About Intercultural Extraneity
This page addresses:- Site description
- Course objectives
- Syllabus
- Course material
- Forum link
- Weekly video/conference link
- Disclaimer
This site is titled “intercultural extraneity” to take issue with the claim that intercultural “competence” is something to be possessed once and for all, or simply downloaded. The “extraneous” is the extra work we need to do to try to comprehend a (continually changing) situation. Hans-Georg Gadamer explains this as the effort that goes into understanding something apart from ourselves (2004: 371) and Clifford Geertz observes that “Cultural analysis is intrinsically incomplete … to get somewhere with the matter at hand is to intensify the suspicion, both your own and that of others, that you are not quite getting it right” (1973: 322). As the culture of today is intercultural: characterized by the interaction of multiple cultures, both global and epistemic, how we think we understand everything will reveal whether we have understood anything (Suzuki 1970).
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- Critically analyze, evaluate, relate, and synthesize the sometimes competing views and expressions of American, global, and digital culture and where they intersect;
- Cultivate digital literacy;
- Develop contextual and historical awareness;
- Demonstrate enough knowledge of the subject matter to raise meaningful questions effectively;
- Gather and evaluate relevant and credible sources;
- Engender good intercultural communication skills in various projects and across networks;
- Understand the role of rhetoric and its influence in promoting stereotypes;
- Demonstrate an understanding of the definition and consequences of plagiarism and uphold academic honesty;
- Improve self-knowledge and self-direction through working with others in a networked, intercultural setting.
Syllabus:
The syllabus draft for discussion is as follows:
Forum posts (9; note the new rules) – 30%
Group project – 30 %
Individual project – 40%
Students who do not complete the course work are required to take a prerequisite and final exam during the exam periods.
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- Week 1: Revision: digital culture/21st century skills
- Week 2: Immigration/cultural receptivity
- Week 3: National/individualist identity
- Week 4: Education, democracy
- Week 5: Freedom, governance
- Week 6: Religion, poetry, morals: “creative coordination”
- Week 7: Invention, enterprise, market
- Week 8: Nature/place, space ecologies
- Week 9: (Evolution of) art/media, journalistic integrity
- Week 10: Theory, dogma
Week 1: Revision: digital culture/21st century skills
Welcome back. This week, we will revise what we covered last semester and become reacquainted with the forum and its new rules. Homework is to answer three questions on the forum. Students wishing for reading material are invited to begin Michael Pupin’s From Immigrant to Inventor, which is the source of the weekly topical focus this semester.
Thank you to those students who were able to attend this week’s video conference. Please remember to share any comments and input on the syllabus and whether you prefer videos to video conferences on the forum or via email.
If you wish to change groups, you may do so, but are asked to send email requests no later than Friday morning.
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Week 2: Immigration/cultural receptivity
The relevant course material will be posted here.
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Week 4: Education, democracy
The relevant course material will be posted here.
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Week 5: Freedom, governance
The relevant course material will be posted here.
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Week 6: Religion, poetry, morals: “creative coordination”
The relevant course material will be posted here.
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Week 7: Invention, enterprise, market
The relevant course material will be posted here.
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Week 8: Nature/place, space ecologies
The relevant course material will be posted here.
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Week 9: (Evolution of) art/media, journalistic integrity
The relevant course material will be posted here.
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Week 10: Theory/dogma
The relevant course material will be posted here.
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Link to the course forum:
The course forum may be found at:
http://interculturalextraneity.com/forum
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Weekly video/conference link:
The weekly video/conference link will be posted here.
Disclaimer:
As a focus of this course is on trust, values, ethics, and the community it strives to cultivate, please model the course ethos in your use of the course resources and respect the terms of use. Video content is made for the context of a specific course under specific conditions.