Abstract:

Educators and policymakers call for curricula that contribute to an awareness of global issues and sustainability (Goby, 2020). In business schools, many academics highlight the value of the humanities to cultivate an awareness of the ethical, social, and environmental implications of business decision-making (Pashby et al., 2020). This paper describes a pilot project designed to contribute to building such awareness. The conceptualization of the project was influenced by Nussbaum’s work on the value of the humanities for professional training (2003, 2016). Business undergraduates were required to read, reflect on, and discuss two novels set in diverse geopolitical settings. The imaginative connection that develops with a novel’s characters and plot can serve to generate personalised subjectivities regarding the characters’ lives and socio-economic conditions and foster global citizenship education (Andreotti, 2011).

The pilot study was conducted with three undergraduate courses at two universities in the United Arab Emirates. The universities are English-language medium, but all students have first languages other than English. Two novels were chosen, namely, The bitter side of sweet by Tara Sullivan and Boys without names by Kashmira Sheth. These were selected because of their apposite plots and diverse geopolitical settings and because they are aimed at younger readers, and therefore pose little language difficulty. In brief, students were required to read these two novels over the first half of the semester. We then conducted an assessment in the form of focus group discussions with prompts to probe the impact of business decision-making on different communities. Students were graded on the quality of their responses. A total of 67 students completed this.

Next, we invited students to write a short statement of the impact of reading and reflecting on these novels. This was not compulsory, yet 46 students wrote an average of 300 words on the topic. A frequent theme in these essays was that their eyes had been opened to people who produce goods that we consume regularly whom they had never considered. Many comments involved the importance of humane management and possibilities for prioritising social good over financial gain. The students’ comments indicated new awarenesses and understandings and represent incipient responses to Pirson's (2020) call for responsible business behaviour to augment sustainability and to cultivate students as global citizens.

References:
[1] Andreotti, V. D. O. 2011. (Towards) decoloniality and diversality in global citizenship education. Globalisation, Societies and Education 9 (3-4): 381–397.
[2] Goby, V. P. (2020). A point of view: can a narrative imagination approach to the business curriculum contribute to global citizenship and sustainability? Globalisation, Societies and Education.
[3] Nussbaum, M. C. 2003. Cultivating humanity in legal education. University of Chicago Law Review 70 (1): 265–279.
[4] Nussbaum, M. C. 2016. Not for profit: Why democracy needs the humanities. PUP.
[5] Pashby, K., M. D. Costa, S. Stein, and V. Andreotti. 2020. A Meta-review of typologies of global citizenship education. Comparative Education 56 (2): 144–164.
[6] Pirson, M. A. 2020. Humanistic narrative for responsible management learning: An ontological Perspective. Journal of Business Ethics 162: 775–793.

Keywords:

Global citizenship, globalisation, humanities, narrative imagination, sustainability.