This course gave students a comprehensive understanding of the causes, events, and consequences of World War II. In order to understand the causes of the war, the course briefly outlined WWI and discussed in great detail the Treaty of Versailles. It then went on to discuss the war in economic, social, political, and military terms. As opposed to other lectures on WWII, this course used Germany as its center but then branched out to parallel what was happening in Germany with what was happening in Russia and Italy. What this course did not do, however, was talk about the Pacific Theater – it’s focus was primarily the Atlantic.

The themes discussed in this course that overlapped with others were that of interconnectedness and consequences. All of the events that occured in one dimension of the war (both WWI and WWII) affected all the others – no one event remained isolated. These events then set off a chain of others, showing the continued damage consequences of a war can inflict. These themes are seen not just in this course, but also in Intro to Global Studies, Peacemaking & Peacekeeping, and Migrations and Displacement.

I came into this course already knowing a lot about Germany’s role in the war. By taking this course, I learned more about the war outside of Germany and I learned more about the consequences other than the Holocaust. This challenged my understanding of the war and helped me to see that the blame is not all Germany’s – all parties involved contributed.

This course discussed the transformation of Islam since its birth in the 6th century to the form it takes today. It began with understanding key terms used in Islam, such as ‘mufti’ and ‘fiqh’, as well as understanding the four schools of thought and how they functioned in practice and in Islam. I have chosen to tailor my coursework around Middle Eastern interests, and this course gave me a more solid understanding of Islam and how the modern world has shaped it – a critical concept in my field.

Throughout the semester, students were to read roughly 100 pages weekly and take extensive readers notes to bring along to class. Aside from class participation, there were three formal assignments to assess students. The first was a critical response paper to two readings relating to the study of Orientalism, responding to Edward Said and Mohammad Fadel. The second was a mid-term exam in short answer format testing students on the progression of Islam from the 6th century to the era of British colonization. The third was a ten page in-depth research project on the student’s topic of choice. These assessments were my first real critical thinking challenge and helped me learn to formulate my own opinions by assessing the validity and considering the contexts of arguments.

In addition to developing critical thinking, this course gave me a wider understanding of Islam. Prior to the class, I was aware of the basic religious aspects, but did not know how structured and influential the religion is to entire communities and later on law. I also was unaware of how the British empire codified and altered Islam in an attempt to assert their own power. I learned how damaging this was and how the essence of Islam changed as a result of it, and I also gained an understanding of how this feuls certain radical groups’ sentiments. Overall, this course provided me basic understandings imperative to my field and to interacting with the world around me, helping me better know the history and context of global issues.

This course presented current theories to managing and solving conflicts and civil wars in the modern world. Ranging from mediating civil wars to terminating them, we read and discussed theories such as power-sharing, democratization, military intervention, and reconciliation and transitional justice.

It culminated in a semester long project where groups of students attempted to solve current conflicts. I was assigned the conflict in Yemen. My group attempted to understand the causes of the conflict between the Hadi Government, the Houthis, and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) so that we could better understand their reactions. By looking at past (and failed) third party intervention and applying the theory of the Peace Building Triangle, we decided that a “Security First” approach paired with humanitarian aid and power-sharing institutions would be the best solution to the conflict. All of this, of course, would have a large focus on the Yemeni coffee industry so the country can begin to support itself in its rebuilding.

This course blended analytical thinking with cultural understanding. The theories presented are meant to be applied not as a blanket solution, but rather as a lock-and-key model. In other words, each theory is meant to be applied as a personalized approach for each uniquely complex conflict.

Most importantly, this course challenged a democratically centered mindset that the current political climate imposes upon students of my generation. I learned that the installation of a democracy is not always the answer to pulling a country out of war. In fact, it may actually devastate a nation that much more.

This course talked about the different philosophies of modern social thinkers. It discussed the philosophies of thinkers such as John Locke, Jacques Rousseau, Karl Marx, Mary Wollstonecraft, John Stuart Mill, and more. The theories discussed were centered aroudn the idea of equality and inequality, rights to property, women’s rights and roles, slavery, and climate change.

Throughout the course, I wrote three papers where I engaged in an argument either for or against different theories of philosophy. Writing these papers taught me how to form a philosophical argument and how to logically defend my position. It also taught me how to identify and properly expose fallacies in arguments without discrediting the arguer or the entirety of their stance.

This course acted as an outlier to the rest of my Global Studies coursework, but it provided me with the foundation of thought that influences modern theories presented in my other classes. It also provided me with the tools needed to analyze and weigh arguments in any sphere.

Migration & Displacement was a seminar type course with a mix of undergraduate and graduate students. This course covered topics such as the meaning of home when living in different places, transnational connections and divisions, borders, nations and nationalism, asylum and refugees, regulation of movement, gender and migration, and others.

The format of the class allowed first an investigative discussion of the topic for the evening. As a class, we weighed the arguments and theories presented to us, and we connected what we read and saw with materials from previous weeks. By doing this, I gained the ability to form connections from one issue to another and to assess effectively what is being done and what is and isn’t working.

After the discussion, the class then was open to thoughts and opinions formed by the class, rather than by the anthropologists we read. With a mix of students in different programs and education levels, different viewpoints emerged. From this, I learned how to look at humanitarian crises and issues from different disciplines, and I learned how these all work together to form a response that helps the most people possible in the best way.

I enjoyed this class thoroughly, yet I also became frustrated during discussions. I realized we shouldn’t only be discussing what works best and then writing it on paper, but we should also be putting our ideas into action. This is the only way our hours of thought can make a difference.

Rather than praise French history, this course broke down France’s contribution to the expansion of the New World and the development of the slave trade. It looked at this piece of history from a transatlantic point of view, particularly from the idea of the “other”, and explored how the French exploited this line of thought to economise off of those native to the New World and Caribbean.

From this course, I learned how to critically analyze the actions of imperial powers. I also learned how to be better able to critique literary samples from this particular time period and see how points of views were influenced by an author’s literal place in the world and their social status. Lastly, I learned that while correlation does not equal causation, correlation is important in analyzing the causality of an event.