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PSYCH 157: Cultural Psychology of Urban Living
Clark students and students from sociology department at the Higher School of Economics in Russia jointly explore urban living from the perspectives of both cultural psychology and sociology. The course is crosslisted through the program in Communication and Culture. |
Course overview
Faculty
In Worcester, MA
Jaan Valsiner, Department of Psychology, Clark University
In Moscow, Russia
Nikita Pokrovsky and Nikita Kharlamov, Department of Sociology, Higher School of Economics (HSE). HSE is now the most important university now in Russia for the study of economics and the social sciences. It is modeled after École Normale Supérieure in France and the London School of Economics.
Above: The video bridge view from Moscow. Professor Pokrovsky
sees Professor Valsiner in his Clark classroom.
Goals of the course
The goal of the course is to provide students with an opportunity to explore the social realities of urban living from
- two different cultural perspectives represented by Moscow, Russia and Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S.A. and from
- two different academic perspectives, those of cultural psychology and sociology
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(Cultural Psychology is a branch of psychology that studies the way human beings construct and interact with behavioral and material expressions of culture. Sociology investigates how individual lives are shaped by larger social forces.)
Teaching methods
The course, an experiment in co-teaching between faculty at two universities in two different countries, is taught in parallel in Moscow and Worcester using video bridge technology. The video bridge, facilitated by Clark's Academic Technology Services, allows students and professors to see and speak to each other in real time, and makes it possible for students to experience to some extent living environments in both locations. The working language of the joint seminars is English. Students will discuss questions about assigned readings and share the results of their observational research. Research tasks will be set up jointly by the American and Russian teams. Both American and Russian students will be expected to present and analyze visual materials such as photographs and videos taken by themselves and by other students.
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Clark students view Russian students via the video bridge.
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