It’s nearly that time of the year again. As we frantically work on semester papers, complete the last of our midterms and come to terms with how quickly the semester has gone by, we once more sift through class options to figure out a course schedule for next year.
For me, the fall semester will be bittersweet: my next-to-last set of courses. As I complete my foreign affairs major, I find myself having a harder time selecting classes. The politics department has a number of fantastic classes offered on the Middle East, Europe, East Asia and Latin America. Yet middle and south Asia remain rather absent beyond perhaps one, at most two, courses being offered per year. While regions such as the Middle East receive a lot of media attention, a lack of focus on nearby regions such as the Indian subcontinent presents an incomplete picture of global relations and politics. India is slowly becoming more involved in the global community and has been gaining prominence as an economic force. Countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam, which are also gaining in international importance, are underrepresented in courses as well. While these countries may not have as large a role in world politics as many nations, they are still interesting to study.
A lack of diversity in courses, however, is not limited to the politics department. The English department has a similar issue. While there are an infinite number of courses on Western authors such as Shakespeare, and a heavy emphasis on British and American literature, more contemporary authors such as Margaret Atwood and Philip Roth do not receive as much attention. The school should offer more courses in literature published after 1900, making sure to include literature published in the past few decades. In fact, when students enter the workforce, a better knowledge of acclaimed authors of the past 30 years may prove beneficial. International authors such as South Korean Park Wan-So and the Chinese author Mo Yan, who won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature, also remain absent from most courses.
Other countries often emphasize an understanding of global authors in addition to authors that are more culturally relevant to that nation. My parents, while attending school in Bangladesh, read Western authors such as Charles Dickens and Jules Verne in addition to non-Western authors. Teachers included Western authors in the curriculum to provide students with a wide understanding of literature. Students at the University do not have as many opportunities. Granted, departments like Spanish and East Asian studies offer courses that cover translations of literature from specific regions. I have personally taken a number of courses in the East Asian studies department on South Korean literature. Nevertheless, some students are unaware such courses exist, and too many students never interact with texts from foreign countries.
One can pursue areas not covered formally in a course in a distinguished majors program, but the DMP opportunity has its limits. The program offers fourth-year students a chance to research topics in their majors that interest them, and it culminates in a year-end paper and presentation. For many departments, including the politics department, the number of people allowed to complete a DMP is limited, which restricts students’ opportunity to explore other areas in a major. Thus, the DMP is only a partial solution to fields of study not covered in a particular major. A more effective solution entails expanding curricula to accommodate a more global focus.
Additionally, students develop topics for their DMP from what they learn and are exposed to in their majors. So although the DMP gives students an opportunity to explore subjects not explicitly covered in classes they take for their majors, students are unlikely to research a topic that falls completely outside their expertise. Another problem is that if a student is going beyond what her major department offers, she will not have the opportunity to develop her understanding of the subjects as thoroughly, as she will have trouble finding a professor in their major who specializes in a less popular area.
Be it politics or English, failing to provide courses that offer a comprehensive understanding of a particular major diminishes the quality of a student’s education. There should be more emphasis on helping departments grow and expand, allowing for more collaboration between departments to enhance the learning experience. I have taken a number of courses in the East Asian and history departments to complement what I have learned in my foreign affairs courses. Encouraging a more interdisciplinary approach for a major may be one of the simplest and most effective means of providing students a broader comprehension of their major while simultaneously providing students the opportunity to expand their interests.
Fariha Kabir’s column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at f.kabir@cavalierdaily.com.
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