Understanding Global News: Professor Adrienne Redd

US258.8, Understanding Global News
Professor Adrienne Redd
Arcadia University

Course Description

Understanding Global News US258.8 is a new course being offered in the university seminar program at Arcadia University during autumn 2009. The purpose of the course is to foster students’ understanding of the connectedness and interdependence of the world, particularly as it has intensified over the past two decades since the end of the Cold War. In part, the course serves students by providing historical background and theoretical context of important events as they take place. And, in part, the course is driven by students’ requests for more attention to particular matters, concepts, and the need for more context. The course is taught from a theoretical perspective of political sociology, with some attention to macro social structures as well as the ways in which gender, race, material deprivation, and colonization shape current conflicts and crises. The course also attempts to provide some explanation of the basics of economics, with emphasis on fiat money, debt, investment, monetary policy and the activities of the IMF and World Bank. The course culminates with each student presenting a final presentation based on his or her final paper topic, an in-depth current news event in the context of the theory and history explored over 14 weeks.

Syllabus_Redd_UndGlobNews.pdf