Syllabus & Writing Assignments

Pre-departure Seminar Syllabus
Assignments for Pre-departure Seminar
Writing Assignments completed while abroad: 1, 2, 3, 4
Re-entry Seminar Syllabus (TBA)
Assignments for Re-entry Seminar (TBA)

The following is the syllabus for the pre-departure half of the pilot course as it was taught in the Spring of 2002 as well as the four writing assignments students completed and sent back to their instructor from abroad.

Jan Solberg
Dewing 203-F    Office: 269-337-7120
e-mail = solberg@kzoo.edu

Readings:
Carroll, Raymonde. Cultural Misunderstandings. University of Chicago Press, reprint edition 1990.
Nothomb, Amélie. Fear and Trembling. St. Martin’s Press, 2002.
Storti, Craig. The Art of Crossing Cultures. Intercultural Press, 2001 (Second Edition).
Todorov, Tzvetan. The Conquest of America. University of Oklahoma Press, 1999.

Week I: Read The Art of Crossing Cultures (Storti)
Week I Course Goals, Personal Goals, Discussion of Storti, In-class exercises (“What is culture?”)

For next week: Read Raymonde Carroll (Intro + Conclusion + whichever of four essays I assign to you [be able to give a clear oral summary of the essay you read]); do short culture exercises on Concept of Self; write short response paper: based on reading and discussion of Storti book, what do you now feel are your own greatest strengths / assets as you prepare to study abroad? What are you most afraid of / What will be your greatest challenges?

Week II: Cultural Misunderstandings, Raymonde Carroll (Introduction, “Parents and Children,” “Home,” “Conversation,” “Friendship,” Conclusion); In-class exercises: Concept of Self

For next week: short culture exercise on Personal vs Social Responsibility Read Fear and Trembling; write response paper on ONE of these subjects:

1. Assuming that this is your ONLY source of information, write a description of Japanese business culture.
2. In what ways are Amélie’s experiences and reactions probably typical of those that any young European woman might have in this situation, and in what way might they be unique to her?
3. If you had been in Amélie’s situation, is there anything that you would have done differently?
4. Assuming that this is your only source of information about Japanese women, write a description of the Japanese woman and her place in society

Week III: Fear and Trembling, Amélie Nothomb; In-class exercises: Personal vs Social Responsibility

For next week: Read your book for in-class presentation; write brief book report following model, and prepare presentation; short culture exercise on Concept of Time

Weeks IV – VI: In-class presentations on books; In-class culture exercises; presentations on cross-cultural experiences by Kalamazoo College faculty and students; readings/presentations about cultural concepts, observation strategies, experiential methodologies, etc., writing short biography

Readings (each book to be read and presented by two students):

Arana, Marie. American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood. Delta, 2002.
Connelly, Karen. The Dream of a Thousand Lives: A Sojourn in Thailand. Seal Press, 2001.
Fadiman, Anne. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. Farrar Strauss & Giroux, 1998.
Hessler, Peter. River Town. Harper Perennial, 2001.
Iyer, Pico. The Lady and the Monk: Four Seasons in Kyoto. Vintage Books, 1992.
Johnson, Diane. Le Divorce. Plume, 1998.
Kingsolver, Barbara. The Poisonwood Bible. Harper Perennial, 1999.
Wearing, Alison. Honeymoon in Purdah: An Iranian Journey. Picador, 2001.

Week VII: Session conducted by Center for International Programs staff (director and interns): Study Abroad Orientation, Introduction to the Integrative Cultural Research Project

Weeks VIII – IX: The Conquest of America, Tzvetan Todorov (excerpts); Additional theoretical readings addressing concepts discussed in the course (identification and articulation of cultural values, cross-cultural communication, and cross-cultural adaptation)

Week X: Concluding Remarks, Student presentations of papers, Evaluations
Paper due by Monday of Final Exam Week

Graded course components:

Presentation (15%)
Short response papers, autobiography, etc. (ca. 4 total) (30%)
One short paper (5-10 pp. + Annotated Bibliography) (30%)
Class participation, between-class contributions to an on-line discussion group (25%)

Since this class only meets ten times, your grade will be lowered for each absence beyond the first one. Absences will be excused only for truly extraordinary circumstances.

