Extra Credit: Drops the Mic

I came to this class with what I thought was a lot of experience as a global citizen. I grew up in a diverse, international city. I had classmates all through school who came from many parts of the world and I took several classes in high school and college that focused on international themes. I also spent a J-term in Ghana and travelled all around the country meeting people, visiting villages and seeing the real Africa first-hand.

But this class, Being and Becoming a Global Citizen, opened my eyes to the biases we as privileged, white Americans bring to our interactions with people in developing countries. When I was in Ghana, I felt like a blonde, white, giant everywhere I went. Even thought I felt a kinship to the Ghanaian people, I knew that to them I seemed like an alien. No matter how hard we try to be true humanitarians and global citizens, we can never rid ourselves of the privilege the universe gave us by accident.

Dr. Arcaro’s lectures were truly inspiring. He has so much knowledge to impart and his stories of his travels and work in developing countries really made me feel what it was like to be there. His teaching style, using the Harkness method, created an open atmosphere where everyone felt welcome and comfortable speaking. His relationship with Aid workers brought us so many interesting speakers via Skype that we got to hear the real life experiences of humanitarian workers who had worked in the field and headquarters offices around the world. I liked talking with speakers via Skype because it gave us a chance to interact with them directly; you can read all you want but until you talk to someone and see their world you’re not going to learn everything they have to teach.

Our final speaker, Genevieve Goulding, was especially interesting to me. As an aid worker, she used empathy to absorb darkness and bring light. In her Skype session and in her thesis, Figuring the Refugee, she talked about the relationship between aid workers and refugees and how aid assistance programs makes refugees less than human and perpetuates existing problems. She also talked personally about how difficult the work was for her emotionally and mentally, but said she would do it all over again because it gives her life purpose and meaning.

I liked all the books we read but to be honest I found a lot of the material very disturbing. Reading about torture in Rwanda, or rape as a tool of war and oppression, or the destruction of families split apart by war, left me depressed thinking about the horrible state of so many people in the world. I was inspired by the aid workers and by my classmates, but I often felt pretty hopeless about the possibility of making a difference in the world.

Overall it was a great class. I know I had a hard time at the end with my own struggles, but I feel I learned something every day. To me, being a global citizen means not only caring about yourself or your own country, but also about the world. It means recognizing the struggles people face in the developing world and the tremendous privilege enjoyed by most of us in the developed world. It means seeing myself as a citizen of the planet and seeing all human beings as my brothers and sisters, and being willing to help and to fight for fairness and equity throughout my life – and I am committed to do that.