This course explores how education functions in international and comparative contexts, examining how young people learn, belong, and imagine their futures in times of instability. Around the world, uncertainty emerges from experiences of conflict, migration, inequality, political change, climate crisis, and the challenges of a globalized world. We will draw on cases from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East to understand how uncertainty emerges from conflict, migration, inequality, political change, climate crises and the challenges of globalization. Together, we will analyze the historical, structural, and ethical dimensions of education within these contexts, attending to how western frameworks often dominate debates and how de-centering them opens possibilities for alternative approaches. We will ask how policies, curricula, pedagogies, and relationships sometimes reinforce inequities and at other times create possibilities for belonging. Throughout the semester, we will hold space for both critical realism about the harms that shape education and for “critical hope” about the futures we can work toward. Our class sessions will be interactive, with opportunities for discussion, case study analysis, and, if scheduling allows, conversations with guest speakers. A semester-long Narrative Project will invite students to conduct original research by documenting and analyzing the educational journey of an individual whose life has been shaped by uncertainty. Students are encouraged to situate their project within comparative or international frames, connecting one individual’s story to global patterns of educational response to uncertainty.

Units: 1

Max Enrollment: 24

Prerequisites: None.

Distribution Requirements: SBA - Social and Behavioral Analysis

Typical Periods Offered: Spring

Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring

Notes: