Viz

CCST 275: I'm A Stranger Here Myself

Instructor: Éva Pósfay
Cross-Cultural Studies
Winter 2013

Course Description
What do enculturation, tourism, culture shock, "going native," haptics, cross-cultural adjustment, and third culture kids have in common? How do intercultural transitions shape identity? What is intercultural competence? This course explores theories about intercultural contact and tests their usefulness by applying them to the analysis of world literature, case studies, and the visual arts, and by employing students' intercultural experiences as evidence. From individualized, self-reflective exercises to community-oriented group endeavors, our activities will promote new intercultural paradigms in the classroom and the wider community. Course designed for off-campus returnees, students who have lived abroad, or who have experienced being outsiders.

Selected Assignments as Pedagogical Scaffold for Autobiographical Visual Project

• Produce visual maps of theories and models.
  Example: Alfred Schütz's sociological theory of the "approaching stranger" based on The Stranger: An Essay in Social Psychology.
• Interpret cultural difference by studying nonverbal communication.
  Example: Body language through performance, photography, and media
• Develop visual representations of intercultural concepts found in the course readings.
  Example: "Culture shock" as viewed by the narrator in Eva Hoffman's memoir Lost in Translation: Life in a New Language.

Autobiographical Assignment (draft)

The course will culminate in an autobiographical project in which you will have the opportunity to deeply reflect on your personal intercultural journey. In this two-part assignment you will demonstrate intercultural learning by successfully addressing at least two different cultural systems and by effectively applying relevant theories or models to specific intercultural topics, issues, or situations of your choice.

The Written Assignment (co-created by Petra Crosby, Margit Johnson, and Éva Pósfay)

For the first part of the project you will produce an autobiographical paper describing and analyzing an intercultural experience you have had that you find particularly meaningful (for example: "going native" after a study abroad experience). You will explain why you selected particular theories or models as tools for your inquiry and to what extent they are useful in framing and illuminating your chosen intercultural topic.

In your various analyses you will be expected to structure you argument carefully and use pertinent direct quotations from our course readings.

Format:

• 1250-1500 words
• Verdana, size 12 font in body, 10 in notes
• Double-spaced, 1" margins
• Title
• Numbered pages
• Bibliographical information (works cited, footnotes)
  

The Visual Assignment (newly created by Éva Pósfay)

The second part of your assignment will have you create a visual complement to your written autobiographical investigation. In an effort to further deepen self-reflection and increase visual literacy, you will "express visually" the intercultural topic you studied through the lens of theories or models by creating a visual work of your choice. You will also write an interpretive label to help viewers understand your visual creation. This visual exercise will not require any special artistic talents. However, you will be expected to be able to explain clearly and convincingly your visual imagery and the process you used to produce it.

Expressing an Experience Visually

As an example, suppose your autobiographical written assignment focused on how your "going native" experience resonates with Milton J. Bennett's study on reversal (perception of one's host culture as superior to one's home culture). Let us also assume that you are especially captivated by the idea that going native "maintains a polarized, 'us and them' worldview" (Bennett, "Becoming Interculturally Competent," p.66). For your visual project, first you would explore how to visually represent your experience of such a polarized worldview. You would give yourself plenty of time to play and experiment with different visual approaches. Words would be used only sparingly (if at all) in your actual visual work to help you maintain your focus on intercultural visual expression. Next, you would determine which medium would best capture your experience (drawing, painting, photography, collage, sculpture, digital art, video, or whatever form you choose). You would ask yourself which feature(s) might enhance your visual strategy (shape, color, texture, composition, etc.). Would your visual project be figurative or abstract? Could your experience be translated into a visual metaphor? In what ways might the visual component of your work bring new levels of understanding to your entire autobiographical assignment?

Throughout the entire creative process you and your peers will work in teams and practice at being a useful sounding board to one another as you continue to learn together about effective visual communication and successful displays of knowledge. It will be very beneficial to exchange constructive feedback once you all start writing the labels accompanying your visual creations.

Creating an Interpretive Label

For the label exercise, you will write a concise interpretation of your autobiographical visual work by distilling information into essential and enlightening details. Your goal will be to keep in mind how best you can engage and guide the viewers through your project. To that end, it will be advisable for you to regularly put yourself in the place of the viewers to be reminded that your chosen topic, and perhaps even intercultural terminology, may not necessarily be familiar to them. It will be crucial, therefore, to present the ideas on your label very intentionally. Some of the ideas you will want to consider on your label: What should viewers notice in your visual work? What should they understand about it? How does your label present information about the theory framing your particular intercultural experience? But most important, how does your project articulate your intercultural experience visually? Describe the process and the choices you made to create your visual work. In terms of your entire autobiographical project (written and visual components), in what ways did this visual exercise amplify your self-understanding?

As mentioned earlier, your visual work does not need to be of artistic quality, but the expectation is that you will be able to provide answers to all the questions found here and in previous paragraphs about the autobiographical visual assignment.

Please read below further about the making of the label.

Format and content of the label

• 150-200 words
• Verdana, size 12 font
• Name of the creator
• Title of the visual work, type of medium
• Concise interpretation of the visual work
  

Sample Label:
John Doe '15
Being 'Like Them' Back Home. Color photomontage.
[SPACE]
The text of the interpretive label.

Exhibiting a Visual Autobiographical Project

Towards the end of the term, our class will move to one of the white spaces at the Weitz Center for Creativity and learn about effective exhibiting techniques, which you will then use to position your visual project and label in the room. Finally, on the last day of our course, we will hold a 2-hour celebration of the exhibit in our white space to which you may invite anyone you would like, including friends, faculty/staff mentors. (The exhibit will be open to the public at that time only.) At the exhibit, you and your classmates will have the opportunity to discuss your visual autobiographical projects with the viewers.