Welcome to Understanding Other Cultures! The purpose of this course is for students to improve both their English skills and their knowledge of American culture. To achieve these aims, students will address a number of salient points drawn from the vast realm of remnants of human endeavors. Moreover, we will analyze those points from the perspective of artefacts, the meaning of which students will discover is much larger than only museum pieces unearthed from the sands of the world's deserts (hence the picture above).

In perhaps more detail, students will (a) think creatively and analytically about cultural issues, (b) deepen their knowledge and understanding of other cultures (primarily the potpourri of American culture), and (c) promote communication fluency by interacting with classmates in group discussions.

 Artifacts 

 Before Session 1 ... 

Good day, everyone, and thank you for being brave and signing up for this course on Understanding Other Cultures (Artifacts). To get things off to a good start, please watch the following videos and complete the homework you'll find therein before our first meeting on May 12.

Homework:

 Session 1: Course intro; The Nature of Artifacts (May 12) 

You might well think of something shown in the image to the right when we mention the word 'artefact'. Of course, you might well imagine something completely different, which is — given the immense number of artifacts from our collective human endeavors over the last few millenia — quite natural.

Let's embark on our semester together with an exercise to activate your artifact schema. Our starting point is the seemingly simple query, "What is an artifact?" A helpful set of definitions can be found, unfortunately, on the UNESCO webpage dealing with illicit trafficking of cultural property.

Homework:

 Session 2 — World Heritage (May 19) 

Ah, a bit heavy, I think, so we'll back up and take a look at the grand-daddy of heritage things. This means, of course, the World Heritage Convention of UNESCO, which includes some 1000 sites. (Come now, did you know that? How many can you name?) I'd like you to note that while many are natural, many others are man-made.

 Session 3 — Symbols (May 26) 

A warmup question for everyone: in your native country, what do tigers symbolize? What are some examples? Of course, one example from American culture is immediately to the left.

An interesting website on ancient symbols.

A thought-provoking article by Ann Swidler (1986) titled "Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies." As you'll recall from class, you have some homework related to this article: questions on Swidler (1986).

A symbolic sidelight: Collecting something that all countries have in common. Here is Mr. Simpson's website.

Allow me to add a bit more on symbols, good people. For an interesting read from a somewhat different perspective, here is an article by Shantha Rajan titled Role and Significance of symbols: An overview, in which the author introduces a number of Hindu symbols. As I noted, an interesting read.

I grant that it has faded a bit into memory, but five years ago we were treated to a movie based on historical symbols. I refer, of course, to The da Vinci Code, the trailer for which is to the right. In the off chance that you're not familiar with the plot, it centers on a trove of symbols dealing with the life and family (!) of Jesus Christ, who is, of course, a rather important person (symbol?) in the Christian faith. As such things are prone to do, The da Vinci Code caused quite a number of reactions although it was ostensibly a work of fiction (although Dan Brown slyly notes that much of what underpins the work does actually exist). At any rate, the folks at the Discovery Channel provided an interesting documentary (some 45 minutes in length), but it is worth your time, I think.

One last thing, Gentle Students: You might have seen a film that included a great deal of material about symbols. Think large, blue creatures and islands floating in the air (the trailer for Avatar). The title of that work is also a common thing on the Internet now — might you have an avatar? If so, what kind of avatar is it?

PowerPoint Suggestions
Recall from our class discussion that there is a particular format that I require when students make presentations; please watch the video below. In addition, I would like to have students use certain English when presenting; examples are residing here in our presentation English handout and a corollary worksheet on interesting introductions handout.

Class Material:

 Session 4 — The Language Unit (June 2) 

One of the remarkable aspects of our species is that we have developed so many full-fledged languages in both the aural and written forms. While other species of animals (and, perhaps, plants) communicate, their systems are much more rudimentary. This morning I'd like to begin with a set of discussion questions about language issues.

Homework:

 Session 5 — Ye Olde Script Debate (June 9) 

Here, of course, we harken back to the image near the top of this page, 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.

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.

Homework:

 Session 6—The Venerable Library (June 16) 

Why might I have paired Mr. Gutenberg — who lived some 500 years ago — with something as contemporary as YouTube? Well, Gentle Student, the answer comes in two parts: both mark steps along the path of disseminating information, and both also represent methods of archiving information for later access. The former, of course, had important implications for the spread of literacy as books, a rare and quite expensive commodity, became both more common and less prohibitively expensive.

The archiving function, however, is the one on which we will spend our week.

One of the more remarkable efforts at archiving material is The Internet Archive, which is, as the name suggests, an online library featuring the various media to be found on the Internet. Among the recent developments (chronicled by our BBC friends here) is the provision of millions of public domain images via flickr. While the sheer size of the archive is impressive, the fact that they are tagged and thus easily searchable is most helpful. Thus, your homework today today includes a visit to the Internet Archive book images, which number 2,619,833 as of this writing. Go ahead, folks, and search for two or three things!

The history of libraries dates back many centuries, my Good People, to ancient Egypt and the Library of Alexandria  (Incidentally, I believe this is narrated by Leonard Nimoy, whom you should really check on!) However, happily, the idea did not perish with the destruction of the original library. This next clip is courtesy of the National Geographic Society.

