[I taught a Cultural Studies course at the Technical University of Liberec during the Winter Term of 2006-07 called "Life and Institutions of English-speaking Countries." Here are some highlights. I place these here to remind myself of how difficult inter-cultural relations are to manifest. And manifesting probably doesn't come from cognitive and rational stuff--such as this.]
COURSE CONTENT RESOURCE 1
Orienting generalizations can help us remember how we are the same and how we are different across cultures. They can also guide us in making statements about what we know and what we don't about the other.
1. We seek truth, beauty, and goodness--what can be observed or demonstrated as true (science), what attracts me and I find pleasing (art), and what we together feel or value (culture).
2. We can start from what we think culture is. "Everything characteristic of or produced by a group of people" is one definition.
What I find characteristic may be the same or different from my own culture. Intercultural understanding starts at home.
3. We need all knowledge perspectives--single, plural, inside, outside, the I , the We, the It, and the Its (things plural)--to understand culture.
No one (perspective) has all the answers.
4. The knowledge we claim to have about a culture is determined by following a method for a given perspective, looking at the results the method produces, and confirming if others agree.
It is beer experts who best can tell us which beer is the best . . . after, of course, extensive tasting, I mean testing.
Final example. Eat what an American says is a "good hamburger." Then ask: Do I like it? This is the personal test. Do people who know hamburgers like it? The We test. Is it made of the right ingredients? The It test--for a true hamburger. Does it serve the nutritional or economic or other needs of the people who eat them? The Its test.
Knowledge claim. Different and not always compatible answers to the questions are the rule. You might not like the good hamburger, but it might serve key interests (e.g., economic, social) of the culture or country.
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COURSE CONTENT RESOURCE 2
Questions, questions, questions
In addition to questions you have of your study or topic, there are always more. Here are some possibilities categorized according to perspective.
Formalist (structural)
How do various elements of the object of study reinforce meanings?
How are the elements related to the whole? What is the major organizing principle?
What issues does the subject raise? How does the structure resolve these issues?
Biographical
Are there facts about people's lives relevant to your understanding of the object of study?
Are people and events seen as bound to their lives and experiences? Are these factual?
How are people's lives reflected in the object of study?
Psychological
How does the object of study reflect personal psychology(ies)?
What do people's emotions and behavior show about their psychological states?
Are psychological matters such as repression, dreams, and desire shown consciously or unconsciously?
Historical
How does the object of study reflect its period?
What influences helped to shape the form and content of the object of study?
How important is the historical context to understanding?
Marxist
How are class differences presented in the object of study?
Are people aware of the economic and social forces that affect them?
What ideological values are explicit or implicit? Does these challenge or affirm the social order?
Feminist (gender)
Is the form or content of the object of study influenced by gender? your gender?
What are the relationships between men and women? Are these relationships sources of conflict?
Does the object of study challenge or affirm traditional ideas about women? and men?
Mythological
How does the object of study resemble other stories, settings, symbols, etc.?
Are archetypes present, such as quests, initiations, scapegoats, withdrawals and returns?
Do people undergo transformations, such as from innocence to experience?
Reader-Response
How do your own experiences and expectations affect your understanding?
What is object of study's original or intended audience or participant?
To what extent are you similar to or different from that audience or participant?
Deconstruction
How are contradictory and opposing meanings expressed in the object of study?
How does meaning break down in the language of the object of study?
Would you say that definitive meanings are impossible to determine?
How are implicit ideological values revealed in the object of study?
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GUIDE TO COMPLETING THE SEMESTER ASSIGNMENT
Ways of approaching your project, or study.
One has to understand what one is looking at before making evaluative statements, or statements of agreement or disagreement. Makes sense, no?
Two requirements for being able to understand an authentic cultural (or literary, historic, etc.) phenomenon are to
1. Hold it at arm's length (impersonally look at it), and
2. Try to see it from one or more points of view.
One or more people can do this together. A common description for this interpretive activity is academic discourse.
Academic discourse is grounded in dialectics (logic and reasoning), and questioning. Ask as many questions as you can about your object of study before and as the discourse proceeds, and you are well on your way to grasping what it is, what it means, what its context is.
As a proof of competence in understanding, you make observations and statements and insights, and you do this in different ways--online and in the classroom.
By writing it all out, others can look at what you say, discuss that, and come to an understanding. The My Study space is reserved for this particular way of learning that connects you and your work with others and theirs.
To say you understand is to make a knowledge claim. How are these made?
* Follow a method (particular to your point of view).
* Look at the results (do the data show something).
* Ask if experts agree (cite references).
We have highlighted some points of view or perspectives thus far that we can use. Although it was rightly pointed out that perhaps your education does not equip you to use any of these as perhaps an expert would, there is enough awareness and knowledge to make use of selected ones to make tentative understanding/knowledge claims.
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CLASSROOM HANDOUT
KEY QUESTION: What in your view should be the main aims of a ‘cultural syllabus’ in EFL/ESL programs and how might these be best achieved?
OUR COURSE DESCRIPTION: The aim of the course is to deal with a variety of topics concerning English-speaking countries and to revise and extend essential background information in history, literature, social and cultural life, and basic institutions. The actual program will be adjusted to individual student needs and interests.
