As an anthropology major, I have taken many classes at UF geared towards international learning. These include Anthropology of Global Public Health, Cultural Anthropology, Anthropology of Human Rights and Culture, Anthropology of Language and Culture, Introduction to World Archaeology, Hospital Ethnography, Feminist Anthropology, Anthropology of Pregnancy, and more. I have also taken Women and Gender Studies and English courses related to global experience, like Intersectional Women's Studies and Postcolonial Literature. Additionally, through my involvement in the Center for African Studies as a Foreign Language and Area Studies scholar for Swahili, I have been exposed to scholarship from African academics and about African issues.

 

This internationally framed education has shaped my perspective on my place in the world. I knew about the diversity of the world through my experiences traveling, but reading about and discussing it in an academic context is different. Rather than only seeing other cultures and societies through my biased eyes, I was able to learn about it from people from that culture, or from a different perspective that provided different insight. I have also learned that despite how many differences it may seem like we have, there are many global intercultural similarities, and people in different settings may face similar issues. I could see myself and connect my life to the issues I was reading about in my courses, and that connection was inspiring and formative. Although I wish I had taken more classes focused specifically on international history or culture, I think that my experience reading and discussing stories from around the world provided me with an informed global perspective.