Global Perspectives on Society
Between 2019 and 2021, I taught Global Perspectives on Society (GPS), together with my colleagues. In this course, we explore a set of recurring questions about how society is, or should be, organized, based on the close examination of diverse thinkers and writers from different time periods and different parts around the world. Over the semester, students develop skills that are central to a liberal education.
For the GPS course in Fall 2019, students learned to:
Analyze key texts in political, cultural, and social thought through “close reading”;
Acquire key theoretical terms;
Write analytical assessments and interpretations of the texts;
Have fun!
Field trip to Shanghai Jewish Refugee Museum, 2020:
I believe hands-on experiences are critical to facilitating students' self-learning.
Students wrote field trip reports on their observations and reflections.
In the fall of 2020, we covered topics including:
The Global City
The Origins of Society: Mythical Stories; Political Theories
Reproducing Society’s Structures
Producing the Self, Producing the Other: Gender and Patriarchy; Race and Racism
The Sources and Limits of National Identity
Capitalism and the National Division of Labor
Divisions of the Global Economy
Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics
The World in the Time of the Anthropocene: Pandemics and Society; Climate Change and Society
Due to COVID-19, students and I worked hard to co-create an inclusive, stimulating learning environment.
Our sections are in the blended mode, i.e. simultaneously taking place online and in person. As one student commented in the Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET), "She maintains a good balance between discipline and welfare, with a compassionate understanding of the problems that students face, especially remotely."
Some students also visited the Shanghai Propaganda Art Center after the semester ended.
