Communication and Culture Seminar

TA 128-13

 

 

 

Human nature is not quite the same as the field of beetroot, but like a field it needs to cultivated-so that the word 'culture' shifts us from the natural to the spiritual, it also intimates an affinity between them. If we are cultural being, we are also a part of the nature on which we go to work. Indeed it is part of the word 'nature' to remind us of the continuum between ourselves and our surroundings, just as the word 'culture' serves to highlight the difference.

Eagleton

 

 

The social positioning of the self means that the boundary between self and other is formed through a series of cultural representations of people and things which frequently elide so that the non-human world also provides a context for selfhood.

Sibley

 

 

 

 

Spring 2002

Dr. Myron M. Beasley

Department of Theatre, Speech & Dance

Communication and Culture

Thursday 4:00-6:20

Fall 2000

Myron M. Beasley Office hours: 12-1:50 Tu

Office Phone: 863.1955

Beasley@Brown.edu

 

 

Course overview:

This course explores cultural experience and meaning across a variety of cultural groups, including national cultures, ethnic groups, economic classes, subcultures, and genders. We will centralize communication by emphasizing several issues: 1) how communication creates cultures, 2) communication within a variety of cultural groups and 3) our own communication about others. The objectives of the course are to increase understanding about people different from ourselves; to uncover the patterns by which we represent members of other cultures and discern the ethical cultural groups; to identify and overcome obstacles to inter-cultural communication; and to understand the historical development and nature of various contexts of cross-cultural communication. This course will engage and challenge your assumptions about yourself and others.

Required Texts:

Kincaid, J. My brother. New York: New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1997.

Sontag, S. Regarding the Pain of others. New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2003.

Available in Reading Packet

Anderson, Benedict. "Cultural Roots." Readings for a History of Anthropological Theory. Ed. Paul A. Erickson and Liam D. Murphy. Peterborough, Ont: Broadview P, 2001. 573-597.

---, "The Nation and the Origins of National Consciousness." The Ethnicity Reader:

Nationalism, Multiculturalism and Migration. Ed. Montserrat Guibernau and John Rex. Malden, MA: Polity P, 1999. 43-51.

Anzaldua, G. "How to Tame a Wild Tongue" In American literature, American culture, Gordon Hutner (ed) New York : Oxford University Press, 1999.

Billig, Michael. "Remembering Banal Nationalism." Banal Nationalism. London: Sage Publications, 1995. 37-59.

Bloom, Lisa "National Geographic Society and Magazine: Technologies of Nationalism, Race, and Gender" In Gender on ice : American ideologies of polar expeditions. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993.

Chomsky, Noam. "Terrorism: the Politics of Language" Stenographers to Pwer: Media and Propaganda. David Barsamian. Monroe, ME: Common Courage P, 1992. 87-100.

Conquergood, Dwight. "Homeboys and Hoods: Gang Communication and Cultural Space." Group Communication in Context: Studies of Natural Groups. Ed. Lawrence R. Frey. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1994. 23-55.

Conquergood, Dwight "Fabricating Community: The Textile of the Hmong Refugee Women." In Performance, culture, and identity, E. Fine & J. Speer (eds.) Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1992.

Conquergood, Dwight "Life in Big Red: Struggles and Accommodations in a Chicago Polyethnic Tenement." Structuring Diversity: Ethnographic Perspectives on the New Immigration." Ed. Louise Lamphere. Chicago: U Chicago P, 1992. 95-144.

Fusco, C. "Better yet when dead." The bodies that were not ours: and other writings. New York: Routledge, 2001.

Hall, Stuart "Negotiating Caribbean Identities." In New Caribbean thought : a reader. B. Meeks &F. Lindahl (eds). Jamaica : University of the West Indies Press, 2001.

MacCannell, D. "Reconstructed Ethnicity: Tourism and Cultural Identity in Third World Communities." In Empty meeting grounds : the tourist papers

London ; New York, NY : Routledge, 1992.

