Religious Studies News

As I try to make the few Hispanic students welcome and prepare for greater enrollment in the future, I am already preparing non-Latino students to live and work in the current multicultural society that the 2010 Census describes. As an educator I feel a duty to help my students be culturally competent in order to succeed in a variety of settings. I particularly view my introductory course in world religions as an important opportunity to expand horizons, break down stereotypes, and complexify issues for the typical undergraduate student. Therefore, I attempt to bring intercultural pedagogies into my coursework. These methods range from those that are almost effortless to others that are very time-consuming. 

Some of the easiest yet effective methods are choosing textbooks written by non-Anglo-Saxon authors, showing videos from a variety of cultural perspectives, and bringing in a guest speaker with a multicultural perspective, either in person or via Skype. For example, a couple of years ago Justo Gonzalez gave our fall convocation, and I have continued to assign his books for classes. I have also invited guest speakers via Skype from Cambodia, El Salvador, Haiti, and Scotland.

Pedagogies requiring more time and effort involve taking the class on an immersion program to a Hispanic/Latino community, participating in a service-learning project, creating internship opportunities, having a cultural competency requirement (for a class or a program), and providing study abroad experiences for students. For a local immersion experience I have made contact with a church in the community that hosts a Head Start program for children and has received a grant to teach ESL classes for adults. I have taken students to teach a guest class and interact with the community. On a larger scale, I lead an international service-learning program each year to countries such as Brazil, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Mexico. This experience working with a local organization to advance their goals usually involves hands-on construction or children’s programs and sometimes language instruction and home stays. This year I am also expanding my own horizons by taking a group to India for the first time. 

The results of the 2010 Census report have tremendous implications for the racial demographics of the United States, particularly the tremendous growth of the Hispanic/Latino population among younger generations of Americans. Although there are a variety of barriers that keep Hispanic/Latinos from enrolling in four-year institutions — financial barriers not being the least — we can begin by making our classrooms and schools more welcoming. Particularly in our classroom pedagogies, we have the power to use learning strategies to stretch the minds of all to prepare to be effective in a more culturally diverse society.