Issues in Civic Engagement

One way to think about civic engagement is that it means working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It also means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes. This course provides a forum for discussing a selection of topics on civic engagement through mainly contemporary literature. Topics discussed are the relationship between civic engagement and civil society, UN’s stance on civic engagement, transnational advocacy, youth engagement, ethical issues in civic engagement and contemporary challenges. This will be an interactive course requiring students to labor with the readings by answering questions posed every week. Students are also asked to relate readings to their experience from their own communities in the form of thinking of ways they can help their community. An important part of the course requires students to work together and create a project proposal for the needs of an organization and the local community. This course will connect with a similar one offered by Bard College, Annandale, NY. It is possible that for a number of sessions students from both courses will connect for joint sessions.