Assignment
ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION: This required assignment inIntroduction to International Engagement(INST 110I) is a culturally-oriented[cross-national] activity intent at bringing to scrutiny the main concepts discussed throughout the semester. As an in interactive exercise, this Project aims at supporting face-to-face dialog in a collective effort to foster awareness about community identities within and beyond our campus.
OBJECTIVE: The main objective of this activity is to strengthen our potentials for cultural and linguistic competencies as we become increasingly part of a highly inter-connected global society.
THE TASK [Nuts & Bolts]
Again, please make sure you interview [face-to-face] at least one person from the cultural/linguistic group whichyou have chosen to write your paper on. Of course, if you find more than one representative for your group who might be interested in sharing their story with you, the better. This will render your story stronger, and increase your write-up reliability. Timing allowing, I would encourage this option. However, you are not required to follow this path,as this choice woulddemand extra time for data gathering, organization, analysis and writing.
NOTE: Your interviewee mustbe a native of the country you have chosen, and ought to have lived in that country for at least 10 years. Please avoid interviewing mom and dad, or your immediate siblings. Also, refrain from doing Skype, Facetime interviews as well. As discussed in class, the main idea behind this project is for you to reach out to the wealth of international students, and the enviable pool of citizens from around the world who live among us (i.e., in school, neighborhood, and city).
1. Your intellectual task is threefold:
a. Conduct an interview of someone who was born and lived overseas for more than 10 years;
b. Compare and contrastself-perceptions, between your target cultural group(the country you have picked) and your own (American). [This exercise focuses on discerning a group's cultural identities, and will help you spellout the similarities and/or differences between two cultures];
c. Discuss how the concepts learned in INST 110I helped you make sense of the cultural differences and similarities between your own culture identitiesand that of your interviewee. In other words, this Assignment invites you to put to test, in an engaging way, the various IC Communicationconcepts discussed this semester.
PROJECT OUTCOME
Reflective Essay [5pages]
This is the final product of your "Culture Identity" Project, where you will report the findings froma face-to-face interview/conversation with someone from a select cultural group distinct from your own. You will use this essay as a base for preparing yourself for a collective discussion (in-class FORUM), or individual presentations.
PURPOSE
The main purpose of this essay is for you to test some concept applicability in the day-to-day realities of people belonging to cultural groups (and/or subgroups) different from your own.
FORMAT
As to the general format for your final paper, I strongly recommend that you follow the suggestions below [FYI: Please expect additional information on how to successfully complete your CIP essay throughout the course of the semester]:
a. Paper should be typed and double-spaced (Times New Roman, font 12);
b. Special attention must be given to correct spelling, punctuation and grammar;
c. Develop a narrative that is consistent with your thesis statement, and is backed up by tangible information (i.e. data collected from your informant(s), books, journals, newspapers). Make sure you have an outline readily available, before you start to weave together yournarrative, develop an argument, or build your story [No shopping list, please!];
d. Give your paper a title which will read as a summary (synthesis?) of your write-up;
e. Generate a title page which identifies: course, term, instructor, student, and paper title;
f. Make sure you quote your informants adequately;
g. Your paper should contain no less than 5 type-written pages, double-spaced), exclusive of References, Notes, etc.;
h. Make sure you integrate into your essay the materials covered in class this semester
(i.e., Textbook, PDFs, films, and guest-speakers);
i. Consult/research a minimum of two (2) additional peer-reviewed publications (i.e., journal articles, books) beyond the list that I have provided to you in INST 110I; integrate the readings into your narrative, plus add them to your bibliography;
j. Use quotations appropriately (i.e., cite the source, and date);
k. Please use the writing style you are most familiar with. Experience has it that the most folks who take INST 110I have adopted the MLA Style. Nonetheless, if you are comfortable with APA's, please go ahead and use it. You will not be penalized for adopting your favorite style of writing.
APPENDIX
INFORMED-QUESTIONS [Drawn from our readings plus discussions in INST 110I]
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
1. Here you should collect some basic information on your informants [This is essential information which you will need while writing your research findings, right?]
a. Name
b. Age
c. Country of origin (citizenship?)
d. Gender
e. Professional identity (i.e., student, teacher, professor); if student, which major.
f. Race, and/or ethnicity
g. Length of stay in the U.S.
h. Education [Major, degree status]
PERCEPTION OF SELF
2. If, say, you are interviewing a Mexican citizen, you might want to address the following questions:
a. In your opinion, what does it mean "to be Mexican"? In other words, "what makes a Mexican a Mexican?"
b. Maybe, a follow up question to "a" might be: "If you were to tell me one characteristic that defines you as a Mexican, what would that characteristic be?
CONCEPTIONS AND/MISCONCEPTIONS
3. What are some of the misconceptions people (i.e., Americans) have about your culture/people?
SIMILARITIES AND/DIFFERENCES ACROSS CULTURES
Here are some suggestions for questions to ask from your informants, which will assist you in drawing comparisons between your selected group's culture and American culture(s):
4. What are some of the most obvious similarities between your country and the United States? What are some of the differences?
5. Is your country's youth (i.e. college students) LESS, or MOREpolitically/civically engaged than the young generation of students in the United States? In which ways?
6. What are some of the similarities and differences in terms of social and community ties in your country? (i.e., gregarious, individualistic, collectivist)?
7. What are some of themore explicit values people in your country live by?
8. Has the social media affected the way people have traditionally interacted in your country? How?
9. What is the most significant cultural barrier between your culture and the American Culture?
This is my favorite set of questions for our cultural identity project this semester. I am sure you have otherconcerns, whichspeak more closely to your interest(s) and curiosity about other cultures. Please feel free to add your own questions as you start to streamline your dialog with your interviewee(s).