CHID 498: Bringing it Home: Integrating International Experiences

Course Description: Bringing it Home: Integrating International Experiences is a special offering designed for students who have returned from immersion experiences in international settings (preferably of at least three months duration and within the last 12 months). The focus of this course is to provide students a forum for reflection on their international experiences, processing reverse culture shock experiences upon returning to Seattle, and values clarification on the meanings of ‘diversity' within the global and local communities. In the class we will address issues of power and privilege, social justice, what it means to be civically engaged at the local and global levels, and the tensions and differences between tourism vs. travel, and community service vs. engagement. Class meetings will be divided between lecture, seminar discussions, student presentations and guest lectures. In conjunction with this class, students will volunteer a significant amount of time—around 30 hours over the quarter--in a community-based organization in Seattle that will be linked with student's individual interests and future avocations. These will include health and social services sites for marginalized, homeless, and refugee and immigrant populations, organizations doing international education, and those linked to ongoing projects in the Global South.