Culture is everything. It defines who we are and informs choices we make. And as Julia Al-Amir can tell us, when it comes to studying languages, it is imperative to study culture in order to fully develop understanding and appreciation. This focus on integrative coursework is something she values about her degree path. Al-Amir — who opted to attend URI because, as she states, “Everywhere you go [at URI] you feel like you’re at home” — took advantage of a brand new opportunity recently adopted into the university’s curriculum during her freshman year. She chose to double major in Global Business Management and Global Languages and Area Studies (GLAS). The latter, a new major offered by the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, is a linguistic and culturally immersive program designed to be finished in two years. Students opting to major in GLAS may choose a concentration in either Arabic, Classics, or Japanese.
For Al-Amir, the selection of linguistic concentration felt rather obvious. “My parents are from Syria,” she explains, “So I can speak Arabic, but I can’t read or write it. I also really wanted to learn more about my culture.” This past semester, Al-Amir found herself enamored with the small class sizes in her courses, as well as the passion her professors displayed for engaging students in Arabic language and culture. “The professors really want you to do well,” she says, “and they make sure you understand everything that’s going on. Every time we walked into class, our professor was playing an Arabic song to expand our knowledge. We also have an assignment every week called a creative portfolio. Our professor gives us a prompt and tells us something like, ‘Write about an Arabic food, and tell me about it.’ So the program’s not just about the language but the culture as well.”
Al-Amir looks forward to graduating in May 2023 with a B.S. in Global Business Management and a B.A. in Global Languages and Area Studies (Arabic). While her career goals are still in the works, she aspires, for the time being, to do business in Dubai for a year or two in order to expand her linguistic capabilities and business prowess. She notes that her professors inspire her to pursue her passions and succeed in her courses, particularly Dr. Eric Young from URI’s Arabic program. To prospective students following right behind her, or even upperclassmen looking to expand their cultural awareness, Al-Amir strongly encourages students to take on the GLAS major. “Just do it,” she advises. “A lot of people get scared about adding or changing their major,” she says, “but GLAS is an easier major because it’s meant to be completed in two years. It’s a good extra to add onto your diploma, and it makes you more global. It puts you out there and separates you from everyone else.”
~Written by Chase Hoffman, Writing & Rhetoric and Anthropology Double Major, URI Class of 2021