SUB QUESTIONS
1. Why study culture at all?
2. What are some of the problems in deciding on a cultural syllabus?
3. Should the syllabus include Places?
4. Should the syllabus include History?
5. Should the syllabus include Institutions?
6. Should the syllabus include Art, Music and Literature?
7. Should the syllabus include Artifacts and Popular Culture?
8. Should the syllabus build from The Students’ Situation?
9. Other?
SOME ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:
+ knowledge about the target culture
+ awareness of its characteristics and differences between the target culture and the learner’s own country
+ a research-minded outlook
+ an emphasis on understanding socio-cultural implications of language and language use
+ affective goals--interest, intellectual curiosity, and empathy
‘Why should students learn about this?’ needs to be asked about each suggested component of the syllabus.
‘A language is part of a culture and culture is part of language; the two are intricately interwoven so that one cannot separate the two without losing the significance of either language or culture’. But how do you strip away the surplus culture and find those aspects which have a direct and obvious link to language?
CONCLUSION: Do we have a new course description? what should the syllabus contain? would you suggest a new title for the course?
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END-OF-TERM ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS AND KEY
RECALL what you wrote on the assessment, and then look below to see suggested and correct answers. Some answers are and have been on the Web site, so you may have to look at the links again to refresh your memory.
IF you wish to go over your assessment in person, please come by the office. Discussion can clarify or enrich your feedback beyond what can be done here.
1. Give three reasons for studying Native Alaskans in a course on English-speaking peoples?
Three possible reasons include the fact that these Alaskans influence the English of Alaska and elsewhere (e.g., Inuit words such as mukluk); knowing another culture through English helps us understand that plus our own; specialist words, such as medical or sociological terms, can be learned.
2. We have highlighted some points of view or perspectives to study English-speaking peoples. Although your education may not equip you to use these as an expert, we can ask different kinds of questions. Match the questions with the study approach.
[course Web site has more info]
3. Orienting generalizations can help us remember how we are the same and how we are different across cultures. They can also guide us in making statements about what we know and what we don't about the other. What would be a good orienting generalization for a course where students from the Czech Republic study the "Life and Institutions of English-speaking Countries"?
[course Web site has more info]
4. Comparison is one way to study a foreign country or culture. What is an example of things to compare?
You need to pick something from one culture (your own, or one you know perfectly) and one from the target culture. For example, murder and violent crime rates--in both cultures. Only by comparison do we get an insight into a phenomenon. "Without a no there is no yes."
5. "It is beer experts who best can tell us which beer is the best." How is this statement a guide in understanding a different culture?
This is the third of the three principles for how you know what you know. Thus, it is people who study countries and cultures that can confirm or deny our tentative conclusions.
[course Web site has more info]
6. Before you make evaluative statements, or statements of agreement or disagreement about a people or what they do, what must happen for you and how can it happen?
You need to understand at beyond a surface level. One way is to use informants. (See the culture penetration model.) Another is to use a method, like feminism to study phenomena.
[course Web site has more info]
7. Two requirements for studying an authentic cultural phenomenon are to, 1) hold it at arm's length, and 2) try to see it from one or more points of view. We call this attitude and activity what? Describe briefly the nature of the text produced by following these principles.
Academic discourse.
The text is in the third person following the listed principles. The text does not typically indicate opinions, agreement, or whether or not the author likes something. It is more descriptive and analytical, not personal.
[course Web site has more info]
8. "Follow a method. Look at the results. Ask if experts agree." These steps describe what?
Making a knowledge claim, or how do you know what you know.
9. "Culture is the knowledge people use to generate and interpret social behavior." From your general knowledge, the study you did, or one you read for the course, give an example of cultural knowledge and the corresponding social behavior.
Example.
freedom of religion in America = many different Christian religions there (Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, etc.)
10. Sylvie Vichnarová interviewed three people who had experienced English-speaking cultures. And there was a model given in class and on the Web site for penetrating a culture. Comment on Sylvie's study in terms of this model. Then say what we can conclude from her study, but not using the model.
The first question is difficult. And a number of answers are possible. One possible answer is that the problem appears to be in the depth of insights given by the visitors to the other countries. They seem to have been tourists without getting at deeper reasons why people do what they do. Although the questions to each respondent were the same, what each looked at or commented on was different.
What we can conclude from the study also provides a number of possibilities. The safest one is that the methodology used was carefully structured. Its results are three individual bytes of qualitative data which may or may not be valid if more respondents were to be asked. No safe generalization can be made across the respondents without rigorous analysis.
The study provides a rich text and rich texts for further study.
11. Here are some lyrics from a song.
I got a girl, she's long and tall,
sleeps in the kitchen with her feet in the hall.
Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got 'em for sale.
Yes she got 'em for sale. Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got 'em for sale.
She got two for a nickel, four for a dime,
Would sell you more, but they ain't none of mine.
According to Šimon Oldrich's study, what would make this song fit into the category of blues music?
It is both happy and possibly sad--because the speaker has none. Sadness or a kind of depression is the blues; but happiness is also possible in this music genre.
12. What can a pop culture topic like MTV and its influence teach us about the English language?
The show, often mostly in English around the world, spreads the language, perhaps especially to a certain segment of the population. And because the show is pop and oriented to music and lifestyles, English is the key or ticket to understanding and appreciation. English is easily learned if delivered via this medium.