One of the modern incarnations of the Library of Alexandria is, of course, the Library of Congress in the US. This massive repository contains in excess of 150 million objects, including books, music, and many 'non-classified' objects.

 Session 7 — Canons (June 23) 

As you remember well (happily?) from your high school days, the so-called classics were an integral part of the curriculum. Indeed, that is true in the US as well. However, I must confess that I never enjoyed most of the Shakespeare canon much, but I quite enjoyed the course I took in graduate school about classical Japanese.

Let us consider the scope of the canon, good people. What types of narratives constitute the canon of a language? For your enjoyment, here is a worksheet on the number of types of stories.

It seems to me that we've devoted a considerable amount of time to things American and things Japanese, but the world is much, much wider. Thus, minions of mine (OK, what recent cultural artifact am I referencing here?), your homework today is to dance home and find enough material to talk about a canon of cultural work from another culture (I also would be happy with a 2-page report; yes, that would be two plus the title page). Allow me to provide a thread that you might follow: take a glance at the list of recent Nobel Prize winners in literature. Where are those fine people from? What languages were used for their works?

 Session 8 — Discussion on Canon Education (June 30) 

Today, people, we will be engaging in a discussion (or perhaps a debate) on the merits and demerits of utilizing a specific canon of work in education.

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 Session 9 — The Visual Artifacts Unit (July 7) 

In this unit we will consider the origin of visual artifacts such as photographs, movies, and now the Internet.

 Session 10 — Infrastructure (July 14) 

Informative text coming here ...

History of Movies — Have you ever wondered by the movie industry is referred to as "the silver screen"? (If not, pretend you have.) The reason, of course, is that photographs originally used silver emulsion on the glass plates and, later, the nitrate film used for negatives. Second question, folks: when did movies first appear?

History of TV — This is a medium that even predates me, folks. I have a very vivid memory of watching some of the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, and the picture on our TV was, of course, black and white. At that time color TV was unusual, but it soon became the standard.

The Digital Screen — Silver is out and pixels are in. Welcome to our brave new world, people, as we briefly consider the recent spread of digital forms of storage, which have largely replaced silver-based forms of storage.

 Session 10 (or so) — Audio Artefacts 

Ironically, the preservation of sound has had a much shorter history than has that of images or physical artefacts.

As a bit of a technophile, I quite enjoy the various technological innovations over my lifetime (and before, of course) that have been labeled 'cutting edge' and then 'old-fashioned'. Among them you will find a host of inventions, most of which were destined for very short lives. A couple examples, folks, the first of which is one I remember well from my childhood.

You might well have come to the conclusion that if we (read: 'people') can build it, then someone, somewhere, will turn it into a museum. This clip takes us to the 8-Track Museum in Dallas and a guided tour by Bucks Burnett.

Let's go back to about 1998 or so, a time when Bruce Willis still had some hair. Really. In a major hit movie, Bruce and a cast of misfits was tasked with saving the world from destruction by the mother of all asteroids. Of course, that would mean the end of the world or, in biblical terms, Armegeddon. Prior to blasting into orbit to save the world, Bruce and crew present a list of demands of minor things they would like (since they were heading off to save us all).

 Session 11 — Artwork (July 21) 

 Session 12 — Photography 

 Session 13 — 9/10 of the Law (Ownership) 

"To the winner go the spoils" has long been a consequence of that ghastly enterprise we call war. That phrase, incidentally, has its origin in the image to the right, one of many by Thomas Nash, an early and very influential political cartoonist. Nash is closely and correctly associated with Harper's Weekly, and influential political magazine that unfortunately ceased publication in 1916. Just for your enlightenment, here you'll find a nice collection of the work of Thomas Nash.

Copyright Protection & Infringement 

Let's begin this session with a look through a timeline dealing with law and technology.

A couple final notes: Although their legal standing might be in question (see 'copyright' immediately above), music streaming websites are quite popular, and I freely admit to using one regularly.

The second note for today: I'd like you to devote some time to considering how technology and music have happily coexisted over the last two or three generations (of people, not technological innovations). Your homework today is thus to speak with at least one relative about his or her use of technology in listening to music. My suggestion is to speak with your parents or grandparents about their listening habits (e.g., types of listening devices, types of music). Yes, it might cost you a phone call, but treat this as a grand learning opportunity!

 Session 14 — The Woman in Gold (Repatriation) 

In this, our penultimate session, we will spend our time considering the question of how and when artifacts are and should be returned to their original owner(s). This is a complex issue fraught with historical baggage, of course, and it's an ongoing discussion.

Here we have a list of notable artefacts that have been disputed (and, happily, resolved in some cases). Here is a second list with excellent photos.

 Session 15 — Final presentations 

In our final session, groups of students will be presenting the results of their respective research projects.

  Your Grade  

Your grade will be based on several areas:

 Comments about grading ...  

Note, people, that you will not be just passively listening to your classmates as they present the results of their work. No, you will be asking questions ... which means it is required that you ask questions. Really. Now you might well ask what this means, which is a reasonable question. I will smile happily if you do two things: (a) ask questions after each and every presentation, and (b) submit a list of questions to me by email.