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Amizade Global Service-Learning > Past Programs
Summer 2007
Program Title: World Religions – Hinduism, Buddhism & Islam
Academic Departments: Religious Studies
Intercultural Location: Singapore
World Religions Instructor: Jeff Kisner, Ph.D.
Service-Learning Instructor: Lina Dostilio, MS Ed
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Program Description
Students study world religions and service learning when they spend June 4-29, 2007 in Singapore. Students will study Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism by reading about the traditions, visiting houses of worship, engaging in dialogue with devotees of the traditions, and serving the child and elderly clients of social service agencies affiliated with these traditions.
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Program Learning Outcomes
Students will fulfill the goals of the course when they achieve learning outcomes to:
- obtain an “informed and structured empathy” for Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists; that is, “to study religions other than one’s own by not imposing one’s own beliefs and judgments on the other” by engaging in a type of “moccasin-walking … that treats religions on their own terms”; (from Ninian Smart, Worldviews, 2000)
- demonstrate an introductory level knowledge of each tradition;
- synthesize the service-learning experience with learning about world religions;
- relate course content to previous life experiences; and
- evaluate how the international and cross-cultural service might affect one’s personal life.
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Singapore
Singapore is a densely-populated, “archipelago nation” located eighty five miles from the Equator at the southern end of the Malaysian peninsula. On the 270 square mile main island reside 4.2 million people. According to U.S. State Department statistics, “85 percent of Singapore’s citizens and permanent residents profess some religious faith or belief. Of this group, 51 percent practice Buddhism, Taoism, ancestor worship, or other faiths traditionally associated with the ethnic Chinese population. Approximately 15 percent of the population is Muslim, approximately 15 percent is Christian, and just over 4 percent is Hindu. The remainder is composed of adherents of other religions, agnostics, or atheists. Among Christians, the majority of whom are ethnic Chinese, Protestants outnumber Roman Catholics by slightly more than two to one. There is also Sikh, Jewish, Zoroastrian, and Jain communities. Approximately 77 percent of the population is ethnic Chinese, 14 percent ethnic Malay, and 8 percent ethnic Indian. Nearly all ethnic Malays are Muslim, and most ethnic Indians are Hindu. The ethnic Chinese population is divided among Buddhism, Taoism, and Christianity, or is agnostic or atheist.” Given this diversity in a South Asian context that is very user-friendly for English speaking Americans, Singapore is a superior context to study the three traditions in the course. (See http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2005/51529.htm)
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Academic Credits
Academic credits are awarded for this course through West Virginia University. The program is academically sponsored by the Religious Studies Department and will fulfill the following credits:
Religious Studies: World Religions
- 3 undergraduate credits (RELG 493)
AND
Religious Studies: Global Service-Learning in Singapore
- 3 undergraduate credits (RELG 499)
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Program Timeline
May 21 – June 3
Online classroom discussions and academic preparatory work (reading and papers)
June 4 - 29
Intercultural Service-Learning in Singapore
Orientation activities, lectures, films, site visits, dialogue, service, structured reflection, cultural activities
July 1 - 10
Online classroom discussions and academic completion of program
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Program Tuition >>
Program Application (pdf) >>
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