Congratulations to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Paige Sindt at CEA for their custom, faculty-led Culture & Identity Studies program in Paris! They've been nominated as finalists for this year's GoAbroad Innovation Awards!
CEA Global Education / University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) Culture & Identity Studies
CEA Global Education and University of Maryland, Baltimore County's "Culture & Identity Studies: Explore Gay Paris" program offers a Gender Studies course that explores the formations and constructions of gay and lesbian identities as they’ve been framed in Paris, particularly since the end of the 19th century. Students study how the categories of race, socioeconomic status, religion, gender, class, ethnicity and immigration crosscut sexual identity and sexual citizenship.
Throughout the semester, they participate in the building of the intellectual superstructure of the course by creating and utilizing two physical maps: gay Paris and lesbian Paris. These maps pinpoint and reflect gay and lesbian urban spaces, community centers and locales in the contemporary city space, both geographically and temporally.
Students live in the Marais district and are immersed not only in French culture, but in Gay French culture. They also have the opportunity to participate in the March des Fiertes LGBT, or LGBT Pride March.
Gay Paris: Culture, Society & Urban Sexual Identity, the program's signature course, is taught by visiting associate professor Dr. Denis M. Provencher from UMBC. Paige Sindt is the Director of Custom Programs at CEA Global Education and works with U.S. faculty to incorporate study abroad and intercultural exchange with specific academic programs.