Welcome to Methods and Practice of Communication I, which is designed to help students expand and polish their skill at disseminating information and expressing views orally in English concerning several anthropological topics.
In this course, our focus will be on expressing views orally in English in several different formats, including debate, town meetings, and oral presentations. Drawing on anthropological topics, students will learn about various facets of expression in addition to the strategies and flow inherent in the three formats.
If you would like (for some inane or perhaps insane reason), here is the course syllabus for your reading pleasure. Of course, I reserve the right to amend it, so please treat this as a guideline.
For those of you that have taken courses from me, you will recall that we have had no textbooks, and in the present course we will also have no textbook. Class material on this webpage is for you to freely download, save, print, or otherwise use. I seldom make paper handouts, but if you prefer paper, please take care of printing files yourself.
You will find course requirements near the bottom of this page.
Hereafter you will find a reasonably detailed synopsis of the various class meetings ("sessions") that we will enjoy this term.
Sure, you were about to ask, right? That, Good People, is a sextant, a very necessary tool for navigation in the days of sailing ships (i.e., in the pre-GPS age).
Session #1 (September 23, 2017; 10:10-3:00) — Presentation Skills; Handwritten Script; Social Networking Discussion
Our first content issue will concern something we do every day. Grasp
your pencil for a moment and give this some thought. Having done so, write something down.
Our issue, of course, is handwriting in all its glorious manifestations.
Here, of course, we glance at the image just to the right, which shows an example of one of the earliest writing systems (namely, hieroglyphs). The history of writing is long, yet handwriting may well be imperiled: who among you spends more time with a pen or pencil in hand than with a keyboard in front of you?
Just to whet your appetite, here is one of my favorite clips. As you'll see, it shows the gifted hand of Luca Barcellona at work crafting a thing of beauty.
OK, a second favorite clip here, in which you will meet Jake Weidmann. Mr. Weidmann is a master penman, one of just 12 in the world. So where would you guess I obtained the background for this webpage? (A bonus: here is a TED Talk by Mr. Weidmann at TECxMileHigh.)
A remarkable project undertaken by St. John's Monastery saw the creation of an
entirely handwritten Bible. Although handwriting a book might sound quite unnecessary in today's
hyper-caffeinated world, it represents a reminder that the creation of a masterpiece took far
longer than in the 21st century. Lest you need more, here is the link to the
official webpage of the St. John's Bible folks.
USA Today marked the completion of the Bible with this
story, which included the video in the link to the right.
As you well know from your experience using computers, we have a wealth of fonts available. In fact, you might argue that we have far too many, and I believe you would have a valid point. That notwithstanding, who designs fonts? Matthew Carter is one of a small handful of people who do exactly that (TED Talk).
In our second session today, we will shift gears and examine several worthwhile classroom skills. First, presentation skills are a must for you fine students in today's world. Why, you ask? Because, of course, you will be required to make presentations time and again in your academic career (actually, one of those will be next weekend in our final class!). (more on impromput skills; types of questions)
Class Material:
Our second content issue will concern another common activity, social networking. First, please chat with a small group about how much, how, and why you use social media as Line (or not).
Your Homework for Tomorrow (Sept 24):
Session #2 (September 24; 10:10-4:30) — Food; Debate Fundamentals; Town Meeting Fundamentals; Script Debate
I would be sadly remiss if I didn't include this, one of my favorites.
From long ago, courtesy of Omar Khayyam, we find three keys to happiness:
A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread—and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness—
O, Wilderness were Paradise enow!
Food, Part 1
In this class we will venture into the world of food, which is of crucial importance to us all. Of course, we here in Japan have access to a variety and quality of food that was unimaginable some scant 100 years ago, but I fear that we often take this for granted. Let us consider where our food originates, some challenges we face, and possible solutions to those challenges.
Let's begin with a look at farming in California and, more specifically, at farming associated with UC Davis. As you'll see in the video, farming is a vital cog in society in myriad ways.
OK, here is a look back at agriculture in history. The narration is perhaps less than exciting, but the images and information are well worth your time.
In the video to the right we have a look at the cycle of food as it moves from farm to table. This is courtesy of our friends at National Geographic.
Slow Food
Today we'll be on one of mankind's favorite topics, which is naturally food. Glorious food. As you'll know from today's presentation, Slow Food is much more than those two simple words. Indeed, it is an entire movement, the webpage of which is located here..
Of course, life is better with a bit of intellectual stimulation, so let's take a look at another
TED Talk. This one is courtesy of Josh Viertel at TEDxManhattan. As you'll notice, he posed a
question to a certain gentleman you may have seen a time or two.
Food Movements
This afternoon I would like to spend the first part of our class covering ...
Maersk is, of course, one of the major shipping lines in the world, and here you will find an interesting talk by John Reinhart about food aid transportation.
Food Aid
I speak here, of course,
of the ongoing challenge of feeding all seven billion of us—quite a task. This issue is, of
course, an ongoing challenge because of persistent tendencies of certain areas to be vulnerable to
drought and because of the deleterious effect of conflicts. In the clip to the right,
you'll hear Bill Pritchard speak about the reality of food aid and how it is not at all a simple
problem with a correspondingly simple solution.
You would do well to be familiar with some of the major organizations that work to address
this problem. Even a cursory search will turn up quite a few, many of which have a
religious afiliation of some nature. Among them you will find such groups as
When I was in college some hundred years ago, it became something of a common occurrence to hold a charity event (often a concert) and request that audience members provide a donation of food. Although it antedated you by a few years, you likely are familiar with We Are The World from 1985.
You might also devote a bit of time to what is known as donor fatigue, which occurs when donors (or potential donors are repeatedly inundated by requests for donations.
Population and GM Food
Here is a good primer on genetically-modified crops, courtesy of the ISAAA (oh, go on, google that!).
Another aspect of much modern food is the reality that
much of the food supply in the US now includes genetic modications. Corn,
for example, is nearly all GM. For more on
GM food, let's hear from Bill Nye,
a well-known scientist and commentator.
One aspect of any discussion on food should focus on the consumers thereof, by which I mean people. Given that the caloric needs of a healthy male come to 2200 while those of a female total 1600, our Mother Earth must provide an extraordinary amount of calories each and every day. The population of our fine planet is growing, incidentally, but you might check this population counter for details of how many we are at the moment.
Homework:
- ✔ Town meeting notes
- ✔ The Truth about Genetically-Modified Food (from Scientific American)
Session #3 (September 30; 10:10-3:00) — Town Meeting on Local Food Industry; Final Presentations
Text coming soon, perhaps.
Course Requirements