Global Citizenship

PART 1:

I think the most important aspects about global citizenship are human rights and nationality. Human rights are shared by all humanity and thus they ignore the differences between cultures and focus on the humane aspect that unites us. Nationality is a big part of one's identity, but if we start thinking of it as superior to others so we experience ethnocentrism, then we need to change our attitude to become the global citizens and to think of ourselves as citizens of the world. If a person goes to work in another country that he/she views as inferior, he/she will not be able to reach their full potential of success, unlike if they see that they are rather giving back to humanity. Global citizenship calls for equality and believes in humanity.

PART 2:

Some of the assignments/ lectures that helped me learn about global citizenship:

Dr. Jason Dorio Lecture:

This lecture was an introduction to global citizenship. How do we learn about citizens, how do we become global citizenship and what is globalization?

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie TED Talk:

This TED Talk is about the inaccurate information we gather based on stereotyping without researching. We can judge a group bases on the behaviors of a minority, or even it is the majority, we take the easy route to classify people because we are too lazy to get to know them and listen to their own story.
This I experienced during Soliya when people were talking about particular Muslim groups that does not relate to me by any means, but I felt forced to defend myself because eventually I am a Muslim and I belong to many different groups that are stereotyped. That was when I came to understand how unfair it must feel to be classified in a group with a negative background just because you share a part of the culture.

The danger of a single story

Lina Mounzer Reading:

This reading is about translating Arabic stories into English, but it is on another level. The author describes how the tragic stories the people send her become parts of her; it is as if she went places and experienced tragic situations when she has never actually been near to such experiences.
The author talks about translating to English, and although she is globalizing the tragic stories of people who are living in wars, she thinks that changing the synonyms of the people's stories takes from their stories and is another form of violence inflicted on them.
Mounzer said ''The only way to make borders meaningless is to keep insisting on crossing them: like a refugee, without papers, without waiting to be given permission, without regard for what might be waiting on the other side. For when you cross a border, you are not only affirming its permeability, but also changing the landscape on both sides.'' This quote depicts global citizenship; when we keep on breaking the borders between cultures we become united and we become human-focused rather that ethnocentric.

War in Translation: Giving Voice to the Women of Syria

PART 3:

If I could add one thing in the course to help the student learn about global citizenship better, it would be creating an assignment that makes the student aware of his/her role as a global citizen and acting upon it by being a participant and creating an online campaign, for example, to raise awareness on a global issue, and the student can work with people from different cultures.

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