Nakayama, T. "Whiteness: a Strategic Rhetoric" In Whiteness : the communication of social identity. T. K. Nakayama & J. Martin (eds)

Thousand Oaks : Sage Publications, 1999.

Rodriguez ? "Complexion"

Rojek, C. Celebrity. London: Reaktion 2001.

Rosaldo, Renato. "Grief and a Headhunter’s Rage." Introduction. Culture & Truth: The Remaking of Social Analysis. Boston: Deacon P, 1989.

Said, Edward "Knowledge and Interpretation" in Covering Islam : how the media and the experts determine how we see the rest of the world New York : Vintage Books, 1997.

Williams, P. "Ethnic Hash." Transitions: An international review 73, 34-9

Wood, J. "The yellow negro." Transitions: An international review 73, 40-66

Conde, M "The Brownest Eye" Transition (89) 56-72.

Biehl "Life in a Zone of Social Abandonment" Social Text, Vol. 19, No. 3, [68] Technologies of Perception and the Cultures of Globalization. (Autumn, 2001), pp. 131-149

De Certeau "Walking in the City." The practice of everyday life; translated by Steven Rendall. Berkeley : University of California Press, 1988.

Bragg, R "A Town’s Classes Clash Over Porch Sitting"

Lurie, D "Homeless Vehicle Project." In K. Wodiczko (eds),

Critical vehicles: writings, projects. Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, 1999.

Corey, F "Personal Narratives and Young Men in Prison: Labeling the Outside Inside" Western Journal of Communication, Winter 96, Vol. 60 Issue 1, 19.

Jochonowitz, E. "Edible Activism" Gastronomica:journal of food and culture:      (1) 4 Page: 56 — 63 University of California Press

Nuemann, M. "Smuggled Sound: Bootleg Recording and the Pursuit of Popular Memory" Symbolic Interaction 20 (4): 319-41. 1997

Nuemann, M. "Wandering Through the Museum"Border/Lines Summer 1988.

Friedman, J. "Togetherness and Isolation: Holocaust Survivor Memories of Intimacy and Sexuality in the Ghettos" Oral History Review.

Taylor, D. "Dancing with Diana" The Drama Review 43, 1 (T161) 1999.

Neumann, M. "The Trail Through Experience." Investigating subjectivity: research on lived experience. C. Ellis & M. Flaherty, (eds)

Newbury Park : Sage Publications, 1992.

Hawkins, P. "Naming Names: The Art of Memory and the NAMES Project AIDS Quilt." In Thinking about exhibition R. Greenberg, B. Ferguson, & S. Nairne (eds) London ; New York : Routledge, 1996.

Wurgaft, B. "Starbucks and Rootless Cosmopolitanism" Gastronomica, Fall 03. 70-5.

Sibley David. Geographies of Exclusion, Routledge Press, 1997.

Course Evaluation:

Each student will complete 1 major assignment unit: You man choose from the following options

  1. Submit four reactions papers
  2. Submit one reaction papers and a term paper.
  3. Submit two reactions papers and take the comprehensive essay final examination.

REACTION PAPERS: Many of the weekly reading assignments are accompanied by writing assignments, which ask you to reflect on the readings and apply the ideas to specific examples. These assignments are explained elsewhere on the syllabus. Each paper should be at least five (5) pages.

TERM PAPER: this paper should offer and support an original, creative, and relevant argument about some aspect of culture and communication. This might be a theoretical piece, a fieldwork study, a critical work that applies some concept we discuss in class to a specific text or practice, or some other original study approved by me. You must discuss ideas with me early in the semester before embarking on this task.

COMPREHENSIVE ESSAY FINAL: A cumulative essay final

My general policy is that no late work will be accepted and no make-up assignments will be given. The only exception to this policy involves medical or other emergencies.

