Global Pathways

May,2023

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Topic and Courses

My Global Pathways theme was Global Culture and Expression. It is a time when cultural exploration and understanding are critical to living in the twenty-first century. Being surrounded by different cultures, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors necessitates bridging the gap and achieving mutual understanding and respect. In the absence of a common language, to express oneself. Through design, language, literature, history, science, and the arts, this pathway investigates the diversity of human cultures. Coming from Republic Polytechnic, I had two of my global pathways modules exempted, Art History and Cognitive processes and problem-solving, and credits could be transferred.

Course Connections

 Art History (T601) introduces students to various art forms such as design, film, music, theater, dance, and fine art. I was taught how to deconstruct works across disciplines in order to learn about the techniques used in their creation. This allows me to understand the origins of these approaches and begin to explore or experiment with the methods of the various artistic fields with the connection between artistic ideas and historical events.

Cognitive processes and problem solving (G101) teaches how the contemporary environment influences practitioners and their respective creative works, exploring self inspirations related to my chosen discipline of arts and theater management as well as personal responses to a local or global event. Critical thinking and healthy skepticism, combined with open-mindedness and empathy, enable students to become educated individuals and constructive citizens. Examining claims by recognizing cognitive biases and fallacies and distinguishing between real and fake articles in order to assess information credibility. Using empirical methods to analyze problems and formulate evidence-based arguments, as well as critical thinking skills to navigate complex problems and identify leverage points derived from robust insights, these skills must be applied.

The Sociology of Popular Culture (SOC 334) is a module that I took at SIM University in Buffalo for global culture and expression . This course is designed to help students develop critical concepts for analyzing popular culture, such as what popular culture is and how it is mediated in various contexts, as well as how and why it is consumed in the way that it is. The relationship between popular culture and subcultures, power and popular culture, and aspects of propaganda and advertising were among the topics covered. These were the modules I took to meet the requirements for my global pathways.

Topic Connection

SOC334 discussed what it means to live in a world dominated by hegemonic forces and how these forces of power influence and affect us. It was fascinating to learn about the critical concepts for analyzing popular culture in various contexts and how it is consumed. Popular culture is constantly influencing our lives in various ways. As a group of three, we decided to present on cross dressing in the context of social media and media pressence of the meaning of what cross dressing and the meaning of clothes, the hegemonic pressence, gender, and consumerism of what is currently seen. 

Presentation on Cross Dressing that I did with a three person team, giving understanding on the topic with meanings and application to the class. Popular Culture .pptx from JoleneLau2 - https://www.slideshare.net/JoleneLau2/popular-culture-pptx (Link to Slideshare)

T601 addressed a blend of history and comprehension of works created in many art styles over the past. Students will comprehend the origins and tactics employed. Allowing patrons to make their own opinions while displaying the expression and what artists wish to represent to them. My T601 class notes are shown here. Throughout the 10 weeks of this module, I had the opportunity to go on museum trips, look at art pieces, and form my own opinions on what the artist is attempting to portray, while also understanding what has influenced the artists, what art is, and how it has changed from being merely an expression to something that is commodified.

(Class Notes for T601. The link will direct you to the full document: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t0sZWNIqd0ShH7rv1fpfRjg1Utjwm3m9/view?usp=share_link )

Both SOC334 and T601 contain similar ideas about the existence of forces of power that exert pressure on others to reflect various points of view while taking historical contexts into account. As a result, it fosters the growth of a school of thought that challenges conventional wisdom. 

This pathway's three modules reflect the diversity of human cultures, whether through different art eras, how the modern world affects practitioners and their individual creative works, discovering one's own sources of inspiration, or even the relationship between popular culture and subcultures, power and popular culture, and aspects of propaganda and advertising.The fact that these cultures are still studied and passed down, evolved, advanced, and exist now is a reference to a period in our past, but it is also a tribute to human and cultural evolution, which impacts societies, perceptions, and inequities today.

Through the three modules, I learned how to check the credibility of sources, the objectivity, validity, and reliability that aids in design thinking, as well as how these processes aid in influencing and impacting people's expression and perceptions, whether in popular cultures, everyday life, historical moments, or the arts. Throughout the modules, I worked with people from various cultural backgrounds and learned how hegemonic influences can shape people and their perceptions. As a result, becoming more alert and observant of how individuals behave and grow as a result of the environment in which they grew up, influencing interests.