Why CultureGuides?

In 1982, the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies established International Outreach as a formal program to help build bridges of intercultural understanding. Since then, more than 10,000 gratis cultural presentations have been given to local area public schools, taking students to new places using language, multimedia,and imagination.

CultureGuides derive from the same expertise that has been honed in classrooms—with the exciting exception that these intercultural learning tools are not geographically bound. Thanks to the Internet, accessible multimedia technology, and our trusty iMAC, a limitless audience can learn about different cultures.

Globalization, the driving paradigm of the post-Cold War world, means that now, more than ever, culture matters. Culture is the invisible context that may keep us from understanding important people, places, and ideas; it exists whether or not we think about it. Intercultural education can help us, not only as an intellectual exercise, but also in very practical ways to combat racism, to expand business, and to communicate effectively.

Even though our “student guides” are not in every classroom, we hope that CultureGuides will make classrooms of the mind and cultural laboratories wherever you may reside.

CultureGuide Licensing

CultureGuides are encapsulated into a single Adobe PDF document. Information contained in this file may be reproduced for single teacher use in the classroom as needed to present the enclosed lessons. The PDF is not to be reproduced and distributed to other teachers.