaways Notebook (10%): Each time we meet in class, you will spend the last five to ten minutes writing up your “takeaways,” that is, the main ideas covered or debated in class along with your own insights, connections to other classes and materials, and questions for further exploration. Takeaways will be collected at the conclusion of each class meeting. They are graded for thoroughness and for the interesting connections they make.

    Blog Posts (25%): Five times this semester you will complete a blog post that provides critical analysis and reflection related to a course reading, documentary, or other text. Loose guidelines for each blog post will be provided in advance and, again, students will use Adobe Portfolio for their blogs.

    Pop Reading Quizzes (15%): Six times this semester you will be given an in-class pop reading quiz. That is, the quizzes will be unannounced. Additionally, reading quizzes may cover any course readings assigned since the previous pop reading quiz, so please stay on top of the reading assignments. If I know in advance that you will be out of class, the quiz may be made up later. However, these quizzes cannot be made up otherwise. Your lowest pop quiz grade will be dropped.

    In-Class Midterm Exam (15%): This exam will be comprised of multiple choice, short answer, and short essay questions that cover the main course concepts explored during the first half of the semester.

    Public Presentation about a Historical or Current Event in France (10%): Each student will give a presentation in Pecha Kucha format on some facet of French history or a current event as well as its importance to the course topics and to sites we will visit in France. Each group must select (from a list provided to them) a story or article central to the presentation. The Pecha Kucha format and other presentation guidelines and requirements will be explained in more detail as we get closer to presentation days.

    Leaning Toward France (25%): This final project offers students a time to reflect on and plan for their upcoming journey to France. In doing so, students consider their own personal preparation for the trip, their goals beyond course assignments, and research/creative questions that will help frame their experiences abroad as well as be explored upon return to the classroom in Fall 2024. The deliverable will be in the form of a short magazine produced with Adobe InDesign. 

  • Course Schedule

    READING & ASSIGNMENT SCHEDULE: The following reflects our schedule as best as I can predict prior to the semester. Some activities may be shifted when doing so best serves the class’s needs and learning goals. Please note that listed any “Reading” should be completed before coming to class that day.

    Part I. Freedom and Movement, Surveillance and Constraint: Citizenship, Rights, and Money

    • Wednesday, January 17: Course Introduction.
    • Monday, January 22: Danticat, “The Children of the Sea.”
    • Wednesday, January 24: Nguyen, “The War Years.”
    • Monday, January 29: Bixby, License to Travel, pp. 1-44.
    • Wednesday, January 31: Discussion: “Henley and Partners"
    • Sunday, February 4: Blog Post 1 Due by 11:59 p.m.
    • Monday, February 5: Bixby, License to Travel, pp. 45-87.
    • Wednesday, February 7: Discussion: "Citizenship"
    • Monday, February 12: Bixby, License to Travel, pp. 91-117.
    • Wednesday, February 14: Quiz Two.
    • Monday, February 19: Discussion: WW II and Human Rights.
    • Wednesday, February 21: Bixby, License to Travel, pp. 121-170.
    • Sunday, February 25: Blog Post 2 Due by 11:59 p.m.
    • Monday, February 26: Hannah Arendt, The Right to Have Rights
    • Wednesday, February 28: Discussion: Ai WeiWei’s Human Flow

    Part II: Liberty, Egality, Fraternity: French Republican Values in Crisis?

    • Monday, March 4: Midterm Examination In-Class
    • Wednesday, March 6: Stovall, Paris Noir, pp. 1-81.
    • Monday, March 18: Smith, The Stone Face, pp. 9-46.
    • Wednesday, March 20: Smith, The Stone Face, pp. 47-105.
    • Monday, March 25: Smith, The Stone Face, pp. 106-155.
    • Wednesday, March 27: Smith, The Stone Face, pp. 159-207.
    • Sunday, March 31: Blog Post 3 Due by 11:59 p.m.
    • Monday, April 1: Discussion: “French (De)Colonization."
    • Wednesday, April 3: Gatrell, Unsettling of Europe, pp. 124-41.
    • Monday, April 8: Sebbar, The Seine Was Red, Intro and pp. 1-43.
    • Wednesday, April 10: Sebbar, The Seine Was Red, pp. 45-111.
    • Sunday, April 14: Blog Post 4 Due by 11:59 p.m.
    • Monday, April 15: No Class. Begin reading Miller’s Pure.
    • Wednesday, April 17: Pechua Kucha Troubleshooting.
    • Monday, April 22: Pechua Kucha Presentations
    • Wednesday, April 24: Pechua Kucha Presentations
    • Sunday, April 28: Blog Post 5 Due by 11:59 p.m.
    • Wednesday, May 1: Leaning Toward France Assignment Due