MyGlasgow Students

This course explores the connections between languages, communication and the production of knowledge, with a focus on how constructed languages can achieve UN sustainability goals (especially UNSG 17, 10, 16, 3). Students learn about languages designed to build global partnerships, reduce inequalities and promote universal peace (such as Esperanto), explore constructed languages as a therapeutic tool for healthy lives and well-being (Bliss symbols or Toki Pona) and as narrative devices in fantasy fiction (e.g. Tolkien and TV series such as Star Trek or Games of Throne ), question the ill-defined boundaries between constructed languages and revitalised languages (e.g. Cornish or Nynorsk), reflect critically on the ethical implication raised by the recent status of English as a hypercentral language and experiment with applications of AI to constructed languages.

This course is aimed at students from a wide variety of disciplines. It seeks to engage them in critical appraisal of UoG and its societal engagement in the past and the role of its heritage in the present, making use of its own continuing reappraisal of its history. Through that it seeks to enhance students awareness of UoG’s purpose and their place within and beyond it. It combines chronological and thematic approaches, seeking to situate students understanding of their university and their future role through considering the university’s medieval, early modern and modern histories through gendered, global, societal and spatial analyses. Students will work closely with University Archive and Special Collections materials and develop heritage representation skills.

Students will learn about complex real-life challenges, and how they are represented in games, reflecting on their experiences of the games they play in class, and analysing and interpreting what they have learned about those real-life challenges as a result of their experiences. Along the way, students will learn a range of skills including working with others, how real-life can be represented through complex interactive systems, and how to interpret media (here game) representations of real. life. This is a Curriculum 4 Life (C4L) course.

This course introduces students from all disciplines to how film, media and screen cultures shape our understanding of contemporary societal challenges. Using the rapidly evolving screen landscape - including film, television, streaming, gaming and digital platforms - as a lens, students explore issues such as climate crisis, inequality, digital power, labour precarity and cultural representation. Through global case studies, guest talks and practical workshops, students examine how screen media operates across different contexts, with examples from the UK, Rwanda, India and China. Working collaboratively, they develop critical, creative and analytical skills while designing a screen-based project that responds to a real-world challenge. No prior knowledge of film or media is required. The course fosters interdisciplinary dialogue and highlights how screen media intersects with law, politics, technology and community life, encouraging students to imagine media futures aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

'Intercultural Literacies' at a glance:

This course is available in Semester 2, 2026. Course code: LIBARTS1002. Credits: 20

What will I learn from this course?  

 In this course, you will learn about how people navigate and deal with intercultural situations, in other words, situations where there are people present from multiple different cultures. We will discuss this in relation to situations that are quite typical, such as being an exchange or international student, being a tourist, or being an international migrant. While these all suggest culture at a national level, we will discuss what culture might mean on a more general level, asking how it might relate to concepts like class, ethnicity, religion and gender. Taking this wider understanding of culture, we will explore how we can communicate better with diverse audiences. 

How will I be assessed on this course?

 What unique learning experiences will I have on this course?

This course is the only undergraduate course at Glasgow to focus on how developing intercultural skills across the curriculum. These are important skills in many disciplines, as culture affects how people act in many situations and being aware of cultural specificity and difference will allow you to understand better how people are engaging with communicative acts in everyday life settings, from websites to medical consultations and beyond. 

The use of fictional examples will differ from standard practices in literature and film studies as the class discussion will focus on how they approach or represent intercultural situations and use them as a source of reflection linked to your own and your peers’ experiences.  

Our focus on the interview and reflecting on the interview as one method of assessment means that you will learn this useful skill which can be applied in many disciplines, but is not always taught as a research methodology. 

Who is the course leader?

Dr Jonathan Evans and Dr Elisa Segnini are leading this course.

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