The syllabus for the revised pre-departure seminar and the syllabus for the re-entry seminar will be posted as they become available.

 

Presentations on books:

Working with one other person, you will read and present to the class a book whose subject is the encounter with another culture. Since your main focus is the cross-cultural encounter, you will be assigned a book about a country other than the one in which you will be studying. The presentation will have two parts:

I. In collaboration with your partner, write a brief description of the book. Is it fiction or non-fiction? Who is/are the main character/s? In which country is the book set? For what purpose is/are the foreigner/s in the foreign country? In brief, summarize the book’s story, explaining why someone interacting with the featured foreign culture might want to read the book, and evaluating the insights that can be gleaned from reading it. Finally, rate the book, using a system of one to four stars (four being the highest), in three different categories:

a. How much factual information one learns about the country
b. The quality of the cross-cultural insights one gets from reading it
c. The pleasure-factor — how enjoyable it was to read it.

Maximum length: 2 pp. typed, double-spaced. Work on this — your review will probably be part of a travel book display in the Kalamazoo College bookstore this spring.

II. Working separately, each of you will make a presentation on one aspect of the book that you found particularly interesting (make sure you don’t choose exactly the same thing). Below are some general suggestions:

• Articulation of cultural values observed in the reading
• Analysis of why culture clashes described in the book occur
• Analysis of how American values might create difficulties for students, tourists, business people, NGO or diplomatic personnel living or working within the culture
• Insights about cross-cultural communication and adaptation that you glean from reading the book
• A an assessment of how people were changed by their encounter with the foreign culture
• Identification of the preoccupations and biases of the writer, as well as your own preoccupations and biases

(N.B. In addition to these general suggestions, I will have some additional specific suggestions for you on most of the books.)

You may want to select an appropriate excerpt from the reading to photocopy for other students to read, and/or to prepare a few discussion questions.

Many of these readings are novels or first-person accounts of travel or encounters with people from other cultures. Stories are always captivating. Since they are often less explicitly analytical than ethnographies produced by social scientists, and are often told from an idiosyncratic point of view, they may give you more room to develop your own ideas about how to analyze and understand a foreign culture. They will also give you practice in evaluating sources.

You are encouraged to develop a style in which you express yourself as precisely as possible, but in which you differentiate between fact, opinion, and speculation, and in which you acknowledge how your own thinking may be culturally biased. Think, too, about how you might test any theories you have formulated. Try to search for nuances, to acknowledge your own ignorance, and to identify logical pitfalls instead of making bold, overly simplistic assertions.

Paper:

You will prepare a Briefing Paper on some aspect of the culture of the country in which you will be studying (5-10 pp., double-spaced). Ideally, this will be directly connected to the Integrative Cultural Research Project you will do abroad, so choose an aspect of the country in which you’re particularly interested. However, even if your ICRP ultimately takes you in a different direction, the paper will yield valuable background information and help you develop good research techniques.

Possible topics (to be narrowed significantly):

• P political, governmental structures
• The educational system
• One or more significant historical events (e.g. the Cultural Revolution in China, the student riots in France in May of 1968, etc.)
• Family or kinship structures
• The status / perception of one or another group in the society (men, women, children, homosexuals, elders, the mentally ill, the disabled, a particular ethnic or racial group, a certain immigrant group, etc.)
• The arts
• The environment
• The economy
• Business culture
• Other topics, to be negotiated

Provide factual information about this topic in a well-organized format, identifying your sources carefully (see below).

If appropriate, you will also discuss how your own experiences might influence your reaction to the phenomenon you are studying, how they might affect your adaptation to the culture, and how they might color your conversations about this subject with people from your host country. You might also make some recommendations about discussing this subject with members of the host culture.

Work at finding a rhetorical “voice” that positions you as a non-expert on this subject, but also as someone with good critical thinking skills who is attempting to understand something outside of your present field of experience.

You must consult at least four sources while writing this paper:

• At least two works written by “experts” in the field (those whose academic training or professional experience qualify them in the eyes of the world to speak about this subject) — required.
• At least one source written by someone who is not American (this could be an article in the foreign press [Canadian, British, a foreign language source, etc.]) — required. (If one of your academic sources is already non-American, you have already fulfilled this condition, but a current journalistic “take” on a subject can add further interest to your study.)
• At least one personal interview with a person from your host country (if you do not know anyone from your host country, ask me, a language prof, a student returning from abroad, or the CIP for help in identifying someone. Try the Internet — an e.mail “interview” is an acceptable means of conversing with your source.) — required.
• One personal interview with someone who is not a citizen of the host country, but who has worked, lived, or traveled there — required.

