Session Abstract

While a popular new field encompassing comparative, contextual and transnational considerations, "America in the World," from a practical level, is encountered in the community-college classroom every day.  From first and second generation immigrants, African refugees, American GIs, and foreign-exchange students discussing the impact of internationalization and globalism, to multiethnic, multigenerational, and multireligious communities learning U.S. history, in many cases, for the first time, community colleges face the challenge of introducing concepts of migration, immigration, colonialism, decolonization, and economic imperialism to students already familiar with such topics in multiple and profound ways.   Consequently, community-college faculty have learned to incorporate global histories into U.S. survey courses and introduce American foreign policy into the study of world civilizations.  These efforts are not without difficulties, yet the results have often been richer debates, cultural connections, and greater student preparation for individual intellectual and professional pursuits.  This panel incorporates the insights of teaching faculty trained in U.S. Foreign Policy, military history, Latin America, Africa and the Pacific about how to make history surveys less burdensome to both faculty and students at the two-year college level, namely, by broadening their comparative reach and widening their historic appeal without compromising the basic task to provide fundamental knowledge about the development of civilizations.  Panelists will provide teaching strategies based upon their research backgrounds and classroom experiences, as well seek insights from the audience regarding some of the difficulties encountered in such an approach.