Attendance and Participation Policies:

This seminar will move quickly and cover a great deal of material. Please come to class on time and please do not leave early. I expect you to come to class prepared and ready to participate in discussions about the material. Each

student is only allowed one absence.

Academic Dishonesty;

Your paper and your exam responses in this class must be completely original. Students caught plagiarizing any part of their written work or cheating on an exam will fail the course and be referred to the appropriate university officials.

Course Schedule

All reading materials should be completed by the assigned dates. You should bring each week’s reading materials to class with you. This is a tentative schedule and is subject to change.

Week 1 Wednesday What is Culture?

2/4 Course Introduction and overview

 

Week 2 Wednesday What is Culture and is it possible to understand

2/11 another’s culture?

Renato Rosaldo, "Grief and a Headhunter’s Rage

Sibley, Chapter 1

 

Week 3 Wednesday Nations, Nationalism, and National Identity

2/18 Benedict Anderson, "Cultural Roots

and "Origins of National Consciousness."

Micheal Billig, "Remembering Banal Nationalism"

Rhodessa Jones Lecture!!!!

ASSIGNMENT "A" DUE

Week 4 Wednesday Cultural Representation: Communicating about

2/25 other cultures

View: Stuart Hall’s "Floating Signifier"

Chomsky, "Terrorism: The Politics of

Language"

Tom Nakayama, "Whiteness: a strategic rhetoric"

Lisa Bloom, "National Geographic Society and

Magazine: Technologies of Nationalism, Race, and Gender.

MacCannell, "Reconstructed Ethnicity: Tourism and Cultural identity in Third World Communities.

ASSIGNMENT "B" DUE

Week 5 Wednesday Cultural Identity (1): Subculture, Ethnicity, & Race

3/3 Discuss and view "The heart broken in half

D. Conquergood, "Homeboys and Hoods"

 

 

Week 6 Wednesday Cultural Identity (2): Migration, Displacement, and

3/10 Living between Cultures

D. Conquergood, "Fabricating Community: The

textile of the Hmong refugee women.

Hall, "Negotiating Caribbean Identities"

Rodriquez, "Complexion"

Anzaldua, "How to tame a wild tongue

*Conde, M. "The Brownest Eye"

Assignment "C" Due

Week 7 Wednesday Contexts of Interaction: Urban Spaces

3/1

De Certeau, "Walking in the City"

Conquergood, "Life in Big Red: Struggles and

Accommodations in a Chicago Polyethnic"

Week 8 Wednesday Bragg, R. "A Town’s classes clash over Porch sitting"

3/24 Lurie, D. "Homeless vehicle project"

Corey, F. "Personal Narratives and young men in

Prison: labeling the outside inside."

Simpson, T. "Streets, sidewalks, stores and stories"

Week 9 Wednesday Con’t of Interaction: Urban Spaces

4/7 Jochnowitz, E. "Edible Activism"

Williams, P. "Ethnic Hash"

Wurgaft, B. "Starbucks and Rootless…"

Week 10 Wednesday Identity Politics, Travel, Place, & Memory

4/14 Neumann M. "Tortis Shell"

*Neumann, M. "The trail through experience"

Friedman, J. "Togetherness and Isolation: Holocaust

Survivor memories of Intimacy and sexuality in the

Ghettos"

*Nuemann, M. "Wandering though the Museum"

Week 11 Wednesday

4/15 Nuemann, Smuggled Sound: Bootleg Recording and

the Pursuit of popular memory."

Wood, J. "The yellow negro"

Week 12 Wednesday Celebrity, Identity, & (Re)memory

4/21 Rojek, C. "Celebrity"

Coco Fusco "Better yet when dead"

Taylor, D. "Dancing with Diana"

Assignment "D" Due

Week 13 Wednesday Biehl, "Life in a zone of social abandonment

4/28 Hawkins, P. "Naming Names: The art of memory and

the NAMES Project AIDS Quilt"

Kincaid, J. My Brother

Sontag, S. Regarding the Pain of others

Assignment "E" Due

 

Paper Assignments:

There are four paper assignments. Each paper will be approximately 5 pages in length, typewritten, and double-spaced. The papers should have a clear thesis, which is fully developed and supported. The papers are due at the beginning of class on the assigned date.