  If possible, data from a more “literary” source (e.g., a novel, a feature film, some other cultural document [songs, the visual arts, etc.]) — optional, but desirable.

  Additional sources (including Internet sources) that you deem appropriate (please be aware that the evaluation of Internet sources for your Annotated Bibliography [see below] presents a particular challenge — one that must be confronted by anyone who considers him/herself a serious scholar).

To your Briefing Paper, you will attach a sort of Annotated Bibliography, according to the following specifications:

Modified Annotated Bibliography:

List your sources, using appropriate academic bibliographic citations, and then tell us more about the sources so that we will know better how to evaluate the information they yielded. Comment on such things as: the historical period in which the source was published; the source’s nationality, gender, age, political affiliation, degree and kind of experience with the culture; the source’s ideological stance, educational background, etc.

In each case, comment as well on your own role in processing and transmitting the information: how might your own nationality, gender, age, intellectual development, educational background, personal experiences, ideological leanings, personal affinities (in the case of personal interviews), etc., have influenced the way in which you have used the information (or not used it) from each source. Take this part of the assignment very seriously. You might need to write as much as one full page per source (this does not count in the recommended 5-10 pp. of text).

Express yourself as precisely as possible, but differentiate between fact, opinion, and speculation, and acknowledge the ways in which your thinking may be culturally biased. Think, too, about how you might go about testing any theories you have formulated. Try to search for nuances, to acknowledge your own ignorance, and to identify logical pitfalls instead of making bold, overly simplistic assertions.

Students submitted four short informal essays while abroad. The assigned topics for these assignments appear below:

• Assignment #1: Selection of Destination
  Describe how you chose your study abroad destination, the process of getting ready to leave home, and your first impressions upon arrival. The following questions may help you think of what to write about:

Why/How did you choose your study abroad destination? What do you hope to gain from this experience? How did you form your impressions and gain information about your destination culture before leaving home? Were you able to evaluate the credibility of your various sources? Was it hard to decide to leave home? Did you have to convince family members to let you go? Describe the process of preparing yourself, both “logistically” and psychologically.

When you first arrived at your destination, what did you experience? Can you describe the interplay among preconceived ideas, new thoughts, feelings and reactions (both positive and negative), memories of home, new sensory impressions, physical sensations, etc.? Do you have any sense of what your greatest challenges are going to be in adapting to your host culture? What have been your best moments/experiences so far?

Scholar Dean Barnlund argues that one of the primary sources of difficulty in adjusting to another culture is a tendency to overlook culture differences and to persuade oneself that everyone everywhere is, at base, alike; that differences among groups—whether cultures, subcultures, or informal groups—are merely superficial. Have you had any surprises already (e.g., discovering differences where your initial impression was of sameness—or vice versa)? In what ways have people from your host culture and from your “K” group helped you in your adjustment process?

You don’t need to write about all of these things, but do try to push yourself to remember, to put your experience into words, and to be specific. Try to get to a level of detail rather than simply generalizing (e.g. note the difference in impact between “Everything was so exciting!” and “I loved the unevenness of the old paving stones in the narrow, cobbled streets, and the smell of French bread wafting out of open bakery doors I passed every morning on my way to class.”)

You might also consider the following description of a well-known formulation of culture shock:

“[The Preliminary Phase] includes the initial awareness of the future host culture, the decision to leave the home culture, preparations for the sojourn, farewell activities and ceremonies, and the effects of the trip from the home to host culture. This phase is generally marked by a rising sense of anticipation tempered by, or alternating with, regret at leaving. The second phase begins with the foreigner’s arrival in the new setting […]. Arrival is usually accompanied by a rising tide of emotions, among which the foreigner is likely to careen erratically. Initial impressions, which at first convey a sense of the monumentality of the experience, later tend to well inward at an increasingly unmanageable rate and to devolve at times into barely distinguishable blurs. Throughout this stage, the foreigner can be characterized as a largely passive, but intensely alert, spectator.”

