Abstract

This innovation project seeks to provide an example of practical application of the development of critical thinking skills in the Humanities and specifically, in the Degree of English Studies. It is framed in the research group Studies on Intermediality and Intercultural Mediation (SIIM) of Complutense University of Madrid and it aims at responding to the current emphasis in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) on competences for lifelong learning able to guarantee employability, social inclusion and citizen’s participation in a globalized and changing world, a world suffering from systematic inequalities and social divisions. Many of these social and ethnic confrontations (for example, the systematic racism in the United States against the African American population which has generated the global movement “Black Lives Matter”) have their origin in historical and literary periods that are covered in the curricular contents of the subjects in which this project is implemented. Thus, by bringing awareness into the functionality and relevance the subject curricula have in order to understand the historical and literary roots of many social problems, this project promotes the acquisition of critical thinking skills to contribute to these social debates by providing an objective and contrasted discussion on the origin of these social divisions. Moreover, by putting their academic knowledge at the service of an informed societal conversation, through their own learning outcomes (verified infographics, podcasts, and academic papers), students become active agents of social transformation, contributing in the fight against the disinformation, manipulation, and ignorance that so deeply harms us today as a global community.