Intercultural Learning & Collaboration: American and European Students Working Together to Assess Transatlantic Concerns
The authors of this post are both MA students who participated in a virtual Collaborative Online Learning (COIL) class that brought US and German students together to discuss today’s Transatlantic issues. Jayln McNeal is a TAM student at UNC and Leon Billerbeck is based out of the University of Hannover. Together they collaborated on the following blog post in an effort to provide different perspectives from Germany and the US in regard to the topics discussed during the course.
Jalyn McNeal
As a graduate student in the Transatlantic Masters (TAM) Program at UNC-Chapel Hill, I am afforded the opportunity to examine the political makings of the European Union through my coursework. Having studied in France, completed Peace Corps service in Morocco, and being a speaker of both French and Arabic, I center my studies primarily around immigration and integration of North Africans in France. This semester in the TAM program has allowed me to explore and further expand upon my interests as well as develop a curiosity for other countries and topics pertinent to the European Union. One of the courses that have allowed me to explore the culminations of my academic interests is “European Institutions and Integration”.
In POLI 733, “European Institutions and Integration”, students and faculty from the TAM program at UNC-Chapel Hill and University of Hannover in Germany took part in a joint Transatlantic seminar from October 21st to November 13th. Over the course of four weeks, students from the United States, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Germany came together to take part in various educational and cultural activities centered around the political happenings of the US and EU. These activities consisted of discussing the implications of the 2020 US presidential election on Transatlantic relationship, listening to guest speakers from both the US and the EU talk about different components of Transatlantic affairs, and forming groups to conduct research projects on Transatlantic relations. The class was constructed within the overlap of the German “wintersemester” and towards the end of the American fall Semester, taking place on Zoom.
This seminar provided students with the opportunity to collaborate on a group research project with half of the group being American and the other half being European. My group was tasked with comparing and contrasting the Immigration Policy of the US and EU. We approached this topic by dividing the work with each group member contributing 1–2 pages of work. In our paper, we compared and contrasted the immigration policies between the United States and the European Union. Our paper consisted of analyses on the following subtopics: The Problem of Securitizing Migration in the European Union; The European Union’s Legislation on Asylum and Refugees; Critical Voices on European Asylum Policy; The United States’ Public Opinion on Immigrants and Immigration; The United States’ Policies on Refugees and Asylum Seekers; The United States’ “Remain in Mexico” Policy. We scheduled various zoom meetings over two weeks as a means to check in with each other and make sure the paper was going in the right direction. When it came time to present our findings to the class, I created a PowerPoint and each individual member presented on their specific subtopic, expanding upon the information in the paper.
Leon Billerbeck
Group Number One, which I was part of, concentrated on a topic which had implications for recent political decisions in the US, the EU and technically all over the world. We were elaborating on the different strategies of coping with the Corona-Virus, analysing the economical, societal and social impact of different measures to fight the virus, which we found out were vastly different from one country to another. The cooperation worked very well and we directly delved into our assigned work. For me, as a student of the University of Hanover, it was really interesting to talk about this topic in particular, but also to get kind of a peek behind the curtain, experiencing some first-hand coverage and a point of view from the United States, a country which was hit even harder by the pandemic. In my opinion the most important and interesting point was to talk about the meaning of the pandemic and pandemic policies concerning the (then) upcoming presidential election.
As part of our class we had one presentation, which showed recent developments in transatlantic relations. The study of the Bertelsmann Foundation found out that over the course of the last — let’s say 20 years — attitudes of Europeans and Americans shifted further and further apart. In different German media outlets, such as newspapers, but also in think-tanks and in political parties, an outcry for a stronger and more independent EU, contrasting US-american influence became bigger and stronger at the same time. However, more cultural opportunities became accessible for inhabitants of both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, orientation towards each other and the political order of the cold war fell even more into disrepute. What connected Europeans and US-Americans in the first place were cultural issues and the common security structure. This system of common values got shattered by different events.
As a result we experience the current situation. Politics in general, and the transatlantic partnership can be compared to a normal house or (as an extreme example) a skyscraper. It’s foundations need to be built well, so the construction itself stands solidly. In the course of the years the substructure below transatlantic relations weren’t upheld the way they should’ve been. The perception of missing common problems and tasks resulted in drifting further apart. Because of that, the whole skyscraper of our partnership started to wobble as soon as bigger problems approached. What I basically wanted to say is that it is up to everyone now to rebuild the substructure and therefore to fix the house we live in. Together, and just because of the transatlantic relationship we enjoyed many opportunities, we wouldn’t have been able to enjoy otherwise. Our generation is as flexible as no other generation before — so let’s make use of it. Let us create a common perception of issues in finding better understanding of each other.
Having experienced this class, we think that this conceptualization of intercultural learning — not just on transatlantic issues, but in general — might be leading the way forward to a better understanding and communication between different countries and world areas, having exactly the positive effect of stabilization for common partnership in the future. In Germany, many people, especially students that I got to know, are excited about the US, its culture and its politics. No other election worldwide is streamed and covered by as many media outlets in Germany as the US election is, and I am not just talking about this particular one. But, although interest is so huge, there are not that many points of contact between US-Americans and Germans. Flights are long and expensive, a problem which might be solved by the implementation of new technologies, such as video-conferencing. Therefore, there is a huge potential to get to know each other better, have a better understanding of one another’s culture and habits and also widen our own horizon. In our point of view this seminar could stand as a role model, leading the way as an example for further discourse.