This does not necessarily describe you and your experiences — don’t think you have to correspond to this model — but it might be stimulating to compare your own experience to it.

• Assignment #2: Learning to live in a new place
  How are you learning to cope with living in a new place and interact with people from a different culture? Tell me a story / some stories.

What are some of the challenges you’ve faced so far? Describe some successes and “failures” (i.e., situations in which you felt awkward, made a cultural faux pas, misunderstood something, overreacted to something that happened, behaved with what you later came to realize was insensitivity, judged something from a U.S. American perspective, etc.). Have there been times when you’ve tried hard to do the right thing, and it’s backfired? Have you experienced any dramatic culture clash situations? (Describe what happened, how you felt, what you did, etc.) To what degree has avoidance become a strategy for coping with some aspects of your host culture (e.g., have you caught yourself spending a lot of time writing e-mail, reading in your room, etc.)? What other coping strategies have you found? Would you characterize them as positive or negative? Can you tell any stories about incidents that show you’re adapting, learning how to act and interact in the new culture? Even small successes, positive encounters, incidents in which you “get it,” can really raise your spirits when everything seems strange and difficult.

Feel free to interpret this assignment rather freely, but do try to get very specific, and try to tell one story that involves some difficulties you’ve encountered, and one about an incident that made you feel very positive about your stay in the host culture.

• Assignment #3: An in-depth report on your ICRP
  The ICRP is considered to be one of the good and unique features of “K” study abroad. I know what we administrators say about it, but I really want some intelligent student perspectives on the same subject. Here are some questions to prompt your reflections:
  1. How was the ICRP presented to you, while still at “K” and upon arrival in the host country? What specific examples of student projects did you hear about that were done in the past in your host country?
  2. What are some ideas for ICRP's that you considered? Was there something you wanted to do that didn’t seem possible? Why was that? How did you narrow your choices, and why did you select the ICRP that you did? How did you set it up and get ready to begin? (At the end of the project, ask yourself how much the actual subject of the ICRP was important, and what other factors were important.)
  3. Describe starting out on the project (logistical issues, meeting people, settling in, learning what to do and how to do it).
  4. How did the project evolve? How did your relationships with people you worked with evolve? How did your understanding of the organization you worked for/with (if you did that sort of ICRP) evolve? How about your understanding of the host culture (and the way it does things) in general? Your understanding of your own culture? Your understanding of yourself?
  5. Keep taking notes and adding to what you’ve written. As the ICRP is ending, revisit the entire idea — do you feel the ICRP is a valuable part of the study abroad experience? Why? / Why not? (I can think of many possible answers, some surprising, some not.) Do you think your ICRP experience will affect your activities, your studies or your attitudes once you return home?
  6. What advice would you give to your Resident Director, to the director of the organization you worked for/with (if you did), to the Center for International Programs staff, and to future students about the ICRP?

I know that every SA site is different. In some places you choose your ICRP, in others you fit yourself into existing structures; some are more service-oriented, and others are more research-oriented; the timetable is different in every place. Feel free to adapt this assignment intelligently to reflect your own situation. Do take this assignment particularly seriously, though, as the ICRP is in many ways the real focus of this pilot program class and of the "K" College study abroad experience.

• Assignment #4: Reflections
  Reflections on the end of your sojourn. How has this experience evolved for you (or how have you evolved)? Describe some really low and high points from the end of the stay. Make some reflections on what makes for a "successful" stay abroad — indeed, what is a "successful" stay, in your opinion? (You might think about / refer to other people in your program as well as yourself in order to answer that question.) Are there times when you find yourself thinking like people from your host culture, or having a sort of "double vision" experience in which you see things from two perspectives? What will you miss / not miss about the host culture once you’re back home? What are you looking forward to / dreading about being back in US American culture? Is six months long enough to have a real sense of living in / adapting to the culture? What are the most important things you think you’ve learned on this voyage? What are your greatest regrets at this point? What advice would you give to your younger classmates who haven’t yet gone abroad? Take some time with the writing of this. You’ll have to "dig" to avoid platitudes and cliches. A rule of thumb: if you can imagine a sobbing Miss America reading your words as she walks down the runway, try to find another way to say it!

Excerpts from student writing assignments may be found elsewhere on this website.