BRIDGING CULTURES:
CULTURAL INTERACTIONS AND
BUILDING COMMUNITIES
Bridging the “Uncomfortable Space”
Bristol Community College
Maureen Melvin Sowa
Cecil Leonard
Michael J.Vieira
QuinsigamondCommunity College
KennethWong
Amy Beaudry
GaelanBenway
Middlesex Community College
Margaret Rack
Johannah Segarich
Dona Cady (cohort leader)
Bridging the “Uncomfortable Space”
Prospectus
Proposed Goals and Objectives:
• Develop East and South East Asian Studies Modules and/or Certificates
• Develop new courses in East and South East Asian Studies
• Faculty/Student/Community Outreach
• Robust e-portfolio blog for discussion and RLO resources
Year One:
• Identify new courses required for Asian Studies curricula
• Provide opportunities for faculty development
• Participate in Bridging Cultures regional activities and outreach
• East Asian and Southeast Asian Film Series
• One and a half day Distinguished Speaker Conference
Year Two:
• Propose at least one new Asian Studies course
• Propose an Asian novel for the college’s One Book project
• Develop modules for infusion into existing and new courses
• Continue to support and participate in regional activities and outreach
• Multi-day conference
Year Three:
• Obtain approval for any new courses and/or Asian Studies Certificate
• Continue to support and participate in regional activities and outreach
• Encourage research in East Asian and South East Asian topics
• Participate in online conference
• Report on Community Outreach
Bridging Cultures
Distinguished Lecture Series
Themes:
• The Uncomfortable Place - Culture Diversity
• Gender
• Religion
• Migrations
Dates: October 25-26 or November 1-3
Possible Speakers:
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Kathy Foley, Professor of SE Asian Dance and Puppetry, UCSC
Michael Schuster, Asian Theatre, and the Hourglass Theatre, UH Manoa
Margo Machida, Assoc. Professor of Art History & Asian American Studies, UConn
Anne Fadiman, Adjunct Professor of English &Francis Writer in Residence, Yale U
Sam (George T.) Crane, Chair & Fred Greene Third Century Professor of Political
Science, Williams College
Nelly van Doorn-Harder, Professor of Islamic, Wake Forest University
Patricia B. Henry, Associate Professor of Foreign Languages and Literature
(Indonesian), Northern Illinois University
Bridging Cultures
Maureen Melvin Sowa, Professor of History, Bristol
Develop new courses for Asian Studies Certificate Program
• History of Traditional East Asia
• Introduction to Asian Philosophy
• Introduction to Asian Art
• The Merchant in Asia: Trade, Transfer and Transformation
Develop East Asian and Southeast Asian content modules for faculty use.
• Encourage faculty inclusion of modules on East and Southeast
Asia into new and existing courses .
Assist Regional Team in meeting the goals of the Bridging Cultures grant.
• Assist with conferences and programs.
• Encourage campus participation in grant events.
• Contribute to the Regional Resources and other programs.
Bridging Cultures
Cecil Leonard, Business Chair & Professor, Bristol
Develop and revise business courses
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New course to support Asian Studies Certificate
Revisit and revise as needed International Business Certificate
Create an instructional module that will broaden the current content of
the global business portion of the Principles of Management
course
• Include information on growing economic strength of “Greater
China” and the importance of shipping routes through
Southeast Asian waters
• Illustrate the historic trade routes linking China and South East
Asia to India, Africa, Europe and Western Asia. Include
information on two way transfers of technology
• Role of “ecotones” along trade routes and nation state borders
• Role of Confucianism and Buddhism in early China
• Role of Buddhism and Islam in early and current Southeast Asia
• Inter-relationship of historic traditions & philosophies of China and
Southeast Asia with current government and business
operations.
Bridging Cultures
Michael J. Vieira, Assoc. VP of Academic Affairs, Bristol
Provide administrative support & participate in course development
• Coordinate efforts with new Director of Multicultural Center.
• Enlist support and cooperation of Multicultural Fellow.
• Collaborate on review and possible revision of Global Leadership
Certificate.
• Explore the possibility of creating a new degree option focused
on cultural diversity and global understanding.
Research Asian connections with the Portuguese and explore ways to
build on existing partnerships, especially BCC’s LusoCentro, to expand
understanding of the diversity that exists in our community.
Develop East Asian and Southeast Asian content modules for faculty use.
• Encourage faculty inclusion of modules in existing courses.
• Add Asian studies modules to existing Course Redesign Toolkits.
