Intercultural Literacy

Intercultural literacy is developed by any course that encourages a comparative reflection about cultural practices from different communities, ethnicities, or nationalities within a country or between several countries. The ability to make such comparisons is not a native endowment but an art that can be learned through courses that emphasize the "vertical axis" of study of past cultures, including their literature, music, dance, ideas, and languages, and/or the "horizontal axis" of the study of contemporary instances of these subjects in diverse and unfamiliar cultures, be they domestic or international. Possible criteria for courses that satisfy the intercultural literacy capability include:
– Acquisition of a new language
– Comparison of cultural practices between one’s own culture and another
– Critical reflection on what constitutes a culture, border, or boundary