This course examines scholarly research and current events with concerted attention toward the improved practice of communication in intercultural, international, and interfaith settings. The primary questions investigated in the course will address the dynamics of culture, ethnicity, religion, and identity in terms of issues of representation, inequality, and empowerment against the backdrop of global transition in the 21st century. The course will pay particular attention to the ways religion and ethnic identity influence each other at the individual, community, national, and international levels and will closely interrogate communication practices between people of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths. The course will call upon research from critical and functional perspectives that utilize qualitative and quantitative methods of inquiry. Prerequisite: COM 1020. Credits: 4