Growing Up Under Ideological Stress: Global Case Studies

Undergraduate / Graduate

This course explores how youth navigate environments shaped by competing cultural, religious, and political ideologies, focusing on how they respond to, adapt to, and sometimes resist these powerful influences in their daily lives. The course emphasizes processes of self-construal and moral development among youth in regions marked by ideological tensions-such as situations where family traditions and beliefs may clash with state-sponsored educational values. For example, Tibetan youth experience ideological conflicts between practicing Tibetan Buddhism at home and the state's promotion of Chinese socialism in schools. Through analysis of empirical research and various theoretical perspectives, including cultural psychology, psychological anthropology, and the sociology of education, students will investigate and develop tools to understand how global and local historical, political, economic, and cultural factors shape youth development. By engaging with comparative case studies from different cultures and societies, including liberal societies, such as Muslims/Palestinians in the U.S., and authoritarian states-such as Tibetans in China, the Soviet Union, and Syrians-students will also cultivate a self-reflective understanding of their educational and personal growth within the context of broader social and political movements.