People of different cultures have been using music and dance to tell stories for centuries. These mediums capture emotion so effortlessly, and their best attribute is that people don’t need to speak the same language in order to understand the stories, beats, and movements.

AFST 340 – African Drumming & Dance is a hands-on workshop that teaches the techniques, and  cultural and historical significance, of West African drumming. Students will learn specific musical styles and traditions from singing West African songs on traditional and contemporary African musical instruments.

AFST 340 is 6-week course offered in Summer Session II, and is part of the Culture & Social Justice course offerings. AFST 340 is cross-listed as DANC 301 and MUSC 375.

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Earn Arts and Humanities GEP as you enter the minds of Philosophers such as John Stuart Mill or Immanuel Kant and discover their moral inquiries:

What is right and wrong?

How should we live?

When is it right (if ever) to lie, kill other people, or eat animals?

Is the good of the group or the good of the individual more important?

Is there any right answer to such questions? If there are any right answers, upon what are they based, and how do we come to know them? PHIL 152: Introduction to Moral Theory covers various theoretical positions such as moral skepticism or relativism, Aristotelianism or virtue ethics, utilitarianism, Kantianism and other forms of non-consequentialism.

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Ethical theories focus on identifying the best possible life for human beings to live. In this course we will explore answers to the questions “what is the good life?” and “what ought I to do?” offered by historical and contemporary sources. Some answers focus on character traits, others on desirable consequences of actions, some on obligations, and still others on rational self-interest. Which, if any, correctly captures what it means to live as a human being can best live? Find out in PHIL 350 – Ethical Theory.

PHIL 350, which fulfills the Arts and Humanities GEP, is a 6-week course offered in Summer Session II.

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Everyone watches movies around the world, but sometimes we forget that the Marvel Cinematic Universe or the latest Nicholas Sparks novel-turned-romance-film aren’t the only options for movie-goers outside of the U.S. Each culture has its own famous, unique films that can teach viewers about different societies and cultures.

MLL 220 – Film and Society in China takes students through the last 100 years of Chinese society through the viewing and analysis of major films from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. No knowledge of Chinese is required to take this class as it is taught in English.

MLL 220 fulfills the Culture GEP, and is a 6-week course offered in Summer Session II.

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“On many occasions, we survivors of the Nazi concentration camps have come to notice how little use words are in describing our experiences… In all of our accounts, verbal or written, one finds expressions such as ‘indescribable,’ ‘inexpressible,’ ‘words are not enough.’”

- Holocaust survivor and author Primo Levi

While words can never fully express the pain of the Holocaust, they can be a very powerful tool and help us gain a better understanding of the experiences of Holocaust victims.

Through various mediums such as poetry, drama, and novels JDST 320: Literature of the Holocaust allows students to immerse themselves in fiction and autobiographical stories to further grasp and understand the realities of the Holocaust. Most of the selections relate the Holocaust as it was experienced after the writers translated those experiences into art, including film and video, making their personal tragedies into recognizable truths.

JDST 320: Literature of the Holocaust is a 6-weeks course during Summer Session I.

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We all know what culture is, but we have a hard time describing it. That is what Anthropology tries to do. Anthropologists want to know the why behind rituals, family social structures, food, and everything that is an expression of culture (which is basically everything). So, while this is a seemly simple question, it is actually pretty hard to answer, but hopefully ANTH 211: Cultural Anthropology will help.

In addition to the discussion about the definition of culture, students will evaluate cultural- ecological systems within the context of war, mental illness, and other topics. Luckily, this course is open in both Session 1 and Session 2. It also fulfills both the Culture and Social Science GEP, and is part of the Culture & Social Justice course offerings.

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Today in the United States, we celebrate Beyonce as Queen Bey and have elected a black man to be president twice. At the same time, however, movements like #OscarsSoWhite and #BlackLivesMatter have sparked a nationwide conversation about race and equality. These contrasting examples of success and failure embody how complex discrimination, inequality, and racism are deeply seeded in our nation’s history. Each layer is wrapped into economic, political, and sociological victories and woes.

In SOCY 321: Race and Ethnic Relations, students will be examining race and ethnic inequalities from a sociological perspective, including economic, political, and sociological paradigms. The class will also discuss current issues of racism and discrimination and the movements, like Black Lives Matter, that advocate for change.

SOCY 321 is a 6-week course that fulfills the Social Sciences GEP, and is part of the Culture & Social Justice course offerings.

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Earn your GEP Culture credit this summer as you analyze and discuss how films reflect the challenges within Korean society and culture.

MLL 315: Images of Society in Contemporary Korean Films allows you the opportunity to dive deep into another culture and expand your knowledge and understanding of various customs.

Taught in English, MLL 315 requires no previous knowledge of the Korean language.

MLL 315 is listed as a regular course, but will be managed as a hybrid course.

AFST 100: Introduction to the Black Experience helps students to understand the black experience in the African Diaspora. The course covers current and historical events, the historical and sociocultural ties that link people of African descent, and the economic, cultural, and political challenges confronting people of African descent in the twenty-first century.

AFST 100 is a 4-week, online course that fulfills Arts & Humanities GEP, and is part of the Culture & Social Justice course offerings.

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Facebook. Fast food. The TV show Friends. The consumable objects and activities that make up what we call popular culture or consumer culture circle the globe millions of times every day. In the process, they carry images of “the good life” recognized around the world as the American Dream, both shaping and reflecting the complex technological, political and economic dynamics associated with globalization. How do these ideas and images shape other cultures? And what are the ecological, political, and economic impacts for the countries that produce iPhones, Nikes, and other iconic objects of consumer desire for the USA?

In AMST: 352 American Culture in Global Perspective, offered at UMBC’s Shady Grove campus, students will examine these issues by ‘hitching a ride’ with some of America’s most visible consumer goods as they cross the globe. This course, which fulfills both the Arts and Humanities and Culture GEPs, is part of this summer session’s Culture & Social Justice emphasis.

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