Intercultural Communication

Syllabus | Blog | Contact Info

• Why intercultural communication? (discussion)
  • What is communication?
  • What is culture?
  • What is intercultural communication?
  • Who cares?
• How this class works (discussion)
  • Notebook
  • Essay Examinations
  • Quizzes
  • My Cultural Metaphor Essay
  • World Culture Celebration
  • Final Project
• Syllabus (www)
• My Teaching Philosophy (www)
• Read Rogers & Steinfatt, ch.1

1. Be prepared to discuss the concepts in chapter 1 on Thursday. I may give a quiz over the new vocabulary as well.

2. Brainstorm your cultural metaphor in your notebook and bring several ideas to class.

First Steps into
Intercultural Communication

• Cultural metaphor ideas
• Review Rogers & Steinfatt, ch.1
  • collective cultural consciousness (local/global)
  • cultural millieu or matrix
  • increasing cultural contact
  • the spread of Islam
  • the Khans and Mongols
  • colonialism
  • slave trade
  • opium wars
  • Native American experience
  • Lessons?
• Read Rogers & Steinfatt, ch.2

3. Blog. Intercultural communication problems in the news. Scan the infosphere for examples of news stories that depict intercultural conflict. How might a deep understanding of intercultural communication dynamics help cope with such conflicts. Post your news summary and ideas to our blog.

25-pts | Due Friday by midnight

• Review of key terms
  • communication
  • culture
  • cultural millieu or matrix
  • collective cultural consciousness
• In the news (discussion)
• Rogers & Steinfatt, chapter 2 (discussion)
  • Roots: Chicago School & Georg Simmel
  • Edward Hall and the Foreign Service Institute
  • the stranger
  • marginal man
  • social distance
  • heterophily & homophily
  • cosmopoliteness
  • ethnocentrism
  • cultural relativism
  • prejudice & descrimination
  • stereotypes
  • authoritarian personality
  • the ugly American

No homework today.

Thursday Sept.03

Cultural Exploration:
Islam & Ramadan

{ONLINE}

• Islam & Ramadan (blog)
• President Obama's Ramadan message (www)
• About Ramadan, from the History News Network (www)
• Sighting the Ramadan Moon, from Religion & Ethics News Weekly (www)
• Answers to Common Questions about Islam, from IntroductiontoIslam.org (www)
• Self-Exploration of Islamic Culture, from Wikipedia (www)
• OPTIONAL: Clash of Civilizations, by Huntington (www)

4. Blog. Islam. What, if anything did you know about Islam before your explorations today? What do you find most interesting and/or surprising about Islamic culture? What would you most like to ask somebody who grew up in an Islamic culture?

50-pts | Due Friday by midnight

• Culture & Islam (discussion)
• Nature & Culture (blog)
• Read Rogers & Steinfatt, ch.3

5. Notebook: In your notebook, make a list of definitions that you think will make useful instruments for watching the movie Crash on Thursday. Refer to our readings and all the material we've engaged so far to compile your intercultural communication toolbox.

50-pts | Due Thursday morning

Thursday Sept.10

"Crash"

6. Blog: Crash & Intercultural Communication. Choose one or two key ideas from our readings and lectures and write about scenes from the movie that exemplify the concepts. Choose the ones that are most interesting to you. Respond thoughtfully to the posting of at least one of your classmates.

50-pts | Due Friday by midnight (unless other arrangments are made).

• Read Rogers & Steinfatt, ch.4

7. Blog: Virtual Attendance & Subculture Research Ideas. Check in and let me know you're engaging the material today. What subculture in Butte or at Tech are you thinking about researching and why? Also, post any questions you may have up to this point.

Class participation | Due Tuesday by midnight

Thursday Sept.17

Verbal Communication

{ONLINE}

• Read Rogers & Steinfatt, ch.5

8. Blog: Take-home Lessons. What were the 3-5 most interesting and useful notions from this week's readings?

50-pts | Due Friday by midnight

• Key Ideas
  • intercultural communication
  • cultural immersion
  • inquiry
  • alien antrhopology
  • descriptive vs. prescriptive
  • collective cultural consciousness
  • world-view
  • cultural markers
  • language
  • non-verbal communication
  • ingroups/outgroups
  • rituals
  • artefacts
  • ethnocentrism
  • ...

No homework today.

Thursday Sept.24

Cultural Exploration:
China

{ONLINE}

• China from CIA World Factbook
• "Moving to China to Work and Live" by Paul Borg (www)
• "Culture Shock in China" by Gregory Mavrides, Ph.D. (www)
• Chinese tourism video (youtube)
• "Becoming an American: The Chinese Experience" (youtube)
• My Name is Yu Ming (atom videos)

9. Blog: 3 Lessons Learned about China. In today's blog, consider all of the content I asked you to explore. What are the most interesting and relevent things you learned about China, Chinese culture, and intercultural communication?

50-pts / Due Friday by midnight

• China: Some practical implications
• Final project updates
• Examination no.1

Begin reviewing for examination no.1 by looking over your notes, blog-postings, readings, and the course matrix.

