Students who complete the Cultures & Communities Certificate will be able to:

• Reflect critically on their own cultural identity and background, connecting personal history to larger social and historical forces.
• Identify the major cultural groups in American history and discuss their distinct contributions and principal conflicts, especially as these illustrate the impact of inequalities of access, resources, wealth, and/or justice.
• Distinguish between individual bias and structural oppression, with analysis of specific examples involving diverse social and/or cultural groups.
• Describe the basic components of globalization and how nations interact socially, politically, and culturally.
• Outline how patterns of migration, immigration, and diaspora emerge from economic and social changes, including how such patterns get expressed in new social formations and cultural activities
• Analyze critically the historical and social construction of categories such as “race” and “ethnicity,” their relation to “white privilege,” and their impact on various dimensions of human life, including how such constructions create systematic inequalities between the dominant and the marginalized.
• Demonstrate a multicultural understanding of artistic works or performances through an ability to analyze and appreciate works from distinctly different cultures and traditions.
• Present examples of how cultural or community factors may affect work in the sciences, technology, and health care.
• Collaborate productively and communicate constructively with people from diverse backgrounds.
• Articulate principles and methods for community service in a pluralistic society, including how such experiences can reinforce the values of democratic citizenship and cross-cultural understanding.