Harmut Heep, Ph.D., associate professor of German and comparative literature at Penn State Schuylkill, was invited by the Comparative Literature Research Group at the University of Mauritius in Reduit Mauritius, to conduct a workshop titled, "Comparative literature in the time of multiculturalism."
The workshop, held June 16, began with a quick exploration into the discipline of comparative literature, followed by a focus on current developments in the United States. The participants discussed a business-driven education system and the impact it has on learning due to the transformation of students into customers. It has changed the way we teach and compete with other institutions over a diminishing pool of students, so the group discussed what this meant for the discipline of comparative literature. Additionally, they studied comparisons of globalization, interculturalism, the myth of the melting pot, and multiculturalism between the United States and Mauritius.