Assignment "A"

Benedict Anderson discusses the decline of religious communities and dynasties and charts the rise of nations in the modern world. He contends that the nation is an "imagined community," that members of nations are able to imagine a feeling of comradeship with others whom the will never know. Anderson argues that the novel and the newspaper helped create national sentiments by introducing new modes of time consciousness, and that the larger structures of print capitalism fixed national languages in an attempt to create markets for books.

Michael Billig argues that in order for nationalism to maintain, people must remember that they are members of a nation. However, this "remembering" is naturalized to the extent that people must also "forget" that they are being constantly reminded of their national identity. Billig explores instances of "flagging," the banal ways that we are reminded of our national identity in everyday life. He also points out that we are inclined to refer to our own nationalist sentiments as "patriotism," while ascribing a dangerous "nationalism" to other countries.

Reflect on the rise of nationalism, and your own attachments to a nation. Write a paper that analyzes "flagging" or the nation in your own life. You might choose to focus on the ways that the nation is "flagged" in a newspaper or newsmagazine, in advertisements, TV shows, national holidays or rituals, etc. Whatever you choose to discuss, be sure to develop a specific thesis and to carry through a detailed analysis (i.e. study something in detail; avoid briefly referring to a number of different things).

Assignment "B"

Lisa Bloom’s article, "National Geographic Society and Magazine," analyzes the rise of National Geographic magazine, its constructions of "primitivism," race, gender, and class, and the way the magazine ties these issues to a construction of "nationalism" in the United States. The article discusses the ways that National Geographic establishes a sense of ‘scientific" authority that makes its presentation of other cultures seem "objective" and apolitical, but it also reveals ways that the magazine’s depiction of non-Western cultures reflects a certain cultural politics.

After reading the article, locate a copy of National Geographic and analyze it. Write a paper that focuses on and analyzes some dimension of the magazine that is discussed in the article. You might want to one article in the magazine, photographs, advertisements, subject matter, etc. This is a brief paper and you cannot discuss everything, so pick a specific subject and analyze it in detail. You might have to look through several issues of the magazine to locate something interesting to talk about. BE SURE TO PHOTOCOPY RELEVANT MATERIAL FROM THE MAGAZINE AND TURN IT IN WITH YOUR PAPER. You might focus on one or more of the following, or something completely different:

*How does this issue of NG construct its own authority (scientific, objective, rational, civilized, etc.) to report about other cultures?

*How does the text and/ or photos of a particular article represent culture?

*What is the function of the advertisements in the magazine? How do

they depict Western or other cultures, or the world in general.

*How does the magazine construct a feeling of "nationality" for the reader?

Remember the key is to analyze some dimension of the magazine, not to simply describe or summarize.

 

Assignment "C"

Read the articles by Richard Rodriquez, Gloria Anzaldua, etc. These articles suggest some of the new identities and contexts for self-understanding that are created by the movement, displacement, and exile of contemporary people. Some of the articles map the borderlands and interstitial spaces that bring divers people into contact. Other articles reveal the ways that cultural beliefs, norms, and values are transmitted symbolically from one generation to the next, and the ways they often come into conflict with other cultural beliefs and values. Perhaps you have had a similar experience living between two or more cultures, and felling like an "other" in some way. Maybe you grew up in one nation then moved to another, or for some other reason found that national culture, language, ethnicity, race/complexion, social class, etc. posed a unique situation for you and affected your sense of identity. Write an autobiographical paper that develops some specific thesis regarding your experiences "living between cultures" and support with examples from your life.

 

 

Assignment "D"

Forthcoming.