MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- The Air Force Culture and Language Center’s (AFCLC) faculty Dr. Kristin Hissong, Dr. Angelle Khachadoorian, and Dr. Susan Steen, are preparing to teach electives at Air War College for the upcoming academic year, but this time, they will be meeting with their students virtually.
For Academic Year 2021 (AY 21), AFCLC’s faculty members will be supporting and educating Air Force leaders in-residence at Air War College via virtual classroom meetings.
AFCLC’s Assistant Professor of Regional and Cultural Studies (Middle East North Africa) Dr. Kristin Hissong will be teaching an elective titled: “WPS in CENTCOM and at Home – Impact of Changing Gender Roles and Women’s Movements on International Security.”
This course focuses on Arab, Muslim women specifically to examine how cultural and religious discourse, norms, and practices create and sustain gender and hierarchy in religious, social, and familial life and explores historical and contemporary challenges posed to these structures. This course uses historical and contemporary examples to examine the role and status of women with attention to what the Qur’an and its exegesis say about women.
AFCLC’s Associate Professor of Anthropology Dr. Angelle Khachadoorian will be teaching an elective titled: “Culture and War – From Aztecs to Afghans.”
In this course, students will learn social scientific theories and perspectives on the origins of war, as well as how human culture, behavior, social systems, and beliefs shape the actions, values, and motivations of individuals and communities to choose war, their behaviors within war and their end goals.
AFCLC’s Assistant Professor of Cross-Cultural Communication Dr. Susan Steen will be teaching “Creating Cultures of Resilience in the USAF” as an elective and part of the AY21 Resilience Research Group, which is led by Dr. Amy Baxter from Air University’s eSchool. This group will employ AU students, faculty, staff, visiting scholars, and partners to focus on the Air Force Surgeon General’s strategic priorities around recruiting, retaining, and developing resilient Airmen. The research focus will include: how can the Air Force leverage its powerful traditions, legacy, and structure to best support 21st Century Airmen as they build a culture of community and resilience? How can we measure outcomes to ensure that we are meeting these objectives? How can we bring to bear multiple perspectives to better achieve success in building a more resilient force?
AFCLC continuously supports the AWC mission of educating senior military and civilian teammates to serve as critical and strategic thinkers able to serve as national security senior leaders. Each of these electives also addresses elements of the National Defense Strategy, such as strengthening partnerships and alliances, a deeper understanding of human behavior during historical and contemporary struggles for power, and equipping our Airmen to respond to challenges from revisionist powers and rogue states under the Great Power Competition paradigm.