| Abstract | In this paper, discourse competence is understood as the ability of learners of foreign
languages to participate actively and to engage critically in global discourses (Hallet
2008; Marxl / Römhild 2023). With the aim of contributing to a cosmopolitan global
citizen education, the College of Humanities and Sciences of Nihon University has
established an omnibus course entitled Frontiers of Knowledge. The course is taught in
English, not merely to foster the acquisition and practice of a foreign language, but to
discuss meaningful content that is relevant from a cosmopolitan perspective. Within
this context, critical discourse competence emerges as a cross-cutting objective of
foreign language education.
The concept of the Anthropocene is of a particular relevance to such a curriculum. Its
proponents conceive of humanity as a geological force capable of altering the planetary
climate (Crutzen / Stoermer 2000; Chakrabarty 2020). Developing critical competence
for participation in foreign-language discourse about the Anthropocene requires the
ability to analyze the rhetoric of climate-change denial with Donald Trump prominently
exemplifying this discourse. It further presupposes interdisciplinary instruction in key
concepts from Earth system sciences, including carbon dioxide emissions, global
warming, and the greenhouse effect. These concepts need to be systematically taught
in connection with the demography of the world population, biodiversity loss, and the
threat of mass extinction of animals, in short with the development commonly referred
to as the “Great Acceleration” (Ellis 2018). While the transgression of planetary
boundaries points toward an increasingly unsafe and dystopian future for humanity,
classroom activities should encourage utopian thinking in response to current global
challenges. This paper therefore proposes a model for structuring a lesson that aims to
stimulate critical reflection on possible pathways to avoid a dystopian future in the
Anthropocene.
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