Although global politics and international relations are supposedly international in outlook and global in scope, the fields are often taught from Anglo-American perspective. Not only does this result in a somewhat parochial understanding of and approach to these fields but can also discourage students from pursuing them further insofar as the fields are presented as not necessarily responsive to a broader spectrum of interests, concerns, and experiences.

This resource offers three tools to help address these concerns by incorporating alternative sources, perspectives, and forms of knowledge into the global politics classroom. The three tools presented below can be used in tandem or separately, and include an in-class exercise, tools for incorporating alternative “texts” into the classroom, and a proposed assignment.

(1) In-Class Framing Exercise: “Draw a cat!”
(2) Incorporating Alternative “Texts”
(3) Final Project