Bridging Cultures
Amy Beaudry, Professor of English, Quinsigamond
• Create modules for two courses: Children’s Literature and Introduction
to Liberal Arts
• Develop, propose and teach global perspectives Humanities course
entitled The Arts & Revolution, with modules on China and Southeast
Asia
• Develop course materials and/or present pedagogical workshops for
Liberal Arts faculty so that they can incorporate information on China
and Southeast Asia into their courses
• Review and update library resources on China and Southeast Asia; work
with librarians to create a module on this topic for the library web site
• Consider a book related to our theme for the College’s One Book
Project
Bridging Cultures
Gaelan Benway, Professor of Sociology, Quinsigamond
Curriculum Develop
• Inter-disciplinary modules
• Based upon QCC’s 10 Gen Ed Learning Goals
• Available to all faculty and professional staff
Course Design
• Intersections: Global Society and Culture
• Sophomore-level social sciences course
• Viewpoint, theory, and content primarily organized around global
South, particularly Asia
Research
• Southeast Asian Sexualities
• Cultural and textual analysis
Bridging Cultures
Kenneth Wong, Professor of History, Quinsigamond
Curriculum Develop
• Develop course modules on Asian art and belief systems for world
history survey
Course Design
• Develop new course on South East Asian civilizations
Liberal Arts connections
• Incorporate Asian Studies into “Liberal Arts Distinguished Lecturer
Series”
• Encountering Tropical Islam: Catholicism and Race in the Pacific
World, 1590-1700 (October 25, 2012)
Bridging Cultures
Margaret Rack Professor of Art, Middlesex
Connect S.E. Asian & E. Asian histories to
contemporary art
• Comparisons of Buddha form including what is in use
in our local temples
• artists referencing heritage, post colonial themes
• Global consumerism
The big conceptual take away for me is choosing material and
designing pedagogy to elicit diversity
Cambodian Kiln Project
• Bridging cultures and generations
• Continuing and contemporizing a traditional art
It’s as much about encouraging and sustaining diversity as it is
about creativity and making art.
Bridging Cultures
Johannah Segarich, Professor of Music, Middlesex
• Create East Asian and South East Asian modules for two courses:
• World Music and Introduction to American Music
• Present lecture/recitals of East Asian, & South East Asian music as part
of the Music Outreach Program
• Further research and collaboration with colleagues at Documentation
Center of Cambodia in fostering education and leadership skills among
Muslim youth from three villages, focusing particularly on the
emerging role of young women
• Further work on Strings for Cambodia, a fund-raising project to bring
high quality Western string instruments to the Royal University of Fine
Arts in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, as the first phase in an exchange of
knowledge between RUFA, MCC, the Khmer immigrant community in
Lowell, MA, and NEH cohort colleges
Bridging Cultures
Dona Cady, Assoc. Dean Humanities & Asian Studies, Middlesex
• Create modules on Mulan : English Composition II & Intro to the Humanities
• Transformation
• Confucian Role Ethics
• Gender
Social Science Concentration 6.1, A.A. in Liberal
Arts & Sciences
• Conferences
• Certificates
Major and General Education Core Courses
• East Asia
Revised - 2/13/2012
Social Science Foundation
HST 130 - History of World Civilization Before 1500
HST 131 - History of World Civilization After 1500
ECO 140 - Principles of Macroeconomics
GOV 110 - Introduction to Government
ANT 101 Cultural Anthropology/SOC 101 Sociology
15
Additional General Education Core
ENG 101 - English Composition I
ENG 102 - English Composition II or ENG 111 - Intro to Chinese Literature
MAT 120 - Math Modeling for the Liberal Arts / MAT 100
MAT 177 - Statistics
ENV 131 - Environmental Science with Lab
Lab Science Elective
20
General Social Sciences Option
American History or Government Elective
Social Science Electives (Choose any 12 Credits)
History/Government/Economics/Geography Electives
Approved Behavioral Science Electives
World Cultures Option
3
12
International Fellowships
World Cultures Electives (Choose any 15 Credits)
15
World History Electives
Asian or Latin American Studies Electives
World Geography
World Religion Electives
International Fellowships
Honors Seminars
Honors Seminars
Humanities Electives (Choose any 9 credits)
PHL 101 Philosophy/ETH 101 Ethics and Society
Humanities Elective
Humanities Elective
9
Humanities Electives (Choose any 9 credits)
PHL 101 Philosophy/ETH 101 Ethics and Society
Approved Humanities Electives
World Language Electives
THE 109 Balance Through Acting
9
Free Elective
3
Literature Elective (Choose any 3 credits)
World Literature Elective
3
Total Credits
62
Total Credits
62