This chapter sketches the theoretical evolution of intercultural language education leading to current developments which encompass the need to sensitize students to trauma and suffering. This view integrates the development of intercultural communicative competence; disciplinary and professional knowledge, skills and competencies; and civic and social engagement. This evolution is illustrated with an example taken from a regular language course for future teachers and translators of English at an Argentinian university carried out in 2023. Grounded in a humanist foundation for English teaching in higher education, the course involved a pedagogic proposal based on literary works with intercultural citizenship and human rights content which was implemented as a task and theme-based project. Participants were 80 second year students, aged 18–22, with a B2/C1 level of English (CEFR framework), who engaged in work with literary texts in their practical classes for a period of 4 months. They designed multimodal artefacts, accompanied by written artistic statements. An analysis of student artefacts revealed that: (a) the students engaged emotionally with the citizenship and human rights content in the literary texts; and (b) this engagement with trauma and suffering opened up opportunities for individual and social transformation through action-oriented empathy and solidarity. Implications for language education are considered.