Oxford, as a city and a cultural center, is perhaps best known for the remarkable intellect it both attracts and produces. The academic rigor here is palpable and the Putney Pre-College International Relations students showed up on day one of our seminar ready to match this impressive environment. We gathered to discuss topics of interest within the field of IR, to brainstorm final project ideas, and to unpack our primary learning objectives for the next two weeks of exploration. The students dove right into the difficult questions of democratic duty, the scope and impact of varying forms of governance, dynamics between different culturally based worldviews, the rapidly evolving global economy, and social justice. This laid a solid foundation for the three activities that followed, as we set out into the city center to access some of the many incredible resources here.

First we visited the Weston Library to engage with an exhibit called “Talking Maps” that seeks to position the creation and utilization of maps as a form of social constructivism, in which the mapmakers simultaneously reflect and shape the paradigms of their time and place in history. This inspired a great conversation about the ways that our own lived experiences, necessarily constrained or enhanced by factors such as physical mobility, form the basis of our orientation to the world. The students continued this discussion in small groups as they explored the center of Oxford, analyzing how social influences throughout history informed the physical development of the city and vice versa.

After lunch we attended an author lecture with a lively Q&A session at the famous Blackwell’s Bookshop (est. 1879) that focused on the rise of the sharing economy. Benita Matofska discussed the urgent need for economies that are inclusive and cooperative, beginning in local communities and scaled to the global level.

The students asked thought-provoking questions that reflected creative connections to the field of international relations and our concerns in this seminar. We raised the issues of intergovernmental economic regulation and the complexity of multilateral intervention. We ended our first seminar day by acknowledging that in the study of international relations, micro-level experiences of individuals in a given society and the macro-level components of that society are inextricably linked.

In addition to this truth, at least one other thing is certain: this is a stellar group of students who will engage in important work this summer and beyond!

— Becca & the Pre-College Oxford team