Thursday Oct.01

Examination Prep (cont'd)

{ONLINE}

• All course material and notes through week 6

10. Blog: Mid-term Examination Questions. After reviewing all of the course material we've covered over the last 6 weeks, design a 10-question essay/short-answer examination for the class. Post your questions to this blog.

50-pts / Due Sunday by midnight

Thursday Oct.08

Sick day

{ONLINE}

As I wrote on the board on Tuesday during the examination, my intentions were to engage you in another cultural exploration (like Islam and China earlier in the term). However, I haven't been feeling well and couldn't get up to campus to post the assignment. No homework this weekend. I'll handback your graded examinations on Tuesday morning. Sorry for any confusion or inconvenience.

• Make-up exams
• Examination results & review
• Read Rogers & Steinfatt, ch.6

No homework outside of today's reading assignment. You will draw-on information from this reading in your Thursday blog assignment.

Thursday Oct.15

India

{ONLINE}

• India from CIA World Factbook (www)
• Information for travelers from the Consulate General of the U.S. (www)
• The tribes of India (www)
• The festivals of India (www)
• Non-verbal communication in India (www)
• India and America from the perspective of an Indian student (youtube)
• No Reservations in India (youtube)

11. Blog: So you're traveling to India? If you were traveling to India, where would you go and why? How would you adjust your behaviors? What is the most interesting fact you learned about India and Indian cultures?

50-pts / Due Sunday by midnight

Week 9
Swine Flu Week: No Classes

Blog Assignment: My Cultural Metaphor (50-pts)

• Handback grades and exams
• Discuss R&S, ch.6
• Ethnography guidelines
  • Alien anthropology (description)
  • Field notebooks
    • Organization
    • Cultural markers
    • Verbal peculiarities
    • Non-verbal communication (fig.6-7, p.185)
    • Rituals and artefacts
    • Relationship to "strangers"
    • other.
• Read Rogers & Steinfatt, ch.7
• Read previous class research blogs (we're using notebooks, not blogs, but you'll get a sense of their experiences).
  • Matt's Blog
  • Jackie's Blog
  • Laci's Blog
  • Rikard's Blog

12. Blog: My Cultural Metaphor. Tell us about a cultural ritual you participate in that will shed some light on who your people are, what they value, how they relate to one another, what they stand for, etc.

For example, what does Butte's St. Patrick's Day Celebration tell us about the people who participate in it? We love a party. We're Irish, or at least, are Irish on St. Patrick's Day? We have an adolescent attitude toward binge drinking?

Identify a ritual in your family and tell us about why the ritual reflects your family's beliefs, values, attitudes, behaviors, etc.

50-pts / Due Wednesday by midnight

Thursday Oct. 29

Final Project: Making Contact

{ONLINE}

13. Blog: 1st Contact Field Notes. Post your observational notes from your initial contacts with your local sub-cultures.

50-pts / Due Monday by midnight

 

• R&S, ch.6 (discussion)
  • acculturation
  • assimilation
  • sojourning
  • mass communication
  • trends (p.198)
  • the significance of gypsies...
  • figure 7-1 (p.197)
  • role of language in cultural maintenance
  • U.S. immigration patterns (p.203)
• Feedback on "1st contact" blog postings
  • be deliberate & focused
  • focus on a few ideas and describe them fully (e.g., non-verbal communication (body language), cultural markers, treatment of strangers, etc.)
  • take note immediately after experience
  • post your most interesting findings (3-5 paragraphs)
• Read R&S, ch.8
• Cultural exploration for Thursday?

14. Blog: Week 11 Research updates. Post your descriptive notes about your intercultural sojourn (i.e., your final project: cultural immersion research) in this blog.

50-pts / Due Monday by midnight

Thursday Nov.05

Your Cultural Background

{ONLINE}

15. Blog: Your Cultural Background. Identify and briefly describe each of the ethnicities or cultures that have contributed to who you are.

50-pts / Due Monday by midnight

• Interesting cultural explorations...
• Research updates are getting better...
• Updates from the Field
• Observation exercise Thursday

Continue working on your final immersion project.

Thursday Nov.12

Smoke Signals (movie) +
Cultural Observation Exercise

NOT ONLINE

• Overview of Couer D'Alene Tribe (www)
• Smoke Signals (film)
• Take notes as if you were observing this culture with the final project in mind.
  • be deliberate & focused
  • focus on a few ideas and describe them fully (e.g., non-verbal communication (body language), cultural markers, treatment of strangers, etc.)
• We will discuss R&S, ch.8 on Tuesday. So (re)read it.

15. Blog: Understanding Smoke Signals. What were the 3-5 most interesting cultural observations you made about the Couer D'Alene Indians from the cinematic presentation of Sherman Alexie's work in the movie Smoke Signals? How would you adapt your conversational behaviors to engage someone from the Couer D'Alene nation?

50-pts / Due Monday by midnight