Culture and Psychology in London
The Culture and Psychology in London program will focus on the ability to observe, understand, and connect with a variety of different cultures, while being immersed in one of the most multicultural cities in the world. This international learning experience will connect students with the global community by fostering cultural awareness and appreciation for diversity. This experience will challenge student’s ethnocentrism and enhance their appreciation for diversity. Learning goals are:
- Students will be able to differentiate a broader view of the human psychological experience by interacting with communities that may be different than those typically described in psychological literature.
- Students will be able to recognize and critically reflect on the cultural ecologies that shape and promote beliefs and desires that identify our own culture as well as others.
- Students will be able to evaluate the extent to which psychology reflects cultural domination by a powerful Eurocentric elite, and the effects this has on populations outside of this elite group.
Observe, understand, and connect with a variety of different cultures, while being immersed in one of the most multicultural cities in the world.
PSYC 545 Culture and Psychology
The course is 3 credit hours and considers the relationship between culture and psyche. One theme throughout the course involves revealing the cultural grounding of psychological functioning. The second and complementary theme involves identifying the psychological processes involved in the phenomenon of culture.
Students are expected to engage in readings prior to departure, participate in discussions related to the different site visits, and take pictures and write about experiences for a course blog. After students return to the US, they will complete a 3-5 page synthesis paper that connects experiences and reflections on the trip to existing literature about cultural psychology.
Students will be housed in apartments within the public transportation system’s Zone 1, with easy access to a variety of central London neighborhoods and attractions.
There will be a guided bus tour of London early in the program to help students get familiar with the city, along with a separate guided walking tour in the city.
Entrance fees for group visits while in London are included in the program fee. Group visits within Greater London include the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton, the Freud Museum in Hampstead, and the Bethlem Museum of the Mind in Beckenham. During your free time, you will be able to take advantage of numerous London museums that have no entrance fees. Students will be provided with public transportation passes that can be used for program travel as well as free travel within central London.
Day trips to Exeter and Oxford are also included. Exeter dates its founding to approximately 55 CE, when the Romans established a fort at the southwest end of the Fosse Way, a nearly 200 mile long route which marked the western frontier of Roman rule in Britain for a time. The city's history has includes eras dominated by the Romans, Dumnonians, Saxons and Normans, as well as a very prosperous period in the 17th and 18th centuries as a center of the wool trade. Exeter's cathedral, completed around 1400 and featuring the longest uninterrupted medieval vaulted ceiling in the world, still dominates the view in the old city center. The University of Exeter, situated on a hill overlooking the walled section of the city is a major research university, regularly featuring in the top ten of lists of the best universities in the country.
Oxford is home to the oldest university in the English-speaking world, dating back to 1096. The University of Oxford consists of 39 constituent colleges, located throughout the city. The city has over 1500 buildings that have been given national historic recognition and protection, making it one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe. Filmmakers have long been drawn to Oxford owing to the variety of architectural styles in the city. Perhaps most famously, three Harry Potter films have featured scenes in Oxford, including the Bodleian Library, New College and Christ Church. Students in Oxford will be gearing up for their final exams during our visit, so we will see the city in action as one of the world's greatest college towns.
Open to undergraduate and graduate students from any accredited U.S. college or university. Minimum 2.5 GPA required (exceptions considered after submission of a petition). Listed prerequisites are any of the following: PSYC 333, 334, 360 or 361, but these can likely be waived with consent of instructor.
The course will be taught and led by Marsha McCartney, Ph.D., who is faculty in the Psychology department at KU.
