International Programs / Study Abroad

Amsterdam, Brussels, and Paris

Global Cities and Local Cultures

The DePaul Study Abroad Program is pleased to once again offer this short-term program. This year the eleventh group of students will have the opportunity to travel to the Netherlands, Belgium and France to explore the role of globalization and its broad economic and cultural impacts on the urban areas of these countries.

 

Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris symbolize the accelerated momentum of globalization, housing multinational corporations and banks, world trade centers, and five-star hotels, as well as a sprawling network of related high technology service sectors manned by a growing coterie of transnational professionals and specialists. Through the lens of this high-rise corporate economy and culture, the city below appears to be inhabited by a swirling mass of immigrants competing for low-wage jobs in an increasingly informal urban economy where the local government is retreating from its welfare functions.

 

As in the past, cities today are emerging as strategic sites for producing critical knowledge, not only about the urban condition, but also about the major social, economic and cultural transformation unfolding at the beginning of the 21st century. These large scale major transformations are particularly visible and concrete in global cities such as Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris where the movement of capital, commodities, cultures and information flow endlessly, leaving their imprint both on the physical and cultural landscapes of these cities.

 

The focus on Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris is to challenge participants to develop an understanding and appreciation of the centrality of cities, not just in how they have transformed the way people looked at themselves and the world around them, but also how these cities today are “strategic sites” for the circulation of commodities, ideas, cultures and people. In addition, we also want students to develop a comparative understanding on how issues such as gender, race and ethnicities also play out in global cities.

 

COURSES   

The program will be led by Sandra Jackson, Professor in Women’s & Gender Studies, and Fassil Demissie, Associate Professor in Public Policy Studies.

 

Students participating in the program must register for one course in the Fall quarter and one course in the Winter quarter for a total of eight credits. Either PPS397 or WMS397 may satisfy the Junior Year Experiential Learning requirement. PPS255 may be used toward the Self, Society, and the Modern World Liberal Studies requirement.

 

PPS255/PPS397 - Global Cities and Transnational Spaces

 

In recent decades, globalization has emerged as a critical force in restructuring and reshaping the contemporary world and our social relations. The course, taught by Dr. Demissie, explores the relationship between global cities and transnational spaces in Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris. Since global cities have emerged to be “strategic sites” for observing social, economic and cultural transformations on the world scale, the course examines how transnational spaces have been imagined, produced, represented and contested. Particular attention will be paid to transnational subjects and their circuit of networks imbedded in the circulation of commodities among and between global cities.

 

WMS397 - Gender and Urban Culture in Global Cities

 

What role does gender play in the theoretical understanding and concrete experience of modern cities and their urban cultures? This course, taught by Dr. Jackson, focuses the significance of gender in the production, use and representation of urban spaces in Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris. In particular, the course will focus on gender as a lived experience and the ways in which gender shapes the city and the built environment. The course will also explore the ways in which the space of global cities – Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris – are shaped by intersections of gender, “race,” ethnicity, class and inscribe meanings in the built environment of these sites.

 

NOTE: For more information on the Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris Program, please also visit Professor Demissie's web site.

 

Circumstances, such as an unexpected event abroad or a curriculum change at a host institution, may require DePaul University to make changes to the program. DePaul University reserves the right to cancel or alter programs and courses without notice.

 

LIVING ARRANGEMENTS   

 

During their stay in Europe, students are housed in comfortable hotels in double and triple rooms.

 

EXPENSES   

 

In addition to DePaul tuition for 8 credits, costs include a specific program fee.  For updated information on specific program expenses, click here: 

For this program, the fee covers round-trip airfare, hotel accomodations, breakfast, study abroad health insurance and museum entrances. Students must register for eight credits, four credits in the Fall quarter and four credits in the Winter quarter.

 

Participants must also plan their budgets to cover additional meals, passport and visa fees, textbooks and personal expenses.

 

Program fees are based on actual costs of the prior year and projections for the current year. Inflation and fluctuating exchange rates make it impossible to state a fixed cost. DePaul University reserves the right to adjust program fees without notice.

 

APPLICATION   

 

To participate in this program, students must have at least a 3.0 GPA. To apply to the DePaul Study Abroad Program in Amsterdam, students must submit the following:

 

    • A completed DePaul Study Abroad Program application form

    • Two (2) recommendation forms from faculty familiar with your academic work.

    • A copy of the DePaul Unofficial Transcript. This may be found on Campus Connect in the Students section under Records and Registration.

    • A digital photo uploaded into the application.

 

DePaul University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex or handicap in admissions, employment or the provision of services. Inquiries regarding this policy should be addressed to the Director of Human Resources, 1 E. Jackson Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60604.

 

APPLICATION DEADLINE: May 15